Darn it! I have a fox!!!

[RareBreedFancier]

Well at least one.

Out looking around checking fences what do I spy? Little canid tracks! GRRRRRRRR!!!

Since the only options here are fox or dog and they are way to small for the dogs here I can only conclude the local foxes have realized there are chickens here now.

Anyone have any ideas how to persuade them to clear off? I'm planing to run a hot wire around the bottom of the run.

Shooting isn't an option (no gun) and I don't have a trap but it looks like I should probably get one.

I'm hoping the dogs marking the house yard boundary will be a deterrent but I'm sure that a chicken dinner is tempting enough to cross the boundary.

Anyone tried those red flashing night light things?

What have you tried? What does or does not work?

I don't want to be on here with a horror story.

 

[aprophet]

Depending on how populated it is where you are snare's work well for me in the right situation for dingos you may have to increase the diameter of the loop and raise it a bit for just fox the loop size given is right but they are kina high on the loop I run them @5-6 " off the walking surface


http://www.moorlandscotland.org.uk/documents/SnaringinScotland.pdf

 

[feather and mountain man]

I would goto the local hunting and outdoor gear store and buy mountain lion pee, or Wolf pee, or even cyote pee. Choose on that comes from a preditor that is not common in your are. When using it place in a large circle around the pen. Add ellectric wire is a great ideal and also infared sound box too. I have had great success keeping unwanted preditors away since we got our mini eskie. He marks his territorie every where and chases off unwanted and barks like mad when he sences danger. For areal protection we net the top of the pen. I always say you have to be as creative as a fox!

 

[Higins00]

I have heard foxes are very hard to catch. I have a trap and when I saw a fox could not trap him. They say they have a very good sence of smell and if they smell the humans on the trap they won't go near it. So I would walk around the coop several times a day expecially at dusk when I would see him. That urine smell thing sounds like a good idea. I have 2 friends who told me they caught the fox actually running away with the chicken and they yelled at them and they dropped the chicken,ran away and the chickens were absolutley fine no injury at all. I guess they carry them off and eat them. So every once in a while I just yell out my back door LOL.

 

[chickortreat]

I have wondered myself about the red light deterrents. I have red lenses for my spotlights to use at night. The whole premise behind them is that animals cannot see the red spectrum. I have walked right up to deer before, walking slowly and steadily, keeping the red light in their eyes. They will look at it as if they are puzzled by it. I use red light for predator shooting after dark for the same reason. When a spotlight (white light) hits an animal, often it will bolt and run immediately. Sometimes it will stand momentarily. But I have never seen red light alarm an animal after dark, hence I don't know that these products will "frighten" a pest away.

 

[chkn]

Ahhh, don't ya love it when ya see the place has been busy at night?

New tracks are always cause for consternation. Ugh!!

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

I use Nite Guards,(red light) & SWEAR by them! They really work. I haven't lost a bird in over 2 years. Tip: move the light every few days, & play a radio on a talk station.

 

[Chirpy]

The best deterrent I have (which may not work for you) is my big dog (shepherd mix). He patrols our property and NOTHING comes near our barn or house... ever. I've not lost a single chicken (mine free range during the day too - I've seen foxes and coyotes watching from across the road but they don't dare step onto our place) or barn kitty in the almost ten years that we've lived here.

Just for 'fun' my husband and sons like to go out and pee around the coop every once in a while... human urine is also supposed to be a deterrent for some predators. We figure it can't hurt.

Good luck - once they do get a free meal I know they are almost impossible to stop from coming back again and again.

 

[Pagan Prince]

This has got to be a geographical thing. In the UK you dig your fence in and know that it's not worth thier while if the weather is good and the fox aint ill/in need.

We had snow enough to see the local vixens tracks checking everyone's allotment, but she's not taken anything this season yet. I doubt she will ... to many other options even at this time of year.... (If the fence is good

)

JMHO

Waes Hael

PP

 

[Nostalchic]

A hot wire about a foot off the ground, and another one at the top of the run will stop a fox - we have that, but our near neighbor doesn't and she has lost a number of her hens to the local fox, while we have lost none. This works as long as your birds aren't free ranging, of course. But our 4 acre pasture is fenced with woven wire (horse fence) and an electric wire just along the top, and neither the fox nor the coyotes have ever come inside. We have 3 dogs, too, but they aren't always outside, so I think it's the electric wire that convinces them.