Darn it! I have a fox!!!

[soap&eggs]

someone already wrote best deterent for fox...human urine....a fox (( susposeably )) will not cross path of coyote nor human urine..... drop them drawers !!!! little boys love doing this anyways..none of your own..???..borrow some little guys and give free range to spray around coops...& do it often !!!......only time we had fox..was 2 yrs ago..seen one in broiler pen..jumped out..didnt harm one bird..next day next to house..my voice scared him off..few days later neighbor was upset..he locked his coop..next morn all birds were dead..he actually locked fox in with his birds...shot fox.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

someone already wrote best deterent for fox...human urine....a fox (( susposeably )) will not cross path of coyote nor human urine.....

That's really not a great deterrent.

After just a few hours urine breaks down into ammonia and then it all smells the same​

 

[Pagan Prince]

Over here we use male human urine as a Badger deterant on occation .... seems to work. Didn't know it might work with foxs. Gotta block the run and then do it twice a day for a few days then occationaly.

Either that or it was got ? I doubt it though. Badgers are protected here.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Thanks for all the ideas, sorry I've been slow to reply.

I can report the fox is still at large and hasn't breached the coop. My run is fully netter and has solid sheets of corrugated iron around the bottom so no chewing or digging through that. It could chew through the walls higher up though possibly. I had been planing to start free ranging the chickens but looks like that is out for now unless I'm supervising.

I can also report I believe the fox probably had the life scared out of it night before last...

I let my dogs out, and old Lab and a young Retriever x for a late night boundary marking session. They headed off around the run and all of a sudden it sounds like the hounds of hell are running loose! Grab the torch and run down to find them still baying, looking like warthogs with fur up nose to tail tip and letting the entire area know they were there. I was surprised the young one hadn't gone straight over the fence to continue the chase, though I'm kinda happy my boundary training worked, getting him back could have been a challenge.

Since then I haven't found any tracks inside the boundary which makes me very happy.

I will still run the hot wire as insurance and I would like to get a guardian dog before I start free ranging them. Unfortunately my dogs are not trustworthy with the chickens unless I an out supervising. My ponies however do a good job of running off strange dogs so I think the fox would get a bad reception out there.

 

[Pagan Prince]

Ever thought of Geese ? A flock of them generaly keep anything but the most determined fox away in the UK ?

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Oh I like geese, I hadn't thought of them.

I had a trio years ago. Hmmm... might have to see if I can find some locally. They should stand up to my young dog who wants to play with birds too...

 

[Retread]

Sorry for your loss!

Fighting the same battle here, lost 5 hens in 2 raids by fox this week. Saw him on his second run, dropped one of my ameraucana's and ran off down the creek bed. I picked up my hen and held her till she died. Had 3 ameraucanas that we hand raised from 3 days old, they were pets, They would jump up into our lap if we sat down in the run or ride our shoulder while doing chores, now there's only one left. The others were 3 of my 5 australorps. My neighbors will probably call the sheriff next time I see the culprit 'cause my 12 gauge will be breaking the morning silence. Guess I'm going to be wiring up the run, from what I've read it's the best deterrent. Ha, going to make it look like a bug zapper!

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Sorry to hear you lost your birds.

Thankfully I haven't lost any yet and haven't seen tracks back since the dogs gave it a good scare.

I still want to get a Livestock Guardian so I can put them out in the pony paddock though. The dogs don't go out there at night.

 

[gettinaclue]

We have a fox den in the back of our property that is wooded. We have a covered run. The fence has been buried a foot down and a foot out. The chickens are never allowed to free range unsupervised. I ask my husband to "do his manly duty" aka - pee around the coop - every once in a while - but always after we've had some sort of precipitation.

I've had my chickens almost a year now and we've never lost one to a predator.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
That's really not a great deterrent.

After just a few hours urine breaks down into ammonia and then it all smells the same

X2 the reason they are at a coop with chickens is they have no fear of human smell the human urine may attract rabbits depending on the sodium levels in it