A Red Fox will hurt you especially if she is feeding Kits. I tried to run one off a couple of years ago and she ran me into the house(I barely made it). Then she met Mr. P-Max, the bang stick.
Dealing with a fox... :/
- Thread starter 77horses
- Start date
Electric chicken netting! Oh, definitely. Just in the last few minutes, on this bright, sunny Sunday morning, I hear the rooster making his danger call - which resembles a hen's egg song. Silly me, I went to the door and called out to the roo - questioning his intelligence, thinking he was merely spouting off for the sake of spouting off. And then I saw the fox lurking along the outer perimeter of the electric netting fence. Of course, my calling out to the roo alerted the fox pronto, and I missed my chance to shoot at the little bugger - which believe me, I am ready to do. I lost four hens to this fox in the week before I put the electric netting fence up. Mine's hard wired - 110v. I leave it set on "rabbit," which is the fastest repeating pulse speed.
A tall wire fence will not keep out foxes. I know first hand that they will scale a 6' fence without a second thought.
The electric netting will not deter aerial predators. Placing overhead netted areas within the circumference of the wired area, and/or having trees/shrubs/structures that the birds can dart under when needed, helps guard against sky predators.
Having a good roo keeping an eye on things is my favorite, though not the most effective, line of defense! He does everything he can; but I'm still the one with the opposable thumb, though. It's my job to add technology where needed.
A tall wire fence will not keep out foxes. I know first hand that they will scale a 6' fence without a second thought.
The electric netting will not deter aerial predators. Placing overhead netted areas within the circumference of the wired area, and/or having trees/shrubs/structures that the birds can dart under when needed, helps guard against sky predators.
Having a good roo keeping an eye on things is my favorite, though not the most effective, line of defense! He does everything he can; but I'm still the one with the opposable thumb, though. It's my job to add technology where needed.
- Apr 29, 2011
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Quote:
Ooo! Okay, that makes a lot more sense. I just didn't want you taking steps to protect your animals from foxes if the real culprit was something else entirely ('cause while marking your area with human and dog smell can help to keep your chickens safe from foxes, it won't do them a lick of good where feral dogs are concerned).
For foxes (assuming they're out at night) you could use a motion activated spot light in addition to scent marking.
For dogs or foxes you could use a Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler, an Ultrasonic Motion Activated Animal Repeller, or you could mix 6 parts ground red pepper, 6 parts ground black pepper, and 6 parts pepper flakes (like you sprinkle on pizza) with 1 part hot dry mustard. Then sprinkle it around the perimeter of your chickens' coop. Just remember that if you kill an animal that is bothering your livestock, another animal will just take its place. You'll have less of a hassle if you teach the predators that already live in your area to just steer clear of your livestock.
Ooo! Okay, that makes a lot more sense. I just didn't want you taking steps to protect your animals from foxes if the real culprit was something else entirely ('cause while marking your area with human and dog smell can help to keep your chickens safe from foxes, it won't do them a lick of good where feral dogs are concerned).
For foxes (assuming they're out at night) you could use a motion activated spot light in addition to scent marking.
For dogs or foxes you could use a Scarecrow Motion Activated Sprinkler, an Ultrasonic Motion Activated Animal Repeller, or you could mix 6 parts ground red pepper, 6 parts ground black pepper, and 6 parts pepper flakes (like you sprinkle on pizza) with 1 part hot dry mustard. Then sprinkle it around the perimeter of your chickens' coop. Just remember that if you kill an animal that is bothering your livestock, another animal will just take its place. You'll have less of a hassle if you teach the predators that already live in your area to just steer clear of your livestock.
Quote:
Just_Ducky,
Fox can and will kill chickens whenever the opportunity presents itself and they or their young are hungry.
I've had fox almost run between my legs when hunting and on more than one occasion have them walk across my yard with people in the yard.
The difference between a fox and a dog is that the fox will normally eat what it kills where as most dogs treat the chicken as a squeaky toy by killing it and going for the next one.
Fox on my property will normally get a free pass through a dog gets Pb.
Just_Ducky,
Fox can and will kill chickens whenever the opportunity presents itself and they or their young are hungry.
I've had fox almost run between my legs when hunting and on more than one occasion have them walk across my yard with people in the yard.
The difference between a fox and a dog is that the fox will normally eat what it kills where as most dogs treat the chicken as a squeaky toy by killing it and going for the next one.
Fox on my property will normally get a free pass through a dog gets Pb.
Just_Ducky wrote: Just remember that if you kill an animal that is bothering your livestock, another animal will just take its place. You'll have less of a hassle if you teach the predators that already live in your area to just steer clear of your livestock.
Depends on one's diligence in conducting preemptive defense, and one's pred. load. Our runs/coop/shed are secure. However, when the baby monitor wakes one up to growling/whining chooks and the spotlight reveals one raccoon in a trap and two on the roof of the coop pulling up the shingles, then another two havaharts go into service.
In 2007, between our neighbors and ourselves, we harvested 18 Red Fox by rifle. 2008-9, 6 by snares. The number per year has been dropping since (actually saw a native Gray for the first time this spring).
Yes, they will indeed come back, but if one has chooks/turks in wooded uplands and expects to be able to conduct even supervised free range a few times a week, then one can definitely decrease the overall frequency of predation.
Depends on one's diligence in conducting preemptive defense, and one's pred. load. Our runs/coop/shed are secure. However, when the baby monitor wakes one up to growling/whining chooks and the spotlight reveals one raccoon in a trap and two on the roof of the coop pulling up the shingles, then another two havaharts go into service.
In 2007, between our neighbors and ourselves, we harvested 18 Red Fox by rifle. 2008-9, 6 by snares. The number per year has been dropping since (actually saw a native Gray for the first time this spring).
Yes, they will indeed come back, but if one has chooks/turks in wooded uplands and expects to be able to conduct even supervised free range a few times a week, then one can definitely decrease the overall frequency of predation.
- Apr 29, 2011
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theFox - There is a huge difference between a fox occasionally killing a chicken and a fox typically killing chickens. Foxes are omnivorous and the majority of their diets is made up of insects and plant matter with most of the rest of it consisting of rodents and small birds. Chickens do not play a substantial role in their survival. I did not say that foxes never kill chickens. However, if foxes typically killed chickens and you have foxes on your property then you would probably be out quite a few more chickens.
That said, though, I don't think we actually disagree. You said you give foxes a free pass because they eat their kills rather than killing several of your chickens simply because they can. The first post that I made was an attempt to explain to the OP why it was unlikely that a fox came out of the woods and killed five of his neighbor's chickens because it sounded like they had all been killed at once. He hadn't yet provided the information that the kills took place over the span of about a week. That sort of behavior (killing all at once) would be more typical for a dog than for a fox.
ivan3 - Sorry, I guess I should have been more specific about what I meant. When I said something else would fill the void, I didn't mean that it would necessarily be more red foxes. Instead, it could be raccoons. Or snakes. Or feral cats. Heck, you said yourself that this is the first time you've seen a gray fox.
That said, though, I don't think we actually disagree. You said you give foxes a free pass because they eat their kills rather than killing several of your chickens simply because they can. The first post that I made was an attempt to explain to the OP why it was unlikely that a fox came out of the woods and killed five of his neighbor's chickens because it sounded like they had all been killed at once. He hadn't yet provided the information that the kills took place over the span of about a week. That sort of behavior (killing all at once) would be more typical for a dog than for a fox.
ivan3 - Sorry, I guess I should have been more specific about what I meant. When I said something else would fill the void, I didn't mean that it would necessarily be more red foxes. Instead, it could be raccoons. Or snakes. Or feral cats. Heck, you said yourself that this is the first time you've seen a gray fox.
Just_Ducky wrote: ivan3 - Sorry, I guess I should have been more specific about what I meant. When I said something else would fill the void, I didn't mean that it would necessarily be more red foxes. Instead, it could be raccoons. Or snakes. Or feral cats. Heck, you said yourself that this is the first time you've seen a gray fox.
Just mentioned the Native Gray Fox appearing owing to the fact that the Reds have pretty much been cleared out (kinda like wiping out Snakeheads). If Grays become a problem they'll be harvested as well. Haven't taken even one raccoon this year, usually have a flush of `em in late Jan.-Feb. (mating). Local population densities can be reduced effectively (easier to deal with a random wanderer than a proliferatiing, unchecked, population).
Just mentioned the Native Gray Fox appearing owing to the fact that the Reds have pretty much been cleared out (kinda like wiping out Snakeheads). If Grays become a problem they'll be harvested as well. Haven't taken even one raccoon this year, usually have a flush of `em in late Jan.-Feb. (mating). Local population densities can be reduced effectively (easier to deal with a random wanderer than a proliferatiing, unchecked, population).
Quote:
Just_Ducky,
A fox gets a bye only if it is crossing my land, if it even makes one move towards my chickens it will meet what exits the front end of one of several boom sticks. I don't give critters attempting to harvest my critters or produce much of a break.
Fox kill to eat and feed their young, when they find a source of food they will return until either the food is gone or they are dirt napping.
One never trusts any omnivore, that is why they have an easier time surviving in any given area. Just because they can eat berries and such, those rarely are what they are looking for.
Fox are not as scared of humans as you might think.
Just_Ducky,
A fox gets a bye only if it is crossing my land, if it even makes one move towards my chickens it will meet what exits the front end of one of several boom sticks. I don't give critters attempting to harvest my critters or produce much of a break.
Fox kill to eat and feed their young, when they find a source of food they will return until either the food is gone or they are dirt napping.
One never trusts any omnivore, that is why they have an easier time surviving in any given area. Just because they can eat berries and such, those rarely are what they are looking for.
Fox are not as scared of humans as you might think.
- Sep 15, 2010
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I just lost 10 of my chicken to a group of Foxes, they dug under my chicken coop and had a feeding frenzy. I have reinforced all my pens with wire, I dug a 2 foot trench and buried the wire all around the coops and chicken houses. I let my chicken free range only in the afternoons now. Some would fly over and get in the horse pasture to do some heavy scratching. It was so sickening
to see what can happen is just a blink of an eye. I knew that was going to happen because the foxes have kits this time of the year and they have to feed them.
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