Had an interesting conversation with a neighbor over the weekend. Was talking about gardens and such, then the topic of the chickens and my electric fence came up. I mentioned the neighbor on the other side had seen a fox. That would be on the far side of the fence where we were standing. Neighbor then tells me the fox......or maybe a different fox.......had a den under their shed. They see it all the time.
So that is two fox sightings on either side of the fenced in chicken yard where my birds run around. Both of them no more than 100 yards from the chicken house and surrounding chicken yard. Yet I never see them and have never lost a bird to one.........or anything else for that matter. For the past two nights, a pack of coyotes have been tuning up and not more than 300 yards from the house. Then there are the coons that are getting into the cat food in the barn. All that going on all over the place, yet I couldn't shoot them if I wanted to as I never see them. If not for the neighbors telling me what is going on, and hearing the coyotes and dealing with coon carnage in the barn, I'd never know any of them are there.
I have no clue why I'm so lucky with keeping the birds alive, unless by installing an electric fence I have made my own luck. For those of you fighting with a fox or some other varmint, I strongly urge you to give an electric fence a try.
