Fox ate 2 chickens!

[Bigbluefrog]

Up to 12 cubs- I just read up on it. The male and female raise them. The worst time for poultry farms is Spring and August. August the fox cubs are bold and will come close to a home.
okay I got trail cameras out. I have 2 foxes for sure.
And farmers will take care of the foxes.
if need be. I don’t hunt.or trap.

 

[orrpeople]

The problem we found, if you have a dog or cat that your birds are familiar with, is that the birds don't sound an alarm for animals resembling their normal yardmates. Zero rooster alarms went off when one of their ladies was scooped off and taken away. They were all just watching - like, "Hmmm, we've never seen a dog do that before."
We are planning hot wire installation. We have 5' chain link around the property. Ideas where to put it? (Obviously on the top of the fence the fox is scaling to get in, but are there other key places?)

 

[wamtazlady]

The problem we found, if you have a dog or cat that your birds are familiar with, is that the birds don't sound an alarm for animals resembling their normal yardmates. Zero rooster alarms went off when one of their ladies was scooped off and taken away. They were all just watching - like, "Hmmm, we've never seen a dog do that before."
We are planning hot wire installation. We have 5' chain link around the property. Ideas where to put it? (Obviously on the top of the fence the fox is scaling to get in, but are there other key places?)

You'll want to put a strand of wire down low to discourage anything from digging under the fence. You might want to add a dab of peanut butter here and there on the low wire. An animal might try to lick that peanut butter and will get a shocking surprise.

 

[pvaldes]

As long as there are trees around with high branches to fly, Bantam breeds are much more reliable to take care of their own safety. They can be good layers also and provide much more peace of spirit to the owner

In any case, is just a fox. A beautiful machine designed to kill tons of rodents and this is what will do for you most of the time. A couple of them had enjoyed a few of my hens here and there, yes, but is not the end of the world. It was my fault, not the fox fault, and I'm tolerant to its presence. In fact I'm really happy for the noticeable rat cleaning service and having the opportunity to take photos of such gorgeous creature at my home.

Increase the refuges and release the hens from the coop later in spring. If you can stand the noise, add a rooster. This will have a benefical effect on your flock, hens will be more happy, will lay and feed better, and the rooster will allow you to fix quickly any eventual lose just incubating a new batch of eggs when necessary. Thanks to predators you can have 15 new hens in a few months (because chicken evolved under a high predator pressure).

 

[MilesFluffybutt]

I am sorry for you loss; the first ones are the hardest. Last year I had a weasel kill six of my seven hens. This happened a couple of months after cancer took their rooster.

As much as I hated that weasel and I wanted to shoot the bastard, I realized it was my fault for not securing the coop door and for not putting another rooster in with them.

My weasel, like your fox, didn't desire to kill my chickens to upset me. It took advantage of my failure to protect my flock. Killing the weasel wouldn't have solved the problem because another predator would have taken the same opportunity. My point is that there will always be another predator and the best way to keep your chickens safe is to keep them secure.

The dog would be a great addition to your flock. Changing up your free range routine and making it supervised is good, too. I think getting a rooster would help.

 

[MurrayAP]

I am so angry! We tried to make a safe place for the birds. We do free range. We have a dog. We have super safe coop and Run.
This morning a fox got 2 hens!
The friendliest one - Piper! And Big Red.
All I found were feathers! Feathers everywhere! It was 10 am. And there was a fox about a 100 yards away running back and forth hoping to get another hen!
I shooed the hens back into the coop and run.
Now I am thinking free ranging is out.
I only have 4 chickens now. Our neighbor traps- maybe I will ask him to set some. I don’t really like killing animals- but sometimes- I am okay with it.
mice- traps no problem. Fox that ripped my hens to shreds and left feathers everywhere- yep I am okay with shooting it. Live trap and move it -mmm I would do that too.

kinda bummed today- it’s been a tough week.

That sucks. Unfortunately I know the feeling. Sorry it happened to you.

I had a fox get a drake of mine last summer. I was doing yard work when it grabbed one of my ducks in broad daylight, out front of the barn! Pretty brazen! Luckily I was nearby and managed to chase it away, the duck was fine. But I made the mistake of thinking he wouldn't come back since I nearly put the boots to him. A couple days later my drake was gone, no feathers, nothing.

Now all of my birds are enclosed.

Predators leave certain signs and you may have more than one in your area. Fox generally do not leave feathers or anything behind. They grab and go. Hawks and eagles will often leave feathers.

 

[Bigbluefrog]

Some interesting posts here
I see I am not alone in loss of chickens to predators. We do free range. We didn’t get the chickens for the eggs that is a bonus though. We got them for bug control. We have a very safe run and coop. I am not going to play the blame game or oh poor chicken eating fox-( that is not healthy )

FYI it happened at 9 am - 10 am.
While we were outside. We know it was a fox because we saw it. And they left feathers all over the place.
circle of life - if it comes back- it won’t be eating any more chickens.
We don’t have rats here.Just mice, snakes and rabbits. Snakes take care of rodents.
It is all good- I am getting more chickens - so many options . And I will visit some chicken farmers for ideas

 

[pvaldes]

Is not blame-game, is opening your eyes to reality. Predators have a role to play in ecosystems and everybody will lose chicken eventually; specially free range animals.

Chicken where designed to survive each day its thousands of predators and killing the fox will not solve your problem. Just will increase the breeding fox rate and will attract new animals to the territory. But you are free to try to kill all foxes in your place if you want, of course. Many other people tried that path before in the last 1000 years. Let us know how is going.

My bet would be that It just will give you a false feel of security and will make the visits much more unpredictable.

On the other hand, bantam can perfectly survive for months and months without a coop in the middle of breeding fox territory as long as they do not get broody, had trees and an experienced rooster (or even better a few rosters), and cut grass with open spaces and a supply of water at a place without tall grasses where the fox could ambush.

 

[Bigbluefrog]

guard dog! <3 what a sweet dog!

 

[Bigbluefrog]

T

Mary is correct, I love to take pictures. I don't free range anymore but do have large pens for the birds that are covered and have electric wire around them. I use the poly rope wire with a 1.2 joule fence charger. My problem with a fox is that it dug under a gate to a pen and killed several birds. I have since put concrete under all of the gates and an electric wire at the bottom of the gates. Most predators first examine things with their noses and if they touch the wire, they will know it. I did eliminate the fox. Once they make a kill they will keep coming back. Good luck...
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amazing set up! Is that chicken wire fence secure because you back it with electric?
That could make it more affordable.
tough times during covid-
That looks like a good size run too!
we have a solar friend who uses electric fence to keep deer out of the garden as well