Fox attack! 12 chickens dead and abandoned.

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

I am so sorry you lost your beautiful birds.
It sounds to me more like racoon or something, a red fox does not climb a fence.
What would climb a fence would be martin, fisher, grey fox, bobcat to name a few.
If you have or can borrow a trail camera, put it out, whatever it was will probably be back tonight to see if there are more.

Well do foxes climb fences? I’m fairly sure they climb up to 8 meters. Thankyou

 

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

So Sorry for your loss of the chickens & your dog. I definitely would be putting up a trail camera & some traps.

Yeah. First I have to get my hands on some. I’m certain it was a fox cause I found fox poo on the roof of my coop. It makes my blood boil

 

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

I'm so sorry. This is just awful. Poor chickens just mind their own business but have so many natural enemies. It makes me so mad and sad for them.

I agree

 

[Julesstarohio56]

So sad to see your beautiful birds gone.

 

[MelissaRose]

Sorry for your losses @Butterscotchbitesfinger

 

[HAPPYCHICKENLADY17]

MY heart breaks for you, so sad...i have been lucky so far , i just had 1 silkie baby and 1 crested polish at 4 weeks old, a raccoon got them in their coop....since then have re wired that coop......

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

Very sorry for your losses. I was a wreck loosing one chick, I could never imagine lossing all of them. Like commented above, give yourself and your family time to heal then get more. I almost didn't get anymore after loosing 5 babies in a month time, but I just love my feathered babies to much. Lots of hugs!

 

[cheekychick3]

Hi There.
So sorry for your sad news, although we live in UK, 5 yrs ago a fox also wiped
16 of my beautiful, girls. I bred them all, then one stupid night i did not lock their coop door. I said no more after what we discovered. Joke was did not even know or ever
heard of any foxes around where we live. It broke our hearts, but then in March this
year, my husband said let us build a new coop and run. Then my son and grandson
helped, and he made it like fort knox. Our old coop was on top of our garden, but the
new one they built is near the house. My boys bought me 8 POL FOR MOTHERS DAY.
A few weeks later i bought another 4 POL. We had our own farm, before my husband
had ill health, and we had to retire early. Of course i missed all our farm animals, but
my chickens were special. Course we left them with the sale of the farm. I brought my
incubator with us, and bought fertile eggs, and bred them. So they were special. Even
on the farm, we only lost them, through ill health, old age or egg bound. So when that
fox came he destroyed us all., big time. So yeh, my heart goes out to you, like all on BYC.
I know it is the last thing you want to hear, but the last 5 yrs i was just plodding along,
gardening ect. But a huge part of me was missing. When my husband and boys built
the coop, and bought my girls, i got told by the 3 of them, i was back to my old self.
HAPPY. which is so true. I am also a pensioner, and the joy they have brought me is
unreal. They are so much company, i sit with them for hours. I also love baking always
have, another great thing is back, in my life is my lovely fresh eggs. I guess at this time
you really do not want to hear this, and i am sorry if i have kept on. Yes, it took 5yrs
and my family to tell me, i was not the person i use to be, as something was amiss.
i did not realise the change in me, but my family did. Please give yourself time to heal, that is all i am saying. But do not waste your special gift you have with your animals, i seen your girls, you should be so proud, they are all beautiful. Also sad you lost your beloved dog too. All bad timing, we also lost one of our dogs, last year. She was 15yr
and had a Tumour, we had no choice. So yeh, everyone on BYC is feeling your sadness
with you. Please be the great person you are, as there are loads of girls, waiting for
you to love and care for them. Do not throw it all away, like i wasted 5yrs. In time think
of another dog as well. We know new ones will never replace the ones we have lost. But it will also help you too recover.

 

[Duck_life]

hi! i have experienced loss of my chickens and ducks before! now.. it is nature to attack something you want to eat and us humans just killing everything we see because they took our animals doesn't mean we should go straight away with killing them... now if that's the case its your decision but what i do is drive into the woods far from my house (and no other farm) and release them because even if they are pests they are still live animals just wishing for food... like if u were out in the wild for 2 weeks without food the first thing you would do is go for an easy target... and you should have fencing under the pen and put something over it so it doesn't hurt their feet and so no predators get in! or put a top over because anything could climb that! if a bear was hungry enough they could climb that if it was fencing and an animal was hungry enough and had nice long claws they could climb it! be more secure with your animals and i guarantee no more predators !

 

[LaurEliz]

Oh golly you’ll make me cry. Thankyou so much, that’s so sweet. Every Fox attack we have had has been during the day or one at night where we lost two. Sadly this is the first one where more than one fox has been involved and they have not taken the body’s. The worst part is that the rooster was still half alive. There is nothing like that’s feeling when you want to save something but you know you can’t. He died at 7:10am this morning. It’s so Awful. But I’m sure all Those who have lost birds know the feeling of Sadness after you know your beloved pets won’t be waiting for you the next morning. sorry I know it’s a bit of a downer I’m just a mess. We had to put my beloved Great Dane down 2 weeks ago and now to have had a fox kill all my favourite chickens. It’s so sad.

I am so sorry you've been having such bad luck with your chickens and your great dane. Foxes have gotten some of my chickens before too. I also had an issue where a weasel killed every single silkie I had once. I had 4, and then a mama with 3 half-grown chicks. Weasels kill for sport, so they were all left there. It's easier when the predators taken the bodies, for me. Then I can search for them, usually not find them (our property is large) and say they're "missing." Could you welcome any new animal babies into your home? It would never replace the ones you lost, but it would give you something to spend your love on. That always helps me.