i have been losing chickens left and right, and always during the day. well at 3:00pm i was walking to the mailbox when i looked into the woods and saw what i thought was a large cat with a fuzzy tail walking thru the woods. i have three cat and just assumed that it was one of them. well one of my hens started hollering, she ran out of the woods with a red fox right on her tail. i yelled at it and it ran back into the woods. i came to the porch and all of the chickens and ducks are surrounding the back porch. they are afraid to go back to their coop. so far i have lost 5 layers, 2 lf buff cochin hens, and about 25 chicks, pullet, and roos. i need help. what do i do? i can't leave them cooped up during this 100 degree weather.
i finally had to build a fence they have a 50x 100 run they get to go out when I'm out but otherwise they have to be in
I am having the same issue. A fox or foxes have picked of between 30-50 birds in the past few months. The fox come in the day as I just found out last week (didn't know that) So muddyhorse, how high is the fence. I read that fox can climb. Also, how do you get them to go in there and back in their coop without free ranging? Is the fence built around the coop?
Fence, buried fence, electric fence, fence with top on it. You have heard of sly as a Fox....once they know where dinner is they will be unrelenting! Good Luck!
Oh man, you have to have them fenced in somehow because otherwise, especially up against the woods, it's a 24 hour buffett. You could field fence your entire yard or fence a small area of your yard. The reality is you can still have problems with hawks. I haven't had too much trouble with hawks with the full grown larger breed chickens but young ones and small breeds. If I did, I'd have to at least net their large day time pen. I do know people do have problems with hawks an chickens of any size. You still need to have them completely enclosed top and bottom at night. I have seen plenty of big cats out during the day and for them a fence wouldn't be much of a deterrant. For a bear, they'll just go through the fence.
