Fox attack - now what?

[dpnation]

Been battling a daytime fox for the month of May and was just starting to hope that things had calmed down, but the fox finally got one of my guineas today at 11am. Now I am worried about the rest of the flock (17 chickens, 3 ducks and 14 other guineas) since the fox managed to get a meal and I'm afraid it will continue to come back.

Some background:
The fox first made its appearance early May - 5/9 IIRC. My spouse and I saw it around 6pm while eating dinner and managed to chase it off before it got anyone (guineas can fly so they dodged the bullet that day).

A day later, it came back TWICE - once in the late morning, once in the afternoon. My dog was able to chase it off both times.

For the next several weeks we were leaving the dog outside, and seemed like maybe the worst of the daytime attacks were over but I'm really bummed out that it just came back today and appears to have actually got one of the birds and that will probably motivate it to keep coming back.

Things I've tried so far:
- Leaving the dog outside - My dog is a corgi and has actually risen to the occasion, but I cannot leave him outside indefinitely (esp when I leave home), and I'm always nervous as the delivery trucks and whatnot might not see him when they drive in.
- Coyote urine - sprayed around the perimeter of the property every 10 feet - it was utterly useless! The first fox attack came within 24 hours of a reapplication.
- Leaving talk radio on outside for the human voices
- Those flashing "predator eyes" which might be effective at night but the fox is active during the day
- We spend a ton of time outside (two kids are constantly playing and making a racket after school and on weekends)
- Consistently putting the birds in the coops before dusk

Questions!
1. How long should I leave the birds under house arrest? No doubt the fox will be back now. They normally free range and are definitely unhappy being locked in their coop. The chickens/ducks have a small enclosed run but are also less than thrilled to be shut in.
2. I'm considering a donkey or llama as a guardian livestock animal - does anyone have an opinion on this and how effective they are? My long term plan might include some sort of sheepdog, but I'm not ready for one at this moment.
3. Anything else I can be doing?

Thanks for any tips - it's been a really stressful 6 weeks and I'm really bummed that the fox finally managed to get one today.

 

[Geena]

This time of year its most likely a vixen feeding her kits or a youngster just out on it's own, they are the boldest and most persistent. Unfortunately it will keep coming back, and it will watch and wait until your chickens are free roaming again.
Best things to do are either eliminate it or invest in some good fencing, which will be a lot cheaper, easier and more effective in the long run than a donkey, llama or livestock dog.

 

[1muttsfan]

Any livestock guardian animal that you get would have to be confined in some way, such as a fence. You might consider putting up some type of electric netting to give the birds a larger area to roam and still discourage predators. Those have the advantage of being movable, and you can fence off different areas at different times.

Once fox has found a ready source of food they're going to come back, it's just the nature of a predator. If it's not the fox it will be another predator, or a free roaming dog. Chickens are always best protected if they are fenced off in some way, free roaming birds are just an attraction for everything that likes to kill chickens, and are never safe. Killing the predators does little other than open a slot for another predator to move in.

 

[cxp138]

Sorry to hear of your problems. I just had the same issue today. My dog fortunately was able to track the fox back to its den and did some extermination of all the youngsters. Maybe i'm being impulsive but this thing came into my fully fenced in yard and pryed his way into a locked run. I just ordered #2 traps that i'll be laying around perimeter of property, and a Ring camera with real time motion alerts. Plan to just keep taking out predators until they are extinct. You may want to consider same?

 

[chicknmania]

I definitely wouldn't consider doing the suggestion above. Wildlife have enough problems without somebody trying to exterminate them until they are "extinct"??? Seriously???

We have the same problem right now and i wrote another post about this. I am going to follow the suggestion about movable electric netting and see if I can get our electrician to come up with something so my birds can at least enjoy the sunshine for a week or two while they are locked up. I don't want to trap the fox. They are territorial so it is not humane to relocate them. Additionally, foxes are not easy to trap, and a lot of professional trappers don't even offer that service for that reason. Our fox comes during the day too, and weirdly, this is the first time ever that we've had a fox come back day after day, though we've had a few other fox attacks in the past eighteen years we've had chickens. Like the OP wrote, we've tried all those things they tried and then some. It is just not easy. We enjoy wildlife and will do anything possible to keep from killing them. They don't look at the chickens as "your" birds, they look at them as a food source.

 

[dpnation]

Update for anyone following: Still having fox problems.

Here's what's happened in the last couple months:
We had multiple daytime attacks in June so I found a trapper to come help. He managed to trap the fox in about a week. It was a male and had a mangey tail, which might explain the behavior. The downsides were: trappers are expensive (I was paying by the day) and one of our guineas actually got stuck in one of the traps and we ended up amputating his leg (that deserves its own thread). He's fine but it's been a lot of work to care for the poor guy!

July we thought we'd be in the clear for a bit. We had two more encounters.
1. Early July a juvenile looking fox attacked midday where the chicken/duck coop is (adjacent to the house, the guineas are further away in a lower field). My spouse happened to be outside around the corner and saved a duck in the fox's jaws. The dog was also outside and chased it off.
2. I was mowing the lawn not far from the guinea coop and they were behind it in the woods. I heard some weird screeching (guineas screech all the time, but you can tell when it's distress versus just being guineas) and something got one of the guineas in the woods. Never saw it, but the rest of them came running out of the woods. I get that the woods are not the best place for the guineas, but I was shocked that something was hunting that close to where I was doing loud yardwork.

August didn't have any incidents. Whew! Maybe we're in the clear?
NOPE
Two days ago (early Sept) just had another daytime fox. Fortunately the dog was on the front porch and saw it immediately and went running down to save the guineas - I was also home and ran out as soon as it happened.

I get that free ranging has its risks but this year has been extra brutal. We've really limited free ranging time since the first incidents in May. Usually you'd expect baby fox season in the spring to be stressful but it has been non-stop. The daytime attacks are really difficult to defend against and based on the fox behavior I'm not convinced they are actually nocturnal. I don't know if it's the shrinking habitats or if they aren't as afraid of human activity or what.

We ended up getting an English Shephard puppy to train and help with the birds, but considering the foxes keep coming back with our corgi chasing them off multiple times I'm not sure that they are actually deterred by the dogs other than the dogs can defend against the actual attacks. I'm considering buying some of the leg traps and setting them out and keeping all the birds and dogs in for a few days. Normally I'm a live and let live kind of person but the constant daytime attacks haven't let up and it's been hard with constantly being on alert or having to corral and coop them anytime we need to leave the house.

 

[chicknmania]

They hunt whenver theyre hungry. I wondered too about the shrinking habitat. Leghold traps are supposed to be illegal theyre cruel. Use live traps

 

[dpnation]

You'd think food for foxes would be plentiful right now... if it's bad now what will happen when colder weather comes?!
We are in a weird mix of rural but on a neighborhood street (we are 11 acres at the end of a dead end, so we have the best of both worlds). A fair amount of activity happening around us (there's an AirBnb next door, many short term rentals) with people outside hanging out and biking all summer, as well as my two kids who are outside a lot. I was hoping the increased activity would deter foxes during the day but obviously that has not been the case.

 

[chicknmania]

Easy prey. Do you have a place to pen the flock?

 

[chicknmania]

I also read about portable electric fence..cheaper and easier than traditionaj.