When I came home from the store, my son was in the front yard without my grandson, so I knew something was up. He told me as soon as I got out of the truck that a fox had jumped the fence into my back yard and killed 3 of my laying hens, my two New Hamsphire reds and one of my youngest black hens. My son said he saw one of the blacks walking on top of the 6 foot fence so he went out to see what was going on, and saw something chasing one of the reds. He kicked it (not knowing what it was) and the animal picked up one of the hens that was already killed and ran across the road with her. So the fox had a nice meal of one of my best laying hens, and I was three chickens short. The fox didn't get any of the babies that were in the run, but the big birds free range and he got them. My rooster, wretched mean animal that he is, does not have a mark on him and my son said he didn't see the rooster the whole time he was out in the yard trying to scare off the fox. The rooster attacks me every other week or so, but apparently he didn't feel up to taking on the fox. The dogs were in the house, 'cause I don't leave them out when I'm gone and there was no one else out there to defend the girls. I got four more hens and one rooster who seems to be very docile from a guy up the road who had been asking if I wanted some of his to replace them and will have to integrate them over the next few weeks, but I feel awful about my girls. My husband is on the phone trying to find a trap for the fox, cuz if he comes back here again, he's done for. And my rooster is apparently not up to his job, so he's done for too. I've been keeping him even though he's mean because I thought he'd be good at defending the girls, but not so much. These are the first that I've lost and it's much harder than I imagined.
