Fox Attack!

[FreeChicken!]

About a week ago, I was inside, doing schoolwork, when I heard one of my chickens shrieking. Assuming my two roosters were just picking on the hens again, I slipped on my shoes and went outside. Just in time to see a mangy little fox pounce on my hen, Lily, and pick her up. I ran towards the fox and shouted at it. It dropped Lily and ran off. Lily fled the other direction. I caught her after a couple frantic minutes and put her back in the chickens' yard. Then I noticed that another hen, Pepper, was gone. She and Lily like to escape a lot. Remembering that Pepper likes to go off daily and lay her eggs in a little nest near the woods, I checked there. She wasn't there, but there was a pile of her white feathers. I suddenly heard her screaming out in the field, where the fox found her and started to chase her. The fox almost got away with her, but it dropped her and I got her back to her yard. Lily and Pepper are both fine except for handfuls of missing feathers, but I'm worried that the fox will return. Nothing I do will keep my little White Leghorns in their yard. They stay closer to the house, but the fox didn't mind coming right up to the front yard to attack. Is there a big chance that the fox will return? Is there anything I can do about it?

 

[Lacrystol]

YES, it will return, I have had a fox, problem and it would take 3 ducks per Week, I would only see it once a week, we finally shot at it, didn't kill it but did hit it and it's been staying away now.. Yours must have a den or pups somewhere, they take the chicken to the den. So get your one out of the woods, she's easy prey for it.. But yes it will return and yes, they are brave, they will come during the day light to grab whatever they can.. I think chickens are harder for them because they give a semi fight. My ducks just laid there as the fox would carry it off. Your lucky it let them go because We did the samething and the fox REFUSED to let go of the chickens/ducks..

 

[centrarchid]

Odds are fox will return, possibly even today. You can confine birds, terminate fox, or get dog to keep fox away. All options will be a challenge in own right.

 

[wvfoxhunter]

Yes the fox will return for sure. If you can cover the "chicken yard" with a net or mesh or something to keep the chickens from flying out and patch any holes in the fence. Then run some electric fence around the bottom, middle, and top of the pen and turn on the power. That should deter the fox away from the pen.

 

[featherz]

My fox left me alone for a whole week and today snatched one of my favorite chickens while I was outside with them! So they can get pretty bold. =( Now all my chickens are again back on lockdown behind electric fencing, with not even supervised ranging. They do come back!

 

[FreeChicken!]

Oh dear.

I'll keep a careful lookout and get my dad to shoot it if it causes too many problems.
Oh, and I'm pretty sure that fox has the mange. It was missing so much fur on its tail, I thought it was a cat at first.

 

[Greyfox Farm]

Sorry dear, but chickens are a good and easy food source for fox and other predators, and our job as chickens "parents" is to take care of our girls. If you can't keep the birds enclosed you'll either have to kill the predators or, unfortunetly, loose some birds. I live deep in the woods and don't bother the animals that don't bother me, but when they come to kill my birds they die. She WILL be back. It's a hard lesson, but the fox is just trying to feed her kits (babies) at this time of year, but for me when she crosses the line, she dies. I don't let my birds outside of a "hardened'" coop or a secure enclosure, but I trap the perimiter of their yard and won't hesitate to shoot a coon/fox/coyote/house dog that attempts a break-in. Best off luck keeping your flock safe.

 

[FreeChicken!]

Thank you. My chickens are my responsibility and basically my pets, so I try to do whatever I can to keep them safe. I'm so glad that Lily and Pepper are safe.
I clipped Pepper's and Lily's left wings, but they can still fly 'cause they're so lightweight, being little Leghorns. I'll ask my dad about getting more fence material.

 

[pertybirdy]

I am having the same issue at my house right now. I supervise the free range time of my birds for about an hour a day, with a bb gun to scare it off if it comes back. It was really bold the day it grabbed a hen- it came back 4 times while I was standing around trying to get everyone gathered up. Fencing is not really an option for me, so for now thats the only thing I can think to do. Bums me out that my girls arent outside all day anymore.

 

[OHhappychicks]

Same problem here! We have lost 3 in one week!

He got one of my roosters. He must have put up a fight as his feathers were everywhere. The other 2 were hens and no sign of them. I kept them in the henhouse today as I'm at work. Off tomorrow and if I can find a wire cage or something to put one of my hens in, I'm going to set her out as bait, find a place to hide with my .22, hope he shows up, and hopefully shoot straight

! And that fox is gone!!! I know we have at least 2, because I've seen a red one and my husband saw a grey one. We have had chickens for 4 yrs now and this is the first time we have lost so many at once. So frustrating!!!

We are going to get some traps this weekend and set. Just worried I might get something I don't want trapped! But this is WAR!!!! Nothing messes with my girls!