If they get more this summer and free range them again you'll probably want to fence in your garden, otherwise they will destroy it. Chickens love nothing more than tender little seedlings and scratching up loose soil.
Yes for sure, they made a bit of a mess last summer and all I was doing then was replacing landscape plants that the deer had eaten with different ones that the deer don't seem to like as much, so the plants were bigger. This year I'm going to move my garden into more sun and a good fence has to go up first!If they get more this summer and free range them again you'll probably want to fence in your garden, otherwise they will destroy it. Chickens love nothing more than tender little seedlings and scratching up loose soil.
It's very exciting to get your first flock, and then those first eggs, enjoy!
For this reason, I was pretty happy when I found a fox on my trail camera for the first time last summer. Have not noticed any impact on your raccoon population? I'm hoping the fox pressures the raccoons to move on. They ate half of my pawpaws in one night. They ate all of my pears. (Squirrels may have helped them some, too.) Plus, the raccoons scare me more from a chicken standpoint than anything else around here. My chickens are encased in hardware cloth, but I still get nervous when a family of raccoons meanders by. They're smart, strong, and have those darn opposable thumbs.
It's hard to say... I used to trip over raccoons in my yard until a new neighbor moved into one of the abutting properties, and he has a dog that he lets out into his backyard. The dog is smaller than the raccoons, and adorable joke of a dog, but he thinks he's hot s*** and will bark his lungs out at anything
I stopped seeing the raccoons after the dog moved in. I know they are still around, because I see their tracks in the snow, just not as in-your-face as they used to be. Now that there's no snow, it's even harder to tell. So who knows. I'm just hoping the fox helps with the chipmunk invasion.
I just hope the fox doesn't eat the dog, while the raccoons run amok.It's hard to say... I used to trip over raccoons in my yard until a new neighbor moved into one of the abutting properties, and he has a dog that he lets out into his backyard. The dog is smaller than the raccoons, and adorable joke of a dog, but he thinks he's hot s*** and will bark his lungs out at anything
I highly doubt the fox would attempt anything with the dog. He's short but sturdy and feisty, probably weighs more than the fox, and makes a lot of noise. Not worth the risk for the fox. Besides, the owners only let him out for pee breaks during the day, he still lives inside the house and is inside when the foxes are active at dusk/dawn/night. The raccoons have been keeping a really low profile, so they don't worry me.
X2. I mean, in the humans garden bed? It’s literally a perfect crime.
I had a friend and a little tiny hawk attempted to pick up an adult turkey. I think they would try anything, they might give up pretty quickly though.
That's one brave hawk! A fox is a completely different animal with a different risk-benefit equation though, you can't equate the two scenarios. If the hawk fails or things turn against it, it can just fly away. The fox is a ground animal and, attacking another ground animal of comparable or larger size, especially another carnivore with teeth and claws, is a huge risk with no clear path to escape. The dog can attack in self defense and give chase, and seriously injure the fox. Foxes aren't stupid, they know that.
