Fox Got A Lot Of My Chickens!

[ladyride]

Looks like fox are running rampant I have lost 4 in 4 days that is even with supervised ,armed, attendence. Went in the house to eat lunch dang thing made off with another brahma. Was to far away for my shotgun to be effective also did not have clear field of fire horses in the field. They have laughed at the live traps took the bait. I am at the point of well now what ??? The good thing they can't get to them in the run but we have 3 acres the chickens are used to free ranging in. I have a garden they need to finish working as well they were doing such a fine job of that . But I can't afford to keep having these losses. So it time to get smarter than the fox. The sly little critters.

 

[aprophet]

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[mrpekinduck]

I'm sos orry for all of you're losses and I hope you catch all the little buggers!

 

[wsonphan80]

I've gotten both my problem foxes with live traps. I have two and set one along the back fence of the property and one on the side fence. No need to conceal the trap itself as long as the trap is up against a wall or fence. Just conceal the floor of the trap with dirt/leaves. I use a can of sardines for bait. Crack the seal and sprinkle the juice inside and around the trap. Next, I thread 12lb fishing line through the top/back of the trap and tie the can of sardines to it. Pull the bait to the back of the trap and secure the fishing line. The trigger will fire when the critter is playing tug-of-war with the bait. I only set my traps after an attack. So far I've set the traps for a total of 5 nights. Caught 2 grey foxes and 3 racoons. Sorry for your losses. Hope this helps

 

[wsonphan80]

I've also tried the staying up all night with my rifle/shotgun technique. 3 sleepless nights, 0 foxes. I like trapping because you get a good nights rest and it's like Christmas morning every day that you wake up to check the traps

 

[ladyride]

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[hensofhallora]

foxes in Australia dont "just take what they need". If they get into a flock of chickens they will usually kill them all and then take what they can carry, stash them, then return for more. I have 450 hens that use 3 acres (1.2 hectares) to free range. I use a 5 foot mesh fence with an electric wire at the top and bottom to surround that 3 acres. I have not lost a hen to a fox in 5 years inside that fence.