Fox grabbed one of my hens today.

[aprophet]

WOW!! I am so impressed! I have been trying to trap my fox(es) for weeks now; they won't go near the trap. I even have video of them walking out of their way to go way around it. Can you share your secrets?
Thanks!

find a young fox that has not been eating much lately and it is easy foot traps ARE a lot quicker they are made with rubber jaws if you are around domestic animals using a professionally mad e lure speeds things along as well

 

[featherz]

No luck trapping my fox(es) either. I keep getting the resident neighborhood skunk, so I try to move the trap out of his area. Will try again tonight since the trap now smells like skunk not like me.

I think I have a mama fox with babies since she's hunting in broad daylight with me standing outside.

No dogs here, and I don't have time to train one unfortunately - but all my surrounding neighbors have a ton of dogs. There are dogs on every side of my property.

I hate not being able to let the girls out - any clue when mama might pack up and go due to lack of food? I am betting my chickens are the best food source in the area and hopefully Mrs. Fox won't be able to get them when locked up with fence and several hot wires.

How long will she stick around when the food source dries up, hmm? Until babies are old enough? I could deal with one chicken snatched every now and then, that's part of free ranging, but lost four in just two days so that's a little much.

 

[chippie]

You don't have to let dogs loose to keep fox away, you need to walk them around your property and have the dogs leave their scent the fox will stay away. I walk my boys around every day and where they leave their scent I never see a raccoon or fox. They do come around but avoid those areas. It's worth a try.

 

[aprophet]

You don't have to let dogs loose to keep fox away, you need to walk them around your property and have the dogs leave their scent the fox will stay away. I walk my boys around every day and where they leave their scent I never see a raccoon or fox. They do come around but avoid those areas. It's worth a try.

this is funny I have watched where a dog has peed and set traps on this location and caught fox, pee is not associated with fear as much as it is just a means of communication between critters kina just a calling card

 

[tellynpeep]

You don't have to let dogs loose to keep fox away, you need to walk them around your property and have the dogs leave their scent the fox will stay away. I walk my boys around every day and where they leave their scent I never see a raccoon or fox. They do come around but avoid those areas. It's worth a try.

No... Dog scent all over my property, and the foxes don't care. If my dog is penned up the foxes don't care either. They are very wary and very smart about things. MY dog has physically chased the fox numerous times, deep into the woods, and the fox still comes back.

I can't use leghold traps because of my dog. For now, I'm leaving the trap out by the chicken pen in hopes the fox will become accustomed to it. I started to leave bait around, but my dog kept eating it (!)

Very sad cooped-up chickens for now...

 

[ZenHens]

Can you make some investments into the property? You can kill and trap foxes all day long, but if you don't have a controlled population they'll just be back, won't they? It sounds like the chickens need a safe run, the dogs could use a fence (that doesn't sound like much of a life for an active breed) or they need training.

To me, free-range = loss. It makes me sad to see predators wounded and suffering (if you're not sure of a shot, I wouldn't take it) because we essentially set bait for them in our yards. If you range chickens without employing a dog, etc, they're not safe. It's just the nature of the beast.

To me, the ideal situation would be to make an investment in the dogs, Train them to be poultry-safe and not run off. Use training collars if need be. Because them being kenneled is a waste in your situation and probably really depressing to them. I hope they have their own run, at least.

 

[centrarchid]

You don't have to let dogs loose to keep fox away, you need to walk them around your property and have the dogs leave their scent the fox will stay away. I walk my boys around every day and where they leave their scent I never see a raccoon or fox. They do come around but avoid those areas. It's worth a try.

My dog is an intact male that scent marks. Both red foxes and coyotes will at least occasionally probe where chickens range which is part of area dog scent marks. My dog can whip either in a fight (has done so with coyote that insisted on walking through yard at his own pace) but now neither will stand up to dog. Local foxes and coyotes all know my dog. My dog can run as fast as coyote by pretty much every measure but he will not chase one more than about 400 yards. Coyotes do not benefit from being so chased and put themselves at risk of being harmed so they do a pretty good job of staying away. Red fox on other hand is a little pain in the butt. My dog alone can not catch despite being as fast as fox because fox is an expert at turning when dog is about to catch him. Dog can not maneuver as fast or zip back and forth through barbed-wire-fence like fox. This enables red fox to probe closer and even make attempts at chickens. What happens is that fox has to focus on chickens and apparently put thoughts of dog on backburner. This puts fox in a bad spot with dog since when fox starts going after chickens or simply shows up, the chickens start raising a ruckus and dog immediately goes to investigate. Both chickens and fox know this arrangement. If fox does catch a chicken, then I suspect the added weight of the catch will make it so fox can not escape my dog. It does not serve fox if it cannot get away with eats so fox generally passes around. I say generally since fox still probes.

After all that said, scent marking is not without value. The marks indicate to both fox and coyote where my dog frequents and almost certainly serves some role as deterrent. Similar scent marking by a dog that can not threaten either predator probably not serve a deterrent.