Fox Killed Most of My Chickens

[Jlachickens]

That's the issue here. I don't know how to fix the fence around the coop so the foxes don't

Thank you for your condolences. I was thinking of putting chicken wire over the farm fencing. I don't know what would be better on top, barbed wire or electric wire. All of it sounds like lots of work. The fox downsized my flock from 14 to 5. Had two beautiful roosters too.

I am sympathetic to you. I too am trying to sort out a fox now. It took my favorite hen Karen. I had Frodo a pekin go missing, and know it’s nothing compared to the utter devastation of 5 left, my condolences and best wishes.

Could you hire professional to catch/kill for you? I know they come back and read they watch and learn when we are not active, so…

“sly fox” they are the worst.

 

[BDutch]

I am sympathetic to you. I too am trying to sort out a fox now. It took my favorite hen Karen. I had Frodo a pekin go missing, and know it’s nothing compared to the utter devastation of 5 left, my condolences and best wishes.

Could you hire professional to catch/kill for you? I know they come back and read they watch and learn when we are not active, so…

“sly fox” they are the worst.

Killing foxes won’t work. There will be new foxes one day. And the time in between you might get rats or other animals you don’t like.

If you keep chickens in a coop + run. -> Build a fort knox.
If you want a large run. -> Build a wired and/or super high fence.
If you want to free range your chickens, -> buy flighty breeds and provide bushes, trees, roofs so they can hide or flee.

Make sure the coop where they spend the night is alway 100% safe. Don’t open the pop door until the sun is brightly shining to give the chickens a chance to escape if a fox visits in broad daylight.
Auto pop doors are more of a risk when you don’t have a secure run.

I combine some ^^.
- Safe coop.
- The auto pop door goes open to a reasonable safe run in the morning
- The chickens only free range in good daylight when I’m at home.
- An hour before sunset they go back into the run/coop.
- The pop door closes at dusk.
- I have mainly Dutch bantams who are very good in escaping
- The garden has lots of places to hide or fly to. My Dutch even fly up the run, into a tree and over the 7 ft high hedge to the neighbours if they spot a dog or a fox.

I had a young fox in the run once. The run was not safe enough obviously . I woke up from strange alarming chicken noises. The silliest chicken, that went out through the pop door in the morning, got killed before I arrived.
The fox cornered himself when I entered the run. I used a broom to get him out through the door. The fox left with his tail between his legs and never came back.
Made the run a bit safer but still not a fort knox.

Besides this I lost some chickens over the years. Once it was almost certain a bird of prey. Most just disappeared without a trace. But my chickens are healthy and happy bc they free range part of the day and when they are prisoned they have a spacious run.

 

[Jlachickens]

Killing foxes won’t work. There will be new foxes one day. And the time in between you might get rats or other animals you don’t like.

If you keep chickens in a coop + run. -> Build a fort knox.
If you want a large run. -> Build a wired and/or super high fence.
If you want to free range your chickens, -> buy flighty breeds and provide bushes, trees, roofs so they can hide or flee.

Make sure the coop where they spend the night is alway 100% safe. Don’t open the pop door until the sun is brightly shining to give the chickens a chance to escape if a fox visits in broad daylight.
Auto pop doors are more of a risk when you don’t have a secure run.

I combine some ^^.
- Safe coop.
- The auto pop door goes open to a reasonable safe run in the morning
- The chickens only free range in good daylight when I’m at home.
- An hour before sunset they go back into the run/coop.
- The pop door closes at dusk.
- I have mainly Dutch bantams who are very good in escaping
- The garden has lots of places to hide or fly to. My Dutch even fly up the run, into a tree and over the 7 ft high hedge to the neighbours if they spot a dog or a fox.

I had a young fox in the run once. The run was not safe enough obviously . I woke up from strange alarming chicken noises. The silliest chicken, that went out through the pop door in the morning, got killed before I arrived.
The fox cornered himself when I entered the run. I used a broom to get him out through the door. The fox left with his tail between his legs and never came back.
Made the run a bit safer but still not a fort knox.

Besides this I lost some chickens over the years. Once it was almost certain a bird of prey. Most just disappeared without a trace. But my chickens are healthy and happy bc they free range part of the day and when they are prisoned they have a spacious run.

I agree. I think It was an emotional moment and a favorite Chicken lost was devastating. Ultimately my fault and won’t happen again. Coop and run have hardware mesh with concrete base, but I am human and prone to error, the coop doors hadn’t been latched shut . I have set alarms to ensure I never miss sunset. Hawks once were a problem but only when I wasn’t home before getting windman, hawks left evidence. Fox did not, which was the worst.

 

[BDutch]

when I wasn’t home before getting windman,

?

I have set alarms to ensure I never miss sunset.

I have auto-pop doors to avoid this. I know Im not perfect in timing. The auto pop doors are.