Fox problems...how do I kill this thing??

[cmom]

I had a problem too. I put some live traps out and baited them with some canned dog food and some old chicken I found in the bottom of the freezer. I let the fox take the bait for a few days then set the traps. That fox won't be killing anymore of my birds.
I have a hog/coyote trap and one for coons/fox. This one was coming out during the day and it killed my favorite bird.

 

[cmom]

Put a game camera up.

 

[roosterhavoc]

Can you use a chicken as bait? Place it in a pen with two sets of see-through and smell-through walls.

Smell through wall?

 

[50-45-1]

My husband has had good luck using johnny stuart preditor tapes. They Have a pleeting chicken but what worked best was using the yellow shafted woodpecker tape. He used a cassette player with a remote speaker camofloged in some leaves. He sat quietly compleatly camoed out. You must hit them the first time or you have just educated your fox and it will not fall for it again. Use a shot gun buckshot prefered, less chance of error and you may call a coyote in. He has had bobcat come in and sit listening within 15 feet of him.
We have 3 guardian dogs loose and patroling during the day. This is how i free range.
I still have lost 6 hens this year, i think to a very sneeky bob cat. Our game cams have caught him and several coyote on camera. No fox pictures this year. I think the coyotes have killed them off or pushed them out.
Killing your current fox will not be a long term fix. Every eats chicken. When you eradicate this one , more will move in. Keeping chickens is a constant battle.
If i were you i would start planning to put a run up. Just for these times when you need to secure them during the day. I have a run that i can put in use when i go on vacation for example. Then my chore person has less to worry about. And i worry less also.
Good luck!

 

[archeryrob]

To kill foxes you have to hunt them or trap them.

To hunt them a turkey chair and siting really still for long periods. In May they are kitting and going to be more ravenous to feed those kits. A 12 gauge shot gun and 00 buck so you can hit them.

Trapping would be best with leg hold traps. Maybe put some food inside the run, or just outside, and several leg hold traps covered in leaved around it. Now you're going to need to muster killing an animal up close a personal. Also a steel catch pole to release animals you don;t want to kill, becuase you will probably catch some.

Live traps do not work very well. To fix it you need to be the top predator and do killing yourself.

 

[NAA60512]

We free-ranged our chickens for years and never had a problem. Unfortunately a fox has been killing our chickens. We lost two a couple weeks ago and five at 3:45 PM in the afternoon yesterday. Three killed outright, two died of injuries. Three of five were from this years hatches and they were fairly expensive birds.

We've never had this problem before and it is very discouraging. We don't keep chickens to feed foxes.

 

[Howard E]

Can you use a chicken as bait? Place it in a pen with two sets of see-through and smell-through walls.

This very method was used by a BYC member to nab their problem fox....except they used chicks as the bait.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/i-caught-my-fox-updated-now-with-the-video.677983/

Fox can see, hear and smell the live birds and the way they setup the trap, the only way for the fox to get to the birds was through the trap. Post 9 of the thread has a video of the fox being caught.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

My neighbor, who has kept chickens for years told me to buy wolf urine granules. We had a fox hanging around our yard for two weeks straight. I bought some and scattered them around the coop and run. I have no idea if it worked or was a coincidence but the fox never came back and I haven't seen a possum near the coop either. I bought it off amazon.
It hasn't scared off the neighbors dog though.

 

[roosterhavoc]

This very method was used by a BYC member to nab their problem fox....except they used chicks as the bait.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/i-caught-my-fox-updated-now-with-the-video.677983/

Fox can see, hear and smell the live birds and the way they setup the trap, the only way for the fox to get to the birds was through the trap. Post 9 of the thread has a video of the fox being caught.

That is not a standard size havahart trap. You’ll catch 50-1 with footholds or snares over cages.

 

[NAA60512]

I was thinking about foothold traps like the Bridger #2 dogless. Turns out there is a lot more to trapping than I realized. Based on what I have seen on YouTube and read on various trapping forums the chances of me successfully catching a fox with a foothold trap are not very good. I already have a fancy Collarum coyote snare trap that I never used, just what I need to do is spend more $$$ on equipment.

A 12 ga. shell costs about a dollar. I haven't hunted in years but the predation has got to stop.