Fox problems in France

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brownysfp

brownysfp

Songster
9 Years
Dec 1, 2010
132
2
101
Correze, France
Since December last a fox has decimated our chickens, royally screwed this year's breeding program and generally made our lives miserable. I've spoken to the mayoress and she has called in the local hunt and a trapper.
In pursuit of other advice I have pee'd myself into near-dessication around the fences and coops on the off-chance that it wasn't a piss-take. We don't have a dog as neither myself nor my girlfriend like them so that isn't an option. And not being French nationals we can't bear arms in case we try and take back Calais or some such nonsense.

So my question is: does anybody have any theories about the usefulness of goats as a defence against foxes? Hopefully before my girlfriend swops euros for some Massif Central / Pyrenees crossbreeds from the nearby farm.
 
brownysfp said:
Since December last a fox has decimated our chickens... and generally made our lives miserable. ...In pursuit of other advice I have pee'd myself into near-dessication around the fences and coops ...And not being French nationals we can't bear arms in case we try and take back Calais or some such nonsense.

So my question is: does anybody have any theories about the usefulness of goats as a defence against foxes? Hopefully before my girlfriend swops euros for some Massif Central / Pyrenees crossbreeds from the nearby farm.
Click to expand...

When in Rome do as the Romans do. And when in France do as the Frenchmen do, lever le drapeau blanc and let them keep Calais.
lau.gif


At least dogs don't smell as badly as a goat smells nor do dogs smell as badly as your own urine. However a goat will settle one thing in your neighbors minds. ---- Great Britain truly is the land of a thousand meats but only one sauce.
 
Well I have had the fox, bobcat and stray predators and your goat idea is out there a bit and a pet dog would have to be a outside dog and I haven't had muck success with that but the best success I have ever had was a 12 Gauge Shoot Gun no joke but then again you wrote you can't have firearms in France so the only thing left is trapping the Fox or building one very tight coop .......
 
It's a tight coop now, so tight I need to be double-jointed to clean it. On the upside, as evidenced by frustrated digging, it's pretty much bomb-proof. A couple of Sundays ago, after I'd spoken to the mayoress, I saw the chasse (the hunt) up in the copse where we think the fox lives. I don't know if they set any traps - I do know, if they did, they haven't succeeded yet as it had had a go at the turkey shed last week.
Unfortunately the chasse doesn't actively hunt foxes anyway: a chasseur explained if they come across one they'll kill it but they shoot for the pot and fox tastes pretty **** disgusting!
 
Brownysfp, I don't know who told you that non-French nationals don't have the right to own guns - it's no problem at all.

It depends what sort of weapon you want - for anything more than a compressed air gun you have to provide proof that you are a member of a local shooting club, regulated by the French shooting federation (FFTir). You can find a list of regions and clubs at their website - http://www.fftir.org/fr/accueil (The Limousin region has a website at http://tir.limousin.free.fr/ but depending on where you live, a club in another region may be closer to you.) Once you have joined the club and have your licence, you can walk into any gun shop and buy a .22 long rifle and ammunition straight away - you just need proof of your address in France, and to sign a declaration in the shop to say that you have bought the gun.

For larger calibre weapons or a .22 pistol, you have to apply to the prefecture for an 'autorisation de détention d'armes', and prove that you shoot at least 3 times a year on a club range. It is slightly more difficult for Brits to get hold of an 'autorisation' for the simple reason that our paperwork (birth and marriage certificates etc) are not fully acceptable in France. When a French person has to provide such certificates they simply request a copy from the Mairie, and because it's a copy it's got a recent date on it.
My birth certificate from 1967 was rejected at first, because it was considered 'too old' as proof of my birth
lau.gif
(Don't you just love the logic in that?) However, by simple negotiation with the person responsible for issuing certificates in the sous-prefecture and writing a (very grammatically inaccurate) letter to support my claim that UK birth certificates are for life, they eventually accepted it.


If you are interested in finding out about getting hold of a gun for pest control, pm me and I'll point you in the right direction.
 
brownysfp said:
.... I have pee'd myself into near-dessication .......
Click to expand...
This made me laugh really hard!! Thanks, I needed that.


I doubt goats will deter fox.....and a dog takes up to 2 years to train properly and even then, if you don't like dogs, you probably wouldn't be good at training one.

Did the fox take the birds while free ranging?...or out of the coop at night?....or?
More info about your coop/run, how/when the kills happened, and your site and management practices would help us help you.

The best offense is often a good defense, so your best bet might be to provide the chooks with adequate protection in the form of impenetrable coop and run.
 
Hi aart
The attacks have been at night. Now the coops have a wire floor, planking round the insides up to about three feet. Outside there is chicken wire to the height of three feet; there is chicken wire covering the roof and down to the walls to prevent access under the eaves. At ground level there are logs and breeze blocks piled against the walls - and an extra heavy log that is rolled against the door once the birds are abed.
 

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