Fox stopped for lunch two days now. HELP

[fasbendera]

Any ideas now that fox or two has found our coop after four years? We have the gun ready and the girls are inside the pen when we are gone.

First day they were out grazing like usual. Lost Ashe a Braham hen that day. Today I left them inside the pen and of course a few can get out (the smaller birds and our one bantam rooster) and we lost baby the chick that twilight hatched out last year.

I was thinking of thinning my flock and adding new layers but I was planning on putting them in the pantry not on the wildlife menu.

Any input would be apprecited.

,

 

[ivan3]

Sorry about your poor girls becoming victuals for a vixen?

Around here they are very regular in their habits if not disturbed. They will grab up a pullet 10yd's from where one is standing. They will hunt in pairs this time of year. If someone is home around the time you suspect the attacks occurred keep a rifle or shotgun handy, it will be back.

Once they have killed they do not like to clear off unless they get the hen (we've shot at them and had them return fifteen minutes later and try again to make the pickup).

If there is a pair they can grab up and remove a flock in less than thirty minutes, carrying them away to eat or cache, usually within a couple hundred yards of the attack.

You'll have to keep them locked up until you retire the offender(s).

Good luck!

 

[MandyH]

You can get a hav-a-hart trap to set out for them. Sometimes it's hard to kill them when you aren't home LOL!!! I have a trap set at all times just in case, if I see tracks I move it where it needs to be and set up the deer cam. Our foxes are hard to trap around here so we finally had to put a few smaller chickens in a wire cage in the back of the trap and set it right outside the coop where they were trying to enter. Worked like a charm, no chikens harmed, and fox caught.

 

[Davaroo]

Trap and gun.
Do what you gotta.

 

[The Chicken Lady]

It sounds like you need to reinforce your run so that none of them can get out. Do you need help with ideas?

 

[fasbendera]

Thankfully or maybe not our chickens were attacked while outside their pen. We let them out when we are home. That will not be possible until our new visitors are dealt with. The first day I could see their disappointment. Then all 21 pairs of eyes turning to me and saying what is the deal? Now our pen/run will be their only freedom and hopefully it is fox proof. Thanks for all the input. I love reading all the posts. BYC is the best.

 

[mcdaid36]

I too just lost our first chickens to a fox tonight. He grabbed 4 in less than 5 minutes, not eating them, but just running around killing as many as he could before i got out there with the dog. He kept coming back again and again while I was securing the other chickens, and assessing and cleaning up the damage. Now that it's night time I can shine my light out there and see his eyes walking around the horse paddock and chicken coop. I'm not sure what to do! They aren't very common around here, so I'd hate to shoot it, but I'm afraid that might be my only option. What do you guys do with it once you catch it in a have-a heart trap?

I'm still in shock, so any advice is appreciated.

 

[Davaroo]

They aren't very common around here, so I'd hate to shoot it, but I'm afraid that might be my only option. What do you guys do with it once you catch it in a have-a heart trap?

I'm still in shock, so any advice is appreciated.
Once captured, I'd dispatch it. That's a fancy way to say shoot it.
If they arent common around there - you want to keep it that way.

 

[panner123]

Killed a few fox, never tried eating one though. But if killed and skined, the chickens will make short order of the meat. You don't even have to cook it. Pigs will eat it also and you don't have to skin it.