Fox struggles!

[prcharlie27]

My boyfriend and I are new to chickens. We have (had) four. We live in a city with a huge fox problem. The chickens are about 8 weeks old. The other day, I put them out in their run for the day and left for work. About 20 minutes later, my boyfriend caught a fox trying to get in the run. In broad daylight. We were a little unprepared for a daytime fox attack, since we both previously believed foxes would only hunt at night. He couldn't get through, but he did manage to stick his head through a gap in the gate and rip a chicken's head off. We've since made many adjustments and I am pretty confident he won't be able to get in. The gate is secured much better as well.
I am still concerned, though. He's been back every day since, and I'm certain he'll keep coming around. We have a motion activated noise maker that scared him off last night but I'm not sure if it's going to work long term...fingers crossed. Bf and I both work all day, so he has all day to mess with our chickens uninterrupted. Like I said, I don't think he'll actually be able to get in, but I am worried that he will be able to bite off more heads. Our chickens haven't learned to run in the coop yet, they tend to hide BEHIND the coop right up against the fence
We have ordered some coyote urine to spray around. The motion activated noise maker seemed to work VERY well and we are planning to get more to surround the entire coop/run. We're going to get a trail camera. We attached jingle bells to the wire on our run so when he tries chewing on it, it will jingle and MAYBE scare him off. We have thought about playing talk radio outside, but since he's an urban fox I don't know if that will work. We'll try vinegar, chili powder, garlic, peppermint, all the usual if the coyote urine doesn't work. I've been making my boyfriend pee in the yard too...poor guy is a trooper. I even thought about setting up one of those huge moving tube dudes like they have at car dealerships and stuff. Our last resort would be a guard dog.

Does anyone have ANY more suggestions to keep him away while we're not home? Short of killing him or trapping him. We're obviously not allowed to shoot him since we're in the city, and I'm sure another one would just take his place anyway. I want my chickens to be able to enjoy their run without being terrorized all day.

 

[nuthatched]

You may have to call wildlife control but first you make your coop fort Knox.
What type of fencing, how tall and do you have anti dig aprons?

 

[prcharlie27]

You may have to call wildlife control but first you make your coop fort Knox.
What type of fencing, how tall and do you have anti dig aprons?

We are currently using a metal dog kennel, about 4 ft tall, wrapped on all sides including the top with chicken wire. We have shade cloth over the wire ceiling. Fox hasn't been able to chew through yet. We now have aprons all the way around (we didn't before), held down with ground spikes and covered with dirt. The coop is inside the run. No big holes, latch with padlock on the door, and the nesting box is locked as well.
The gate to the dog kennel is our biggest weak spot. It doesn't have a latch so it's secured with gate cables. He managed to pull it out just enough to get his head in there...we've since added two more gate cables and wrapped all of them extremely tight. Open to other suggestions for securing that darn gate.
We are going to eventually build a better coop and run, using hardware cloth, after we've saved some cash...this is clearly our starter setup.

 

[nuthatched]

We are currently using a metal dog kennel, about 4 ft tall, wrapped on all sides including the top with chicken wire. We have shade cloth over the wire ceiling. Fox hasn't been able to chew through yet. We now have aprons all the way around (we didn't before), held down with ground spikes and covered with dirt. The coop is inside the run. No big holes, latch with padlock on the door, and the nesting box is locked as well.
The gate to the dog kennel is our biggest weak spot. It doesn't have a latch so it's secured with gate cables. He managed to pull it out just enough to get his head in there...we've since added two more gate cables and wrapped all of them extremely tight. Open to other suggestions for securing that darn gate.
We are going to eventually build a better coop and run, using hardware cloth, after we've saved some cash...this is clearly our starter setup.

Sounds great, just keep an eye on the roof.

 

[Novice Homesteader]

After losing all of my ducks and all but 6 chickens to 2 foxes this winter, we got solar powered hot wire for the run. It appears to have discouraged something at least once, we can see new dig marks next to the wire into the buried chicken wire, but it seemed to just stop digging, probably got shocked. We feel better about their safety and will be adding the chicks to the big coop soon. We keep it on all day. When we are nearby the coop, they free range, there is only one area they go through during this time. We will leave it on always now, since we have heard Kits in the woods now. Our dogs roam freely around the property when we are home, so that helps too.

 

[Al Gerhart]

Deal with any rodents too. Many times it is the rodents colonizing a coop that attract the predators or all sorts to a coop as it is their natural food source, not chickens. Once they have the coop staked out and hunting for rodents they just as well try for a chicken dinner. Wild rodents are spread out and predators have to hustle to catch enough to stay alive so a rat buffet fed with chicken feed is quite the draw.

 

[Bobfein2005]

My boyfriend and I are new to chickens. We have (had) four. We live in a city with a huge fox problem. The chickens are about 8 weeks old. The other day, I put them out in their run for the day and left for work. About 20 minutes later, my boyfriend caught a fox trying to get in the run. In broad daylight. We were a little unprepared for a daytime fox attack, since we both previously believed foxes would only hunt at night. He couldn't get through, but he did manage to stick his head through a gap in the gate and rip a chicken's head off. We've since made many adjustments and I am pretty confident he won't be able to get in. The gate is secured much better as well.
I am still concerned, though. He's been back every day since, and I'm certain he'll keep coming around. We have a motion activated noise maker that scared him off last night but I'm not sure if it's going to work long term...fingers crossed. Bf and I both work all day, so he has all day to mess with our chickens uninterrupted. Like I said, I don't think he'll actually be able to get in, but I am worried that he will be able to bite off more heads. Our chickens haven't learned to run in the coop yet, they tend to hide BEHIND the coop right up against the fence
We have ordered some coyote urine to spray around. The motion activated noise maker seemed to work VERY well and we are planning to get more to surround the entire coop/run. We're going to get a trail camera. We attached jingle bells to the wire on our run so when he tries chewing on it, it will jingle and MAYBE scare him off. We have thought about playing talk radio outside, but since he's an urban fox I don't know if that will work. We'll try vinegar, chili powder, garlic, peppermint, all the usual if the coyote urine doesn't work. I've been making my boyfriend pee in the yard too...poor guy is a trooper. I even thought about setting up one of those huge moving tube dudes like they have at car dealerships and stuff. Our last resort would be a guard dog.

Does anyone have ANY more suggestions to keep him away while we're not home? Short of killing him or trapping him. We're obviously not allowed to shoot him since we're in the city, and I'm sure another one would just take his place anyway. I want my chickens to be able to enjoy their run without being terrorized all day.

We have foxes and racoons. Best for us has been trap and kill. Cannot effectively deter these predators

 

[Penpal]

Are allowed to use electric fencing? This is the best deterrent to raccoons, fox, dogs, and cats.

 

[Bobfein2005]

Hi. We live on 12 rural acres . 6 birds that free range during the day
Secure run and coop but try to keep predators out of the yard.

I've had two chickens killed by predators in 3 years.