On Friday morning (I had the day off) I was looking out the kitchen window and saw the ducks were standing up and alert. I didn't think anything of it at the moment since we have a lot of wild turkeys around... and a few minutes later I saw a fox slinking towards them from the side. My dog happened to be in the room with me so I basically said "Maggie outside now" and ran to the door. She charged out barking loudly (she has a very nasty sounding bark even though she's terrified of everything... including our ducks) and the fox took off without getting anything.
Since then we've had the birds inside, looking for the fox (we have a hunting rifle to take care of it if we see it) but unfortunately it hasn't showed back up during the day again. We have fox prints everywhere, new and old, leading all around the coops, into the pig pen, up to the pigs waterer (if it turns out the pig is sharing her bed with the fox I honestly wouldn't be surprised, we just can't get into her area since the gate is frozen into the ground and unmovable), and all across the yard.
The original plan was to wait it out, keep the birds in, and hope it got hungry enough to find somewhere else to find food. Unfortunately it's still hanging around.
Unfortunately the fence is still half-buried under a nice layer of snow with a thick sheet of ice on top with some fresh now on top of that, so it can easily just jump right over in the places the fence is actually still visible.
Birds are doing alright. The ducks have gotten cautious in their 'old age' and refuse to go outside anyway whenever there is a predator nearby (most likely when the fox is around at night they can hear it. The drake stands in the doorway when I open it, refusing to let the girls out if they move over). The chickens are less cautious but they hate the snow and only one or two will come out for a minute anyway.
Still... don't want to leave them locked in for weeks or months because of a fox. Any advice on getting rid of it, if we don't find it during the day to do the 'deed?' Maybe some live traps and relocation? Taking walks around the property with the dog who may sniff her its den?
Since then we've had the birds inside, looking for the fox (we have a hunting rifle to take care of it if we see it) but unfortunately it hasn't showed back up during the day again. We have fox prints everywhere, new and old, leading all around the coops, into the pig pen, up to the pigs waterer (if it turns out the pig is sharing her bed with the fox I honestly wouldn't be surprised, we just can't get into her area since the gate is frozen into the ground and unmovable), and all across the yard.
The original plan was to wait it out, keep the birds in, and hope it got hungry enough to find somewhere else to find food. Unfortunately it's still hanging around.
Unfortunately the fence is still half-buried under a nice layer of snow with a thick sheet of ice on top with some fresh now on top of that, so it can easily just jump right over in the places the fence is actually still visible.
Birds are doing alright. The ducks have gotten cautious in their 'old age' and refuse to go outside anyway whenever there is a predator nearby (most likely when the fox is around at night they can hear it. The drake stands in the doorway when I open it, refusing to let the girls out if they move over). The chickens are less cautious but they hate the snow and only one or two will come out for a minute anyway.
Still... don't want to leave them locked in for weeks or months because of a fox. Any advice on getting rid of it, if we don't find it during the day to do the 'deed?' Maybe some live traps and relocation? Taking walks around the property with the dog who may sniff her its den?
