Lonely Duckling
In the Brooder
- May 29, 2018
- 15
- 12
- 36
We've been having an issue lately (though not one we haven't had before). We free range our chickens and ducks, and we've seen foxes come around every now and then, but we seem to have a particularly bold one this time.
About a week ago, I heard the distressed quacking of a duck being attacked, ran to my parents' room and to the window to see a fox in our yard (very close for a fox, and it was broad daylight too) with its teeth in a duck's neck and it was shaking it back and forth and trying to pull it into the prairie that surrounds our house. I suspect it's this prairie that grows over six feet tall in places that allows these predators to get so close undetected.
Anyways, I ran outside while my Mom yelled out the window at it, but it ignored her. It was only when I ran out with a broom that it ran off, so I picked up the duck and took her to a small pen where she's been recovering since.
Then, today, I heard a chicken repeatedly calling the call they use after laying their egg, but it was too late in the day for egg laying, so I decided to investigate, and it was a good thing I did. One of our younger birds, less than a year old was standing on a hillside in our yard, about ten feet from where a fox was sitting in a corner literally right up against the house (again, with the sun high in the sky). I walked around, seeing where the chicken was looking, and I only saw the fox when it ran up out of the corner, and then I chased it until it crossed the road.
But we hadn't heard the last of that fox.
It came back tonight, and it came right up near the house AGAIN, and took a chicken.
Now I've heard about how they climb, dig, and will search for any way to get to birds, but we've narrowed it down to one option for making the fox leave them alone. Penning them up or just locking them in the coop all the time, but if anyone has any other ideas for how to make the fox leave, please tell me.
About a week ago, I heard the distressed quacking of a duck being attacked, ran to my parents' room and to the window to see a fox in our yard (very close for a fox, and it was broad daylight too) with its teeth in a duck's neck and it was shaking it back and forth and trying to pull it into the prairie that surrounds our house. I suspect it's this prairie that grows over six feet tall in places that allows these predators to get so close undetected.
Anyways, I ran outside while my Mom yelled out the window at it, but it ignored her. It was only when I ran out with a broom that it ran off, so I picked up the duck and took her to a small pen where she's been recovering since.
Then, today, I heard a chicken repeatedly calling the call they use after laying their egg, but it was too late in the day for egg laying, so I decided to investigate, and it was a good thing I did. One of our younger birds, less than a year old was standing on a hillside in our yard, about ten feet from where a fox was sitting in a corner literally right up against the house (again, with the sun high in the sky). I walked around, seeing where the chicken was looking, and I only saw the fox when it ran up out of the corner, and then I chased it until it crossed the road.
But we hadn't heard the last of that fox.
It came back tonight, and it came right up near the house AGAIN, and took a chicken.
Now I've heard about how they climb, dig, and will search for any way to get to birds, but we've narrowed it down to one option for making the fox leave them alone. Penning them up or just locking them in the coop all the time, but if anyone has any other ideas for how to make the fox leave, please tell me.
