Hey all, I have been free ranging my flock( 6 hens and 1 rooster ) but have hit a hiccup. My rooster went M.I.A yesterday close to sunset and then this morning one of my ladies was missing. I found a huge pile of feathers, and unless she went out in the night and exploded, I have a fox problem. I have really been reluctant to make a caged in run because they help in my garden and on keeping the grasshopper population down. Basically, what do I do? I plan on setting up a live trap and staking out the coop all night with my varmit rifle. Any suggestions would be helpful.
We live in western Nebraska where there are alot of coyotes, fox, and skunks. We have 18 chickens, 31 ducks, and one pet rabbit. We have 2 great pyrenees dogs that live with them and will not let any predators anywhere near them! This may not be a solution for you, but works great for us.
I would have a covered run for safety for if/when you need it and let them range in the middle of the day when it's less likely predators will be hunting, tho fox will hunt in the day - especially if they have kits. .....or just accept that free ranging is fraught with risk and you will lose birds. Very hard to trap a fox, good luck.
Foxes will keep coming back unless you kill them and more than likely where there's 1 there's more. And don't trap and release cause you're just gonna give someone else a problem.
This can be the most cost effective option that still allows benefits of free-range keeping for small flocks. One of my pens cost only about $250 for whole year which is less than dog, especially for the first two years of keeping dog. I use dogs as well so have ability to compare.
Thank you for all the suggestions! I plan on making a covered run with dug in fencing. I know Great Pyrenees are great, but I am a disabled vet with a service dog and two other house dogs so getting more dogs would not work. I gave up on the trap idea but did set up a couple of snares, we'll see how that works out for the moment. I've just taken to closing the front of the coops around sunset. Anyway thanks again for the ideas.
Quote: There's no need to do any digging. Simply laying wire flat on the surface, and covering with a thin layer of soil will serve the same purpose without all the work http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...E4AFF7C19F34E28999D9DCE6E50C&selectedIndex=11
