Fox!

[Dixiedoodle]

Twenty four hours after I placed my chickens in their 'Fort Knox', my dh saw a huge grey fox behind the coop!! We have lived here 27yrs and NOT once have we ever seen a fox--not even road kill or tracks! Dh said he would not have seen him except he was making loud, strange noises!

I asked dh if he understood why I wanted it to be so well built! I wasn't home at the time and when I arrived, dh was reinforcing the windows with chain link fencing--it only had hardware cloth on it and he thought he might need to add a little extra!

Does this mean, I will never be able to free range? It was in broad daylight and he was with in 20ft of the coop and my dh!

Boy, news travels fast!

 

[will hunt for food]

Unusual. Could have been rabid. Hardware cloth, if properly installed will stop a fox. No need for chain link too. They are great at digging under something, so take precautions there.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I have tried to think of everything--to make this coop/run secure... The run is completely enclosed with chain link fencing buried two foot deep and extended out two feet. There is a 3ft aporn of hardware cloth around the entire bottom. The coop has a cement floor. The walls are almost an inch thick wood siding, screwed on. The roof is almost an inch thick plywood with metal roofing on top of that also screwed on. The windows (now) have 1/2" hardward cloth and chainlink fencing over them. The fencing is attached with huge staples and then every joint has a 6" 'decking' board screwed over them.

My dh is calling it "Fort Knox".... I hope he is correct..

 

[breezy]

I swear to you that not 10 minutes after letting my girls out to free range for the first time a hawk flew over my yard , did a double take, and swung around for a second look. It must ring some giant dinner bell for the predator world when chooks move in

 

[MissJenny]

Not that it will make any difference, but the "gray fox" might have been a coyote which do roam during the day. And they do love chickens. It's unusual for a coyote to come near a man... but if he's hungry enough he'll get brave.

It sure does seem like news trvels fast.

Jenny

 

[GaNewChick]

It is not unusual for fox to roam during the day.

 

[Omran]

Quote:
Yes I agree 100% two years ago I had to kill 5 of them, they were trying to take over my backyard, and they scared my cats, that was before the chickens came, since then I have seen one more time this year a fox I shot him and then he run away, since that time thanks God I don't see them any more.