Lost my first chicken to a fox today. It killed my chicken in the middle of the day. I have an acre lot and a park behind it. I found my 8 chickens all crowded together up against the house. I looked up the hill and I saw a fox eating my chicken. I could see red so I knew it was too late. I yelled at it and it ran off. I walked up the hill and before I could get there, the fox came back and took the chicken and pulled it through the fence. My chickens have been free ranging for 2 years. I guess I've been lucky. I locked up my girls and let my German Sheperd out up the hill. Hopefully he'll mark up the area and scare the fox. I can't leave him with the chickens because he chases them and grabs them. I plan on putting up another fence closer to their coop so they can't roam so far. Any other suggestions? I thought predators hunt in the late afternoon or evenings.
Stay alert because this fox will be back. He/she is feeding kits and the demands for food are high. As Hoss mentioned they are hunting full time right now.
I was coming home the other nite , it was dark...and i saw a fox run across the street right by my house with a small cat in its mouth ! I immediately ran out back to check on my hens. They were untouched in their house.
A fox killed my two male Peking ducks at 9:30 AM. It was rainy out. I, too, thought they only came out before dawn. WRONG!
Agreed-when feeding kits all bets are off. We have a fox year round that we see off in the distance. usually dusk or dawn. We lose an occassional bird but mostly to racoon which fortunately are easy to catch. Thursday morning around 730 AM I drove up and spotted a fox way down at the bottom of the field. In the barnyard-two dead hens. On foot in our barnyard I almost ran in to a large fox running in my direction chasing one of my hens. I yelled and waved and he was about 20 feet away and running at me before he turned off. Total lost-two pullets, three hens. We have always co-existed with this fox pair and accepted the occassional loss of one bird at a time. This big dog fox has gotten way too comfortable with people and will be dispatched next time we are able to. ALLWAYS lock your hens up at night-for me this means a extra trip to the farm around 8 PM but if not we suffer BIG losses and the hens-well they suffer most. Generally we lose our biggest hens-we have a spitzhauben that has survived two attacks although injured. Our newest chicks are hamburgs, dark cornish and fayoumi. (too lazy to spellcheck) who have a reputation for being excellent free range. I also have invested in electric poultry netting-we may not use it all the time but probably will during kitting time and for the youngsters. Spring is definitely the worst time for losses.
I caught our Fox on video in my front yard yesterday. Ironically, my chicks were delivered today. Do you think the fox knows?
Quote:And if they are really hungry or feeding young they don't usually give a hoot about having humans around and will take their prey in front of you advancing on them.
