I'm not sure what it is you disagree with but I'm delighted I'm wrong if it means no more of your chickens will die.
There is a fox living 30 metred from the chicken crew I currently look after. She's a vixen and her, or her offspring, have been living here for many years. She gets a goose every now and then and once when the run gate was replaced but the wire overhang wasn't she got 7 or 8 chickens in one night.
As far as I can tell she goes by the chicken run nightly hoping someone has made an error and left an opening for her. Fortunately she's a dusk till dawn hunter. I see her quite often as I leave the chickens for the night.
I'm glad you leave her be! Really, foxes hunt when they're hungry...day, night, or anytime. Other predators do as well..we've had raccoons, mink, possums, and even an owl, all come during daylight hours. Foxes may show up more during the day in the past decade or two, because they have learned that humans can be good protection for them, and since coyotes kill foxes over territorial rights, humans are a big plus. When we had the vixen with her kits, she was living under one of our neighbor's houses, a few doors down. No one living in the area wanted to hurt her or her kits, but everyone that had chickens was worried. For about three or four weeks, she would bring her kits around and they would get one chicken that was free ranging. Just one. Every week or ten days. After that she and her family disappeared. We were thinking she was teaching her babies to hunt. We attempted a lot of different deterrent methods during that time, and maybe that had something to do with them leaving, idk.
Anyway, I hope this one is gone. I appreciate everyone's input and thoughts and heard some interesting stories! We are so appreciative of the wildlife that is left here...we are unwillingly living in what will be one of the fastest growing areas in the country in the coming years...much to the dismay of the majority of the population living here, as the growth plans came as a complete surprise to almost all current residents. So most people living here are willing to do anything to try to protect what wildlife we have left, if at all possible as we have previously always been a mostly farm and woodlands community, and that is rapidly changing and being destroyed.
Sadly, because of shrinking habitat, it is making wildlife not only bolder, but also more desperate for food and shelter, and less afraid of people...because what choice do they have? It makes me sad to hear people saying that they kill every predator they perceive to be a threat, when there can be other preventative options, such as what you described, depending on individual circumstances. .
Not that I'm totally opposed to eliminating a predator that becomes a major problem. If this one comes back and kills another of our birds, I will resort to trying to trap it, or at least try to figure out how we can make electric fencing work in our setup. Our flock is secure at night, at least they have been to date.
