Hello, I am new

[Sir Birdaholic]

I'm at war right now with a fox.

So far,.... he's winning,

but I have more tricks up my sleeve to try!

 

[KatieJJ]

I couldn't find any tracks, but the ground was dry and packed. Not good for leaving tracks. We saw a beautiful red fox just the other night. I don't think it would have gone after them in the daytime though.

 

[scratch'n'peck]

If the chickens had a guard dog that might help.

 

[bobbi-j]

Quote:


Yes it would. If it knows your chickens are there, it doesn't care if it's day or night. Although most predators are GENERALLY nocturnal (excluding hawks, of course), they will attack during the day, too.

 

[sourland]

Quote:
Fox and other predators are feeding rapidly growing young right now. They will hunt and kill whenever the opportunity presents itself. They are not limited to being nocturnal predators.

 

[Sir Birdaholic]

scratch'n'peck :

If the chickens had a guard dog that might help.

I'm thinking of getting another dog to live with my flock, but I just dread going back up to having 8 dogs.

 

[KatieJJ]

I don't have the time to train a guardian dog right now. I will consider the fox in the daytime thing, though. It makes sense about feeding young, and I have seen foxes in our area during the daytime as well as coyotes, but not recently. Thanks again to everyone.

 

[Pele]

Sprinkle some flour on the ground around the coop, and in the areas where the ground is hard packed. You'll get your tracks, and then know what you have to do. If all you find is one isolate spot where the flour is all messed up, with no tracks leading to it, then you have a hawk problem.

If you find people tracks, or if your chickens stop disappearing suddenly once you put down the flour, then you have a human thief, which unfortunately does happen.

 

[KatieJJ]

Oooohhh...that's a WONDERFUL idea! Thank you so much. I will do that tonight!