HELP!! FOX'S ARE KILLING ALL OF MY CHICKENS!!!!

[Mary Coleman]

Okay it all started about three weeks ago when my Barred Plymouth Rock and Silver Laced Wyandotte disappeared with nothing left but a puff of feathers. My dad thought it was my male guineas, buy I told him it wasn't. Then two more Wyandotte's, a pair of Blue Copper Maran's, and four of my Bantams all GONE!!!!. Then just two days ago we saw it! A gray and white fox! Running off with another Wyandotte! Then,this morning I was woken up by my mini schnauzer barking his head off. Guess what was out there, a orange and white fox. So now there's two!!! It killed another Wyandotte and my head rooster. So now I only have my BR Rooster, my SL wyandotte rooster, a golden sex link, a Black Australorp and my bantam chicks. How do I keep it away. My dad tries to shoot it but it so fast and it gets away every time. Is there something I can put outside to scare it. We put out a trap but it doesn't work. Please help me!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

I am really sorry to hear about the chickens that were killed by the foxes. Once a predator gets a taste for chicken they keep coming back and I know how bad it feels to lose chickens in that way. I had a problem with raccoons. Unfortunately foxes are more difficult to trap than raccoons because they are very sensitive to human smells left on the trap ( at least that is what I have heard).

You probably need to keep the chickens in a covered chicken run (foxes can climb and dig well) to protect them from the foxes, until you get these particular foxes who have gotten used to venturing out for chickens during the day.

 

[shmccarthy]

I know how it is, I just had 6 pullets killed by one fox, in 10 minutes two days ago. I had the door open so I could keep an eye on them and listen to them and the dogs could hear if anything was going on. My brother got home from the bus stop and they were all fine. 10 minutes later he yelled, FOX!!! And my sweet barred rock pullet was gone, along with 4 of my black sex links and a leghorn pullet was dying in my yard. The fox dropped her as we ran outside. We don't know how the dogs didn't hear the fox and none of the birds made any noise.
I am in the same boat as you so here is my advice. All your chickens need to go on lockdown immediately. Shut them in the coop or the run, somewhere safe. They may not like it but that fox will keep killing them.
Next you need to get rid of the fox. I suggest trapping it. Fox are extremely...foxy.. And cunning. I went to my local feed store and bought 2 live traps. One raccoon sized, the other was mink sized. I have rubber boots, a hunting jacket, thick pants, thick gloves, and scent killer spray. I sprayed down all the clothes with the scent killer. It's extremely important they can't smell human scent, and the scent killer I use is sold at hunting stores (gander mountain, dunhams, bass pro shops, and probably even walmart) and I've been using it a while for deer and turkey hunting to mask scent. It works well for that so I trust it to spray the trap.
Next I took both of the traps near the place the chickens were killed. I set them up longways, the small one behind the big one. I covered them with leaves, sticks, brush, and dirt. I sprayed those down with scent killer too. I put a bantam in the small trap, and left the big one armed. I made sure the only way you can see the bantam, is looking through the larger trap. I only leave the bantam in there overnight with food, and luckily I have plenty of bantams, so I can rotate them without one getting too stressed. From what I've read/heard, this method has been successful for others catching fox. It's only been 2 days and I'm sure he's still snacking on the others he took.....but he will be back and I'm not letting my chickens out until I catch him. Remember, if it looks like a trap, the fox will know its a trap. Disguise it as best as you can and make it look natural as possible. I can't guarantee this will work, but this is the exact method I saw someone successfully trap a fox in a havahart trap, so there's a good shot. Good luck catching your foxes.

 

[Cowgrlup]

The BEST thing to do is to put a large black tarp over the chicken coop with a log on top. The one night we forgot to put the black tarp over the chicken coop was the one time they got eaten. The tarp scares them and sometimes they don't even see it

Hope this helps!!!

 

[JackE]

I had the same problem here. I got away with freeranging for almost a full year with no problems. Then one day I lost nine. After a couple months of keeping the chickens inside and letting them out only with somebody there, we got careless, BAM, seven more gone.
I tried trapping the fox. No luck, although I did thin out the coon population a bit. I'd see the fox, but luck was with him, because he always caught me unarmed.
The answer for me has been electrified poultry netting, from Premier. I started with 300'. In over a year since I first put it up, I have bought 300' more. You can power it with household electric, or solar. The chickens get out everyday, and I don't have to worry about them any more. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, buying that fence was one of the best things I have done for those birds.
Jack