How do you know you caught the culprit?

[aart]

Congratulations on getting that fox too, they are not easy.

Ditto Dat!

I hope you permanently disposed of that fox.

 

[GiddyUpGo]

Ditto Dat!

I hope you permanently disposed of that fox.

My neighbor took it away. I don’t know what she did with it but I do know she doesn’t have much sympathy for predators, so I’m pretty sure it’s shuffled off this mortal coil.

 

[Mtnboomer]

We lost our poor Fuzzy to a predator a couple of days ago. The day after it happened my neighbor came over and set a trap ... we set it up near the scene of the crime and baited it with Fuzzy’s feathers and some tuna. Last night we caught a gray fox in the trap. It ate all the tuna and it ate the feathers too. My neighbor says she’s very sure we got the culprit, but I’m still nervous about letting our chickens out again.

How do you know you got the right fox? Maybe should keep the chickens locked up for another week or two just to be safe?

Thank you all!

You don't know for sure. We have a diverse list of predators that roam our yard each night. Seeing a fox tonight doesn't mean he attacked the night before. It could have been a skunk, opossum, mink, coyote, bobcat, etc etc.
There us a high probability that it was the same fox which had returned for another meal. However, because the trap was baited with a highly aromatic can of tuna, it could have attracted an entirely different animal.

 

[cmom]

I think the fox. I have several game cameras up on my property. Often times the same predators roam the same area. On some of my cameras I was able to identify some predators by unique markings or injuries. I noticed the same predators coming around. They have routines and routes they travel. They will lurk looking for opportunities and usually find one when you least expect it. I saw this coyote quite often. It has an injured right front foot.

 

[GiddyUpGo]

I think it was the fox too. Left out the trap for a couple of additional nights and the only thing we caught was a possum. I'm going to put out my trailcam at the scene of the crime and see if anything else comes back. If not I'm going to assume we caught the culprit, but I still don't think I'm going to let my chickens out again until I have some kind of barrier up.

 

[cmom]

We lost our poor Fuzzy to a predator a couple of days ago. The day after it happened my neighbor came over and set a trap ... we set it up near the scene of the crime and baited it with Fuzzy’s feathers and some tuna. Last night we caught a gray fox in the trap. It ate all the tuna and it ate the feathers too. My neighbor says she’s very sure we got the culprit, but I’m still nervous about letting our chickens out again.

How do you know you got the right fox? Maybe should keep the chickens locked up for another week or two just to be safe?

Thank you all!

Also,

 

[cmom]

I agree

 

[bryan99705]

keep the traps set because if a pair of fox disappear, another pair will move in. your only way to break the cycle is a guardian animal or reinforce you run area and coop

 

[cmom]

I had a gap between the netting that covers my pens and one of the gates. I went out yesterday and one of my males was a bloody. A couple of the females also had blood on them. I think an owl got into the pen and went in the pop door because there was blood inside the coop. My male seems ok but was shaken up. I didn't mess with him yesterday because he was quite freaked out. I checked this morning and all seems ok. I fixed the gap in the netting over the gate yesterday. It wasn't a big gap but big enough I guess. I walked around the coops and pens and couldn't find any breach.

 

[Thunder344]

I would not let them out again. Where there is one fox, there is usually more. We had a fox that we had gotten rid of, and then let the chickens out the next day. A second fox took three more. Have not caught that one, but there is now two more.
Reset the trap and when you do let your chickens out, keep a eye on them for the first couple of days.