Vulpes, commonly referred to as foxes, have been causing me problems for a while now. You can read my original thread about my unwanted visitor here.
Originally I was losing a chicken a week to them, but have since locked my girls in at night and have limited their free-ranging to a few short supervised hours in the afternoon after school or mornings during the weekend.
For a long time, I didn't see Mr. Fox/Ms. Vixen. I knew they were still in the area because their long-abandoned den is on my neighbor's property. I don't know where they(or he/she) went but the fox(s) didn't reappear. This was a red fox that originally caused me issue.
I checked with authorities in my area and am not permitted to set leg traps or kill traps where I live.
Last night, a mature gray fox was in my front yard.
My birds get locked up so I'm not too concerned about predator attacks; I just don't want them on my property, to begin with. Or, at least, not by my chickens.
So what I'm looking for is advice from anyone who has successfully deterred a fox without the use of urine or something else equally uncivilized.
I am allowed to shoot on sight but I have no interest in staking up all night to see if I can land a shot.
Bear in mind that I have an elderly cat who goes outside every day and is not very bright. He eats everything, so poisoned food is out of the question.
Originally I was losing a chicken a week to them, but have since locked my girls in at night and have limited their free-ranging to a few short supervised hours in the afternoon after school or mornings during the weekend.
For a long time, I didn't see Mr. Fox/Ms. Vixen. I knew they were still in the area because their long-abandoned den is on my neighbor's property. I don't know where they(or he/she) went but the fox(s) didn't reappear. This was a red fox that originally caused me issue.
I checked with authorities in my area and am not permitted to set leg traps or kill traps where I live.
Last night, a mature gray fox was in my front yard.
My birds get locked up so I'm not too concerned about predator attacks; I just don't want them on my property, to begin with. Or, at least, not by my chickens.
So what I'm looking for is advice from anyone who has successfully deterred a fox without the use of urine or something else equally uncivilized.
I am allowed to shoot on sight but I have no interest in staking up all night to see if I can land a shot.
Bear in mind that I have an elderly cat who goes outside every day and is not very bright. He eats everything, so poisoned food is out of the question.
