Is there a way to deter foxes?

[Aerliss]

I also heard lion dung is a good deterrent, but where I'd get that from, god knows. The only lions we have here are in zoos!

Amazon sell it. Possibly also the big gardening shops like Dobbies.

Edit.

It's called Silent Roar, and marketed as a cat repellent. There is a fox repellent called Scoot, which is a synthetic fox scent. The idea is you keep applying the scent to the perimeter of your garden, like a fox would and have a little scenting war with the foxes. Eventually you'll win. You have the keep applying it.

However, scent deterrents really only work for territory wars. If the fox knows there is easy food and can't SEE another fox, a dog, or human it's going to ignore the scent.

Electric wire, raising your fences, or a very secure enclosure are really your only options in suburban UK (there's a fence topper you can install that prevents foxes entering but it is not cheap). You COULD speak to the R(S)SPCA about relocating it to protect your animals, but they'll likely not do it because it would be pointless; another would take the territory in no time. This is why you'll always see people who have to resort to killing predators having to do it repeatedly.

 

[Howard E]

Don't mean to step on anyone's toes, but best way to deter a fox or any other varmint is to house the birds in a secure coop nothing can get in.

To give an analogy, I have a relative who enjoys deer hunting. He has all the gimmicks......the scents, the calls, etc. Sets up and monitors game cameras all year. I think his hunting clothes might even include camouflage underwear. Yet what he rarely does is actually shoot a deer.

Different relative, last year decided to try his hand again at deer hunting......shows up on last weekend of the season, takes a couple practice shots to see if his weapon is still sighted in......goes to the deer stand in his street clothes about an hour before dark. 15 minutes later, a group of deer walk out, he picks out a fat doe and that is that. Meat for the freezer. Success.....with none of the gimmicks.

I know of three different local flocks and none have sustained losses after the coops were secured. Foxes, coons and dogs galore and nobody gets hurt. Just saying.

 

[susan1981]

The coop is pretty secure, it's just when she's having a run around in the garden that I worry. I saw him early this morning. I was inside and he just ran across my garden into next doors. I mean, don't get me wrong, if he could get my chicken, he would, but he doesn't seem like he's coming here because of her. I hadn't seen a fox in my garden for absolutely ages until this one turned up a few weeks ago. I'm hoping he'll bugger off so I can relax a bit more.

 

[jsmeureka]

I have one chicken and when I'm at home, I like to let her roam the garden. I often work from home and I have my headphones on, so can't really hear anything going on around me. I haven't really worried up until the last few days because we don't generally have many foxes where I live, especially not during the day, but there's clearly a new fox on the block!

The other day, I was working with my headphones on (I need them on for my work), and my husband ran outside because he could hear the chicken making a lot of noise. There was a fox up the other end of the garden.

Often, if I'm just popping out for 5 minutes to do the school run or whatever, I'll leave her in the garden hoping she'll be fine. Luckily I didn't do that this morning when I did the school run because when I came home, there was a fox in the garden.

I don't know what it is with my garden, but it's a bit of a hotspot for every cat in the neighbourhood. I have 3 of my own, and we have a few others that are often in my garden as well so I thought maybe that stopped the foxes coming in.

I just had the chicken running around the garden now while I'm inside working and I noticed she looked very alert, and I could see the fox through the fence in my neighbour's garden. So any advice on how I can deter them, or is there nothing I can do really? Also, do chickens have a good sense of smell or of foxes? We've had a number of chickens, this will be our last one, and sometimes they start making their clucking noises really loudly, I'll go outside to see what's going on and they'll be a fox in my neighbour's garden but there's a

 

[jsmeureka]

Dogs help, but a fox is so quite & sneaky. I live on 20 heavily wooded acts. This red guy was showing up at noon, 2, 4. My dogs sleep soundly sometimes and not so close to the pin either. I've spotted him coming up the driveway one day about noon, he positioned himself by tree diagonally from the chicken pen just watching away. This was the second time so the 3rd or 4th time..
So one day he was down in the hollow sniffing around a tree and that my dog had probably peed on .. I got my 22 Ruger and took a couple of pot shots at him . Scare him right off. That was about three weeks or a month ago well yesterday he's back. I May try a live trap that I have. Problem is one of the dogs is small and that's probably who I will catch because he is a real hunter. Now that all the leaves are out it is impossible to see too far on my property. My real problem is the rat snakes. I kind of thought I was getting a break this year but they showed up a few days ago, last year they were mating in my cage , crap! Eggs are disappearing left and right now. There's got to be a bunch of them around here, I've seen them for years. And they're always about 5 feet long, may try relocating a few if I can catch him

 

[susan1981]

Sounds like I've got it easy compared to you guys! To be honest, where I live, they probably get plenty of food. This one looks like a healthy fox, about the size of a regular dog. Although he doesn't look quite all there. He was in my garden yesterday, the chicken was away, and I was just watching him. He looked a bit like he was drunk! He was swaying a bit, looked a bit vacant, was staring at me through the window. I don't know. He just seemed a bit away with the fairies. Then he toddled off up the end of the garden and over next door. Didn't even look at the chicken cage. He doesn't seem that intent on getting her, although I'm sure he wouldn't hesitate given the chance. I haven't seen him sneaking around the cage.

Like last week, he didn't seem fussed by her. She was in her cage. Around her cage, we have a wire fence, as sometimes we want her to have a little run, but not throughout the whole of the garden, especially if we have people here who aren't keen on chickens. So the mesh is there just purely to keep her sectioned off, but a fox could easily get into that bit. So the chicken was in her cage and I could hear her clucking really loudly. Went down there, he was cuddled up in the corner of the little extension (which is what I call that bit) laying on a load of grass cuttings. I think he was keeping dry from the rain as there's a big fir tree that overhangs there. He ran off, about an hour later, exactly the same thing happened. I wouldn't be surprised if he lived next door. Their garden is a bit like a jungle!

 

[jsmeureka]

Will get rabies like a dog.

 

[jsmeureka]

That sounds like symptoms

 

[susan1981]

We don't have rabies over here.

 

[aart]

We don't have rabies over here.

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