It finally happened.... 😭

[Folly's place]

Loved my Chessies, and yours did good work!
Mary

 

[cmom]

So sorry for you loss. I don't free range any more due to losses from predators in the past. Here it's been mostly fox. My most favorite special hen was taken during the middle of the day while I was out with the birds. I never found her but did find feathers. It broke my heart and I cried like a baby. My birds all have nice large pens now and they stay in their pens. Free ranging is nice but it is a risk you take. Lesson learned the hard way. I did catch the fox and eliminated it but have seen others since. I also have game cameras around on my property and I had seen one on the cameras but during the nighttime. I don't think the bird's color have anything to do with birds being killed. Predators are opportunists. They will lurk looking for an opportunity and apparently found one. Good luck...

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

Good dog! What are you going to do now?

I don’t know.... we have some ideas to try to lure the fox in. It’s going to be a dead one soon though. Any time we see the monster on our trail cam it’s always right before the sun rises.

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

Good Girlie, Get that bad fox.
Dont worry, Mama's gonna get it for you now.

Absolutely! I hope it’s lived it’s best life because it soon won’t have one to live!

 

[rumbleBee_STi]

So sorry for you loss. I don't free range any more due to losses from predators in the past. Here it's been mostly fox. My most favorite special hen was taken during the middle of the day while I was out with the birds. I never found her but did find feathers. It broke my heart and I cried like a baby. My birds all have nice large pens now and they stay in their pens. Free ranging is nice but it is a risk you take. Lesson learned the hard way. I did catch the fox and eliminated it but have seen others since. I also have game cameras around on my property and I had seen one on the cameras but during the nighttime. I don't think the bird's color have anything to do with birds being killed. Predators are opportunists. They will lurk looking for an opportunity and apparently found one. Good luck...

That’s terrible As much as my loss hurts, I’m relieved it wasn’t any of my favorite chooks, but I’m still very saddened for the loss of my leghorn. I was so afraid that I was going to find her body when I was following my dog on the scent trail, gnarled & chewed to bits... thankfully I didn’t. She was living her best chicken life, wandering around & free ranging. Not a worry to be had... until she met her doom. I originally wasn’t going to free range them, but I decided to try it out one day during summer & it’s gone great.... until now. Our trail cam caught one this morning around 6:30AM. I just can’t help but wonder....was the fox on its way back to its den & my leggy was in the wrong place/wrong time? Did the fox smell/hear it’s next victim & followed its senses? Or had the fox been checking out my yard & seen all of the chickens ranging & just waited for its moment? We will be installing a hot fence to go around the perimeter of our yard, & if that doesn’t seem secure enough then we will do more. Catching this fox is #1 on the to-do list.

 

[cmom]

It has most likely been lurking looking for an opportunity and found one. It could have just happened by. I noticed with my cameras that often time most predators have somewhat of a routine and routes they use. I got to where I could identify some of the predators I saw on my cameras. One coyote I saw quite regularly had an injured right front foot. Also a fox had a unique mark. I would see it repeatedly. Again, good luck...

 

[cmom]

I caught the fox in a live trap. I baited it for a few days and put a camera out there. I then set the traps and caught the fox. I had been watching it on the cameras.