Lost one of my girls to a fox...

[dturren]

The fox got over a 5' fence around my property and killed one of my four Wyandotts while they were free ranging. I chased him out of the yard and he ran off, but now he knows where the girls live. They were scared to death and followed me up the stairs and wouldn't budge from the back deck. I lead them out into the fenced-in back yard area and stayed with them until they calmed down. I am going to spend the next two days fortifying their run. Apparently foxes can climb over a wire fence with rectangles of 4"x2". I'm not sure what to do to keep the fox out. The run has 1/2" wire cloth with 1" chicken wire on top. I let the wire cloth portrude out 1 foot from the run on the ground. Now that I know I have a definite predator what do I need to do to fortify my chicken run? I think my coop is "bullet proof" (or in this case "fox proof"). It has 1x6 tung and groove sides with plywood ends (in an A frame shape). It's the run I'm worried about. Thanks for your thoughts.

 

[Ang]

We had a big fox problem last summer and I just saw one heading to our barn in the evening earlier this week. I am sure that she got one of my girls a few days before when the coop got shut up later than usual. My only remedy for keeping the fox away are vigilance. We spend a lot of time outside during the day in the summers and shut everything up tight at night. We used to free range everything but no anymore.

 

[greyhorsewoman]

You might try a string of electric on a solar powered charger (or even battery, depending on size of run).

 

[SpottedCrow]

I'm so sorry that you lost one of your birds...

Chicken wire isn't worth the money you spent though...Hardware cloth on the top too would do better.

 

[My Little Sister's Farm]

i'm so sorry, i don't have experience with foxes, only coyotes. they are stupid and really easy to keep out compared to other species of predators.