- Jun 8, 2011
- 366
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I let my birds out of their coop and into their pen today around 715am. I have a Easter Egger roo that lives seperately because of Roo agression issues. He roams free during the day and is locked up at night, but he never goes far from the confined flock.. My chickens are housed up against my horse shed which is located in the center of a large paddock. In the past, the horses have been a good deterrent to any wildlife visitors. I was walking out on my way to work at 750 and saw a fox in my paddock. He/she walked off into the woods when I came out. I couldn't find my EE Roo and there were three separate HUGE piles of feathers, it looked like he put up a pretty good fight. I was worried that the fox would come try to dig under the fence for the rest of the flock, so I spent some time piling up rocks against the base of the fence before I left for work. During this time the #$$*%&&$$ fox came back!!! Right when I was finished, I found my Roo, alive..but beat up badly, he was wedged into a space behind the fence and against the shed. I locked him up in his night cage until I can figure out what to do.
So..I'm at work, stressing out big time... the rest of the chickens are inside their chainlink pen, can he get to them? Do Fox dig? Do they climb? I can't be home during the day...I've never seen a fox here before in the 3 years I've had chickens, but now I know I'll be seeing them again! I don't want to shoot him, but I don't want to share my chickens with him either. I used to let them out for an hour or so in the late afternoon. I imagine that's not going to happen anymore. What i'm mostly shocked about is how bad I feel. I'm not a warm, fuzzy person when it comes to my chickens, but when I thought the roo was dead, I felt awful that I hadn't protected him properly. I'm looking for advice on how to keep them safe inside their pen. Thanks for letting me share.
So..I'm at work, stressing out big time... the rest of the chickens are inside their chainlink pen, can he get to them? Do Fox dig? Do they climb? I can't be home during the day...I've never seen a fox here before in the 3 years I've had chickens, but now I know I'll be seeing them again! I don't want to shoot him, but I don't want to share my chickens with him either. I used to let them out for an hour or so in the late afternoon. I imagine that's not going to happen anymore. What i'm mostly shocked about is how bad I feel. I'm not a warm, fuzzy person when it comes to my chickens, but when I thought the roo was dead, I felt awful that I hadn't protected him properly. I'm looking for advice on how to keep them safe inside their pen. Thanks for letting me share.
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