My chicken survived a fox attack

[lea]

Hi everyone,

I have two chickens toot and carmen. they were free ranging around the house, as they have done for the past year or so, when Carmen started screaming. I ran outside and found a fox was trying to drag my precious carmen away. I dont think he had a good grip on her, because he dropped her when I ran at him. Carmen turned around and started to chase after the fox, she is very fiesty, and then hid in a bush. My sister picked up toot and we put her in their pen and then we spent at least 10 minutes trying to get a hold of Carmen to put in the pen as well, with the fox still running around hoping he could still get a hold of her. They were both very frightened, Carmen especially. I went out a number of times to check on them and make sure Carmen hadnt been seriously injured, which it doesnt seem she has, but today she remained fairly quiet and still with just a little walking and pecking.

I assume she is suffering from stress/fright/shock etc. I guess its possible she may have some injuries or sore muscles or something. She is eating and pecking a little, but I am still a bit worried about her.

There wont be any more free ranging around the house, I have quite a large cat enclosure which I will be putting them in to peck from now on. We love our chickens and we want to protect them as much as we can.

Thanks for sharing all this wonderful information, it is so helpful.

Lea

 

[duckyfromoz]

I bet you got a pretty good scare yourself. You were very lucky not to loose her. Pesky foxes.

Hopefully the fox will find an easier meal somewhere else and leave your girls alone now that they wont be free ranging.

 

[lea]

Yes we had quite a scare.

We have just moved from Queensland to Victoria, we never had any trouble with foxes where we were living in QLD as there were dingoes around, which apparantly drive the foxes away. Dingoes you say, isnt that just as bad? Well...yes, but we only ever heard them in the distance, they never seemed to come near us, so our chickens have a lived a luxurious life until now. As soon as we settled in here in Vic, we saw our first fox, but we were a bit slack in keeping our two chickens protectd....which is very lucky for us and for Carmen.

I hope my chickens will now live to a ripe old age.

 

[duckyfromoz]

Oh- YAY another Aussie. I am from Victoria too. I actually lost a few ducks to a dingoe once. A neighbour had one as a pet, but didnt have particulaly good fences. I was devestated- thats not the kind of thing you expect to have happen when you live in the middle of a town.
Actually- come to think of it..I dont ever recall loosing any poultry to a fox. Neighbours dogs mostly and a cat once.


I live in Melbourne- but have a block of land in the country where there are a lot of foxes. I take my ducks up there with me- but I have a very secure cage to lock them into.

 

[lea]

You must have been so sad to loose the ducks to the dingo. We live just outside of Bendigo on a sheep stud farm, so there are plenty of predetors around, especially foxes because of the lambs. The farmers do all they can to protect everything, but there are so many foxes.

Dingos can get around, there were siteings in the middle of toowoomba of dingoes, because of the drought and development they have been forced to move closer in to the urban areas for food and water.

I am an animal lover and dont wish any suffering or premature death on any animal, but i love my chickens and cats so much that I have even considered getting a gun license to protect my animals.

Thats rare for a chicken to be taken by a cat. Our chickens and cats live mostly in harmony, although Carmen, the fiesty chicken, has been known to chase the cats!! The cats usually stay a good distance away from the chickens. Was it a feral cat? or maybe just a very hungry cat?

Nice to talk with someone so close!!

 

[duckyfromoz]

Closer than you think on weekends!!!!!!!!! The block of land I have is about half an hour from Bendigo!!

The dingo attack was terrible. I had one little duck in a cage as it only had one leg, and that was the only one left alive.
The cat that killed my duck was a feral. Silly lady a few doors up from me has been feeding them for years. I got a council cat cage shortly after that. I caught 13 in under a month. Around the same time others in my area were trapping them too. In 2 months over 40 feral cats were trapped. They havent been too bad since then- but they are starting to be a problem again.

 

[lea]

Feral cats can be a real problem. and yet we found a cat and her kitten by the side of the road, dumped. Another cat we found at the rubbish tip, dumped. The people that dump these animals in the bush are the ones responsible for the feral cat population, but they are the first ones to complain.

We keep all our cats in a cat enclosure, they are micro chipped and desexed and are, I think, very happy. We keep them enclosed so they cant kill any wildlife and also for their own safety.

We are building a new house in the next 12 months or so and I have been trying to design a chicken run that is completly safe from predators, If that is possible....Maybe they will have to have their own room!!!