Red Fox Makes Mass Kill

[varidgerunner]

Man, you guys are so lucky. I would love to have a fox come eat my chickens. Of course, I do have foxhounds, and that makes for a difference of perspective. Around here the only foxes around anymore live right in town. Plenty of coyotes, but a fox gives a much more enjoyable race, doesn't try to leave the state on you.

 

[centrarchid]

When I was a kid an uncle hunted fox in a big way. Importance of that was not clear to me as I thought a kennel of 20 hounds next to cockyard was all too noisy.

 

[varidgerunner]

I don't have 20 but mine are pretty quiet in the kennel. 'A dog that runs the kennel all the time won't have anything left when it's time to hunt' is the advice I always followed. But they do let it be known when something comes around the chicken yard. Not much in the way of things that get exercised regularly come very close. A coyote got cheeky one night, howled pretty close. I just started putting on collars and opening pens, he had his hands full for the next few hours. Very fortunate to live in a place I can do that. But I have seen foxes come around dog pens when they had never heard those dogs anywhere besides the pen. Back when I predator called a lot one of the most productive stands I found was right next to a deer dog kennel. Those dogs never got turned loose from the kennel, they were carted away to go hunt, And the resident foxes knew it. Boy that was a noisy mess when you turned on the call, but the foxes rolled into that place. It was my pal's spot, I thought he was crazy until the fox started rolling in like geese. Those were greys though, reds won't come to a call quite the same.

 

[Naser]

Man, you guys are so lucky. I would love to have a fox come eat my chickens. Of course, I do have foxhounds, and that makes for a difference of perspective. Around here the only foxes around anymore live right in town. Plenty of coyotes, but a fox gives a much more enjoyable race, doesn't try to leave the state on you.

That a fox will come and wipe out your flock and then you feel how much does it hurt, a fox killed about 5 hens and 7 chicks of my flock 3 years ago and I still couldn't forget it, even though my hens aren't pets

 

[Crooked Chicken]

After work / school, kids and I went back to barn. Dogs were really on edge every time the chickens made alarm calls. I policed up another carcass. Of the 20 chicks, 3 have been accounted for an penned, 6 carcasses found where 4 were headless. That means 11 chicks and their mother are not accounted for. I suspect strongly that at least some are still in the high weeds of the poultry yard.

When I encountered this headless chick on path leading to barn I assumed owl but started to waffle on that when seeing a trail of feathers. Chick also small enough for owl to pack off in flight unless dogs flushed it.

Ugh -- so sorry to hear of your losses. That's a tough pill to swallow. So are you currently relying only on the electric fence and dogs for protection? Do you pen them at night? Even with the precautions you've taken, when the power is on etc., they are still subject to attack from flying creatures. And the dogs need to rest at some point too.

I so wanted to free range my little flock during the day, but frightened of it since the attempted aerial attack. Now they are let out when I can at least somewhat supervise them, except the 2 extra cockerels whom I let out nearly all day to prevent fighting, etc. In fact, I'm having a little guilt trip at the moment because I didn't close the hatch between coop and pen tonight. I wasn't able to get out there in time and I don't do dark. Too many trees to walk past and all of the spiders/webs that hang out of them -- no thanks.

 

[chickendreams24]

I wouldn't wish predator problems on anyone. Anyone.

It's horrible. Last year we closed in on 30ish birds taken by fox and coyotes(one adult large fowl hen was killed and eat by a possum also) most taken in broad daylight/dusk. We free range but even the roosters couldn't always help although we did have three roosters sacrifice themselves to save chicks or hens.

Very early this spring we lost a few to unknown predators. And just last week we lost a rooster.

Mostly this spring/summer we lost over a dozen juveniles and a hen and 2 quail to rats which ate into their vent and ate their insides out alive. The quail were completely consumed except a few small bone fragments, the front of the skull, feathers and feet.

The rat problem is now under control but it was a huge problem. Many of the birds had to be humanely killed bc they were still alive.

They have now taken down the seed corn in the field around our house and it has removed the cover for predators making protecting our flock easier.

Our flock is too large to fence in and they would be unhappy. Losing birds is terrible and several of my favorites have been lost but they at least had a good life and felt freedom. We are also in a family owned rental property so changes we make can not be drastic.

 

[Crooked Chicken]

I wouldn't wish predator problems on anyone. Anyone.

It's horrible. Last year we closed in on 30ish birds taken by fox and coyotes(one adult large fowl hen was killed and eat by a possum also) most taken in broad daylight/dusk. We free range but even the roosters couldn't always help although we did have three roosters sacrifice themselves to save chicks or hens.

Very early this spring we lost a few to unknown predators. And just last week we lost a rooster.

Mostly this spring/summer we lost over a dozen juveniles and a hen and 2 quail to rats which ate into their vent and ate their insides out alive. The quail were completely consumed except a few small bone fragments, the front of the skull, feathers and feet.

The rat problem is now under control but it was a huge problem. Many of the birds had to be humanely killed bc they were still alive.

They have now taken down the seed corn in the field around our house and it has removed the cover for predators making protecting our flock easier.

Our flock is too large to fence in and they would be unhappy. Losing birds is terrible and several of my favorites have been lost but they at least had a good life and felt freedom. We are also in a family owned rental property so changes we make can not be drastic.

That sounds just awful. I don't think I could bear to witness that. I better be more careful with my birds..... gonna have to come up with a plan before next spring.