Red fox problems

[NJpineyflock]

You are your birds' safe keeper. Their protector. You say the diameter on the pen was 1 inch by 2 inches. Predators such as raccoons and coyotes can pull a bird through chicken wire holes, which are a lot smaller than 1x2 inches. You would have to have hardware cloth, at least 1/2 inch.
You are an animal lover and don't like to kill them. Well, me too - but as stated above, I am my chicken's protector. If I put them out in a situation where they can be killed because I am unwilling to kill the thing that's after them - or upgrade their protective environment so that predator can't get to them, then I am failing them. If you keep chickens - or any livestock for that matter - you must love them more than you love the predator. And that means killing the predator if you can't protect the livestock adequately.
So there's your two choices: Upgrade your enclosure so a predator can't get in, or kill the predator.

I think this is very sound advice, I understand that if I am gonna keep livestock I need to protect it even if it means doing things I don’t want to do. My main coop is actually very secure, I haven’t had a problem in my main coop. The adult that the fox got was during the day while my guineas were free ranging. As of now my guineas do have a large run attached to their coop but keeping them in it all the time would be counter productive as I’ve started raising them to eat ticks something that is a massive problem here in the northeast and before I had my guineas my property was more infested then I’ve ever seen anywhere in my life. An electric fence wouldn’t work either cause guineas roam a whole lot and they fly well so no fence electric or otherwise would contain them so the fox could just wait until they leave that perimeter. My chickens will never be a problem as I only have 8 and they sleep in a secure coop with a large covered ru which only about 20 feet from my back porch and they have a large fenced in yard about 1 acre that they forage in during the day, as I’ve said they only problem I’ve had with them is hawk attacks. Thanks to everyone for your advice and personal stories!

 

[NJpineyflock]

I have had issues with fox in the past and have caught them in live traps. I baited the traps for a few days and let the fox take the bait then set the traps. I used some old processed chicken we had that found it's way to the bottom of the freezer. If you trap you must shoot it or it will keep coming back after your birds. This one was coming during the day and killed my most favorite bird. It had to go and since I have seen more fox on my game cameras I have set up around on my property mostly at night when they usually roam here. Good luck...
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Last night. I have been seeing a fox pretty regularly on my game cameras.
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I think that skinny fox has mange. I’ve seen that quite a few times and that’s what they look like.

 

[Big Doggie]

You are your birds' safe keeper. Their protector. You say the diameter on the pen was 1 inch by 2 inches. Predators such as raccoons and coyotes can pull a bird through chicken wire holes, which are a lot smaller than 1x2 inches. You would have to have hardware cloth, at least 1/2 inch.
You are an animal lover and don't like to kill them. Well, me too - but as stated above, I am my chicken's protector. If I put them out in a situation where they can be killed because I am unwilling to kill the thing that's after them - or upgrade their protective environment so that predator can't get to them, then I am failing them. If you keep chickens - or any livestock for that matter - you must love them more than you love the predator. And that means killing the predator if you can't protect the livestock adequately.
So there's your two choices: Upgrade your enclosure so a predator can't get in, or kill the predator.

Yeah I’m with Eggscaping. 1/2” hardware cloth properly applied is the way to go

 

[cmom]

Every fox I have eliminated was mangy and stinky. They made the mistake of killing some of my birds. I don't bother the predators as long as they leave my birds alone. My coops and pens have electric wires around them, concrete under the gates, and heavy duty netting completely covering the pens. So far so good. I have game cameras up around on my property. I originally put the cameras up to see what was roaming at night. I was actually surprised that there was quite a lot of nighttime activity. I would see predators and after awhile be able to identify some from seeing them almost nightly. This is an easy one, this coyote has an injured right front foot I've seen it off and on for quite awhile.

 

[Mossy Dell]

I have had issues with fox in the past and have caught them in live traps. I baited the traps for a few days and let the fox take the bait then set the traps. I used some old processed chicken we had that found it's way to the bottom of the freezer. If you trap you must shoot it or it will keep coming back after your birds. This one was coming during the day and killed my most favorite bird. It had to go and since I have seen more fox on my game cameras I have set up around on my property mostly at night when they usually roam here. Good luck...
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Last night. I have been seeing a fox pretty regularly on my game cameras.
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Can you say what kind of trap you have and where you got it?

We are getting hit here by gray and red foxes. A big red fox took two three month pullets yesterday at 2 pm. My daughter saw it trotting across her property with my bird in its mouth.

I got the chickens secure at night but was letting them range in the day around our house. Mostly they stayed pretty close but were probably on the edge of our windbreak area when they got attacked.

My daughter was getting hit by the gray fox, which a neighbor videoed killing one of her guineas. I have tried to trap it in a box trap using sardines. Instead, have caught a skunk, two possums, and three coons!

I think I need a live bait trap. But the big bait trap I just looked at at TSC was $170—and broken. The long term solution is electric fence within my fence, but I have my hands full this summer building a barn and extra pens.

 

[Folly's place]

Your foxes will keep coming back until they've taken all the birds! Lock them in until you have electric fencing up and running!
Mary

 

[cmom]

I have electric wire up around my coops and pens. I have caught fox in leg traps and live traps. With the leg traps I put a bird the fox killed as bait and put the leg traps all around the body so It would be sure to get caught and another fox I baited the trap with some old chicken we had processed but found its way to the bottom of our freezer. I let the fox take the bait for a few days then set the trap. Both fox were mangy and stinky. I have a fox I have been seeing on my game cameras quite often lately. It is a skinny fox. It may be a young fox. I heard something test the electric wire the other night. I think it may have been the fox. Once they test it they don't test it again.

 

[cmom]

I have my wires 3 wires high but you can put as much as you want. Be sure you have a good fence charger so whatever touches the wire it will know it. So far nothing has breached the wires. You can use the fence insulators or step in posts. I have both.

This is a chick/grow-put coop. I have 2 wires around this coop and pens and used the step in posts. The coyote knows the electric wire is there. I forgot and left the pop doors open. There is another pop door and another pen on the other side of this coop.

 

[cmom]

I don't make a habit of eliminating predators but if they kill my birds I will. The fox I eliminated with the leg traps dug under a gate to one of the pens and killed several birds and dragged them out under the gate. Since I put concrete under all of the gates.

 

[Mossy Dell]

Thanks, cmom. I plan to add an electronet pasture next so my young fowl can range again. Electricity is key, and ideal is that with a dog!