Red fox spotted!

[shannon84]

Trapping fox can be difficult....and you can't kill them all, so better to make sure your coop is secure.
They may never even try to get into your coop.....might change your free ranging plans tho.
Probably more than one around....the cam is just a thing of interest to see what's out there.

oh they are not free range I have them locked up . Their run is connected to there coop. Plus I shut the coop door . I'm super paranoid with my chickens lol. I didn't see blood that's what's got me dumbfounded. Maybe it was an owl and the rabbit got away with some hair missing? Yeah I'm just extremely curious what's coming around here at nights. I have their coop close to our house just because I'm always worrying.

 

[bigoledude]

A fox or coyote will often catch and throttle a rabbit or chicken, wait a moment or two till it dies, then run off with it. You will rarely see a bunch of blood and guts at a fox or coyote kill of a small animal.

I always encourage anyone to beef-up their coop and run against predators. But, I subscribe to, if you have predators hanging around, kill them. Most are relentless and will never stop trying to get past your defenses. The argument that another predator will take the dead ones place is proof positive there is no danger of hurting the predator population.

Foxes are voracious eaters and are always hungry. And, they are notoriously curious animals. You can use these traits against them. They really are not very difficult to catch. I hate to repeat myself but, there are many very excellent videos on YouTube by professional trappers showing how to trap foxes and just about any other predator you might encounter. Never before has there been more information or equipment for predator control available to the public. Now, it only depends on how much effort you want to devote to the effort.

Yes, another fox or predator may show up. But, the one you kill won't. One less is one less. Mathematics. I promise predator control works. Dead predators kill no chickens! A game cam is a great place to start. Knowing what you are up against is very important.

 

[shannon84]

​A fox or coyote will often catch and throttle a rabbit or chicken, wait a moment or two till it dies, then run off with it.  You will rarely see a bunch of blood and guts at a fox or coyote kill of a small animal.

I always encourage anyone to beef-up their coop and run against predators.  But, I subscribe to, if you have predators hanging around, kill them.  Most are relentless and will never stop trying to get past your defenses.  The argument that another predator will take the dead ones place is proof positive there is no danger of hurting the predator population.

Foxes are voracious eaters and are always hungry.  And, they are notoriously curious animals.  You can use these traits against them.  They really are not very difficult to catch.  I hate to repeat myself but, there are many very excellent videos on YouTube by professional trappers showing how to trap foxes and just about any other predator you might encounter.  Never before has there been more information or equipment for predator control available to the public.  Now, it only depends on how much effort you want to devote to the effort.

Yes, another fox or predator may show up.  But, the one you kill won't.  One less is one less.  Mathematics.  I promise predator control works.  Dead predators kill no chickens!  A game cam is a great place to start.  Knowing what you are up against is very important.

OK I got a trap set with sardines. I hope I'm not luring anything bad that was never around to begin with? I heard they are relentless. I watched some YouTube videos on trapping. Have you trapped any type of chicken predators? I never seen many predators around here. This is my first year with chickens. So does having chickens lure predators from all over, like do they know pretty fast that you have chickens. Like smell them or something? Thanks for helping me you guys!

 

[bigoledude]

Foxes and coyotes are in the canine (dog) family. They both have good sense of smell. The fox's sense of smell is not as acute as coyotes. But, their hearing is out-the-box. Most animals that have great big ears use them like a radar dish. I'm sure you've seen videos where foxes are dive-bombing mice under several feet of snow. They can hear them down there!! Believe me, they know you have chickens. So do the coons and possums. And these are just as terrible as the others.

Down here in the very SE corner of Louisiana we have very few foxes. I think it's too wet and the heartworm plague is horrendous down here. But, I've trapped many coyotes. I think coyotes are much slicker than foxes. Coyotes down here have a life expectancy of about two years because they have not been down here long enough to develop any resistance to heartworms. That still leaves them enough time to produce several litters.

I was an avid hunter for nearly all of my life. Still get to hunt a little but, because of really bad diabetes I don't get around as well. So, for enjoyment I help locals with their predator problems. It's definitely a much more cerebral challenge. I've never charged a penny for any of the work I do. I have been given some fabulous canned or pickled stuff and deer meat though. They buy or borrow their own traps. They'll need them over the course of the years.

Possums are by far the most numerous predator around here, causing heavy losses in chickens. The dogproof traps make catching them a snap. You know something that's crazy, it's hard for even the most experienced farmers sometimes to believe their losses are coming from possums. I've already caught 2 possums in one night that had bee slaughtering a friends heritage New Hampshires. The killing stopped and, to this day he refuses to believe it was the possums!!!.

It seems that once you get rid of the coons that harass chickens, the others keep their distance. They are territorial and keep other coons from infiltrating onto your property.

 

[shannon84]

​Foxes and coyotes are in the canine (dog) family.  They both have good sense of smell.  The fox's sense of smell is not as acute as coyotes.  But, their hearing is out-the-box.  Most animals that have great big ears use them like a radar dish.  I'm sure you've seen videos where foxes are dive-bombing mice under several feet of snow.  They can hear them down there!!  Believe me, they know you have chickens.  So do the coons and possums.  And these are just as terrible as the others. 

Down here in the very SE corner of Louisiana we have very few foxes.  I think it's too wet and the heartworm plague is horrendous down here.  But, I've trapped many coyotes.  I think coyotes are much slicker than foxes.  Coyotes down here have a life expectancy of about two years because they have not been down here long enough to develop any resistance to heartworms.  That still leaves them enough time to produce several litters.

I was an avid hunter for nearly all of my life.  Still get to hunt a little but, because of really bad diabetes I don't get around as well.  So, for enjoyment I help locals with their predator problems.  It's definitely a much more cerebral challenge.  I've never charged a penny for any of the work I do.  I have been given some fabulous canned or pickled stuff and deer meat though.  They buy or borrow their own traps.  They'll need them over the course of the years.

Possums are by far the most  numerous predator around here, causing heavy losses in chickens. The dogproof traps make catching them a snap. You know something that's crazy, it's hard for even the most experienced farmers sometimes to believe their losses are coming from possums.  I've already caught 2 possums in one night that had bee slaughtering a friends heritage New Hampshires.  The killing stopped and, to this day he refuses to believe it was the possums!!!. 

It seems that once you get rid of the coons that harass chickens, the others keep their distance.  They are territorial and keep other coons from infiltrating onto your property. 

I never knew that about the heartworm coyote thing that's amazing, here the Coyotes carry parvovirus and are immune to it here in southern Indiana. But maybe that's everywhere? I'm 32 years old and green as can be to chickens and predators. I know possums are bad here as well and my dad had alot of problems out of them along with weasels. I've never seen a weasel in my life so I wouldn't know one if I seen it. Something else I've been noticing a strong skunk odor that I never noticed before I got chickens. It's amazing how chickens draw so many varmints!I feel like I never stop learning with all this no matter how many books I read or online reading I do I'm constantly learning about chickens. I thought it would be so simple but everything seems to wants to kill chickens

coon, foxes, Coyotes, possums, weasels, skunks and hawlks. Plus dogs ugh!I can't wait to get my game camera. It will be interesting for sure! Thanks for the education on these pesky predators! Looking forward to morning time to see if I got something in the trap

 

[bigoledude]

Just remembered; There was an elderly lady about 30 minutes from me. She had something killing chicks. She couldn't afford a game cam and I had no idea what the culprit was either. So many of these predators kill in nearly the same fashion, it's nearly impossible to determine what's doing the killing most of the time. She came up with an ingenious idea. She spread some sand along the path the killer was taking. She would check for footprints early every morning. It didn't take long before she called me. I looked up on the internet and finally found the prints. It was a mink!!! Wish I could take credit for that one but I can't. That old lady was sharp as a tack in other areas as well. She passed not long ago. She fell-out in her yard doing what she loved the most. Working with her animals and her garden. We all miss her around here.

 

[bigoledude]

Hey, there's a learning period. The smartest thing to do first is to secure your birds up tight as you can afford. Then start to educate yourself in all of the other areas. But, most importantly is don't get all bent and skull-cramped!! Enjoy your birds. I know there's a lot to learn but, enjoy that stuff as well. Get whatever is your very most favorite breed of chickens and have a great time raising them. Raising chickens is supposed to be fun.

 

[shannon84]

​Just remembered;  There was an elderly lady about 30 minutes from me.  She had something killing chicks.  She couldn't afford a game cam and I had no idea what the culprit was either.  So many of these predators kill in nearly the same fashion, it's nearly impossible to determine what's doing the killing most of the time.  She came up with an ingenious idea.  She spread some sand along the path the killer was taking.  She would check for footprints early every morning. It didn't take long before she called me.  I looked up on the internet and finally found the prints. It was a mink!!!  Wish I could take credit for that one but I can't.  That old lady was sharp as a tack in other areas as well.  She passed not long ago.  She fell-out in her yard doing what she loved the most.  Working with her animals and her garden.  We all miss her around here.

bless her heart, she sounded like a pretty amazing woman

and that was a very good idea with the sand!!! Is a mink like a weasel? Yeah that goes to show you truly don't know what type of predator problem you have then. I could be thinking it's a fox and hell it could be something totally different!

 

[drumstick diva]

The problem some folks have is their town or village ??? doesn't allow trapping or shooting/ poisoning.

Or the folks can't bring themselves to do either. Others think to catch & release, which is illegal in many areas. On the early days on BYC I immediately found out what SSS meant (shoot, shovel, shut up). But don't see folks mentioning it anymore.

 

[shannon84]

The problem some folks have is their town or village  ??? doesn't allow trapping or shooting/ poisoning.        Or the folks can't bring themselves to do either.  Others think to catch & release, which is illegal in many areas.  On the early days on BYC   I immediately found out what   SSS meant  (shoot, shovel, shut up).  But don't see folks mentioning it anymore.

well the SSS was my plan to be honest. I would make someone else do it of course. It would bother me too much I think

I'm not sure on the laws here. I would have to check first .