Saw a fox the other day......

[Shamo Hybrid]

Should I be worried? I saw a fox the other day running through the property out in the back where the chickens are, I'm not familiar at all with foxes but it was blue in color, did a quick Google search and turns out it might be a 'Silver Fox'. Are those known predators of chickens?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Red foxes come in a whole range of colors or combinations of colors other than the color RED. Gray foxes on the other hand are "SORTA" black. A general description of your physical location will give us more information as to which kind or kinds of fox you saw.

BTW, there is no color, kind, shape, or description of fox that will pass up a nice juicy chicken dinner if the need and the opportunity collide.

 

[LittleMissCountry]

We had a fox near our coop a while back and I kept the chickens penned up for awhile, until the neighbors dog took care of the fox. It never tried to get into the coop, but I wasn't taking chances free ranging.
I just saw another fox on the game cam a few days ago, but it was on thw opposite side of the house. Interestingly, I had sprayed the fruit trees with animal repellent to keep the deer off them (and sprinkled wolf urine granules), and in the video the fox sniffs around the tree then makes a wide circle and takes off. I have the wolf urine sprinkled around the coop area as well, but so far no fox has shown up in the game cam over there to test the theory.

 

[Trish1974]

Should I be worried?

Oh yeah! Foxes are relentless. They are the worst predator in my area. I hate 'em!

 

[Tiller]

Grey foxes are notorious chicken killers. They are smaller and a little more agile than Reds. They'll stay on a flock until they are all gone or penned up in a secure run.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

Red foxes come in a whole range of colors or combinations of colors other than the color RED. Gray foxes on the other hand are "SORTA" black. A general description of your physical location will give us more information as to which kind or kinds of fox you saw.

BTW, there is no color, kind, shape, or description of fox that will pass up a nice juicy chicken dinner if the need and the opportunity collide.

I'm from California, I know very little about foxes but through the window I saw a blue fox and I just Google'd 'blue fox' and apparently the Silver Fox has somewhat of a blue hue to it so I just assumed it's a silver fox, though I could be wrong. Anyway, it's been a few days now and my chickens should be safe in their well protected coop.

 

[aart]

The silver fox is a melanistic form of the red fox .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_fox_(animal)

Anyway, it's been a few days now and my chickens should be safe in their well protected coop.

That's good because it's probably still around.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Blue foxes and Arctic foxes are one and the same species or maybe subspecies is the right word. In the Winter blue foxes turn snow white so I think what you saw was a Gray Fox.

Gray foxes are good tree climbers and are not related to Red Foxes or to any of the other Red Fox subspecies.

Any way this is a good example of why it is important that you give a physical location when asking advice about predators.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

Blue foxes and Arctic foxes are one and the same species or maybe subspecies is the right word. In the Winter blue foxes turn snow white so I think what you saw was a Gray Fox.

Gray foxes are good tree climbers and are not related to Red Foxes or to any of the other Red Fox subspecies.

Any way this is a good example of why it is important that you give a physical location when asking advice about predators.

I don't know, it looked more like a Silver Fox after looking at the photos of both, but I'm not sure if there are Silver Foxes here in California. Whatever the case, are foxes solitary animals? Over here where I live, sometimes you can hear a pack of either coyotes or foxes that will sometimes make some weird loud sounds at night!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Google "NOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RED FOXES, COYOTES, & GRAY FOXES. Yes foxes are mostly solitary animals but coyotes are on the grangerous side.