SCARY Saturday!!!

[dozen chickens]

We have had a fox in the neighborhood. Last week, it got all 5 of my neighbors chickens, starting with the ROO. Saturday night, it came to visit our coop and was able to squeeze through a little opening between the coop and the screened in run. Thankfully, my DH was out and heard one of our ROOS crowing, and he heard a bunch of noise. He ran out and saw the fox in with the chickens, ran back into the house to get his gun and yelled "the fox is in the chicken coop!" Myself, a friend, and our barefoot daughter RAN out there as fast as we could (in the snow and degrees of about 7*) and finally the fox ran off but with it being dark and so many of us out there DH couldnt shoot it. Meanwhile, we checked on our flock. Most of our girls were huddled in the coop on the roost, and out in the run (where the fox was!) were our two friendliest hens and somehow my favorite ROO (especially now!) was on top of the run. He somehow got up there, we have no clue how because the opening is literally a couple inches. The girls and Tuffy (the ROO) are fine. The girls are missing their tails, missing feathers around the neck, and had some saliva marks on their sides but are otherwise fine. We boarded the coop up completely for the night, and thought we were okay. Then, I tossed and turned ALL night thinking- what if it can dig under??? We buried rocks around the run about 8 inches down, but we can't rmeember if we buried rocks under the coop, or not. This is a temporary coop. I kept the window open all night just in case I heard something. Well, everyone was snug as a bug and safe in the morning, so we kept the coop boarded and bolted up- of course after caring for them, then I put all sorts of stuff around all edges of hte coop. We also got a live trap from the DOW and now are attempting to trap and relocate Mr. Fox.

Ok, this is VERY lengthy. I am wondering if we sound safe, or if there is more we can do? We can't dig now since the ground is froze, I believe?

 

[McChix]

That IS scary! Thank goodness your chickens are okay! If the fox hasn't gotten back in yet, it sounds like you're pretty safe. Good luck catching him!

 

[crazy4chicsinBC]

I hope you are safe now
and I'm very happy your chickens are all okay!!

 

[dozen chickens]

Ok, that is good to know!!! And good to hear as well!!! Thank you!

 

[Mac]

I would think if the ground is frozen and hard for people with shovels to dig, it would be hard for the fox too.

Take care,
Mac

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Be really careful of that fox saliva and especially if you cage it because foxes are so often rabid. I am really glad your chickens are safe, hope they stay that way!!! Darlene

 

[AtRendeAcres]

Great that no hens hurt

Give that Roo a treat!

 

[cajungal]

Hi
I'm glad there ok...

Is there anyway you can run chicken wire just a little ways under the coop and go out about 4ft each way??

Than you could put rocks on top of it, and they shouldn't be able to dig under..

I'm hoping to do this to our baby pen come spring....That's the only thing that I can think of that they can't dig under..

Anyway just a thought!
Blessing

 

[dozen chickens]

This sounds like a fantastic idea~ I am not sure if I can get it under the coop right now with the ground being froze and all, but I can try, and if not maybe I can run the wire to the edge of the coop with rocks along the edge and the chicken wire going out about four feet. I will also put some rocks under the edge. We have a rock path on both sides of the coop that I can lift up and putt the wire under. I LOVE the idea! Thank you!!!! We will definately construct our next coop MUCH better. I thought we did pretty good, but apparently not good enough!

So, does anyone know, can foxes break the wire or is that pretty safe?


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[dozen chickens]

Absolutely! He did such a fantastic job trying to protect his ladies!!! I am such a proud mama!!!

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