Tips for deterring foxes...?

[CopperBlackMaran]

Hiya,
Just wondered for any tips... we have 4 copper black marans and they range all over the garden (3 acres) and we try to get them back from the woods as much as possible, but they are very determined! Lovely girlies anyway. We have a run, fence approx. 2.1 metres high and digs down and out, with a gate and a flap to lift up and they go in to the bottom of our barn at night and to lay eggs, which has a sliding hatch inside the run, so pretty safe at night, but just the inbetween times, as in morning and evening when we've put them in b4 & after bed and when its raining or we're out, especially as we've seen a fox in the late morning...any tips would be most welcome as we love our girlies tons! We are in france as well, so hopefully we wont have any trouble from coyotes and the like ;]

 

[Jena]

Foxes are also my biggest problem as well as hawks.

I am here in the UK so they are really the biggest problem we face.

I know there are foxes in our area, but touch wood so far no problems.

But I keep my girls in a run all day unless I am out there with them.

Sad, but a lady across the road from me lost all her birds to a fox.

We do get polecats around too very rarely but sometimes, and I know they could also be a big issue.

We get Sparrowhawks and sometimes buzzards and some bigger hawks around. So I border on caution.

Your place sounds nice. Godo luck, hope they stay safe.

Foxes make an awful mess , they even killed geese around here. I know they have to eat but they seem to kill in a frenzy and leave a lot of damage.

Jena.

 

[willheveland]

I have never lost a bird to a fox,but I know we have them close by.In the summer I like to use chicken tractors that I move each day or two.I came home one evening to find a dirt path that circled right around my pen.This had to have been done during that day only.My best guess would be a fox that keep cirling and circling around the pen to make the dirt track around it.
Fox are very very smart.If they think somethings up or new in their environment they will be cautious and may even stay away.I just took metal leg hold traps(not waxed or cleaned)and laid them around the pen.They weren't set,staked or even dug in the ground.They were just sitting on the top of the ground.
I know that fox remembered where those birds were but I think once he saw some strange activity around them he knew something was up. Just something to think about. Will

 

[CopperBlackMaran]

Yeah, same with us Jena, we knew there were foxes, but actually seeing one, we have been extra careful, putting them in earlier and out later and we are usually always in and out, most of the time to check up on them and if you so much as go to pull up a carrot they charge over to get what they can, also we can see a fair bit out the front where they are. We get lots of buzzards and kestrels around...would they go for a chicken...? We've heard of a white chicken being picked up...anyway thanks for the message.

Thanks, Will, for that. That's definitely something to think about. We were going to maybe make some kind of movable run for the summer-not only because of foxes but they eat the raspberries, blackberries and strawberries, and peck the lil peach and fig trees too!- but were not sure what to do, good ideas, thanks.

Will try to post some photos of the luvvies. x

Hope it works...never done it b4