Two chickens and our rooster lost in less than 8 hours to a fox...

[raisingirl78]

There has been a fox loitering around the area lately and this past Friday he got one of our smaller, young chickens while out free-ranging. That same day, we adopted a full grown, year old rooster to help protect the girls. Or so we thought. Today, we opened the pen at 10 am and by 2 pm, a small chicken, one full grown buff, and our rooster were gone. The neighbor saw the fox with "something white" in her back yard headed to the woods. Do you think there are more than one fox? Or the same one came back for the buff and the rooster? We found white feathers (small chicken), gold feathers (buff), but we have not found any of the rooster's feathers. Is it possible he was run off our property and survived?? How far can they go before they lose their direction home? We only had him 4 day
I am so upset about him.
We are keeping the remaining 13 girls cooped until I can shoot the fox(es).

 

[Baymule]

So sorry about your losses

 

[tellynpeep]

I'm sorry...
This is sounding very familiar. The fox will be back for more, so you should keep your girls penned up.
I have had a couple of chickens come home a day later after a fox attack. It's possibly it only killed one bird, and the others scattered in panic, so don't give up hope that you may still see the missing ones.

 

[Vamvakas]

Buy a foot snare trap there are pretty cheap like $15-$25 also a fox gland lure or urine and put that on the trap

 

[aprophet]

if using a foot snare it is better to dig a slight depression like you will find in the directions that come with the snare, and then use a rock or small peice of log as a backing and put the gland lure at the front of the rock right under the front edge

 

[raisingirl78]

I found the rooster feathers today by the edge of the woods. The only good news is that the fox met his fate thanks to a .22 and some very good shooting by my boyfriend. I kept the girls penned for 3 days and the fox came back the very next day after the attack. I am only allowing them out under supervision at this time in case there are other foxes. The fox we shot was a male... I am still so disappointed about our rooster! But I suppose it's a lesson learned. I just can't stand to keep my girls cooped up because they love to range the yard and really take care of the bugs and ticks around the house. I am going to keep them cooped when I am not home for a few weeks and maybe also put up a stealth cam by the pen/coop to see if there are more foxes. So sad