Well, damn. Fox sneaking around the run broad daylight

[BarnyardChaos]

I almost collided with him/her on the outside of the chicken run!

I usually let the chickens out to free-range about 2-4 pm every day, and headed out to do just that. They were hiding under the coop. Strange. Must be trouble about. I scoped out the perimeter of the run, checked on the dogs and other farm animals (no signs anything's amiss), scanned the pasture one more time, and shrugged my shoulders. The birds relaxed and came out from hiding, undoubtedly thinking it's treat time. I opened their gate, and Goldie, my #1 rooster, led most of the girls through the gate. They raced off toward their favorite hang-outs. Just then, a red fox charged around the corner of the run chasing them. I almost collided with him and the frantic birds. He made a U-turn and beelined for the far end of the pasture.

I'm quite sure he'll be back. I've just read they can scale a fence, no matter how high. I have 8' chain link, 40' x 50' run, no cover over the top. Eight years here, and never a problem before now.

*^*^$%*(&(*((*^&%&$#@^W%$Y$UY^Y*O*(

 

[Folly's place]

At least you were there!
Hope your coop is secure, so you have time to keep them inside while you upgrade your security. Foxes will climb, and dig, and won't be deterred by what you have now.
Electric fencing!!! @cmom , @Howard E, and Premier1supplies.com are good resources for information, and Premier has good products.
We lost ten nice laying hens one afternoon, years ago, to a fox.
Mary

 

[BarnyardChaos]

 

[BarnyardChaos]

At least you were there!
Hope your coop is secure, so you have time to keep them inside while you upgrade your security. Foxes will climb, and dig, and won't be deterred by what you have now.
Electric fencing!!! @cmom , @E Howard, and Premier1supplies.com are good resources for information, and Premier has good products.
We lost ten nice laying hens one afternoon, years ago, to a fox.
Mary

The coop is quite secure, but we're about to go into a heat wave this week, temps near 100 and heat index up to 110-degrees. I can't keep them inside, and I can't keep watch 24/7 with a rifle. I'm keeping an eye on them with the security camera for now; birds are out and about in the run, so he must not be in the vicinity. No more free-range unless I'm supervising until bedtime, or until the run is electrified. I believe I have most of the materials and a control unit on hand.....

 

[Folly's place]

Foxes are smart and hard to trap, so set up security, and maybe a live trap will work. Only if you will then shoot it.
Very possibly it's raising kits, so is very hungry.
Let all your neighbors know if they have poultry; maybe someone will get a good shot in, if you can't. And the neighbors can protect their flocks too.
Our culprit was seen, and was a sick mangy individual, who did return during the day, we couldn't get a safe shot at him. I alerted folks within a mile who had birds, and he was shot the following week almost a mile away, at another coop.
Mary

 

[BarnyardChaos]

It appeared quite healthy and beautiful, for the few seconds I saw it - once I caught my breath again. None of our neighbors within a mile have chickens that I know of, but my goodness there is a bumper-crop of rabbits this year. Explains why the dogs have been restless and barking non-stop in the evenings for the past few weeks.

 

[Folly's place]

If you fortify your run, it will give up on your birds while they are in there. Probably will visit to see if the flock is back ranging though.
We've only had that one episode, fortunately. maybe having dogs has helped, although the dogs are fenced away from the chickens now.
And there are so many bunnies!
Mary

 

[microchick]

Hi @BarnyardChaos. I'm up in Macon county MO and several + years ago we had a problem in our rural neighborhood with a female fox using the local flocks to feed her kits which were housed under a neighbor's vacation cabin across the street.

We didn't lose any birds, mainly because the coop is on a concrete slab with metal siding, a chain link run and hot wire, but our next door neighbor lost their entire flock to it and we were finding different colored feathers in piles around our pond.

I saw the fox one morning, beautiful creature but I don't have much patience for wild predators. I had found both adult and kit foot prints in bare soil around the run so got on the phone with the MO dept of Conservation and talked to an agent about trapping her and the kits for relocation.

They told me they seldom had luck trapping fox. They don't say 'out foxed' without a reason and they are too smart to get in a live trap. He said under the circumstances the fox had proven to be a menace to livestock therefore we were within our rights to shoot it without fear of repercussion. We could also try foot traps if we knew somebody who was into trapping around us. I do but didn't want to go that route as we have dogs.

So I spread the word around the neighborhood to take her out along with the kits should anyone be able to draw a bead on them.

Everyone mostly just penned their chickens up although the problem stopped before fall so I can only think that somebody got lucky with their hunting rifle.

I agree with the hot wire. When you get one up you might want to try to hang some pieces of bacon over the wire to lure it in. One sniff with that wet nose or one nibble and that fox is going to take off. I do free range bachelor roosters on our property and I have lost a few to a predator....no fox to my knowledge although I've had some boys wander into the timber and not come back...but to a stray cat that was dumped on us, I was able to catch the kitty in a live trap and rehome it but from now on my boys are locked up in a coop behind a hot wire at night. Our dogs are loose enough during the day to keep the varmints at bay.

Hope you get rid of Mr. Or Ms Fox. I bet the reason you saw it during the day is because it is feeding kits and looking for easy prey.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Thank you @microchick. I'm going to spend some time going through the security loops on that camera, to see if I can spot the usual times it comes around - if today wasn't just one-time visit. Hubby has been plotting to spend part of a night on the top of our storage shed to pick off raccoons, the annoying groundhog who's still hanging around, coyotes, and now - that fox. Might be the excuse he needs to do it now. And I'll install that hotwire. Even if the fox doesn't come back, that'll stop the 'coons every damn night sniffing around the coop.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

We have dogs, too - but I can't let them loose on the farm. They're beagles. Slightest sniff of a rabbit, and they're gone to the next county. Don't believe in letting our dogs run loose, and we don't tolerate neighbors' dogs chasing our chickens, either. Ours got out of the fenced yard one January day (10-F day, -5 night) with a 5" snowstorm two days later, and then colder. They were gone 8 days. I was sure they were coyote bait or fell into an icy pond. But they came back, a little worse for wear, but OK.

If I set a trap, the animal won't be relocated. Don't want it to become someone else's problem.