We have two coops with chickens - a banty coop and a big girl coop. Both coops have runs totally enclosed in chicken wire and we close the chickens in the coops at night.
The ducks have a house and small fully enclosed pen. During the day we let them out into a fenced in area attached to their pen. The fence surrounding the "play area" is only 4 feet high and has no roof. It does a fairly good job keeping the ducks where we want them to be.
On Saturday, the banties were going nuts. We laughed over their antics wondering what had set them off. Moments later we saw a fox about 15 yards from the duck yard. The fox ran off when I went out to usher the ducks into their pen and locked them in. Moments later I heard the big chickens creating a ruckus. By the time I made it over to their coop I saw the fox tracks in the snow. He had cut through the woods and circled around to the big coop. It sure seems like he knows the lay of the land here.
Back to the ducks - after the fox scare the ducks stayed in their pen the rest of that day and Sunday. Yesterday I let them out for a few hours why I was home and kept a close watch to the goings on. I figured the chickens would raise the alarm again if the fox came back. Still, I was on pins and needles worrying about them the entire time.
So my quandary is what to do to protect the ducks for the rest of the winter so they can still have a little time out on their play yard. Ultimately we're planning a larger play area with an electric fence, but that's next summer.
What are the hunting habits of the fox? Can I expect a fox in mid-day to climb/jump over the fence? I thought of raising the height of the fencing temporarily until we get a new setup next summer. Will netting on top of the play yard discourage the fox? It seems to me that he might get tangled in it. Or am I looking at supervised swim time for the ducks until we can swing the electrified fence business next summer?
Thanks in advance for sharing!
The ducks have a house and small fully enclosed pen. During the day we let them out into a fenced in area attached to their pen. The fence surrounding the "play area" is only 4 feet high and has no roof. It does a fairly good job keeping the ducks where we want them to be.
On Saturday, the banties were going nuts. We laughed over their antics wondering what had set them off. Moments later we saw a fox about 15 yards from the duck yard. The fox ran off when I went out to usher the ducks into their pen and locked them in. Moments later I heard the big chickens creating a ruckus. By the time I made it over to their coop I saw the fox tracks in the snow. He had cut through the woods and circled around to the big coop. It sure seems like he knows the lay of the land here.
Back to the ducks - after the fox scare the ducks stayed in their pen the rest of that day and Sunday. Yesterday I let them out for a few hours why I was home and kept a close watch to the goings on. I figured the chickens would raise the alarm again if the fox came back. Still, I was on pins and needles worrying about them the entire time.
So my quandary is what to do to protect the ducks for the rest of the winter so they can still have a little time out on their play yard. Ultimately we're planning a larger play area with an electric fence, but that's next summer.
What are the hunting habits of the fox? Can I expect a fox in mid-day to climb/jump over the fence? I thought of raising the height of the fencing temporarily until we get a new setup next summer. Will netting on top of the play yard discourage the fox? It seems to me that he might get tangled in it. Or am I looking at supervised swim time for the ducks until we can swing the electrified fence business next summer?
Thanks in advance for sharing!