What happens when foxes start eating chickens (graphic)

[MomaYow]

You are free to be angry at my opinion, but killing any predator is a primitive way of protecting your poultry! A predator is doing what it was created to do, which is to kill to feed itself! You are a bad poultry farmer if you can't protect your animals by fencing your chicken coop with metal mesh. (I also mean the upper part).
If that investment is expensive for you and you don't want to completely fence your animals, then you don't meet all the requirements of the veterinary inspection for raising chickens (that's how it is here in Europe)!
You simply do not have all the conditions for safe breeding of chickens!
There are hunting societies that are responsible for pest control!
If you properly fenced your animals, and the predator still managed to kill them, the hunting company will compensate you for the damage!

See how simple it is in the civilized world?

I am not angry at your opinion. However, I am not a poultry farmer. My chickens and my ducks are my pets, love. I don't breed them, either. So, please, stop presuming you know anything about me, my pets or that they are not properly fenced in. I have done everything I possibly can to protect my them. However, if a fox, a bobcat, coyote, or anything else comes on my property that tried or actually gets one of my babies. I will kill it. There is plenty of food for them in the woods. Foxes, especially, will go after the easier to get prey. My pet chickens and ducks are inside an enclosure so, they will do whatever it takes to get in. They aren't having to chase anything down. A fox will dig, climb, jump and sometimes chew their way to get to what they want. I do have some pretty darn good roosters that will definitely defend their hens, but no amount of money will replace my babies. Once again, so glad the European rules don't apply here! Have a great evening, dear.

 

[roosterhavoc]

 

[Mr Spot]

If you have ever been through a fox taking your chickens, you have a good idea how they operate. They have a typical stalking sequence where they hide behind objects in the landscape, get within 30 feet of their target, rush out and grab a chicken, then run immediately back to shelter in the woods. The fox is usually exposed for 5 seconds or less. I had a problem since March with chickens being taken. I had to do something about it or would have lost all of my birds.

My house has an end window that overlooks the chicken barn and yard area where they spend most of the day. I removed the screen and lifted the window a few inches. I placed my loaded 12 gauge shotgun on the window sill (could not do this with children around!). Then I sat in a chair near the window and waited for the chickens to squawk. They will make alarm sounds when they see the fox and it is guaranteed they will see it before I do. I started killing foxes in June and think I finally got the last one this week. It was VERY difficult to kill them. I got lucky with the last 2, they were more focused on the chickens than on me aiming a gun at them. I shot them just before they ran out from behind some bushes. The key to killing them is that I was where they could not see me until I had the gun pointed at them.

https://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/fox1.jpg

https://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/fox2.jpg

https://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/fox3.jpg

https://www.selectedplants.com/miscan/fox4.jpg

Some will consider killing foxes brutal. I consider @70 dead chickens (mostly new chicks) eaten by the foxes to be brutal. Mother nature makes NO allowances for how you or I feel. You have a choice, protect your birds or know with certainty that predators will kill them. Am I certain this is the last of them? On the contrary, this area - like most of the eastern U.S. - is loaded with foxes. There will be another, it is just a matter of time. Meantime, I have about 200 eggs in the incubator and about 40 chicks growing.

Don't let it bother you for protecting your livestock.

 

[Mr Spot]

Protect your animals, yes, but not by shooting wild animals, but protect your animals by fencing them off from predators!
In Europe, you would be fined for killing foxes, because it is strictly forbidden!
The veterinary inspector would fine you because your animals are not properly fenced!
But that's in Europe!

Sounds like a cross bow and a shovel over there would be the answer over there : )

 

[Mr Spot]

If we think hypothetically, it is enough for me to let my goat into the forest in the USA and wait for a mountain lion or a grizzly to kill it. I kill them under the pretext that they attacked my goat! (I take the trophy, of course)
- Does that make sense?
"You are a free people and you hunt for food" - do you eat predators?

It depends on what they tase like smoked low and slow.

 

[McChooky]

My coops & run's predator proof because I love the fresh eggs my girls give me.

 

[mowin]

My coops & run's predator proof because I love the fresh eggs my girls give me.

As are mine. Ever have a coyote running around your coop trying very hard to get in and the gals are bouncing off the walls in fright? Injuries even death are common. I'm not going to sit back and let that happen.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

Predator population in my area is so dense that I no longer let my dogs have access to all of my property. Last Spring I was walking the trails on my land and was being trailed by coyotes. DH could see the whole line of them 100 yrd or so behind me from a high bluff. I couldn’t hear them, couldn’t see them. I suppose I should accept my fate? What about my dogs, are they a fated meal? Misters Kimber and Browning say no!

 

[roosterhavoc]

As are mine. Ever have a coyote running around your coop trying very hard to get in and the gals are bouncing off the walls in fright? Injuries even death are common. I'm not going to sit back and let that happen.

I’ve made this point many times. Clearly the people commenting about protecting chickens with fencing and even hot wires are lacking actual experience.
Chickens turn into pinballs with a fox, raccoon, wombat, zombie or platypus lurking outside.

 

[LaFleche]

You are free to be angry at my opinion, but killing any predator is a primitive way of protecting your poultry! A predator is doing what it was created to do, which is to kill to feed itself! You are a bad poultry farmer if you can't protect your animals by fencing your chicken coop with metal mesh. (I also mean the upper part).
If that investment is expensive for you and you don't want to completely fence your animals, then you don't meet all the requirements of the veterinary inspection for raising chickens (that's how it is here in Europe)!
You simply do not have all the conditions for safe breeding of chickens!
There are hunting societies that are responsible for pest control!
If you properly fenced your animals, and the predator still managed to kill them, the hunting company will compensate you for the damage!

See how simple it is in the civilized world?

Reading your claims about how things are handled here in Europe make me wonder in which european country you actually live.

Your claims definitely don't apply to Germany and insinuating that other countries or their populations are not part of the "civilized world" because their laws are different is a bit strange, to put it nicely.