woke up at 5 am by a haunting screaming noise outside GRAY FOX!

[deerman]

Quote:
no rabbit would be making that for 15 to 25 min. maybe 1min or less.

 

[chickenlisa]

whatever animal it was, we saw who caused it to cry/scream this morning. At 5:30 our chickens were making the worst ruckus (again waking us both up with no good place to go!) and we ran to the window( 2nd story) pulled the mini-blind cord up (Squeaky squawky noise there...) and saw a gray fox pinning our Black NJ Giant Roo (aptly named Giant by my daughter) to the ground. That noise the mini-blind made surprised him (her?) and gave Giant the time to jump up and run away. I ran outside to look for him then, and saw the fox back in the yard. Fox ran off when he saw me. I saw feathers, but not Giant. Then or now. I hope he's ok and just hiding really well.
So, probably that's a male or female just killing what they need for their family to eat. I feel better knowing that. If and when they try to break into my birds' pens, then we'll do something about trapping it and getting rid of it.
Lisa

 

[dreamwallaby]

I used to live in Schnecksville PA, about an hr drive or so from you probably. The first time I heard a foxmake that noise, I thought for sure something was being murdered. The foxes had a den about 50ft from my house and would SIT ON MY PORCH at all hrs of the night and make that scream. Once we knew it was them, i thought it was kinda cool but it can really freak you out the first time you hear it.
It wasn't a rabbit lasting that long. It was def. the fox.

 

[chickenlisa]

Yep, you're right! We're about an hour from there, and last night we heard more than one fox at 1:30. Screaming, yipping, all sorts of noises for on and on and on! Yikes that's a freaky noise to be woken up by! I'd swear someone was being killed if I didn't know better. (Well, maybe a small animal was! Bu my 2 barn kitties and Giant were ok this morning when I checked on them. Whew!)
I guess we'll get used to these noises; it looks like they've settled down fairly close by.
IF they start to bother my pens and try to get in to kill any birds, is it legal to shoot them? (Gray foxes)