J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Difficult to gauge my reaction this one, it isnt a minor celebrity and a Chicken isnt technically a "pet" and outpourings of sympathy anf grief are acceptable on here in these circumstances, so we have a situation where its half a pet and half food ???

So 50% of the normal pet sympathy, an extra bit for the little one being upset and will look for some good recipes ?

Foxes are like little four legged Ginger terminators, if you are a chicken that is.

dpb

She was ex-battery hen for goodness sake,thats got to worth egstra

Devildog

Sara,

The only way you're going to deal with this is by securing the run properly. Poisoning the fox is not the solution.

If you make it too difficult for them, they will look somewhere else. and if you can't justify the cost of properly securing your chickens, then you simply shouldn't keep any.

Peanuts

iTrader: (15)

you need to planning permission to erect a fence that high.
I think you need to look a little bit harder before you get more animals, maybe

sbk1972

Mmm sorry to hear that your little girl is upset, talk about a sudden wake up call regarding death !

If honest, I quite like foxes ! :-) I have one that pops round to my garden most nights, to pick up the scraps I leave out. The other night he turned up with his little cubs, very cute.

Father in law has geese, 2 cute geese that stroll around the garden like a couple of gangsters i.e. real attitude.

At night he has to lock them up in a shed, which is really re-enforced from top to toe to stop the foxes having them.

Amazing how good those foxes are at hunting. Perhaps a different pet ? How about a cat ? Chickens are ok, but not exactly what I would refer to as a pet.

SBK

oldsplice

Sara, you need a coop like the one Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has, which is on a post off the ground (see below) Foxes dig, so another thing to do would be to have a strong wire mesh on the base of the run. Also, they have young cubs at this time of year.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is an advocate of the ladder system. The hen house is raised on an old telegraph pole, or similar stout support, to a height of about two metres. Access to the hen house is via a ladder, made by knocking simple steps into a long, stout pole. The design of the ladder is deliberately crude and rickety: a chicken will be able to use it, but a fox will not.

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

I looked at those but it is the coop only. They still end up free ranging when they leave it. The fox attacked in the middle of the afternoon so that will not work.

We have just laid a new lawn and were going to have them on the grass. I didn't know that chickens eat grass all day, i thought they were just pecking for food so a new lawn was perfect for them. Every few days i was going to move the whole set up to a new patch of grass. I cant do this now for obvious reasons.

There are a couple of alternatives. I have a few areas that can be made into a permanent outside home in a wire enclosure. I can move the chickens from one place to the other so grass can re grow when one place is being 'rested'. I have already chicken proofed everywhere as the chickens were going to be free but i did not fox proof anything, i assumed that the fencing would do that

I know this is mostly my fault as i was too complacent. I have lived here a long time and was ignorant as to what was going on outside. My daughter blames me i think, but kids heal. Angel has disabilities so i have protected her more than maybe i should have another child so it has hit us all very hard.

Anyway, we have a family wedding to go to this weekend so this will hopefully just become a bad memory

Simon C

Sara, a proper coop will do better. Don't forget you now the equvalent of a KFC joint in your garden for predators.


On the other hand, if you remove all the preds form an area, they will be replaced by more preds as there is a void and free space.

You will have to secure the property.

Leslie

Very sorry to hear about the tragedy Sara.

Foxes are clever and resourceful and you have to really work at it to protect the chickens. The urban foxes now find life easier in a civilised area and you will have to take positive steps tp protect your birds. I think you may have to leave the coop and run in one place and they need to be securely attached to each other. The only way to stop the fox tunnelling in is to bury wire netting vertically at the edges of the run.

The fox is following its natural instincts of course, you might be able to frighten him off with the airgun, hard to say.

Foxes don't necessarily feel they have to eat what they have killed. If they are not hungry at the time they will kill just for the hell of it even if they don't want to eat their kill. They will destroy a large bunch of chickens even if they only want one to actually eat at the time!

Les

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

The coop wasn't the problem it was the latch that wasn't clever enough and i had not attached the run to the coop. The run was made quickly, it was temporary. My b/f is a carpenter, he made the coop.

This is the stupid latch on the rear of the coop. The fox got in this way and went through the coop into the run.



And here you can see just how high my fencing is! 6 foot panel on top of a 3ft raised area, nearly 10 foot, and i have trellis to go on top of that!!
I think anyone would have thought their chooks were safe. Just behind the summer house on the left you can see a bamboo panel, this has to be where it got in unless it climbed the tree stumps behind the rear fence, you can just see them poking over the fence now



On the left of Angels play house is an area that can be used for a permanent home. There is another area half way down the garden near our shed that we can use as well.

That was some wiley fox that got in and out of my garden

al4x1

don't try poison, but get yourself a live capture trap, place the baited trap along the side of the chicken run and you should catch it fairly fast. Then you either need a friend with a proper gun who can take it away, or alternatively a baseball bat does the same job or simply put it in the car boot and drive as far away as possible and release it. only slight thing at the moment is odds are it will have cubs assuming its a vixen so may be killing close to home to feed them.

dpb

Nice

and in the meantime,if shes feeling lenient,she'll almost certainly get bitten trying to handle it , usually flee infested to boot

Simon C

You could try approaching Wobern for some lion poo. Aparently it does scare off cats and foxes.

I know human hair attached to fences has been used to scare off foxes (scent) before. Whether or not that one works I don't know.

Devildog

Looking at the picture, depending on what's on the other side of the fence, that doesn't look too difficult from an access point of view.

Have you checked under the play house for access points?

Foxes are very clever. Ideally a hasp and a padlock on the coop and a far more secure run that cannot be pushed away from it, with a mesh base, and made sturdier than the one you have.

Its unusual for foxes to hunt durung the day, although not unheard of. Are you absolutely certain it wasn't a cat?

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

I checked the local cats, not them. My chickens were bigger than normal cats and neutered. Not cats

Under the playhouse is a wall with footings so its not that. It has to be the bamboo fence. It has wire along it so maybe the wire gave it a foot hold.

We have discussed a lock and a combination one seems the best as there is no key to lose. I can write the combination next to the coop. I am pretty sure that a clever fox will not be able to read the number

Simon, someone else told me about the lion poo etc but i would have to have a regular supply and its not fool proof. Its a shame as Whipsnade is not too far away.

nearly everyone near me does not use the last 30ft or so of their back gardens as they are so long so there are a lot of places for a fox to be.

WRX_Dazza

call me old fashioned, but that neighbour looks a bit suspicious !!!

WRX_Dazza

old habits bob !!!

dpb

lol

dpb

Did you interview them individually , mybe they ganged up

Devildog

Sarah,

Also check for evidence of the exit route - feathers, blood spots, etc. That should give some idea, as they will often leave the way they got in.

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

Foofin eck

SwissTony

iTrader: (19)

Sorry to hear about that Sara. Horrible to have kids witness such a massacre but I am sure with some expert advice, a large gun and some patience, you can see of foxy woxy

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

I am sure that the great people on here will come up with something

By the way, off not of

At least your cat is going to be ok, thank god

dpb

One of us offed next doors cat last night


It continually dug up our flower beds for a loo , but i swear i didnt do , not on purpose anyways

Leslie

Think yourself very lucky that it was not our cat!

Les

al4x1

the cages are usually easy to release the catch from a distance with a stick etc, never tried it with a live one as always shot them in the cage as its simpler. Mange and fleas are the bad side of foxes so yes I'd not put it in my car but then I wouldn't be lenient and it would go in the recycling bin

dpb

could have been anyone of 3 possibly 5 of us who use the alley to the abck of these houses , or indeed anyone at all on the highway - its owner found it after it didnt come home for din-dins

I felt sorry for it actually - neighbours dont have a cat-flap ( something to do with other cats getting in ) so it spent all its time outside , quite a lot in our garden
In fact id have let it in (although it was very timid) but the gfreind is a scared of them since one flew at her brothers face when she was a child , i think maybe it was a wildcat (this was Bulawayo )