sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

As some of you know i had a couple of young chickens and yesterday we swapped them for some ex battery hens, Fluffy and Isa. Put them in their new coop and run and tucked them up for the night. It is the first time we have had chickens in the garden at night as the others were too young. We put them out of the way at the rear of the garden.

This morning i found the latch was undone on the rear coop door was open. The chickens had slept under the coop last night.

At 1pm this afternoon i took a friend into the garden and showed her the girls. All was well. I picked my daughter up from school and went into the garden to check for eggs and we found this



Only one chicken, DEAD in the run

The rear door was open and the run had been moved away from the coop. There is blood and guts all over my garden. Fluffy was still warm but Isa had gone but she had laid an egg so all this happened about 3pm



It looks like it was a fox

Its was really distressing as my daughter had been so excited and was desperate to see them so imagine the horror of her finding this in the garden.

I have been here for nearly 20 years and never had anything like this before. I have 6-8 foot fencing everywhere so i am a bit confused.

I have two very tiny dogs and am obviousley terrified this could happen to them as they are a third of the size of a chicken.

What a horrible day

I have been told that the fox may come back for the other chicken it killed. I want to get a trap and catch the fox, what can i do?

r32

So sad but foxes are nasty *******s, your chickens need securing properly. They will kill all the chickens and take one with them.......

WRX_Dazza

it is your duty as an animal keeper to make sure that foxes cant get in....
the most feeble-ist of foxes would have any trouble with that coup.

sad day all round

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

For the last 4 weeks i have had chickens out in the day, free range and taken them in at night as they were too young to be out so i didn't think anything could get in and as these were in a coop, until they were used to us. I thought they were safe. I now know that they can undo a latch. Other neighbours have chickens so we are stumped

My fencing is on a dwarf wall that has footings. The panels are 6ft plus a few courses of blocks. These must be some foxes

My daughter is in bits. She did a show and tell at school about our new pets today so finding what we did has had a major affect on her. Poor thing

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

Really sorry to hear this mate! Better get that gun out!

A little tip we always do is have a radio on all the time even more so at night as it will put the foxes off!

Also make it like fort knocks with locks and no way they can break in!

Gutted for the kiddie as not a nice thing to see at an early age!

Have you got plans on getting another hen to replace the other 1 ?

Also "Once" a Fox knows where the food is it WILL always return! So get tooled up!

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

Just another thought for you mate! You know Foxes and scale up and jump over 6ft + fences?

Get some kind of Sharpe but legal bits put ontop of the fence and also check for holes at the bottom!

Something on the lines of this!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GREY-WALL-FENC...3%3A1|294%3A50

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

We will get some more as both were killed but not yet. I need to find out what we can do legally to protect our property....

a 2.2 isnt enough i need something a bit more substantial.

I need revenge!

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

Ok I am going to get shot down in flames for this but...

Dig a hole under the fence inviting the fox and put a big snare round the hole so when it try's and gets through it will strangle it self!

I shall await the animal rights people!

Alg

Shame you'll have only the one egg tonight but every cloud has a silver lining!
Dippers and nuggets all round.

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

My daughter has dropped the egg now lol, she was showing her friends and dropped it so more tears


What am i legally allowed to put on the top of my fencing, barbed wire, glass?

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

Only thing your aloud to use is stuff like this! Glass and Barbed wire is a no no now day!

GREY WALL & FENCE SECURITY POINTS SPIKES x4 LIKE PRIKKA on eBay, also, Other Safety Security, Safety Security, Home Garden (end time 06-Jun-09 12:42:58 BST)

The Rig

iTrader: (13)

surely the fox would just dig under that coup/wood,doesnt matter how secure you make it,if theres a nice chicken inside they will just dig for a few minutes and whoof all over.

if i were doing it, id dig about 2 foot down and get some 3 foot high wood and put that around the coup thingy to stop em diggin it out

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

The plan was to be able to move the coop about so they always had some grass to graze on. They were going to free range eventually but we were waiting until we put up a new fence to keep them away from the house end of the garden. There are a few people round here that have chickens in the open, i spose i should ask them what they do.

I didn't think it would upset me as much as it has

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

I have looked at those spikes before but they are so expensive for what they are. It would be the same cost to add trellis.

I wonder if we can use a nail gun to put nails through strips of wood then fix it, points up to the top of the fence

cossie-nutter

iTrader: (45)

Very true so Expencive it's unreal!

My mate made up loads of little wood spikes and that kept the cats away. Might take ages making them up but with an electric disc cutter it will half the time!

Tam the bam

Carpet gripper is what you need

Sorry to hear about the chooks btw

Hysteria1983

When I lived at home my next door neighbour had two rabbits in her garden. In the winder nights they were kept in the garage, but in the summer they stayed in the hutch and had the run to occupy them.
The little girl was was about 8 at the time. She went to feed them in the am and there was blood and guts everywhere, but no idea what had happened, but the rabbits were dead!
A few months went by and they decided to have a guinea pigs instead.
Early one evening they heard a dog barking in the garden and there was a Jack Russel attacking the cage and going mad to try and get at the guinea pigs. It was a safe assumption that it was the same dog that had the rabbits a few months earlier.

So, it might not be foxes.

dpb

Wouldnt foxes take away the kill....?

Im with Hysteria

Hysteria1983

That's what I was thinking to be honest.
What is the area like where you live? Do you have woods near by?
I do think that if there were more than one fox they would have taken the chickens, it seems more like an attack from a dog. A dog would simply see the chickens more as a 'toy' rather than a meal.
The same will stand as a fox though, and if it was a dog, the dog will still come back. Once a dog gets a taste of blood, they always come back.

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

I have just found out that the fox has been living under a garage at the bottom of my road and has been seen tonight

There are a lot of trees around the gardens where i live and the gardens are big. It looks like the fox has been using the area where the back gardens meet from one end of the road to the other. We have cut a lot of our trees down but left tall stumps behind the fencing, basically the fox has steps up to the fence


What do i do?


It took one chicken and left the other one dead dunk.

Hysteria1983

Hmm, its a tough one, where do foxes stand with regards to being pests?
Could you call the local council and see what can be done?

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

Did that. Council gave me a number of the fox prevention people. RSPCA told me to ring my council and the Blue Cross closes at 3pm on a Wednesday. Foxes are vermin but no one gives a flying **** unless its a pest to them.

Poison springs to mind. I could put it behind the fence in the waste area but what would i use?

Could i trap it?

I keep imagining what happened. Its horrible because the worst thing that has ever happened in my garden in 20 years is a cat fight. I use the garden a lot and my daughter loves being in it. Its a place to get away from things but its not the same now.

Hysteria1983

I would stay away from poison as the local cats might walk on it. Then you have a load of dead cats lying about the place.
You could try putting some traps about the place, but they might just find another way in, they are clever buggers!

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Really sorry to hear about this SS I too would avoid poison where young kids are concerned. I think the best think to do would be to fit stronger more robust runs so that the fox cannot get in. There will be something out there that is fox proof.

Otherwise the only other options I can think of involve dead foxes, which may not be nice for kids to know/see either

dpb

Possibly enclose the bottom in wire as per sides ...wouldnt be that difficult

Lee247

That's what we've got. Any beggar tries to climb our fence, gets a finger full of gripper

Sorry about the chicks, Sara. Foxes will always find a way. We've lost loads

paulwrxboro

carpet griper rods do the trick and are cheap

this happend to a mate of mine

he got the dead chicken tied a piece of string to the leg threaded it threw two hoops in the shed roof and tied the last one to the shed door, left the door open when the fox went in pulled the chicken the door slamed...job done he caught 5 foxes in 7 nights ...seems the rspca were letting the ****** go and it was coming back
he told them he would kill it and he never seen it again

hope this helps

feel sorry for the nipper
,

Mark A

iTrader: (1)

I'm sure if you check the feathers you can determine if it was Vulpes Vulpes. I believe thet bite the feathers in half as they pull them out.

I would suggest a video camera, if it is a fox and they have found an easy meal they will be back.

A 12 bore is the only way I've ever dealt with them but have seen traps used effectively. Still got to shoot the f*cker.

sarasquares

iTrader: (1)

I am going down the road today to see if there are any signs of where the fox took the chicken. If, as i have been told it is living under a garage then i am going to have to decide what to do. Apparently the fox looks in good health so i am not sure why it is here and not in the woods and fields that are a few hundred yards away.

I suppose that its people like me with chickens that keep it round here

There is no danger of dogs or kids getting near any poison as the area that the fox uses is left untouched by the home owners. All of the gardens that back onto mine have an area that is left unused at the end of the garden. The fox is able to come and go unseen and unheard.

Thinking cap time i think. I find it hard to imagine that carpet gripper would deter a fox as the sharp bits are not very long especially to a fox

dpb

Filmed a family of 5 in our back garden ( not this house) couple years ago , not a chicken ,rabbit hutch in tha vacinty afaik - theyre everyway in towns .prolly more than the country

offing 1 or 2 aint going to do much

Youll need to totally enclose your runs