Foxes and what they are capable of.

[chickenfan]

Thank you. Its a very windy spot but I'll see what I can do.

[RedBarnHens]

Very interesting and informative read. I haven't got my chickens yet, but have been paranoid about ensuring their run and coop are predator proof. I've gone down a foot with welded mesh and have covered the run top with mesh and chicken wire. But it's the odd little area here and there that I still feel need reinforcing. We live in a semi-rural area and although I haven't seen any foxes yet, my two dogs know they are there! Mind you when I lived in the city we had a big dog fox amble through our back garden at 11 in the morning. The dogs were baying like wolves, but I wouldn't let them out until it had gone.

[dinosaw]

I think foxes are far more of a threat in an urban setting now than in they are in a rural simply because there is no effort to control or eliminate them there. We border a sheep farm which obviously has a vested interest in fox control and has working dogs and the five or six acres to our left let their dogs and horse roam free, there are also a lot of recreational shooters around the area too and of course the ever present threat to foxes of being squashed on the roads at night.

[RedBarnHens]

I was thinking the same thing myself Dinosaw. We have sheep in the field bordering ours and you can hear gun shots in the distance most days! We have a lot of rabbits though and when we first moved in we used to find the evidence of rabbits being killed in the field, but not so much now. Maybe the fact that our two big labs spend most of the day out in the field acts as a bit of a deterrent. I'm sure once the chickens arrive though we will be 'visited' as they try their luck!

[dinosaw]

If the shots are quite regular and your hearing them through the week then it can be automatic crow scarers Redbarn, thankfully they have stopped here for the year but during March and April they were really getting on my nerves. Dogs are a really good daytime deterrent but absolutely useless at night, you've got just about enough land for some Alpacas though

[RedBarnHens]

Probably are crow scarers then Dinosaw and I agree about the dogs not being much of a deterrent at night. Funnily enough the place I'm hoping to get my chickens from also breed Alpacas!

[dinosaw]

You could get three on an acre if you ever fancied it, though electric netting is a much easier and trouble free way to protect your chickens if mine are anything to go by.