don't kill the fox because it wants to eat your chickens

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Every fox will want to eat your chickens, to a fox a chicken is a tasty meal therefore why wouldn't it want to. I don't think the fox needs to be shot at all, just keep your poultry in safe pens and lock them away safely in there huts at night because if you don't the fx will eat them and it won't be anyones fault but yours. My garden is surrounded by woodland where there are lots foxes and have only ever had one fox attack through all the hundreds of poultry i've kept through the years, and that was my fault i forgot to lock the silkies away and the fox ate the biggest one, was a clumsy 14 year old at the time and was very upset,she was a silkie cross and had recently hatched me a peacock,was really upsetting but i don't blame the fox i blame myself. I keep alot of my chickens in arks, and put slide in doors so even if the fox digs there safe it there hut. I do have an open pen as well and the ducks and silkes go in the hut at night but during the day,they could be at risk by sparrow hawks, buzzards etc but never had a death.
 
Hello, well i was foxed during the day- my stock is always locked up at night -the fox is no more- the trouble is once they start visiting during the day they will be back until all your stock is dead- it's a very delicate subject on which people have very strong views on both sides. There is an argument for both cases so it is best to not try and influence people either way- it is up to them to decide what they think is right for them and their stock.
regards, David :)
 
i wasn't trying to encourage people not to,i was encouraging people to lock there chickens away and if the pens aren't fox proof then its there own fault, if a fox lingers during the day, killing the fox should be considered as a fox shouldn't be so brave to go about in the day, but you can do things to stop foxes from coming you can put gel on your garden barrier which gives a nasty smell to the fox that it doesn't like and will stay away from. Remember if you live in a place where there were foxes they were here before you and your chickens weren't. People have the biggest influence on nature and as our population grows there will be nothing left.
 
my girls are kept within a very tight and secure run and always locked away at night by myself only , i have people tell me to leave them to go to roost on thier own when its getting dark but i dont do that as i dont want to risk mr fox .my run has been up just other 2 years now and not once as the fox tried getting in but i know he has visited me by leaving little packages around the out fencing . i have noticed a very good friend of mine on this forum and she will tell you how strong my run is thing is when i built it i had never even touched a chicken let alone knew anything about keeping them but i decided to jump in feet first and get 14 ex batts my way of building such a solid run was while building it i kept thinking to myself ' i can keep a monkey in here and it wont get out ' . so far its work :lol: :lol: at the end of the day we can all tell each other on whats best for our birds but each person keep animals so differently from someone else , we have sites near us and some of the runs and houses i have seen shock me to hell and back and its no wander these are the people who get the most fox attacks .
 
Yes, it is a difficult topic - I have seen so many posts on forums go one way or another or straight into a punch up :?

The difficulty as I see it is that "generally" speaking the fox is nocturnal and will hunt at night and has a fear of us so will not come too close to our homes if there is sufficient hunting territory and food supply elsewhere. In a rural environment you're most at risk in the morning and evening but also during July-August when the youngsters are leaving the Vixen to find food themselves - they don't have the fear the adults have and will walk straight up to the chicken house unless you are around. I have seen them out mid-morning and late afternoon playing.

The fox is very adaptable and in an urban environment, they have lost some of this fear of us and are often starving hungry, raiding bins for food and so on so if anything, you are at more risk in the urban environment IMO..

Personally, I do not shoot the foxes around me because they have (hopefully) touched my electric fence at night and learned they can't get in but if there is a problem fox brave enough to come up the field to my birds during the daytime which aren't protected (I rent a field and strangely I am not allowed to put an electric fence up) then I'm afraid they have to go. Thankfully, most of them stay well away and I am happy to watch them at a distance and it's just the odd occassion that this doesn't work.

Keeping them locked up at night I would say is essential and fox proof in the daytime if you can - but given the choice of being a free range hen with a small risk of being foxed or a hen kept in a safe but small run I think I'd want to be a free range hen.. :D
Tim





I lost 4 ducks in the spring to the fox - the first I have lost in many years, he got into an electrified run, killed all 4 and left, not taking any :x
 
i would like to free range my girls if i had the chance but i cant but thier run is over 33 ft by another 33ft or slighty bigger as i have added extensions to it :lol: so it keeps getting bigger and so far they have all been totally happy also theres plenty for them to do in there and i did try grassing of one of the extensions as i thought that they could have that area on a weekeend only and then leave it during the week but when i did let them on it the grass lasted an hour , maybe for next spring i mite try it again . i must admit although i am in a built up area and i know foxes have homes very close to the site i cant recall ever seeing them on the allotments during the day .

when we had all that snow the only thing i enjoyed about it was i could see where the foxes had been during the night and yes they walked right round the run and then left , thing is i dont worry about the fox to tell you the truth i more worry about my girls being stolen as we have had more then our fair share of breakins considering the site is completely surrounded my houses and now a high new fence but wether that stops people getting in or not only time will tell .
 
Tim, we just put up our electric fencing after last Monday's fox attack only to read, one got into your protected run, am I going to have to start a day & night vigal [impractical I konw]? Well if this dose happen I'm affraid we couldn't go throught this again,too upsetting.
 
Our chickens are in a large run but when we are at home we love to let them free range ~ they love to forage in the bushes and run about like mad things. I do worry about foxes as our garden backs onto a field but there is risk in most things and the enjoyment they get seems to outweigh this. As soon as the light fades I'm straight out there herding them back in though. :)
 
karlooben said:
i would like to free range my girls if i had the chance but i cant but thier run is over 33 ft by another 33ft or slighty bigger as i have added extensions to it :lol: so it keeps getting bigger and so far they have all been totally happy also theres plenty for them to do in there and i did try grassing of one of the extensions as i thought that they could have that area on a weekeend only and then leave it during the week but when i did let them on it the grass lasted an hour , maybe for next spring i mite try it again . i must admit although i am in a built up area and i know foxes have homes very close to the site i cant recall ever seeing them on the allotments during the day .

when we had all that snow the only thing i enjoyed about it was i could see where the foxes had been during the night and yes they walked right round the run and then left , thing is i dont worry about the fox to tell you the truth i more worry about my girls being stolen as we have had more then our fair share of breakins considering the site is completely surrounded my houses and now a high new fence but wether that stops people getting in or not only time will tell .
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Hi Karlooben
Chicken don't actually like being on grass. They are woodland creatures, and are much happier scratching in the soil around shrubs. They do eat a small amount of grass, and it is good always to feed the babies a handful of shearings (not mowings) from the lawn, but other greens are as good for adults. They can not of course, live on them. They are just an aid to health.
 
phoebesbantams said:
Every fox will want to eat your chickens, to a fox a chicken is a tasty meal therefore why wouldn't it want to. I don't think the fox needs to be shot at all, just keep your poultry in safe pens and lock them away safely in there huts at night because if you don't the fx will eat them and it won't be anyones fault but yours. My garden is surrounded by woodland where there are lots foxes and have only ever had one fox attack through all the hundreds of poultry i've kept through the years, and that was my fault i forgot to lock the silkies away and the fox ate the biggest one, was a clumsy 14 year old at the time and was very upset,she was a silkie cross and had recently hatched me a peacock,was really upsetting but i don't blame the fox i blame myself. I keep alot of my chickens in arks, and put slide in doors so even if the fox digs there safe it there hut. I do have an open pen as well and the ducks and silkes go in the hut at night but during the day,they could be at risk by sparrow hawks, buzzards etc but never had a death.
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Phoebe, just a little word of caution to anyone. You say you hatched a peafowl under a silkie. Did she raise it as well because if so you magaged OK. I have found that it can be dangerous rearing pheasants (and peacocks) under silkies or other breeds with floppy feathers because they can become entangled in the feathers and strangled. Also chicken tend to sit closer to the ground than pheasants, and the baby pheasants cannot easily find their way beneath the hen and can be left exposed. It isn't a very common occurance of course and it really depends on how close the hen sits.
 
phoebesbantams said:
Every fox will want to eat your chickens, to a fox a chicken is a tasty meal therefore why wouldn't it want to. I don't think the fox needs to be shot at all, just keep your poultry in safe pens and lock them away safely in there huts at night because if you don't the fx will eat them and it won't be anyones fault but yours. My garden is surrounded by woodland where there are lots foxes and have only ever had one fox attack through all the hundreds of poultry i've kept through the years, and that was my fault i forgot to lock the silkies away and the fox ate the biggest one, was a clumsy 14 year old at the time and was very upset,she was a silkie cross and had recently hatched me a peacock,was really upsetting but i don't blame the fox i blame myself. I keep alot of my chickens in arks, and put slide in doors so even if the fox digs there safe it there hut. I do have an open pen as well and the ducks and silkes go in the hut at night but during the day,they could be at risk by sparrow hawks, buzzards etc but never had a death.
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my brother and i kept hens when we were children, we had 30 when i was about 9 or 10, we did work around the farm in return for the hut, space and feed. Imagine my horror at finding 15 hens slaughtered after the fox dug under the hut and through a broken floor board.
despite the fox being on of the most butiful animals around that i would sit and watch if i was working and saw one, i would also shoot on sight if i have access to a gun.
 
Hi,
I live on a farm and have a huge run with a six foot wired fence,which is dug in, (the lads on the farm call it Spa Bottom safari park ) the girls have a hut off the ground and they are locked up at night, but I still worry about them.
Many years ago I had 25 free range hens and I was so tired one night I forgot to close the door, my own fault entirely but a fox came and killed 24 leaving most of them scattered around in the neighbouring fields in the opposite direction to where the gamekeeper found its home.
Gathering up the bodies of my girls was one of the most distressing things I have ever had to do, this was not killing for food it was killing for the sake of it.
Sorry but the fox is not one of my favorite animals when its around my hens.


we control foxes but dont eliminate them
I have recently purchased 6 new girls point of lay about 10 weeks ago and they stay out chaseing moths until they can hardly see each other, I have tried to herd them up and get then in earlier but they just will not co-operate.
colin leads his older girls into the house 1 1/2 to 2 hrs earlier,
 
Sorry my message got cut off, I was going to say
Colin leads his older girls into the house 1 1/2 to 2 hours earlier ,any sugestions as to how I can get the young ones in earier.

thanks Heather
 
Our hybrids are always the last to go in and the first to come out. They need to eat so much more to maintain their egg production. It's bred into them to be like that so I doubt you can ever get them in early. We often have to help them onto the perch as its too dark inside for them to see. All the Pedigrees go in much earlier, the best layers go in last.
 
Hi,

thank you for that info , I wonder how many other small hen keepers know that the best layers need to stay eating longer, w.hat you have said makes a lot of sense now , as most of my early birds are pure breeds.

Do you think it would help to leave a light on in the henhouse for a couple of hours as there is always food available for them in there ?

thanks for your help Heather
 
We thought about a light in the house at dusk but when the light goes off they can't get on the perches as it's too dark. If that's not a problem you could use a light. We have used a light early morning to extend the laying period but don't bother now as too much hassle charging batteries and they make a real mess of the bedding so it costs us more to keep replacing it. In the midsummer only we lure them early into the runs with corn which means the coop pop-hole remains open. The runs are not fox proof but we need the sleep so its a chance we have to take.
 
Hi,

good point about the bedding I have noticed that if I am a bit later letting them out on a morning their bedding is in a mess and takes some sorting.

I will carry on doing what I am doing.

many thanksHeather
 
Trouble with foxes they are territorial, and when you kill one, another comes along to replace it, it doesn't help that the RSPCA release urban foxes out into the countryside when they have been captured in the towns and cities, they have no natural instinct left to hunt for themselves, so will take an easy meal option of a nice fat penned chicken! And often all foxes kill for 'fun'. I onced watched a program on TV on how a fox will kill every bird in the coop, to come back later as and when it wants to eat them, this sadly is NOT how foxes act, they almost always just take the heads off and leave the rest, if undisturbed they will kill all birds in sight in a killing frenzy. It's their instinct to keep going until nothing is left alive. They do not return to eat, just drag body parts away and leave them in meat 'stores'. This meat is more often than not left to rot.
My husband shoots foxes for people who ask him to because they are causing a problem. Some of the things we have seen, a 4 acre field full of sheep with dead, be-headed new born lambs is not a pretty sight! Niether is a coop full of exhibition wyandottes, just their blood stained bodies with no heads! He has shot a tremendous number of urban foxes out where we are in the country, they are mange ridden, scabby and on the brink of starvation because they don't know how to hunt properly, or how to fend for themselves when claiming territory. I can't think of a more dreadful way to die than the pain of starving, how can the RSPCA called this a 'kind' thing to do!? It must be quite a 'relief' to be shot and end their suffering!
Protecting your flock isn't easy when you think a fox can dig 3 feet down to get under brick or wire, can chew easily through average chicken wire in a few minutes, and jump 7 feet to clear any boundary. Their thick water repellant coats can stand a jolt from electric fencing, and they can even chew through solid concrete! They wait for the right moment to strike, they calculate and work out the best form of attack and they learn from their elders! A very formidable apponant! It is an animal which adapts to it's environment, has no natural preditors apart from man, and can live with extremes of temprature.
It's our fault our birds don't live in a natural habitat, roosting high in trees where foxes can't get, so we have to take whatever steps are nessassary to protect them, whether it be shooting them, or devising ways to keep them out, but don't for one minute think you have done it just because you shot the last one, it's a matter of a short space of time before another one will replace it. Day or night, hungry vixens will kill during the day to feed cubs, and dog foxes the same, it makes no odds to them. Vixens will even bring growing cubs with her on a hunt to show them how it's done!
Shooting them is only one way in the control of foxes, sadly people also poison them, snare them, trap them and drown them, what ever measures they do, it must be legal, and have the welfare of the animal at heart, no animal should be made to suffer, not even Charlie Fox! As for re-releasing them, it's not ilegal, just immoral, you might be tresspassing on land to do so which could land you in very hot water, and it just passes the problem on to someone else, an organised cull is the best way to control them, but protection of your flock is the best. :-)17
JubesXX
 
My experience of chicken loss is that the fox does return for the bodies, and does eat them, even when left for a while. I decided to conduct this, rather heartless experimentation, to try to understand the behavior of foxes after I lost 2 sussexes. They were left headless under a tree at the bottom of the garden, and where taken within a fortnight. This is only my experience, not gospel. I don't believe they kill for fun, but as said, they enter a killing frenzy, and will lash out. I adore foxes, and accept that keeping hens means I may lose some. I love my hens, but don't anthropomorphise them.
 
I half agree with you Mollteaser, i also love foxes, most are beautiful creatures, and we have a duty to protect them as part of our wildlife, but, we also have a duty of care to our birds, we put them in pens, and fence them in giving them no option but to sleep in sheds, and not do as nature intended which is to get up high at night in trees to roost. We give them no alternative to escape because of the fence restrictions around them, and sometimes, we have no choice but to kill the fox if it causes a problem. Most of the folks who ring my husband and ask for his services to rid them of a problem fox do so as a last resort.
But, just as we have a duty to protect foxes, we also have to manage the population, it's mans fault they have no other natural preditors, we killed all the wild bears and wolves who would have done this, it makes sense now we have to keep numbers down to a managable level. And keep fox populations healthy by humanely culling sick, injured and old ones. A healthy fox is a formidable creature, and won't easily be caught. I would say that 70% of the foxes my husband culls are sick, starving, or injured, and it's mainly these ones who take an oppertunity to go after an easy quarry, where as the healthy foxes will hunt for themselves catching rabbits and wild game. It's man who have upset the natural 'balance' by releasing foxes caught in towns and cities who don't know how to hunt, and are more reliant on the easy meals they have found in dustbins, and who aren't afraid of man.And by killing all it's would-be natural preditors. We only have ourselves to blame. But i agree that it hardly seems fair that the fox should suffer for our mistakes.

JubesXX
 
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