Here comes foxy!!!

[Anonymous]

This question has probably been asked time and time again. What is the best way to protect your chickens from the fox??

I have a few chickens in a 150 sq mtr run & they are in hen house at night, they are fenced in with a electrified poultry net which is just under 4ft high. the run is surrounded with open fields in middle of no where, i went to feed & put chickens to bed yesterday only to see a young fox run away. what other precautions can i take to protect chickens????

 

[Tim]

Hmm... young foxes are very brave - they are still learning. The vixen will leave them to hunt on their own once they get to a certain age and often, they start to get hungry and rather daring, trying to find the best place for a meal.

You sound pretty well protected with an electric fence. Foxes are teratorrial so once territories are established, you will have the same group of foxes visiting you. They bark to communicate in the group at night - you may hear them.

The electric fence is a psycological barrier to the fox - so if your local foxes touch it once, they should stay clear of it in future, especially if it happens whilst the fox is young (a bit like training a young puppy) If you were to shoot them, the chances are new foxes would move into the area who wouldn't know about your electric fence and might have a go at getting in.

Personally I would try not to scare the fox if you see it. Watch it and be ready to scare it off just in case... You will hopefully see it get a zap and learn from it. The fox is most likely going to come back at the same time and get a bit closer each day. I would get a device to test your electric fence with (a friend of mine has a light that pulses at night to show the fence is on) and be extra careful that it is always working... I would also ensure the hens are locked up without fail at night. Young foxes are likely to be out during the day too but they will be more brave at night time.

Other than that, I think your options are limited as to what you can do, short of building a fox proof run. They say lion dung works a treat (a friend swears by it and gets it from a Safari park) and you can put urine around fence posts to leave a human smell around but that won't stop a determined fox.

Tim

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks i will just have to monitor them & see what happens!