I have learnt a lesson - do not relax on your Fox Watch

J

jamesb4

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Having to work hard some times, talking to suppliers in China at odd hours of the early morning, it can sometimes get me down and feeling exhausted, so I sometimes take a rest early in the evening when the eyelids start to sink lower and lower. On a few occasions, I have awoken late, well into the next day, and remembered that I have not shut them in. Quickly descending to the garden and shut the doors - what a relief, and go back to bed. So nothing untoward has happened, I was expecting a mass of feathers strewn all over the lawn, but nothing. It has occurred only a few times, but it has led me into thinking, that maybe there is no fox around here. Now that Wheelibins have taken over from plastic bags deposited on your pavement, there is much less available for the urban fox and much more opportunity for a fox back in its regular country haunts, well might have some stiff completion from the local inhabitants, but that is just a process of natural selection.

Well I have had a lesson tonight. My wife woke me up saying the chickens are making a noise, it was not that late, but quickly went out into the garden after switching on the night light, then to hear a bounding and movement against the rear fence. After a couple of attempts the fox was over it and away. I could see my two big Cockerels out in a protective mode and had a slight sense of relief that they had seen him off. How wrong can you be. Getting the torch out and shining it about, I could see one chick in the middle of the lawn. I am training them to go in the coop. Sometimes they go in on their own and sometimes they go underneath it. All grown hens and cockerels seemed to be fine, but it was devoid of chick chatter. Just off the lawn I found a pile of lifeless chicks, neatly organised in a pile, ready to be taken away.

So never relax. A fox is always about, no matter where you live. If you get them walking up the High Street in the middle of the night, which I have seen, then they are going to be everywhere.

I blame myself and do not want any sympathy. This is just a wake up call for those who need it.

James
 
Good morning James,
horrible lesson to learn, so sorry for you.
I was woken at 2.00am the other morning by chicken noise to see the fox hurling himself at the (hopefully) impregnable wire mesh pen.
I had lost the previous week a beautiful Pekin grower found headless inside another pen, just the bloodied corpse. No idea how he managed to drag the head through an impossible gap.
I have had many other unmentionable losses to a fox, I actually hate them! And one of the things I particularly hate is their wanton cruelty and greed, other predators kill to eat and therefore survive, not foxes, when I hear of people feeding them - GRRRRRRRRR!
I know I can NEVER leave my girls unattended in the garden, not even for a lunch time sandwich indoors, he will be there, several visits a day.
The girls are usually the ones to warn me he is about.
Again, so sorry for your losses.
I've just bought 2 beautiful 9 week pure bred Light Sussex utility growers, HUGE girls with lovely faces, also a Cream Legbar and an interesting cream Legbar/white Leghorn who will lay blue/green eggs, hopefully, if shes anything like my other Leghorn cross, like a machine gun. All four of them beautiful girls.
I lost my previous Light Sussex girls late last year, early this year, and missed them so much decided to replace them.
Better luck with your next hatchlings, down with ALL foxes.
 
I am sorry to hear about this, James. Even though you say 'no sympathy,' I'm sure everybody on here will feel for you if they read this. I suppose the only way to feel safe is to have the coop in an impregnable run, then they are safe even in the day, or when it's not time for them to go to roost.
 
Sorry to hear about your Fox strike James. We've had 3 in 8 months now. The fox must be assumed to always be there. We used to have one walk around the coops every night and of course they were all safely tucked away inside. Our first attack was at 10.00am, the next two at 8.00pm. So all three in daylight and the Fox is no longer a night hunter. Lots of reasons for this. Neighbours feeding them and a ban on Fox hunting are probably the main culprits. I think basically you cannot let them out during the day unless it's into a Fox proof enclosure, or you can but have to accept losses. If the flock of chickens have no cover to hide in or room to escape you can expect to lose them all in one visit. Although it is a lot of extra work we have split ours into 6 flocks to limit pest and predator problems. 3 different flocks have been hit with survivors in each.
 
It's a miserable business to be sure James, it's easy for any of us to be lulled into a false sense of security. A friend of mine had a runner drake snatched virtually at his feet early the other morning. He was stood at his doorstep, dressing gown on, mug of coffee in hand waving his wife off to work! as the car pulled away, a fox darted from the hedge, next to where the car had been parked only seconds before, ran across the drive, seized the unfortunate bird by the neck as it was foraging in the garden, then ran back to the hedge and out into the fields beyond, all in a split second! no time to grab a Gun, all my friend managed to do was to hurl his half drained mug of blue mountain at charlie as he made off with his duck dinner! :( :-x
 
must be awful for you!
foxes are definitely everywhere, we have one that lurks every night, and it did walk past the backdoor at lunchtime last summer, cheeky git!
we try to deter it everytime we see it by any means possible
we actually lost a chicken one night, after a coop sort out, she didnt go in and we were up til 1am looking around for her thinking shed already been taken, but no feathers, luckily shed hidden in a bush next to her coop and was ok.
such a shame that theres always something out to get your chooks :(
 
Thank you all for your kind words.

The thing that really seems senseless is killing all the 5 week old chicks, surely they would only make a meal for a small cub and it's the wrong time of year for those. I mentioned it to the checkout lady at the local Co-op and she was very sympathetic, but said there is a woman near where she lives that comes in and buys a load of food, regularly, to feed the foxes. There is a distinct lack of knowledge about how foxes behave. There is a lot of "It's cute so it must be nice" sort of attitude towards foxes, same as there is with Polar Bears, but that is one of the most dangerous animals on the planet.

If you have a fox roaming around in the day, then it is best to arrange its disposal, either by well placed poisoned meat or with the hand of a friendly farmer with his trusty weapon.

Now that I have had a visit which has resulted in a kill, I guess I can expect another visit during the night-time or, I suppose, depending on its level of confidence, one in the day.

Just a thought for those budding electrical engineers out there, as we have voice recognition telephone ordering services a plenty these days, how about designing a sound recognition system of a chickens alarm call and link it to a siren to scare off the foxes. Royalties will be accepted.

James
 
Would love to get it, although meat wouldnt be good, as the dogs would get it, however we dont need a farmer with a trust weapon as we have several! did shoot one last year but didnt kill it, shot at the one whos still lurking the other night, there is plenty of food around so unless the rabbits dry up it has no reason to try and get in the coops, itll just be very sad if it does feel it needs to take them in daylight hours
id like to think with 9 horses around it wouldnt want to wander through those to get to them?
 
A week ago today, at around 10am, I let out my new cockerel out of his lonely pen (he is seperate from the hens at the moment, see my thread on it!) and kept the hens in their run, to let the cockerel stretch his legs without being battered. This was his first time out since I got him. I came back in the house and within a few minuted the chickens were all making an almighty racket. I thought it could be the hens shouting at the cockerel for being out when they weren't, but it was louder than I have ever heard them. I.e. alarm call. I ran out of the house and to my surprise there was a Mink running around the cockerels pen. Luckily he had bolted away but I ran and grabbed him, and quickly shoved him in the garden shed. I then when back to try and scare away the mink, grabbed a broom (closest thing to hand), and was waving it at him, but he was not afraid of me at all, and was just circling the hen run and trying to get in, with the hens literally hitting the roof. Luckily I am equipped for such events, as I have shotgun certificate, and I had time to go into the house, unlock the gun cabinet, get the gun and get cartridges, and go back out and shoot it. If I didnt have the shotgun or at least an air rifle I dont know what would have happened.

Usually, the hens would have been let out at that point, and would have been vulnerable to his attack. I had never contemplated that such a predator would come along during the day, and be so unafraid of humans.

Today, the hens have been out all day, so has the cockerel (they are getting on a wee bit better but still kept in seperate runs). Maybe this is irresponsible but I hate to see them cooped up, so to speak. The way I see it they will have a better life if they free range as much as possible, and risk is a part of life. I will always do my best to keep them safe at night though. And I check up on them every wee while in the daytime, and have been out in the garden most of the day today anyway.

I am sorry to hear about your chicks though. We've all made mistakes and you have been very unlucky. I wouldnt place poisoned meat though. Its far too indisciminate, what if you kill someone's cat? Just my opinion, I'm not having a go. You could try a live catch fox trap with a dead chicken or any meat inside. That way if you catch something else you can free it again, and if you catch a fox you can deal with it legally and humanely. I'm going to buy a live catch mink trap. Hopefully it will nab the odd rat too. Sorry again for your loss.
 
You were very lucky to get hold of the mink so quickly, I know they can cause absolute carnage in a henhouse, and very hard to trap.
 
Well, at long last our run is almost ready, just a few minor additions to (hopefully) make it very safe and secure for when we get our 3 chickens.

We know there is at least one fox very close by (there were 3 a couple of months ago) as one comes into the garden and sits and watches my OH while he is pottering or lays in the sun.

Going to 'test' it tonight by putting some meat in it and see what happens!! :-)17
 
we have had wheely bins for years, chickens locked up as soon as start getting dark but fox cam in middle of day and almost wiped me out, i came home to carnage. im now building runs to keep my chickens in so wont have as much room :( but at least they safe and i dont have to get up at 5am just so they can have couple hours run about befor i lock up an go to work
sorry for you loss
 
luckily here theres usually someone not far away, still doesnt make it safe, but i can hear chickens clucking from here, so if there are any abnormal noises i go and look
 
So very sorry for the loss of your chicks :( I think this type of attack is all of our worst nightmares. I am lucky, I hope, because of the type of dogs I have and for the local farmer, who keeps the fox population down.
The fox of nowadays seems to be bigger, braver and less frightened of humans, due to as already said to people in the mistaken idea that are are like a dog. :evil:

Hope you dont lose more in the coming days or nights.
 
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