I need your help with the fox

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Hi there, I am new to this forum but really need some advice. We have had three chickens for about two years and have kept them free range behind electric fencing, there have been no problems. They have a coop but we have never shut them in at night and they have been fine. We live in a suburban area and there have always been lots of foxes. I keep the netting clear of things that might cause it to short out and regularly check and change the battery. Last week I came down to find a pile of feathers in the garden. I thought perhaps my girl had jumped over the fence and so the fox had got her as there is no damage to the fence and no digging. I bought two more girls and within the next 48 hours the fox had taken two more chickens. The final one was at about 9 at night and the girls had put themselves to bed, I went into the garden to find the chicken in the foxes mouth clucking madly. The fox ran off with the chicken. Again there was no sign of damage to the fence and the charge on it is working well. This time I knew for sure that it could not have been one of the chickens getting out as they were asleep. Since then the fox has turned up about 10 times a day at all sorts of times, day and night. I have just found him in our kitchen!! thankfully the cat saw him off. I have no idea what to do. Needless to say I am now shutting them in at night but I don't know what to do as the fox is now here at all hours of the day and night. Everything I have read says that foxes will not get through, over or under electric fencing but he is!!!! Please does anybody have any advice? Desperate...
 
Did you see him/her jump the fence ?

Either way, I think the only thing you can do is to make a fox proof pen if you haven't got one.
 
No, have been waiting by the back door for the last 5 days almost non stop but he runs off and then returns every time I have to go and do something else so I have no idea how he is getting in... thanks for the suggestion on a proper pen, will give it some thought, have found a couple of humane fox people who say they will come and "remove" him elsewhere and give me advice on my pen so I might do that first. Thanks though.
 
contorary to popular belief a hungry fox WILL clear a seven foot fench or dig under one given enough time. any thing less than that is a pre lunch exercise to hime.

like you i keep chickens in the middle of a city and for my lot i HAVE TO HAVE a fench 7 foot tall all the way round with a chicken wire mesh roof over the lot and on the outside i have a old carpet path way which stopps him digging under it all, any thing less than that or plastic netting as i found to my cost losses me chickens.

and lastly once he has come to you he will always come to you and you will never chase him a way from an easy lunch
 
4700fiona said:
No, have been waiting by the back door for the last 5 days almost non stop but he runs off and then returns every time I have to go and do something else so I have no idea how he is getting in... thanks for the suggestion on a proper pen, will give it some thought, have found a couple of humane fox people who say they will come and "remove" him elsewhere and give me advice on my pen so I might do that first. Thanks though.
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Poor you--PLEASE do not get him removed and relocated . We get relocated foxes 'dumped'here with all good intentions . You can spot them a long way off ,they look fit,fat and red -ours are mangy ,grey,scrawny and thin. BUT ours stay away from houses in the main ,they know how to hide, how to survive and hunt -town foxes dont. Our scruffy lot survive ,the relocated town foxes are all shot in a matter of days by the gamekeeper or starve quickly . Much more humane for them to be shot on site than trapped , caged,terrified and transported to a rural area then starve to death or get shot on release . We live in a kind of mutual respect with our own foxes not so the relocated city ones !. Ros
 
If there is no sign of digging under the electric fence then he must be jumping over. It is true he will keep coming back now so I also think a fox proof pen is the best option.
Sorry to hear about it as it is a horrible thing to happen.
 
How high is your electric fencing ? A friend had her hens taken my a fox who jumped over their electrified netting which was 4ft high
 
I think that this fox needs to be dispatched, its a wild animal and now has no fear of humans and no boundaries.
Lets not forget the fox that went into someone's house and mauled those 2 toddlers. This fox will not stop now it knows where to find its food.
 
i totaly agree with podstable , it is in my eyes inhumain to transport foxes to the country side for a slow death. where i live in brum we used to have a family of foxes on the allotments and they were so tame(?) that we used to see them in the day as well as at night, due to the snow they died off and we had a new vixen turn up into the area, where as the old lot had tried and given up with the chicken pen the new one tried and succeeded in getting in, once she was in she never ever gave up trying, so in the end what i had to do was make the pen totaly fox proof 24hours a day where the girls where in or out, now she trys but fails.

there is nothing you can do with townie foxes as if you remove this one a new one will be along in a few days to the unused area you are better off keeping the foxes you have out and then they leave your girls alone and get on with finding food else where, ours are so un timed they would use bus passes to get around town if they could only get the photo cards done for them
 
I firmly agree with bigtallguy and podstable. Not only for the reasons mentioned but also due to the good chance that disease can be spread and town foxes have recently discovered how to kill Hedgehogs. It is not a skill we want the country foxs to learn ;)
 
We have a fox visit every night -an old and very large male who clears a 6 foot wall in one bound without touching it. Foxes won't jump an uneven line and Prince Charles uses this fact for his chicken enclosure which I have seen. It is said that the security staff once watched 7 foxes walking around the run trying to figure out a way in. They are enclosed by a stake fence made with lengths of Willow? branch 4 to 7 feet long. A very expensive but visually pleasing construction. Presumably something is in place to stop them digging underneath. I use a bucket of urine regularly spread in spots along the boundary and since applying it the fox has stopped coming in the day -this is a country fox though. Sorry if this upsets anyone but I was advised by a gamekeeper after our Cockerel had a very very close encounter at 10.00am.
I have seen advertised flashing lights that can be attached to an electric fence to deter foxes. Don't know if they work in daylight. I think the only safe option is a proper enclosure.
Bought some pullets from a farmer in Cheshire. He told us that the week before someone released two urban foxes onto his farm and he found the running riot through the farmyard where he keeps all his unenclosed bantams (they can fly so are relatively safe). They were both shot minutes later. Please don't release urban foxes into the countryside -they could turn up in my chicken runs which are not fox proof, only sheep proof.
 
Foxes will investigate a fence to try to find the easiest way in first. This is when they usually touch the electric wire and get a shock. If he didn't get that shock, he might be jumping it.

The voltage on the fence has to be high enough to get past the fur - the higher the voltage, the bigger gap it will jump - so 5000 to 7000 volts are used so it can ark across the fur to the skin. The shock causes no harm, just a muscle spasm, a bit like a cramp you get.

If the fence voltage is a little low (poor ground e.g. sandy / dry soil or the earth rod is poor) or connections are poor / battery voltage is a little low, there is grass / something short circuiting the fence or maybe the energiser isn't man enough for the length of fence then the fox will not get the nip he needs in order to learn from it.

He might be brushing past it, through a join or jumping over because when he investigated it, didn't get the nip.

Check there is nothing for him to climb on to get over the fence and get a fence tester to make sure the fence is working correctly.

I would say your fox has learned how to jump the fence if there are no signs of entry so he will need to go, or you will need a higher fence. A single strand on insulators 8 inches above your fence might be all you need.

There is some information here: Electric Fencing Chickens which may be useful.

Fox traps do work given time but I'd agree about refraining from the kinder 'rehoming' suggestion. Foxes live in a small family group (and communicate regularly whilst out, you may hear them barking at night). They have a territory and males will defend it. They learn where to find food from an early age.

Putting a fox in a new area means it does not know where to find food, has no den and is in other foxes territory. I don't believe this is kind and it is better to kill a fox that is getting in like this.

I had one get in earlier in the year and I trapped it inside one of my runs. It took a month to get but since then, there have been no problems and other foxes live happily outside of my run!

I wrote a blog post about my Fox trap and finally, the result one month later Fox Trap update.... please don't read this if you don't want to see a fox in a trap, it is upsetting. He was very happily devouring a duck when I first spotted him in the trap so in no way distressed until I showed up.
 
I agree with everything that has been said. Seriously fox-proof your coop, lock them up at night and dispose of the problematic fox as it is likely now he/she has had a taste, it will not leave! I've only been keeping chickens for just over 2 months now and only after a week of having my chooks the fox was in the garden, scaled a 6ft fence with trellis and spikes. They are persistent and very determined creatures. My hens are only out if i'm here and are always locked up at night. I have a fear of foxes and upon catching it in the garden by my rabbit hutch at my patio doors that night, went ballistic. Everything at hands grasp got launched at the fox. I haven't seen it since but who knows, i will not take that chance! Good luck!!
 
thank you everyone, at the moment we have taken down the electric fence and given it a complete overhaul with new posts, I have been super careful to make sure nothing is touching any of the wire and have cleared a grass free section around the pen, at the moment it seems OK but we are still seeing the fox in the garden at every time of day and night. Thanks also to the non-townies of you. I will remember no urban foxes to go to rural communities!!! this chicken keeping thing is so much fun and so much harder than I had thought! :D
 
I have to join you lot saying that the animal has to be eliminated.

Living in a rural area and getting a visit from a fox occasionally is something completely different than town fox waiting on your doorstep (or even inviting itself in!!!)

We have lost two hens to a fox attack straight away and the third has died of deep wounds few days later... All good layers and great pets to our kids. We live on the edge of the town but far enough from a proper rural area so ours was definitely town fox. Unfortunately, the neighbour next door used to feed them for quite a few years so they are used to come close to properties.

Just to add to my post - I have heard about using urine (preferable male human urine) to deter foxes. My partner and my son now go for a wee when working in the garden (just outside of our garden fence that is not accessible to other people). We haven't seen the fox since we started doing that...
 
im a full time pest controller mainly working with foxes, both problem a general culling.

there has been some good advice from some clearly experienced people. i will add some more in the hope it will help.

poultry netting is a good tool but by its setup has reduced effect.most is run off cheap batteries and or cheap units. also the quality of fencing and its conductive ability varies greatly. it is worth considering a non budget type. it is also worth considering that if a fox jumps a fence unless it is touching one of the intermediate earth wires (some fences have fewer than others)or has a foot on the floor it will not receive a shock. a height of 4 foot is nothing for a fox but will genrally look for areas of higher ground to jump from. they are clever but do also like it easy.

my preferred method for keeping problem foxes away in this type of environment is keeping the netting as it is but adding a ground wire, 4/5inches off the ground and 10 inches from fence and also a top wire above the netting. i would suggest running these from a separate unit with a high voltage.

generally a good shock is enough to educate a fox. if you have a persistent or a visitor whom has offended before then electric trip wires from the bottom wire can be very effective, random lengths coming out form the pen will stop a fox checking out the boundary, these can be moved or taken away.

also please consider that animal of any sort when shocked on a fence only react as if they will be shocked above the wire. like a screen of electrics but only above the source. this is why you see alot of animals (sheep/dogs/cattle/foxes) pushing under fences until you can shock them at a level they cant fit under. foxes like dogs also have very good guard hairs on their backs and can get under an under powered fence without getting shocked.

i would aslo add that the foxes is only using its ability and cunning to feed its self and at this time of year its young. killing will increase this time of year even where there has been no bothered for a long time. i would press the point that prevention is better than cause. fox control is essential but a trapped vixen that is unable to feed its cubs that will in turn starve to death is not a decision that should be taken lightly. a humane death may be provided by lots of pest controllers try to pay the mortgage but there is a bigger picture this time of year. do you want the responsibility of a starving litter.

in non rural settings another fox will be waiting to move in. if you have a good fox.... keep it!!
 
Good advice top cock :-)08

One thing I wanted to elaborate on is where you mentioned the fur on the back of a dogs back being thick and it not getting a shock...

A good energiser that has a high energy rating (in Joules) then there should be a high enough voltage to jump across the gap between fur and electric wire. The higher the voltage, the bigger the gap it can jump. This is why electric fences use such high voltages (5000 to 7'000 Volts usually).

I guess it pays to spend a bit more on a powerful energiser ;-)

Tim
 
Again thank you everyone, this is really useful. My men have been out peeing too, but the really really helpful man from Foxolutions (a humane approach to fox deterrents) says that won't work with a fox who has tasted chicken... I will try the extra electric fencing you suggested Top Cock. Thanks
 
Such bad luck.
A couple of suggestions you could try
Not sure if you would want to try this one but needs must:- Put a bit of bacon or cooked chicken on the electric fence near where the fox comes. Hopefully he will go for the meat get a shock and then stay well away.

You could also try putting a couple of lines of electric wire above the electric fence, connected to the fence. Then if he tries to jump the fence he'll hit the wire, get a shock and stay away.

Good luck, sounds like you need lots.
 
Tim said:
Good advice top cock :-)08

One thing I wanted to elaborate on is where you mentioned the fur on the back of a dogs back being thick and it not getting a shock...

A good energiser that has a high energy rating (in Joules) then there should be a high enough voltage to jump across the gap between fur and electric wire. The higher the voltage, the bigger the gap it can jump. This is why electric fences use such high voltages (5000 to 7'000 Volts usually).

I guess it pays to spend a bit more on a powerful energiser ;-)

Tim
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Agree with you both, it is critical with electric fencing that you buy the best energiser you can afford, plus a fence tester. Most problems with the fencing is due to human error I am afraid. Most of our fencing is now wooden posts with electric wire around our runs.

We have a Phoenix energiser, with 3.9 stored joules so very powerful, even so we are vigilant about testing, and check at least 3 to 4 times a week. At the moment we have a vixen with 4 cubs that I have spotted roughly 60m from our front door, won't be long now before the youngsters try their luck!
 
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