My turn for Mr Fox......

[Aileen]

Well, I got him last night and my gentle giant top bird paid the price I am guessing she was protecting her gals.. I literally grabbed the foxes tail as he was jumping over my fence with my chook in his mouth.... but it was too late, carnage in the garden, blood and feathers everywhere. I actually let him go as I couldn't bear to see my sussex in such a way and he bolted with her, she was so big he had to keep stopping every few yards to "regrab" if you know what I mean..
My other girls are fairly traumatised today, a little pekin has been cut and my Marans has a broken beak and I think the fox may well have had a go at her too, I can see blood but she too stressed to let me have a good look....
My concern now is, he will come back, I live slap bang mid terrace and really can't go down the electric fence route as it would zap passers by if they were to brush against it...
Any other suggestions??? I was going to bring them all in tonight and leave the coop open so fox could go in and leave empty handed, whats your thoughts on this, would he be so easily fooled???
Please advise, I have been up since 4am this morning and am dead on my feet but the thought of going to sleep tonight fills me with dread.......

 

[podstable]

Poor you and hens. She WILL be back sadly,I can't think getting her in the hen house will help-unless you can some how trap her in there Trouble is if she goes- another fills her place in a matter of days.If you live mid terrace then surely people are not going to be in your garden? You can get the electric netting in 25M lengths--when that is set up it only makes a surprsingly small area.I think it may be your best long term solution. I am impressed that you got it by he tail!! Ros

 

[Chuck]

Sorry to hear this Aileen. This is a bad time and I've had four visits in just over a month. I haven't got any suggestions for you but if I come up with anything I'll be back.

 

[Rebelodicus]

Very brave with the foxs tail Aileen ! Even I would hesitate... they can be nasty and quick with those teeth. Even with a mouthfull 11 I'm sorry to hear of the attack. Time to double up your security :|

Mind you ... perhaps a yanked tail will put him off a bit. If it were me I might set up an ambush or trap and traumatise me a fox.... I mean realy scare it.

 

[chrismahon]

Sorry to hear this Aileen. In my opinion you have no option but to get a professional pest contoller in who must trap it and kill it. It will be back forever more until stopped I think unless it finds a much much easier meal elsewhere. Town foxes don't scare easily.
We took in the remainder of a flock that survived a fox attack- just 7 left from 20. We kept them completely separate from our birds but they still didn't lay for 3 months afterwards.
We are a bit worried now as well. The huge dog fox that used to call at night only (urine along the fenceline) has gone and has been replaced by a much smaller one. Haven't seen the fox only the tracks. The original looked for an easy meal, so if the chickens were penned (pens have tops)or in the coops he left well alone. Don't know what the new one will try.

 

[Aileen]

I brought my gals in last night - the downstairs loo got it again!!
I forgot to tell my little men and my 2 year old got one helluva fright when he went for a wee - oops...
Anyhoo, I slept downstairs and at 5am mr fox did indeed come back, I had left the coop open on purpose so after a good rummage about he left empty handed, will do the same tonight and hope that they will give up fairly quickly as we are supposed to be going on a weeks hols on Friday and to be honest the thought of it makes me feel sick....

 

[animartco]

Hi Aileen. You didn't frighten him enough then! I caught a dog fox the size of an alsation (well) red handed a month ago. he couldn't get out of the pen. He must have come in through the door and I was standing by it. He was diving around in a frenzy trying to get out. I thought he'd tare the pen to bits, but chicken wire is apparantly very strong. Eventually I relented and stood aside for him and he hasn't been back since (touch wood) How did the fox get into your pen? It is always a good idea to put wire netting across the top of pens (making them technically aviaries ) and the netting should also have been dug into the ground well at the bottom. If you didn't do this it is possible to rectify it by digging in a new piece or by laying a narrow strip along the outside of the pen. And then your pen should be totally fox proof. I think this is always the safest (and cheapest) way to protect against the fox. Chicken houses are far less likely to be fox proof than a well constructed aviary. So, buy some more wire netting and go round looking for weak spots is my advice. You can't keep your chucks indoors!
Oh sorry PS never use a mesh size of more than 2inch diameter.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Aileen

we too had terrible fox problems, the people we found who were really really helpful apart from this forum were a company called: http://www.foxolutions.co.uk/ it would be well worth talking to them. Hope it gets sorted, I am only just recovering from my last fox trauma so my deepest sympathy goes out to you.