I'm a little at my wits end, with another fox attack on the homestead. Many of you know I lost my entire rare breed Ixworth flock late last year to a big dog fox. It was TOTALLY my fault - it was dark and though the run door was closed, I was too late in going down to close the coop door. This time, however, the fox scratched and scrabbled and CHEWED HIS WAY THROUGH THE ROOF!
There's good and there's bad. The bad is that Mr. Fox made off with Gertrude - my top silkie, the matriarch, the forebearer of almost all my silkies. She was my husband's first chicken he ever bought too. All that I found was a clump of feathers.
You might be wondering, well what on earth is the good?
Well...the good is that Gertrude's three daughters made a hell of a racket and woke me up at 3.30am. It's that I got out of bed and rushed down the garden in my underwear with two barking, snarling dogs and - I expect - disturbed the fox. And there were no bodies. That was horrible last time; all these white mounds of feathers all over the garden. This time, it was one hen, and she was gone. Finally, it's that though I'm very sad to have lost her, I was no longer using Gertrude for any breeding programs. Mr. Fox could have got my whole generation of hens in a new colour variety I'm developing.
I am, of course, totally paranoid now. So I grabbed the girls and brought them inside overnight. I have no made and installed a new roof, but I'm still paranoid and so I think that though this will protect them during the day, I'll continue to bring them in at night. I do it with the roosters anyway, so it's no hardship bringing in three additional hens.
What a horrible night. I was speaking about it on Twitter and some suggested the problem at the moment relates to the 10 year fox/rabbit prey cycle. I hadn't heard of this before, but each species' population is symbiotic to the other. And, apparently, the rabbits are on their cyclical decline. So foxes have less food and are raiding...and soon will also be on the decline. I know SO many people who've endured attacks this year.
So, as ever, onwards. Homesteading sure is a rollercoaster.
Thanks for reading,
Geoff
nice post
I have not had a fox in the hen house, but I have had foxes snatch and grab during the day. They are a worse problem than raccoons.
I've been lucky to avoid daylight attacks. This fox is determined as hell!
Again?! Oh my gosh! Those are some hungry fox! Are you down to just three hens now?
So far no predators have found our chickens...yet. I'm sure our day is coming though, living in the woods like we do.
Good luck, dear.
This is one of my coops - I have two other sheds with around 30 birds. This blasted fox is doing my head in!
Jeeze! Time to build the fort knox of chicken coops!
Right?! And I'd already gone around the perimeter of this coop hammering in metal bars 1 foot deep to stop digging...and the bugger came in from the top instead!
That's just horrible. I'm actually amazed we haven't had any issues yet, hoping we don't!
Whoa, that must be one very hungry fox! Never seen them do that kinda stuff!
It's crazy. He's a HUGE dog fox. Very beautiful. But boy...determined and, I guess, hungry.
Oh how terrible, I am so sorry. Foxes are one of my favourite animals but it devastates me that even to this day there is still a fox/human conflict going on. Have you thought about perhaps putting your coop within an aviary of galvanised mesh during the night? Sadly, now he knows where he can get a meal he will definitely be back. I really hope you can keep your other chucks safe. We have foxes in our garden with the Rabbits but they are not out over night yet and that will really worry me when they are. Specially the effort your visitor put in to get to the animals. I am so sorry.
Thanks so much!
My two sheds of hens are okay because the sheds are properly shut up at night. With this coop, I've been hammering metal bars into the ground to stop him digging in and he came in the top instead! What a brute.
Problem is...he's also totally beautiful. A great specimen of a fox. Suppose it's all that chicken! I'm hoping this new roof will deter problems in the day time but, until I'm less paranoid, the three girls and rooster from this coop are coming into a poultry crate in my conservatory at night.
My condolences on your loss, and thank goodness it wasn't worse.
Is there no (official) programme to trap & relocate foxes away, from which you could ask for help?
We're not allowed to relocate as it risks disease contamination. Also, I honestly believe as soon as you move/kill one, another moves in to take it's place. Just a case of losing hens now and then and trying to protect.
Oh dear. Never any easy solutions. Fingers crossed that you find a way through this.
So sorry to read about your chicken =(
Sounds daft probably wont work. But is it worth feeding the foxes elsewhere or will they still come up?
No suggestions on how to secure your coop unfortunatly =(
I DO know people who do this. They feed the foxes and because they've got full bellies, they don't try and break into the coops. I have considered it. I wouldn't feed a random fox because it would bring it here all the time BUT as this one comes every night anyway...
Yeah.... a few tit bits down the bottom away from the hens might be just what you need!
Dang, now I'm sorry I asked about recent visits. Fingers crossed the new roof will hold up and good idea just bringing them inside. Perhaps as the weather warms, he'll find easier prey elsewhere.
I hope so. I guess there's a dearth of prey at the moment in mid-winter so hopefully come spring and baby rabbits, he might go elsewhere.
I'm so sorry. I was just thinking I hadn't been by your page for a while and this! It's amazing the lengths foxes will go to if determined. They'll spend all night at it as well! What will keep most foxes out won't deter a hungry vixen with cubs in the slightest.
I know! He must've been at it for ages!
I use metal on the roof of the henhouse and chainlink around it to help prevent the problem. Ours are coyotes.
I think metal roofs are the way to go. How do you find the heat in the summer though?
We build our roofs with higher peaks and most of my buildings are under shade trees. They are also open to the air to keep circulation going. Because I am in the tropics we don't need to be closed in like the northern climes.
Sounds like an ideal solution!
Oh gosh, @brimwoodfarm, that's heartbreaking. I'm so sorry you're going through this again. I hope you get the situation figured out and have no more loss.
Thank you. :D
Ahh man that sucks! Interesting about the decline makes sense I guess. A light in the dark i guess 💯🐒
Hope so. That's what I'm hanging onto!
Best way to be :) 💯🐒