The Poultry Keeper

alyvin · Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 20

Probably a daft question but is it possible not to have foxes in an area. I live on the border of Merseyside/ Lancashire with housing to the south and farms (crops and sheep) to the north. I have only ever seen 2 foxes- one running across the M57 and another across a dual carriage way- both approx 4 miles away in urban areas. The local pub usually has men with shotguns and hunting dogs in it is there a chance they have managed to cull all the local foxes?

nigel · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 12:57 pm Post subject:

If they are country foxes they tend to be much more cautious of man than their townie cousins. If they are hunted by local farmers etc. then it is possible there are very few. Eventually others will move into their territory but if your guys from the pub keep shooting then the population will be kept down.

Teasal · Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 10:41 pm Post subject:

I wish I had only seen two foxes round here - we trip over them sunbathing in the fields during the day. I would not like to guess how many there are.

We have a man who comes on shooting, and he has been doing it years, so knows his stuff. I saw him last night and he said he has seen two cubs in the bracken by next doors field ...eek. I know we have a vixen who has cubs in our big hill field every year. I have twice found a dead cub about 8 weeks old that must have wondered out of the nest. And she had six cubs one year, so if they are all breeding and having 6 each, thats an alarming number!!!

kated · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 2089 Location: norfolk

It is incredible how many foxes one small area can support. I remember the local farmer 20 or so years ago once told me he set snares for foxes (no, I don't like them either) in his field hedges - a huge number of snares. He told me he caught 26 foxes in one night. Shocked

He was warned off by the local "squire" who didn't want his hunting spoilt Rolling Eyes

Teasal · Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 11:01 pm Post subject:

Its hard to believe 26 foxes can survive in a small area ....but I can imagine we have got a lot here.

I much prefer the man shooting them than the snares ....just don't like that idea. He seems very ruthless, discussing shooting the foxes, but he has told me that he always shoots to kill, and if for any reason he has hit the fox, but not killed it, he will follow it, to make sure he kills it. He would never leave a fox injured. That makes me feel a bit better, as although they are pests around my chickens, I love all animals!!

He also told me that one night he had his 15 year old grandson with him, who had been pestering him to go out foxing. They have a whisle which attacts the fox, and the grandson was fascinated when he blew and called a big dog fox right within shooting distance. Farmer told me he did not shoot the fox although he could have done easy enough, for fear of upsetting the young lad - so he does have a soft spot!!!

gibralmoro · Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 15 Location: Worcestershire

Earlier this spring we lost 18 free range bantams to a local vixen feeding cubs,and her raids were always in broad daylight (as our hens are shut up securely every evening),her earth, a new one previously unknown on our land, was located and monitored until the cubs were leaving the earth. Baited live traps were set(borrowed from a wildfowl sanctuary friend) over a period of 3 days the vixen and all her cubs were caught and subsequently they were sucessfully relocated to a large arable farm 50 miles away (another friend with more than enough room for another Charlie or two!)! The losses, over a period of days, affected the remaining birds to such extent that egg production stopped completely,the remaining hens were nervous to move out of the farm yard. Gradually things are returning to normal regarding behavour and egg production but we are down to just 2 hens (and two cocks) we have had to buy in chicks to encourage a feeling of optomism within the depleted flock and ourselves, so I appreciate how nervous poultry owners can become with a fox in the vicinity-particularly when she has cubs !!! It was not our first losses of flock in 30 years here but it was by far the most disturbing.

alyvin · Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 20

Hi, I posted the original question as to whether it was possible to have no foxes!
Spoke to the local farmer yesterday to see whether he had any chickens to sell as he always has a variety of breeds in the farmyard. He told me that all the chickens and chicks have been taken by foxes! He is only left with cockrels. He also said that feral cats had been spotted on the lane and he thinks they have also been taking the chickens.
That was obviously wishful thinking on my part to think I had no foxes close by!

Chris Kurzfeld · Joined: 29 Oct 2007 Posts: 1712 Location: Carmarthenshire

We have lived here 5 years and are surrounded by farms, up till a few weeks ago i hadn't seen a fox but had seen evidence - especially when one of the dogs rolled in it - YUK! In the past few weeks we have had 2 youngsters playing in the bottom paddock and back garden _ they tend to avoid the small paddock at the bottom of the garden where the bantams are, i think because there are 4 rams in there?????? They even come out during the day and when our 7 dogs are around!!!!!!!! Just 2 days ago i was on the phone looking out of the window and a large dog fox walked across the bottom paddock - at which point I went and put the girls back in their big run. If i have to I will add fox cage traps to my army of vermin traps we have just purchased.

thornbird · Joined: 27 Aug 2008 Posts: 15 Location: airdrie

i have better results with large cage traps than small ones

Elly · Joined: 18 Apr 2008 Posts: 356 Location: Norfolk

Gilly C · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 2671 Location: South Cumbria

get real anyone with chicken should protect their birds !

thornbird · Joined: 27 Aug 2008 Posts: 15 Location: airdrie

didnt mean to upset anyone, as you can see the trap is a live catch trap and the animal is unharmed, in a case like this the fox can be checked to see if its young healthy dog or vixen it can then be set free, or released in a different area not something i recommend as your only passing on a problem, it can be humanly dispatched, this vixen had killed a number of chickens and a family of ducks over a three week period, as it was not breeding time or rearing cubs she was pts.

Elly · Joined: 18 Apr 2008 Posts: 356 Location: Norfolk

Elly · Joined: 18 Apr 2008 Posts: 356 Location: Norfolk

thornbird · Joined: 27 Aug 2008 Posts: 15 Location: airdrie

i too enjoy wildlife that visit our home, but unless a balance is kept one predator can destroy another, i was a professional pest controller for a number of years during which i have witnessed the devastation fox can do killing a great number yet only taking one chicken or killing new born lambs yet only the tongue was eaten so sadly they need to be controlled its not nice but is necessary and should always be carried out as humanly as possible, i put these posts and pics up as i thought it could help someone with pest control i do apologize for upsetting anyone and i will contact the admin and ask that they are removed i will also have my membership withdrawn.