The Poultry Keeper

sasha.p · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 472 Location: gwent

i have read so many posts of foxes being killers but my poultry have been in the middle of our field woods for almost a year now there are fox dens everywhere and we have came within a meter of a fox cub the other day when my german shepard cornered it but we dont live on site and i do not turn my electric fence on every day as the battery is powered by solar panel but the foxs have made no attempt on our chickens.is it just a matter of time or can they live next to one another and not have problems providing they are fenced in properley? Question

CP · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:57 am Post subject:

Never underestimate them!!!

We thought our run was fox proof until last Saturday morning when we found one inside!! Luckily the chickens weren't let out at the time!

My neighbours nearby have just lost their entire flock & the only way it could've got in is by climbing over, & this was in the daytime. Twisted Evil

My OH has spent all week doing more security changes to our run (in between the rain!) He's still out there now... Wink

Itsybitsy · Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 1327 Location: Leicestershire

I lost 10 just before Christmas, he was coming in the daytime and probably swimming the river as the rest of the field was electric fenced.

As Chicken Palace said "Never underestimate them" But, if they are not bothering you now then all well and good, there will be a plentiful food supply elsewhere, winter is the difficult time when they are hungry, they probably visit your field regularly anyway, look around for spore (poo) and check your boundary fences regularly for signs of worn paths where they come in, these are the places to snare if you do get a problem. I sincerely hope you don't, it's very distressing to keep on loosing birds day after day and not knowing what is going to greet you next time.

Itsybitsy

kated · Joined: 01 Nov 2006 Posts: 1745 Location: norfolk

Allegedly, a fox's favourite food is voles and rabbits. If it has a plentiful supply of those it will not trouble your chucks. However, if the fox is injured or a bit weak, or the supply of voles and rabbits falls, then chucks that are easy to catch will be very vulnerable. Once they've had chicken they want it again.......

mojo · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 8:37 pm Post subject:

take every precaution you can ..............then check again.........foxes kill more chickens and dont eat them .........and early spring/summer is the worst time as adults teach fox cubs to hunt

rogermohr · Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 77

yes foxes are bad they killed my guinea hen pair. and killed my peacock pair....made me mad..really mad

milkmaid · Joined: 19 Apr 2005 Posts: 6973 Location: isle of lewis

my aunt had the same thing happen for a couple of years ,never really a problem then there was a bit of a population expolsion =a bit less food ,mind you these were released foxes from london and maidstone ,she lost all of her hens ,ducks and goosings ,she gave up keeping birds
she now has birds again but pens them in ,never underestmate any preditor

mcleod-girls · Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 3:55 pm Post subject:

I guess its just luck or plentiful alternative food sources, my daughters little friend has had a bad time recently with foxes, I wouldn't underestimate their intelligence or daring, be very vigilant.

sasha.p · Joined: 04 Sep 2005 Posts: 472 Location: gwent

it must be the alternative food source then as there are rabbits and the other day i went down by our stream and there was a mole flat on its back dead i thought it a bit odd to find one like that but afterwards i went back and it was gone so i assume the fox must of been playing with it back last winter i found a few pheasant feathers lying by the entrance to one den but this has since been abandoned probabley because we stuck our caravan right next to it are and we have the dogs running around when we are up there but there are holes everywhere as we discovered when everything died back in the winter .i will be cautious we just had to change our roofing net to stop magpies as so far they seem to be the only pest apart from the odd rat.we have been setting the camcorder up on each hole to see if its badgers or foxs using them so far we have not actually seen them on camcorder but definatley heard them calling and cubs playing and as i said the dog cornered a cub the other day ,i dont mind them as long as they leave my chooks alone,guess i should never let my gaurd slip Smile

thanks for the advice