The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: macgro7 on March 29, 2017, 09:21:07 am
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Today at 7.30am I went to open and feed the birds as usual.
Then I saw a fox holding one of my la bresse hens which I just bought last Friday!!!!
It killed all of them except for one hen and the cock.
Thank God didn't touch the geese or ducks.
The most interesting part is how it got in!
I could find any holes or gaps in the walls. In fact I just repaired them and extended the run. All the sides would keep a dinosaur in or out - bloody vixen climbed over the roof - damaged tarpaulin with its claws. She must have taken the chickens one by one over the roof.
I absolutely hate them! Hate them! Bloody foxes!
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I am really sorry about your loss. Also really sorry to read your last line.
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I am really sorry about your loss. Also really sorry to read your last line.
I am sorry too. Foxes are really beautiful animals but I am really upset now and really really don't want to see them near my property.
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Electric netting is the only answer, mains powered, and the grass under the netting kept short. (and clip the birds wings, so they don't fly out....)
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a gun
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Do you have a local gamekeeper? They may be able to help.
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We are in the city. No shotguns allowed. Only air rifle, but that is not allowed on foxes
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We are in the city. No shotguns allowed. Only air rifle, but that is not allowed on foxes
ah. that's different then... you didn't mention that in the OP.
Hugh FW tried an experiment at the 1st river cottage (where he has chicken houses on stilts) where he got human hair from the local barber and hung bunches in stockings around the chicken area - the theory being that foxes hate human smell. I suspect this would not work as well in the city though.
One thing is for sure, the fox now knows you have a food source. you could try and trap it in a livetrap... then drive 50 miles away into the wilderness and do as you will (shoot/release). I suspect the local animal rescue types probably do this occasionally (they certainly did it in London), but I doubt they will do it by request... you could always ask them.
Yes, mulling it over some more I'd recommend buying a fox trap by mail order, get up very very early in the morning to check it, and drive it to the country. Otherwise the fox is coming back for your chickens.
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I'll lock the chickens tonight in the smaller coop but not sure what to do with ducks and geese. It will try to climb over the roof tonight as well, I'm sure.
Just ordered net to stretch over the whole run but it's gonna take at least couple of days before it arrives. Tonight I'll try to lock them up safely in a shed maybe?
I actually caught a fox in a live trap before but they are very smart! It was a young one in the summer - this is their mother who spent whole life in the city living between humans and cars. Hard opponent I suppose.
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Country side dwellers would not be impressed by this solution,many have lost birds for the first time to displaced urban Fox's. The urban Fox is not as timid as a country Fox, they are used to people and hunting in daylight and are seasoned into breaking into enclosures. They also seem to gather into small packs.
Angie
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Sometimes a farmer returning home late at night around here has spotted 12 or more foxes wandering around a layby, with a white van speeding off into the distance. We suspect they're being dumped by vermin control companies. They're much more confident and often hang around farmyards during the day (which the local foxes don't) and are suffering from mange, which is passed onto the farm dogs.
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Yes, mulling it over some more I'd recommend buying a fox trap by mail order, get up very very early in the morning to check it, and drive it to the country. Otherwise the fox is coming back for your chickens.
Giving someone else the problem. Nice. Dump your old mattresses while you're out there, too ;)
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Yeah. Let it eat someone else's chickens lol
OK but realistically what should I do with a fox if I manage to catch it alive? Always wanted to make a collar or a hat for my wife lol
Are other types of traps, e.g. snares, allowed???
Honestly I need to get rid of that fix now. She's probably nursing babies at the moment that's why I see her a lot.
Can't get a guardian dog sadly.
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Foxes will patrol every night once they know where the larder is.
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I didn't say I'd release it feed on someone else's chickens... I'd arrange to meet a gatekeeper and leave it with them! Haha.
As to what to do once you've caught it... it depends how bloody you want to get. Do you know any gun owners in the countryside? If not then you are into something that can kill it without you having to open the cage. Believe me... a caged fox is not a friendly creature. I once caught one by accident in a Larson trap set for magpies... there was no way I was sticking my hand in there!
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We are in the city. No shotguns allowed. Only air rifle, but that is not allowed on foxes
ah. that's different then... you didn't mention that in the OP.
Hugh FW tried an experiment at the 1st river cottage (where he has chicken houses on stilts) where he got human hair from the local barber and hung bunches in stockings around the chicken area - the theory being that foxes hate human smell. I suspect this would not work as well in the city though.
One thing is for sure, the fox now knows you have a food source. you could try and trap it in a livetrap... then drive 50 miles away into the wilderness and do as you will (shoot/release). I suspect the local animal rescue types probably do this occasionally (they certainly did it in London), but I doubt they will do it by request... you could always ask them.
Yes, mulling it over some more I'd recommend buying a fox trap by mail order, get up very very early in the morning to check it, and drive it to the country. Otherwise the fox is coming back for your chickens.
Please don't do that because we have enough!
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If not then you are into something that can kill it without you having to open the cage. Believe me... a caged fox is not a friendly creature.
I can't think of any method in that circumstance that would count as humane.
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If not then you are into something that can kill it without you having to open the cage. Believe me... a caged fox is not a friendly creature.
I can't think of any method in that circumstance that would count as humane.
Really? It's a sudden drop in blood pressure my severing a main artery that is accepted as the humane method for farm animal slaughter. Of course having an animal in a very small cage is not humane, but the dispatching of it certainly could be.
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We are in the city. No shotguns allowed. Only air rifle, but that is not allowed on foxes
ah. that's different then... you didn't mention that in the OP.
Hugh FW tried an experiment at the 1st river cottage (where he has chicken houses on stilts) where he got human hair from the local barber and hung bunches in stockings around the chicken area - the theory being that foxes hate human smell. I suspect this would not work as well in the city though.
One thing is for sure, the fox now knows you have a food source. you could try and trap it in a livetrap... then drive 50 miles away into the wilderness and do as you will (shoot/release). I suspect the local animal rescue types probably do this occasionally (they certainly did it in London), but I doubt they will do it by request... you could always ask them.
Yes, mulling it over some more I'd recommend buying a fox trap by mail order, get up very very early in the morning to check it, and drive it to the country. Otherwise the fox is coming back for your chickens.
Please don't do that because we have enough!
I totally agree.
10 years ago we used to shoot an average of 8-12 a year on our shoot.
Last 4 or 5 years we have been shooting 30-40 a year on the same land.
Which is surrounded by keepered land :rant:
Must be town releases :rant:
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Town releases are often chipped. Check the lower leg for shaved hair.
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:rant: :rant: I lost most of my hens and ducks through some IDIOT goody goody letting one go near us, luckily we were friendly with a gamekeeper and he came and shot it.
Macgro, there are licensed pest controllers, they should be able to shoot on your private land, even in a town. unfortunately you will have to feed the fox (dog meat) for a few days.
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The problem is we have brook flowing through the middle of our land. It's nice for ducks but the foxes use it as their highway!
One day I need to follow it upstream and I'm pretty sure I'd find the fox nest.
Spoke to one of my neighbours last week. She said she feeds foxes chicken leftovers in her garden :gloomy: :rant:
After I told my wife about the fox coming she started screaming at me, saying it's my fault... :'(
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Always upsetting when they've been, do you have a dog you can leave loose during the day?
Urban foxes don't seem too bothered about waiting till dark, esp. if someone is feeding them.
We had one about 9.30 in the morning, found some poor hens that had tried to get into the dead grass at the bottom of the fence, bitten on their backs, but presume died of shock. The one that wiped us out was 8.30pm in June, I'd heard them skwarking (?), but just thought they were fratching, cockerel even came looking for me but I put him back over the fence. (He did survive, and one that was caged because she was broody). Everything else, including my gorgeous little call ducks gone. I was working on some fencing less than 50 metres away. Stupid me, I can never forgive myself.
Damn stupid rescue people.
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.243 and a lamp gets rid of foxes reliably ... you ought to be able to get a licenced pest controller to come and shoot it for you urban or not - so long as he uses a silencer and makes sure hes got a safe backdrop it shouldnt be an issue
of course its likely that another one will just move into the vacated niche so other precautions like electrification as also wise
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Did I mention I caught two in the past. One young one last year and another one the year before. They just keep breeding. Once I saw two at once. And they were adults in winter.
Getting rid of another one is not going to solve any problem...
I think my best solution would be to get a dog!
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Whippets are good, quiet dogs but can be lethal to foxes. Ask my pack!!
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I'd really love to have a whippet! Or a whippet bedlington cross! Perfect rabbit dog!
Bit my wife is scared of dogs and doesn't like them at all.
Anyway, as soon as I woke up at 7.30 the fox was already there. I locked the chickens, geese and ducks last night though in a very fox proof enclosure.
I opened the window to scare her away but she's not much bothered!
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Did I mention I caught two in the past. One young one last year and another one the year before. They just keep breeding. Once I saw two at once. And they were adults in winter.
Getting rid of another one is not going to solve any problem...
I think my best solution would be to get a dog!
Getting rid of the youngsters won't solve the problem, they get kicked out by parents anyway, Get the parents, at least if another moves in to the area it won't know where your fast food site is. (Not straight away anyway).
This time of year vixen may be having cubs, need to sort them quickly, or you'll be feeding a family.
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Again I hate that fox. It learnt to visit the birds at day time.
I usually open them at 8 am and go to work. When I came back couple of hours later to drop something off all I saw was ginger feathers.
I saw it again at 8pm - half an hour before dark! I was just getting ready to lock the birds up. I saw it from the window walking towards geese and muscovies - it was not interested in the at all - they were staring at it but the fox wasn't even looking at them - I was clearly only looking for chickens. But they were all already eaten...
I was really worried they it will kill the geese or ducks by the time I put my shoes on and get out but it was not even looking at them!
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I know just how angry and frustrated yu can get when a fox has taken your poultry. It has happened to us a fair few times. No point hating the fox. He or she is just trying to make a living like the rest of us. The environment is theirs, not ours, and if we choose to keep poultry in their manor it is up to us to ensure that the birds are kept safe. Foxy is a n opportunist who will patrol every possible source of food on his manor and will instantly spot a chance to take advantage of your mistakes.
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Can you put electro mesh around the enclosure or across the path it takes to reach the pens ? I still say shooting it (or getting a licenced pest controller to shoot it) its the best option, but if that is out of the question you need to make it's life more difficult so it goes elsewhere
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Shooting a fox is only a temporary solution. Another one will move into the territory before long.
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You aren't allowed to transport a caught wild animal whether it's a fox or squirrel. Also please don't dump it in the countryside as I have to shoot enough foxes as it is where I live.
There is no simple answer other than making your birds home foxproof and that isn't easy. They know when electric fences are weak and they can chew through cheap chicken wire or dig under expensive wire. Urban foxes also hunt in daylight.
Trapping them and dropping the trap in a large water butt would work but that isn't legal either...
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I have heard, but not actually tried it, if you get a man to pee round the perrimiter, it's suppose to put the foxes off.
They seems to be a lot about at the moment. A fox killed my pair of geese in the earlier hours of this morning. I still can't believe how bold they can be.
Regards
Emily
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I have heard, but not actually tried it, if you get a man to pee round the perrimiter, it's suppose to put the foxes off.
They seems to be a lot about at the moment. A fox killed my pair of geese in the earlier hours of this morning. I still can't believe how bold they can be.
Regards
Emily
My uncle actually tried that. Didn't work. I think our city foxes are so used to human smell everywhere they are not scared of it
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I have heard, but not actually tried it, if you get a man to pee round the perrimiter, it's suppose to put the foxes off.
Regards
Emily
Mother in law did this around our chickens field when she stayed with us ( emptied her potty , not squatting around the fence line , imagine your own rude joke here ) I even now utilize the older mans 2am effect , I may seem gross but I use a night bucket, (imagine another rude joke here involving the electric fence ). It has seemed to have some effect as foxes have kept away for some time now apart form the occasional chancer .
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Yes I'm sure my mother in law would scare away predators as well :innocent:
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As we have no neighbours I pee outside all the time and rarely see any foxes so it could be that or that the 5 dogs are always out.
I did see a young fox around last year and sat in the bedroom watching it through the scopes on my rifle :innocent:,
it got close but then got spooked by my wind turbine spinning as it can get quite noisy when its running so maybe the combination of all of them keeps them away.
A mate that kept having birds killed purchased 1 of these water scarers which has a motion detector built in.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?&_from=R40&_trksid=p4712.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=Water%20Jet%20Spray%20Repeller%20Cat%20Dog%20Bird%20Fox%20Rabbit%20Garden%20Pest%20Deterrent%20Scarer (http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?&_from=R40&_trksid=p4712.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.TRS0&_nkw=Water%20Jet%20Spray%20Repeller%20Cat%20Dog%20Bird%20Fox%20Rabbit%20Garden%20Pest%20Deterrent%20Scarer)