The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Brijjy on November 30, 2011, 02:30:54 pm
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In the last year I have lost approx 25 chickens to foxes. They are free range but do have a large pen that I now keep them in when I am at work. The fox is so bold it even attempted to take a bantam off when hubby was over in the field with the chooks but obviously out of foxys sight. We have now put a fox trap out and baited it with a pheasant. However this was a week ago and no sign of a fox yet. How have other people got on with trapping foxes? The trap we've got was made by hubby copying plans from t'internet.
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My neighbour has awful problems with foxes taking his hens which are free range. I have noticed a big fox trap sitting by the hen house ......inside are strung the remains of a couple of hens the fox got. He keeps changing the bait, because the fox is still coming helping himself to the hens!! Trap has been there a while, but apparantly the fox is giving it a wide berth.
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Foxes aren't stupid, that's why they're not an endangered species >:( Get someone to shoot the beggar, it's the best way!
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We bought a fox trap last year but only caught badgers, trying getting an angry badger out of a trap!! anyway never got the fox which I am sure had been hand reared then dumped but David who i buy my straw from shot it when it tried to get his cats. In all the years we have been here i know by the smell that a fox has been about but they seem to keep away from the buildings maybe because of the dogs. The chickens are housed inside the stable building where I leave the radio on. They come and go as they please, in weather like we had today they prefer scratching about in my straw so happy hens.
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i know this will sound strange but it works you will need a bucket collect your urine as much as you can really then walk around the edge of where your chickens are and pour all along the edges you will need to do this once a month or after a heavy rain it works like when dogs pee on corners to mark teratory should keep them away worked for mine and hughs a famus friend lol
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Yes, but why do you need a bucket? ;)
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how much can you pee lol its to collect alot of urine not all can piss 5 gallons lol
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I take a leak around the chicken pens pretty much every day. I've seen foxes not far away but so far no problems. I also reckon having the birds close to pigs may act as a deterrent.
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Yes urine is a repellant, this is why most men prefer to pee in the pub carpark rather than use the urinals.
As for pigs and foxes , I have a friend over on Clee hill who lost a half grown sow to a big dog fox, He saw the incident from a distance and was helpless to intervene.
Use old fish for the bait in a fox trap , the scent carries better , and move the trap away from the chicken house to a sheltered spot where the fox is likely to lay up waiting.
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The shot gun method is the best. Human scent on or around the fox trap would put him off entering. My OH tied a length of bailer twine to a cockerels leg and then waited with his shot gun. This was when we were in the UK. We do get foxes here in France but near us the 'chasse' hunters looking for deer and wild boar put paid to them. We did have a problem with dead or disappearing chickens but it turned out this was down to a rogue badger. We traced the feathers back to its lair and it was despached for us by the chasse.
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i heard male urine works so i did it for 18 months and during that time i lost 23 hens i stopped peeing now i got no foxes. they are there as i have counted 17 in a 30 min walk around housing estate and local fields there is a piece of grass over road from mine and a lady opposite puts bread out for the magpies. on that grass they all come out to play at night if i had a long lead id let my JRT out but i know for a fact she would not come back until got. and there is so many roads around its just to unsafe. 2 months ago i had a vixen and her cub under my front window calling the dog fox i legged it downstairs and let my JRT out into back garden and to see the foxes through the gate the trouble was the foxes was taunting my dog though the gate and as its a council estate i cannot shoot them so only possible method is live trap then i will have my vengeance lol
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I use the urine mothod and find it works fine have not lost a bird yet. My neighbour looses a few that don't get shut in at night and he does not use the urine deterrant. My birds are in a very rural environment so foxes are very wary of humans, I don't think it will work the same when you live in an town, city, village setting as foxes are not as wary of humans, that's my theory for what its worth.
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The men in the the family have been peeing around the pen for months now. I am pretty sure it's one exceptionally bold fox. My OH saw it and he said it looked pretty mangy. Hopefully if I don't trap it it will die soon anyway. We also have a ruck of badgers too but they aren't going after my chooks yet although they have eayen a few of my dads hens. He lives 2.5 miles up the hill from me.
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I have 2 jack Russell's who also want to rip the chickens to bits however, once the chickens are put away I do let them run the perimeter of the field they have got a couple of fox's before and of course the pee works wonders to, my problem is buzzards you don't know of anyone that sells flying jack Russell's do you. ;D
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I have buzzards too. Bold and beautiful and just waiting for me to let my growers out too soon. I keep these in a covered pen until I judge them big enough. As to foxes I had a fox-proof (so far ) pen built. I don't think of the cost, it took a very large portion of my deferred pension :o :o and consists of much deer fencing, barbed wire and concrete but I can sleep at night (if I weren't working) ::) ::) knowing that my hens are safe.
My whippets account for a lot of cubs in late spring/ early summer and the hunt, at least, scatters the rest.
BUT!! I know that a lot of hand-reared cubs are released around us. They are so different to wildies that they might as well have a collar and tag. These are the ones who will sit and look at you as if weighing up whether you may offer them a meal. I'm afraid these are the ones dispatched by my dogs. Why aren't these cubs put down, first as last.
Then there are the urban foxes, trapped and released into the countryside. Poor thing haven't a clue and gravitate to the nearest village or town to search for food, pet rabbits and chickens always available >:(
Why can't the R.S.P.C.A. and other well-meaning organisations realise all this?
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who releases the foxes by you? do you see it? if that were me id report them as it is illegal to release them once captive. as its in humane to move a fox into an area it dont know and cannot fend for its self. there is a law about somewhere but dont know what it is just yet. bust ask alot of pest control agents an you will find out
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I suspect, though can't be certain that it is a local wildlife rescue. They can, I believe, release them onto a "safe" site with the owners permission (and I know who that would be.
If they stayed on that "safe" site I wouldn't care if it were overrun with them but, of course they don't.
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it is a crime to release captured vermin (can't recall the relevent legislation of the top of my head) however (and I was somewhat surprised to discover this) foxes are not catagorised as vermin. So presumably is it perfectly legal (if somewhat questionable) to release em. I'm not aware of a nationwide shortage of foxes, so am not quite sure why anyone would want to do so, but there you go.
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There seems to be loads of foxes around us, i've shot 32 so far this year around my chicken coop, 11 of them i had on new years eve. Haven't lost any chickens to the fox but they did get 4 turkeys last year.
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why shoot them they only do whats natural there are hundreds of ways to keep foxes away think people who shoot them one have no heart and to likes to kill quite sad if you ask me leave them alone try leaving food near woods away from your chickens
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After 3 years of free-ranging and losing so many birds to Mr Fox, we have penned our latest lot and electrified it. I feel guilty that my girls and boy will not have the ability to roam over our land (over and acre), but I just cant put myself through the sadness of disposing of another lifeless bundle of feathers. I have noticed that the colour of the yolks isnt as rich as our previous lot due, I believe to the smaller amount of greenery in their diet.
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as it is illegal to release them once captive. as its in humane to move a fox into an area it dont know and cannot fend for its self
i agree with the sentiment i do think foxes should not be released once caught, but as a fox is a native species, you can legally release it after it has been captive, so long as it is in an area where foxes are known to habit. for example you could not take it to a western isle where there are no foxes currertly habiting
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I think I might move to the Western Isles ;D ;D