The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: plumseverywhere on December 01, 2012, 04:27:52 pm
-
Hi all
Been out at a craft fair all day, left early so I could be home in daylight to look out for putting hens away and feeding goats but..1pm a HUGE dog fox (according to neighbour and husband who saw him) had killed 7 chickens. 3 managed to escape and are understandably shocked.
How do I go about finding someone to stake this fox (and the other 4 that are hanging around) down and killing them please? (oh I never thought I'd say this)
How much does it cost roughly? it needs to be done but how much soap do I need to sell ;) to do it?
thanks in advance
Lisa (who has now decided that foxes really are not very pleasant and my children are distraught)
-
Try your local gamekeeper or any of the local shoots. I would suggest the local hunt but if they are like ours they don't catch much ;D . Try your local game dealer they may know of someone near you,are they on your land? if so perhaps a local poacher :innocent:
-
You need someone with FAC licenced gun like my bro in law and his m8. Not sure if they will travel that far but will ask them if u want me to
-
Thanks Daisy's mum - yes they are on our land. So many of them, can't believe it. And one is really mangy - goat suffered terribly last year, think I know where from!
Hunt wouldnt' be able to ride our land as its steep. Will try game dealers and poachers x
Please Carl. Or if they know of anyone near us would be great. I need to guage prices too.
-
This is awful :hug: :hug: hope you get them sorted quickly :bouquet:
-
They do it for fun no charge.. Just vermin control :innocent:
-
well we'd certainly cover their petrol Carl and its got to be worth some beers. If you'd have seen my girls faces as we pulled into the drive and they saw their dad stood with a rake and all the feathers :rant: I know its got to eat but!!!
-
Shame I didn't know earlier was with him today.. I'll give him a ring and let you know
-
Thank you - much appreciated :)
-
There are a few near me but unfortunately they are not on my land and the land owner is not known for his helpfulness, one that did venture too close was shot by Aleksandr from the meercats ( well the man that is the voice of ) it was a really mangy looking dog fox. I worry a bit more now that the pigs have gone as the electric fence is no longer on.
-
OK the meercat analogy has just made me giggle Guinness everywhere ;D I needed that :)
Our electric fencing was on and this still happened. Its carnage, feathers all over the garden, chicken coop, lambs nursery run...it seems the attack took place over quite an area. Can't believe how upset I am!! they are all dead in bin bags in the garage, dont' know what to do with them, they look like they've just had their necks snapped rather than ripped up, I guess the fox shook them by the neck? grrr
-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9122498/Britains-biggest-fox-killed.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9122498/Britains-biggest-fox-killed.html)
witnesses think our fox is bigger than this one :-\
-
Ask around, there will be someone known who will come out and shoot foxes. There are a couple of blokes round here you can get out if you have a problem, which it certainly sounds like you do!
What a horrid thing, I'm so sorry :hug:
-
What part of the country a you? I do fox and rabbit control and its free.
-
Hunt wouldnt' be able to ride our land as its steep.
The horses don't catch the fox. ;) Talk to the local hunt first. If they can't do it for whatever reason they should be able to give you the best advice on how to deal with it - they'll know the local lampers, whatever, and be able to put you in touch with the best legit people.
You want to be very very careful about allowing random poachers or shooters onto your land, you really do. Once the 'wrong sort' have permission in an area they can become quite a problem - the 'wrong sort' shoot anything that moves and don't think cats matter. Ask me how I know. :'(
-
Spoke to the farmer across the road earlier, he had his friend (local lamper) here within 20 minutes. Turns out this huge dog fox has been causing all sorts of grief in the tiny bit of the village we live in, several people have lost chickens and there are larson traps already set with this man to dispatch any caught. Seems he (the new fox) has also injured the old dog fox as we saw him on 3 legs earlier looking very unwell.
Carl I've pm'd you on FB to say thank you to your B-I-L. I think as plans are in place already within the 100metre radius of our house it seems a good plan to go with this. The man who came round was lovely, really clued up about foxes/habits etc and was very conscious about having the goats in a separate paddock and the cat shut in. Even showed concern about neighbours being upset by fox being shot so I feel confident in him but appreciate what you are saying Sally - so sorry to read about the cat, that's just so sad.
-
No problem Plums hope it's dealt with soon and you get back on track ASAP(gun icon required) :roflanim:
-
iff you went far away i would replace you re hens not good head up its only farming as we say
-
Thank you VF thats really nice :bouquet: Have decided to go for Ex-batts this time round to give them a nice home - but only once we've eliminated our 'little' problem. ;)
-
Hope you get rid of it soon. I have the same problem at the moment. The fox that took my hens isn't afraid of people or dogs and just steadily walks off as you go near it, just need someone to shoot it now.
-
Micki - we found our shooter (not sure what correct name is!) via the local farmer. A really lovely man he is, was eager to help and showed us his insurance/gun license, made sure animals (livestock) would be kept safe. hopefully you can find someone similar xx
-
Sounds like a town fox has been caught and released in your area. Happening more and more even though it is illegal- move the problem to someone else without actually dealing with it. If one has been dumped expect more from the same source, so best get your chickens behind good fencing. This is a regular problem in some areas so watch out for vans pulling over into local lay-bys and get a note of the numbers.
-
Hoping the fox has been dealt with today. The local hunt was around and i saw them after a large fox that looked of similar size to the one that took my chickens.
-
Chris, I think we have people releasing them here. I took a pic this morning of a fox stood a few feet in front of me, I held a conversation with it and it never budged, just stood there really cockey (it didn't say much but I told it what I thought of it)
Micki - hope they've got the one that took your hens :bouquet:
-
Bet u wish u had a gun to hand Lisa!!
-
Was the electric fencing on and at full power? We had a fox try to bite through ours once but it wasn't on full. We tried to trap it (cage with fish inside) but that didn't work, someone else suggested feeding it and getting to know what time it visited each night then having someone on hand to dispatch it. In the end our neighbour managed to get rid of it.
-
Problem is that you are generally secure against a rural fox but if an urban fox is released in your area you have no defence as they hunt in broad daylight and fear nothing. So Plumseverywhere that's what you are dealing with.
-
We our lucky here we are in the middle of 2 shooting Estates and the keepers come in for a pint they tell us when they go out Lamping. They said they had seen one on the way here the other night. So said they would go looking for it. But they also said they would be amazed if our got through the winter. Pine matins have already been at the eggs and they cant touch them.