The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: demonfarmer2630 on February 19, 2014, 01:30:26 am
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I need a way of either keeping it away or killing it as I'm in a town I can't really use poisen I'm worried for my chickens are in danger and I don't own a gun to shoot it my self would an air rifle help of so dose anyone have one for sale I need help asap I'm in kennoway please please get back to me asap really worried
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There are foxes everywhere - the only difference is that you've now seen one and he's seen your chickens. If you shoot it (humanely - not with an air rifle), another will take its place. So protect your chickens instead. Put them in a fox proof run and only let thm out if you're out with them.
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Please don't attempt to shoot a fox with an air rifle. You will just injure it and cause it to suffer needlessly. As HesterF said they are about everywhere and it's up to livestock owners to protect their stock.
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I totally agree. Urban foxes are now a part of life due to people in towns actively feeding them or being careless with food rubbish. I have 6 foot weldmesh panels and netting over the top of my chicken run and they get out to a bigger unroofed but still enclosed area if I am at home. My ducks are more accessible being at the front of the house so they now have a 7 foot high netting enclosure - hoping foxes don't like loose wobbly netting
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AS said above, bird security is the priority and making them as fox proof as possible.
If you get caught illegally poisoning or shooting a fox with an air rifle there will be serious repercussions, don't do it!
Contact a licensed pest controller do deal with it via snares or shooting if it is worrying you but as previously said, another fox will just take its place.
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My run is only sacure from the top to the ground and unfortunately the wire stops at ground level I don't know what else to do but would a paintball gun deter it not to hit it but to scare it off on a nightly basis ?
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Sounds like a plan Demonfarmer2630, but it may scare the hell out of your chickens as well. Realistically your chickens could have been taken at any time and you have been very lucky so far. As everyone has said the only option is to secure your run I think. Perhaps put electrified lines around it about 6" and 12" off the ground and a foot or so outside. The electrical charge should keep it at bay. The danger relying on that is if the electrification fails, as they can sense it and will seize the opportunity to strike. If your ground is soft it will be under the fence in minutes.
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Urban foxes need controlling but shooting is often difficult due to the close proximity of other houses. They can be shot from upstairs windows but you'd need someone with an open FAC to do it as I seriously doubt you would be granted one for that purpose. A moderated .22 would do the job and the neighbours probably wouldn't even hear it.
To reiterate, don't even think about using an air rifle
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Could you dig in a length of chicken wire along the bottom of your run, bending it half way up and securing to the run with tie wraps?
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Pheasant pens near me and also eglus use wire mesh at the bottom, at 90' to the fence, laid flat along the ground. Eglus about one foot, pheasant pens nearer three feet out. Rather than digging it in, which takes quite a lot of effort, the idea is the fox tries to dig but hits the mesh and can't get any further.
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How about running an electric fence round the outside of the run, I run a single wire about 6-12 inches off the ground.
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I'm not sure you would be allowed to use a firearm in an urban location even with a certificate. Isn't there a rule about distance to highways etc? Plus you can bet your arm that someone is going to spot the shooter and the house will surrounded and stormed in seconds.
Best best is electric fencing. They don't like it as long as it's working properly.
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If you can make your chicken run fox proof that's ok but if you can't you will have to get someone to deal with the Fox as it will have them that's a certainty.
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I need a way of either keeping it away or killing it as I'm in a town I can't really use poisen I'm worried for my chickens are in danger and I don't own a gun to shoot it my self would an air rifle help of so dose anyone have one for sale I need help asap I'm in kennoway please please get back to me asap really worried
have you had a look at this thread ..it also works for chickens as well as chicckens ;)
Topic: weld mesh arch housing for chicckens and other small stock etc. 17 Feb
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I'm not sure you would be allowed to use a firearm in an urban location even with a certificate. Isn't there a rule about distance to highways etc? Plus you can bet your arm that someone is going to spot the shooter and the house will surrounded and stormed in seconds.
You need to be further than 50' from the centre of a highway. Any closer than that and as long as you aren't inconveniencing/frightening road users, then there's no problem. A moderated rimfire is very quiet anyway but I take your point if someone saw it and overreacted but from inside a darkened room, quite how they would without night vision, I don't know
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There was a progamme on tv some time ago, repeated after that baby was bitten in its cot, where it showed a licenced pest controller shoot a pair of foxes in someones garden. homeowner had to put food out for a week(?) to give it confidence.
Maybe try your local council for advice? (suggest that it is very bold and you think it may become dangerous?) maybe they would at least suggest someone who deals with these situations?
It would be better shot than some fool catch it and let it loose in the country (my poor girls were victims of such an event)
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I feel for you but humans caused all this in the first place if you want to keep hens or any poultry have proper runs and enclosers its not there fault its our greed to take over the country side and yes I have lost loads of poultry to Fox's its a risk we take
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I'm not sure you would be allowed to use a firearm in an urban location even with a certificate. Isn't there a rule about distance to highways etc? Plus you can bet your arm that someone is going to spot the shooter and the house will surrounded and stormed in seconds.
You need to be further than 50' from the centre of a highway. Any closer than that and as long as you aren't inconveniencing/frightening road users, then there's no problem. A moderated rimfire is very quiet anyway but I take your point if someone saw it and overreacted but from inside a darkened room, quite how they would without night vision, I don't know
I reckon they would have a good go. I guess there may be licenced pest controllers who would be able to use a silenced .22 with sub-sonic and he/ she would let the feds know beforehand? Not sure how it works in towns. Out here we get to know our fox and unless he causes problems we think it's better the devil you know.......
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I now have an air pistol its not got the power to kill just like a bee sting iv shot my self twice just to be sure besides a bruse it hasn't done any damage its for shooting cans its an old old Webley no gas just cocking lloader simaler power to a cheap paint ball pistol if he comes back again I will use it if I have to only as a last resort though
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I wouldn't advertise this plan. I'm glad you've found something that is non lethal, but I'm pretty sure causing harm to a fox in this way would be considered cruel by RSPCA if someone were to watch you from next door.
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I prefer my method yo what next door offered to do which is snares and then use his 12bore so I thought my pistol will make it squeel and run away but at least they will be alive not that I want them to stay around to be trapped and choke to death that I don't agree with
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iv shot my self twice just to be sure
Seriously?!? :o
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Yes lol only in the leg
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Oh, that's ok then ::) . Just a good job you didn't get a rimfire I suppose :relief: .
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Sorry for being dense - but why can't you keep your hens safe instead of inflicting pain on another animal? A swift death I can agree with if it is a fox as they show no mercy to birds, but not to hurt them, even if it is just a 'bee sting'
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I prefer my method yo what next door offered to do which is snares and then use his 12bore so I thought my pistol will make it squeel and run away but at least they will be alive not that I want them to stay around to be trapped and choke to death that I don't agree with
Foxes are on general licence as vermin and cam be killed quite legally but there are many conditions that have to be met .
Your on dodgy ground posting what you may do with an air pistol & a fox.
Modern legal snares have stops on them so they don't choke the fox to death .you also have to check a set number of times a day .
Not every one is allowed to despatch the snared animal , the captured fox is to despatched with a licenced drug injection , rifle or shotgun deemed suitable for the purpose by a licenced person .
lt is not supposed to be freed , if it's caught is to be terminated , same with cage trapped foxes .
I think you'll find that this is also the RSPCA approved method of things.
If your a licenced shot gun or firearm owner with the approved device you may shoot a free running fox but not a captured fox .
God help if you're caught or reported for despatching one that has been already caught unless you have the pest control element on your licence & your registered with local authority for such purposes.
Yes a licenced pest controller with an FAC can do many things that are not allowed by the wider shooting fraternity . They will also be in regular contact in person and by phone with the local police forces where they intend to operate giving times of start and finishing + vehicle details etc.
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Also at the risk of sounding dense, if you're close enough to hit it with an air rifle, are you not close enough to open the window and yell at it? Still better to chase after it? Surely that would be just as effective as a bee sting type scare (not to mention all the concerns of firearms). Agree with all the others - just protect the hens. We regularly see foxes around our land but, touch wood, we've not yet lost a bird to them. They're all behind fencing that is dug down 2ft, bending out at the bottom, and goes up 7ft, overhanging at the top. Not to say they'll never get in - the cats can - but if you make it hard enough, they'll go elsewhere for food unless desperate.
H
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I have secured the pen but the fox still hot in last night so yes I did use the pistol but I shot the chicken house instead of aiming for the fox as I left the gate open when I walked in it ran past me but managed to kick it up the back end so if it comes back I will be forced to use the legal method as cloddopper said is legal so legal snares and my mate next door who is licenced with a shot gun to deal with it but that's only if it comes back my hens are in a wooden house with mesh stapled all around with a dead bolt on the door but I have seen it trying to get in I have 13 in the house so if I lose one I will have no choice so if anyone has any ways to repelling foxes please let me know I don't want to kill it but will if I have to thanks for everyone's advice so far
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There used to be a repellant you could spray round, not sure if it's still available but we thought it smelled like Jeyes fluid disinfectant - try spraying that round?
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Devonfarmer, part of me is hoping this is all a big wind up but I suspect its not.
I don't want to come come over all controversial but I think you REALLY need to step back and think about this!
Can I repeat what I said in my earlier post…
"If you get caught illegally poisoning or shooting a fox with an air rifle there will be serious repercussions!"
We live in a country which now has a serious attitude to firearms and gun use!
if you are found to be illegally harming animals with one, do you have any idea how deep in the smelly stuff that could put you?
Shooting at an animal with a calibre or power which is likely only to injure rather than kill it is a BIG no no.
Aiming wide to scare them will be no defence.
Shooting yourself with an air rifle is at the very least a bit dim.
Publicising all of the above on a public forum, even more so!
p.s.
I have secured the pen but the fox still hot in last night
If the fox got in, then you DIDN'T secure then pen!
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Beat me to it - not a good enough job on keeping your hens safe!
I thought my duck run was secure - 7 foot netting, latch on the gate, heavy wooden drop down pophole - my dog opened the latch, lifted the pophole with one paw, reached in and retrieved a duck - brought it to hand very pleased with himself, :innocent: so I couldn't rage him - but a fox wouldn't have been so obedient and just as clever in opening things. So it's a deadbolt on the gate today, and a snib on the pop-hole. Makes life more complicated for me, but the ducks will be safer.
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I have put a security light up facing my run so if he comes back he will get a blast of light equivalent to high beams on a car and as I said the air pistol has low power as I shot my self with this and I'm still walking around so its not that bad I try not to hit living things so I've put up a couple of metal sheets to hit instead makes a loud noise and as I said my neighbour wants to kill it I just want to defend my hens I have a secure run but I could go under or over my run is 24ft by 12ft and I don't have the cash right now to secure my run completely if you really want to save the fox come and have a look at my run and see for your self I don't want to kill anything but the chickens that I eat
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How high is the fence? That's the relevant part rather than the length and width.
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Posts stop at 5ft but with the extra wire comes to 7 ft
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Seven feet should be high enough unless the Fox can pole-vault. And please don't shot yourself again :roflanim:
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So how is he getting in?
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By teh way, my instant security lights didn't stop foxy taking my hens - 10 out of 11. How he missed one of them I don 't know, but 18 months later she is still laying well - a battery rescue, with 9 lives I think! :innocent:
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1…using an air rifle on a fox will see you in court for cruelty,
2… not many (if any) police firearms departments will let you use a 22 lr to shoot a fox..
Devon does allow 17hmr round, but many only allow 223 …..
you will need to trap the fox 1st , then take it to a safe area, away from houses to be destroyed
one thing you can try is..spread your urine around the outside of said chicken run… best do this from a bottle, as your neighbours might complain if they see you peeing outside….
not knowing the area…give your local PC a call…. http://www.cityvisitor.co.uk/kennoway/pestcontrol.html (http://www.cityvisitor.co.uk/kennoway/pestcontrol.html)
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2… not many (if any) police firearms departments will let you use a 22 lr to shoot a fox..
Mine allows me to. I do have a .223 but the licence doesn't limit me to using it
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You have had a lot of good advice on this thread.
DO NOT TRY AND POISON IT.
DO NOT SHOOT IT UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO KILL IT.
Take help from your neighbour or make your run completely fox proof if you can. Anything else is just going to land you in trouble or end up with an animal suffering.
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Cuthbert has summed up the thread nicely.
Maybe any more comments would be better focusing on fox proof (well as much as possible) enclosures.
Thank you
moderator
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That's all I wanted in the first place lol so any ideas people :hug:
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Well. to go back to page 1. A couple strands of cheap electric wire and a cheap ebay hobby energiser with a car battery will work. Once they've had a whack they are very wary in the future.
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Electric fence as someone else said, buy a cheap unit as it won't have to run much wire to go round a chicken run. If he gets a zap off that he'll look for easier prey elsewhere.