The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: Roxy on January 24, 2010, 11:30:41 pm
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This morning at 8am I was eedown the field feeding my outside cats which live in a caravan near the river. There is a public path by the riverbank, and walking along it was the biggest dog fox I have ever seen and a vixen. I stood perfectly still and they came through the hedge and passed within a few feet of where I was standing and off into our wood. Had I a gun with me (and my eyesight was better!!) ..........!!
Our dogs had been out just a few minutes before and would have met them. The funny thing was, the foxes must have seen me - they stopped and looked at me, but did not seem alarmed. Thankfully they were going in the opposite direction to my hens.
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I suppose they were doing their own thing, maybe been out for the night!!! Anyway, hope your chickens are nice and secure otherwise Mr and Mrs Fox will be having some nice dinners together!!! PS Glad you did not have a gun...only need to kill them if they are indangering your stock!!
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Sorry, but if those two got among my flock of poultry (70 plus) it would be devastating!! I love wildlife, and would never kill anything for the fun of it, but the amount of foxes we have here is beyond a joke ......I am serious when I say they are probably 10 plus justing standing in the field by the house most nights - and thats only the ones I see (well mainly all the sets of eyes!). There was a vixen on our hill field with 6 cubs last spring, and those cubs will now be breeding ......I can imagine a head count would bring an alarming total of foxes just in our land.
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Why wait till they get among the stock?...........kill them every chance you get. It's not as if they are rare. ::)
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here here, AengusOg!! especially a vixen having 6!!! she could have 6 again this year!?! :o >:(
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I am sure they can breed more than once a year .....so there could be a dozen cubs out there breeding themselves by now. We did have a smashing man who came for years, very experienced with his gun. I used to get a shock some mornings, as he would often leave me a "present" under the wheelbarrow. Sadly, he is getting on in years, and his visits have dwindled.