[freethyme]

I am looking for some advice.  I have five lambs of approx 3 months old.  I am locking them away at night to keep them safe from Mr Fox.  Do you think that I should still do this or will they be too big for the fox to both with.  Any advice would be great to receive as these are my first lambs.  Thanks for looking.

[Collie26]

  :farmer:Ive worked on a farm with 1500 sheep and they had their lambs out from day 1 but if u imagine the wowork you can understand.

Foxes are clever and i dnt think any animal is safe. I know of a pig farmer whos fullygrown sow was mauled by a fox one distracted her by going after her litter while two others mauled her!!!

Luckily the farmer had is .22 rifle close to hand and finished them off unfortuanetly the sow didnt make it nor the litter!

I would say they were safe but you never know. Sorry if this doesnt help

[shearling]

It depends on lots of things. We have baby lambs out at night but they are part of a flock with some very determined mums to keep all at bay. Also there is much easier prey to bite and it is not a hard time for wild animals to fill their tummies/thier babies tummies with going near to man/woman with a gun/traps/dogs. Do you have a specific problem with Renard? or other pests often it is not he (more likely her to feed cubs). Also foxes do not just take at night - nor do other animals in the higher food chain.

[andywalt]

I am in my first lambing season with 25 ewes, I finished lambing about a month ago and Ive not had a problem at all with the foxes in my area, (kent) but have heard all sorts of stories but I think you have to go by your own experiances.  good luck

[SallyintNorth]

I don't know what breed of lambs you have, freethyme, but some breeds would be getting close to slaughterweight at 3 months, so should be ok.  However I know these are your first lambs, so I assume bottle-reared, and the never grow as well as those able to stay on mum. 

If you are not finding it a lot of work to lock them away at night then it probably won't hurt to carry on doing so - I am still shutting my orphans up at night but only because it's a routine and doesn't bother me to do it - and it's helpful to have the little blighters locked up while I do other last thing (and then first thing) things!

[daddymatty82]

main thing is have you got many foxes in the area  taking livestock? if yes then do what you think is right . IMO if you lock them up  it wont take long for a prediter  to get into the lock up then how would they get out you got a better chance of survival out in the field for that age i would say. but main thing is what you think is best if a fox/badger is deterimind to get them you aint going to stop them without use of a gun. hope this helps

[feldar]

Orphans i would keep in, but at 3 months my hamp lambs are more than a match for a fox. We lamb outdoors too and seldom loose one to foxes lambs are sometimes penned with mum if they are weak but if your feeding correctly and having good strong lambs they can run like the wind shortly after birth and before that mum usually protects them.
Ours are mostly lost when the first lamb is born then mum goes down to birth the second and foxy comes in and grabs the first one and i've known people loose them from a barn like that.

[HamishMcMurray]

Like Worzel Gummidge ours lamb and live outdoors all year round and we haven't lost any yet. When the lambs are very young I've noticed our Hebrideans charging at our cat if they spot her in their field so assume they'd do the same to a fox.

[waterhouse]

We've many foxes near us and have lost chickens several times but not lambs.  We do have a large rabbit population though which is probably a more appealing target

[plumseverywhere]

The lambs we have are around 3 months and are very large now. they are grazing in an electric stripped area (which doesn't bother them as they can't feel it! but the fox wouldnt' enjoy a zapping) they are also in with 2 goats who take no nonsense from visiting foxes so maybe that's why we've been ok? ours haven't been shut in for about a week now.

[freethyme]

Hi every one

Thanks for all the advice.  I have now started to leave them out over night.  Again, thanks for comment and advice.