[hughesy]

We had a visit from a fox the other night. It got in between two heras panels that I had forgot to tie together at the bottom so my own fault really. Lost three young Light Sussex pullets. Also not helped by the fact that our porkers had earthed out the electric fence with their bloody rooting, thus leaving the wire around the chicken pens with no zap in it.
Anyhow I was thinking about the deterrent value of taking a wee around the chicken pens, getting the dog to do the same etc and had an idea. I wonder if spreading some dung from our Saddleback boar around the pens would discourage foxy?

[MAK]

Good ideas but be carefull of the fence.
I think that we have had a fox taking a rest on top of our dung heap ( pig, rabbit, duck and chicken dung). Pretty sure the large hollow and poo was that of a fox. So the fox either likes pig poo or the smell of rabbit poo is more of an attraction than pig poo is a deterent.
hope that you do not have any more loss.

[digit]

Last year i had a fox curled up sleeping in the pigs pen about 5 metres away from the ark where the pigs were sleeping, i don't think pigs dung is going to deter a fox

[Dicky]

We have a german shepherd X husky who sheds buckets of fur and I sometimes jam some of his fur around the bottom of the fences around our duck and geese ponds.  I also let him wee around the area.  Haven't noticed any foxes trying to dig their way in and I know we have them in the area as some of the deer bones and skin that I buried got dug up.

I haven't tried weeing myself but it did seem to work in our last house to stop cats pooping up the side of the house.  I did ask the local zoo for some lion poo but they said they weren't allowed to give it out on environmental health grounds.

[harry]

just replan your electric fence nothing works better... ive almost stopped useing poultry fenceing with earthing out problems i now use loads of single strand ,,,much better

[Eeyore]

We once bought a powder called "scoot".  You mix the powder in some water and spray it around the boundary of what you want to protect from the fox.  We did it around our farmhouse and it seemed to work.  Although you need to spray on a dry day and have to do it again after it rains.  It is specifically to keep foxes away.

[hughesy]

I have to say this is the first time a fox has got into the pens in three years. I blame myself for being lazy and not checking properly when I last moved them. I also blame the pigs for burying the fence wire. Damn pigs . I'm pretty confident that our setup will keep the chooks safe so long as I don't slip up.

[chrismahon]

Nothing deters a fox more than an impenetrable fence Hughesy. Smells have an effect but an urban fox will not be deterred by them at all. No matter where you live you can always be the victim of an urban fox release -hunts during the day and is fearless of humans. Good fencing and forget the old deterrents -they won't work anymore since they stopped hunting and townies started feeding them.

[Canadian Sheepfarmer]

I have a couple of these:
http://www.foxlights.com/foxlights-instructions.html
 
They do work, the lights run in random pattern, there is a blue light as well in the mix  and a strobe effect. From a distance it looks like someone walking around with a torch.
I move them every couple of days though to the top of another fencepost or location. This seems to heighten the effect.
 
You could combine them with a radio, set to the overnight BBC World service. Talk Radio seems to scare 'em more than country music.
Haven't tried death metal though I must admit....
 
Peeing helps, but in a late cold spring when predators are hungry it isn't enough. You need a whole battery of deterants if you want to get serious, and where I live they are the price of doing business. 
Be tidy, clear up any bodies or smelly foods straight away, smells attract pests. Electric fencing can be very effective, but remember the enemy needs a foot on the ground to complete the circuit and get a shock. Birds can perch on an electric fence with impunity, and foxes and coyotes will jump and climb.
 
Sadly it seems that if you are a chicken or a newborn lamb everyone wants a piece of you.
 
The only thing that really works, and is the reason why I am still in the sheep business, is an LGD, livestock guardian dog, that lives with the animals 24/7, in my case a 120 lb Akbash.
This brings a whole new set of problems of its own. You just went nuclear! Whether it would be worth it for a few backyard chooks is highly debatable. 
 

[SallyintNorth]

Oh I wish our laws allowed us to effectively use LGDs...  I would so love a Maremma or two!

[digit]

Or use a rifle with NV,the fox don't know your there,I shot 14 foxes in one night around my chicken pen

[hughesy]

I've found some fresh prints around the place this morning. Not entirely convinced they're fox. Our dog, who normally goes nuts at any unusual scent has not taken any notice. A house about a quarter of a  mile away has a jack russel that I've seen loose in our fields before and the prints seem to be coming from that direction.

[digit]

If a fox did get into your chickens, it will keep coming back for more.

[hughesy]

If a fox did get into your chickens, it will keep coming back for more.

Which in itself makes me a bit suspicious that it's not a fox. On the two occasions that we've lost birds before they were both isolated incidents. Whatever it was didn't come back.

[harry]

jack russel maybe