[the great composto]

I went to put the chickens away last night and disturbed a fox which was snooping round so I am guessing he will be back.

The chickens are in a pen in a farm field & unattended all day.
The hexagonal pen has a wooden bottom part  (up to 2ft high ) and then mesh sides up to 6 feet high.  There is also a heavy duty (square metal) cage held together with cable ties as a chicken run  attached to the main chicken pen.  ( oh and a mesh and corrugated plastic roof)  - I may get a picture to help.

So everything is secure-ish  but no electric and not secure against digging.

2 questions - firstly - is there any other precautions i can take or am i going to lose the chickens.

secondly - supposing i come up against the fox again - what can i do?  yesterday it went 20ft away and just stood and looked at me for a minute before sloping off.   
I have no gun licence & I doubt if it will be scared off.

The farmer is going to contact the chap who usually comes round for the foxes but I dont think this will be a matter of urgency .

Any ideas to help?

[HappyHippy]

Get a man to pee round the perimeter - supposed to be a kind of scent marking to deter him  Also bags of human hair (talk to your local hairdresser and ask for some sweepings) hung around will deter the foxes, but I don't know how long for - especially if he's hungry 
Good luck, hope the chap comes soon 

[the great composto]

Thanks HH   - I did have a wee pee round the perimeter in the dark last night (felt a right pillock) - its a bit of an exposed site so i will wait till dark to pee again i think   - no need to add to the stress by any police being involved eh?.

[plumseverywhere]

Sorry to hear that Foxy is lurking about. This happened to us and I remember saying on here how weird it was that we could see lots of foxes playing in the fields but they never bothered our hens...I was told not to be complacent and the TAS peeps were right. 3 weeks ago a fox attack at 1pm killed 10 hens - broad daylight as our neighbour hammered his fence 15 ft away!
The farmer where we live had his lamping man round within half an hour of our phonecall - we currently have a fox trap baited with dead hens. Blardy fox won't get in it though 
Do you have a dog or can you borrow one to wee/poo nearby?
I'm not sure that any of these remedies truly work but at least you feel you are doing something while you wait for the trapper/shooter. Also contact your local hunt to see if they can come and help.
As for if you come up against it, not a lot you can do! I've chased one up our hill in my pj's and it kept turning round to laugh at me (as did the neighbours) they are very sure of themselves and quite possibly urban foxes dumped in rural settings 
Make sure you shut the hens in soon as you can and let them out only once its proper daylight to reduce the chances of attack.

[graham-j]

Hi,get an electric fence as a matter of urgency,I have a double one about 2' apart.3 strands of cord 8" 2'6" and 4',I then have electric poultry netting inside this.
I would say this is your best bet even if you shoot this one another will soon come along.

Graham.

[chrismahon]

Another urban fox release it sounds like Composto. No fear of humans so urine won't work. Only solution is electric wire in front of the fence about 3 feet away and about 12" high. Should prevent jumping the fence or digging underneath. Use the fence itself as the earth connection. We are building a similar arrangement at the moment with the lowest straining wire coupled as the earth.

[the great composto]

Thanks for the advice - electric fence it is then - thats what i was thinking might be the only way too.

No sign yesterday & no distressed chickens but like you say complacency is not good.

Dont want to come back to bundles of feathers so i am planning to move them in the next few days to a back garden environment rather than an open field.

[Marches Farmer]

Putting an outward facing "skirt" of chicken wire on the ground around the pen will discourage digging, and our large open topped runs are covered in game netting, which has worked so far.  Once the fox knows a food source is there he will return every day.

[Orinoco]

New to all this, but we are getting alpacas to guard the chickens, this is one practical use and gelded males are not expensive at all.

K

[chrismahon]

Legend says half a dozen Guinea Fowl make enough noise to frighten a fox off. Aim to test it at some stage.

[SallyintNorth]

New to all this, but we are getting alpacas to guard the chickens, this is one practical use and gelded males are not expensive at all.

K

Do you spin?     Else do you want a home for your fleeces...? 

[HesterF]

One of the breeders we bought from had a couple of Rheas to protect from foxes. She said it was still early days but she'd had no losses since they arrived,

H