[firemansam]

I have some hens down the garden, and would like to have some birds in my field with my sheep, it woody in places and has 3 field shelters as well as the trees for shelter.
What could I keep that foxes wont eat?
I would like a couple of geese, but dont want to feed the local fox, also a footpath runs through and I dont want irrate walkers attcked by the geese.

[Marches Farmer]

I can't think of any bird that's entirely foxproof.  Guinea fowl are very alert and will fly up into the trees at the slightest hint of a problem.  Our neighbour had a young but full grown gander taken by a fox last year.  Turkeys might work, if you can get a shed for them onto the field and pen them first to get used to coming back to roost at night, BUT a determined fox will jump, dig and tackle pretty well anything.

[hughesy]

I gave up my endeavours to develop a fox proof chicken breed. I'm now working on one that has breadcrumbs instead of feathers.

[Hassle]

Ostrich?

[taz08]

am getting guinea fowl 
so you might wanna look them up

[lachlanandmarcus]

We recently had a gander killed by a fox and that was n a 7 foot wire fenced enclosure with other geese so they are vulnerable.

[Marches Farmer]

Our guinea fowl are tamer than most as we kept them in the living room for the first 3 weeks after hatching and before letting them free range at 20 weeks we locked them in the pen we wanted them to return to for three nights before releasing them.  They'll also come to call for corn.  Those on the farms around us are usually in a tree and can be viewed with binoculars!

[taz08]

thats good info thaanks firemaansam

[JMB]

Our hens were wild ones rescued from a farm but we think they are at least part bantam. They are small and agile. We have a hen house but they usually sleep in a tree.
So perhaps a smaller breed would stand a better chance of getting to a safe place?
No expert though xxxx

[Mrs Snoodles]

No birds are fox proof. Once it is dark and they settle down they are vulnerable.  Guinea Fowl will shout and let you know there is a problem but you'd need to get out and sort it out yourself.  Your only way of standing any chance of keeping them safe would be electric netting and I imagine your sheep would have a wonderful naughty time with this  so you need to wire it off I guess.

maybe you could think about having some poultry in pheasant pens in a corner, and then move them around onto fresh ground when needed, with a wire around it all to keep the sheep away. ( just imagining the sheep having a jolly good scratch on the wooden struts of a pen).

[Brijjy]

I've always fancied a rhea.........

[Mrs Snoodles]

 :wave:Just had a thought.... If you have trees then perhaps a very light flighty breed would be ok - a good tree roosting type.  I could never get my Freisians down 
Only trouble is that they will lose condition in a heavy winter.

[toaster]

I had a 5ft rhea killed by a fox, it was devastating

Agree that pheasant pens are probably the way forward for you

[in the hills]

Freisian Fowl are very good at tree roosting    BUT


. they tend to go to bed late and come down when it's still very early. Just the times that old foxy is out prowling. 


. contrary to what we read, ours are very broody beings. They lay everywhere except in the coops, they then settle down to brood them and they are then eaten by foxy loxy or the like. 


They are very beautiful though, especially the cockerel 

[Brijjy]

I had a 5ft rhea killed by a fox, it was devastating

Crikey! Are you sure it wasn't a wolf?!?! That's a hell of a big bird to be taken down by a fox. That fox was either incredibly brave or desperately hungry. Did it eat the rhea or parts of it? Sorry for the probing questions but I'd always been told that foxes won't go for rheas because of the immense size difference. I would have been traumatised too if it had happened to me.