[Roxy]

There was one standing in the neighbours fox cage this morning.  Must ask him what he baits them with cos he has caught a few since Xmas.  To give him his due, he does not keep  them longer than he has to - I heard a gunshot a few minutes after I noticed the fox peering out

[taz08]

i dont understand why we think have a right to do this.. its so sad

[Hassle]

Having gone into a chicken coop after a fox has visited picking up all the heads and dispatching those chickens left that are beyond help.  Then spending the rest of the week cleaning fixing and getting replacements oh and also picking up any other chicken that has died since due to stress.

But then again foxes do look cute unless they have mange which is such a happy disease

[sabrina]

There is nothing sad about getting a fox shot. Try expaining to your children why all your 17 ducks are in bits in the field because a vixen was teaching her cubs to kill. why a pet lamb has been killed an hour after the kids had just fed him, lamb was in the garden at lunch time. We have had foxes at all times of day and night and believe me once they start killing your chickens they just keep coming back until all are dead. Foxes are not cute.

[taz08]

if you think that i live  in a town and taking the townies view ,,, wrong,,i live in aberdeenshire  surrounded by hills trees and loads of foxes,, i have never been bothered by them  i have hens and ducks ,, i do everythiing the natuerel way,, all bird free range and   a open leantoo    ...i let my dogs pee everyplace,,, old wives tale that works ,,
i been doing it this for years
only bother i have had was a cat  last week,, i put the dogs out  ,, not seen since \and for cat lovers ,,, they didnt get the cat

[hughesy]

  i have never been bothered by them

There's always a first time.

[taz08]

yea  i have been told that plenty times, but if you need to kill a fox why gloat,,

[lachlanandmarcus]

OP didn't kill a fox and I didn't read any gloating in their post.


If you havent had fox issues you just haven't had them yet. Post again when you have been picking up the bits.


we hadn't had issues here until one bit the head off my gander a week or two back just to eat its brains out, left the body to go to waste and a goose pining.....Nice. And that was behind a 7 foot wire fence.

[in the hills]

You have been lucky. Hope you continue to be so.


Not a pretty site when he comes calling.    He visited my neighbour recently and took her Marsh Daisy hens .... took her years to get them. 

[plumseverywhere]

we were lucky for a while. Then my 8 year old found 10 hens in bits. She then started to lose hair due to the stress. I'm not gloating but we shot a dog fox last weekend. We baited the trap with pheasants Roxy if that's any help. Oh and I have a £200 vet bill after said fox left my goat wether with severe mange, fox was in awful pain, he's not now.

[Mammyshaz]

Personally I think a trap and gunshot to end it's life quickly would be my method of preference. I don't like hunting to run an animal to exhaustion before being ripped to shreds by hounds an appealing end. But I am with the thought that foxes which develop the hunt option of farm stock over wildlife must be eliminated.
I'm no expert but the thought of a trap and shoot ASAP option seems a better option than stock being mauled by a fox family.

Glad somebody is eliminating your fox problem with some thought to welfare, roxy, and hope it helps your stock 

[Pedwardine]

It upset me ever so much to find a fox had died twisting itself in my electric chicken netting trying to get out but glad it hadn't got my chooks. They are stunning creatures but they are dreadfully cruel in their habits. I've been fortunate in having mostly had random chickens picked off with the exception of all thirteen wee ones in broad daylight with us and dogs about who'd just started getting independant from their mum. I hope you never have to experience that kind of loss but sounds like it's just good luck so far. My dogs pee everywhere too and I thought that would deter Mr Fox. It didn't. You can never be too complacent on these things.

[Roxy]

I have a large flock of free range hens, and so does my neighbour.  He and I have both lost hens in daylight.  A fox broke into my bantam hut and took two bantams.
 
I love wildlife,and my view is if they leave my stock alone, then thats fine. Unfortunately, the fox population here is way out of control. Vixens have 6 cubs - these cubs are likely to contain three females, so they breed .......At this time of year, they are all very hungry -its unlikely there is enough food for them all.  Some are old, and in poor condition.  Surely, a live trap, and an instant death (and this fox was killed with a single shot) is preferable to any alternative.  I certainly do not agree to hunting with dogs.
 
It was not a nice sight to see the fox in the cage, and the farmer told me he did not take pleasure in shooting it. But he could hardly take the cage and release it into someone else's field.
 
Anyone who has not had stock killed by a fox is very fortunate.  When it does happen, you will understand the horror, and sick feeling  when you see headless chickens just randomly killed,and left.

[in the hills]

Roxy - totally agree with you. I don't know any farmer around here that takes pleasure in killing foxes and most of the farmers that I know value and enjoy the wildlife that's around them ..... even the odd fox.

[hughesy]

I absolutely love to have wildlife around the place foxes included if there was no chance they might eat my poultry. The major part of my income comes from the poultry at the moment and I can't afford to let nature get in the way I'm afraid. The last chickens we lost were to a jack russell from a house a couple of fields away and I've had to tell the owners that if I catch it anywhere near my birds again they'll get it back in a bag.