[Melmarsh]

Can anyone tell me how big a lamb has to be for a  fox not to bother it ?? All healthy but I do wonder how safe they are at night ??

[Me]

Bigger than this one, three day old twin with two canine wounds and a fractured skull

[Young Ed]

Bigger than this one, three day old twin with two canine wounds and a fractured skull

nasty! do you think she will survive? was it the only casualty re foxes so far?
Glad you shot it! live rifle?
Cheers Ed

[Me]

She is fine, now oh.. 20 25kg and enjoying her new life as a single lamb with a whole udder to chew on. Lost her twin and another twin (and two foxes). The killing stopped the moment the dog  fox was gone, broad daylight he wandered out to lick the ground where one of the poor lambs had been killed. I was lurking like a mad man not too far away with a 12 bore and a pocket full of AAA

[midtown]

I was lurking like a mad man not too far away with a 12 bore and a pocket full of AAA

[Melmarsh]

I do have local people that will shoot them if they are seen but that doesn't tell me when I would be happy to leave them out and not worry !! I have never lost a lamb to a fox in the 27yrs I have kept them but I did have a bigger flock, 30 breeding ewes but I have only 6 now. Thanks for trying to help though.

[Young Ed]

okay i guess we could try and help! the farmer i am working for has some who will lamb in the field and be fine and be up and standing et c before he can get near them and they will not come in! but in general about 3 weeks maybe a month max and they should be more than fine, but i would be fairly happy to let them out at a week or so for any weaker ones maybe a fortnight
Cheers Ed

[Me]

I would guess a week too

[madcat]

  for shooting that fox .

[Herdygirl]

We have also lost a young twin ewe lamb, her Herdwick mum, who is pretty feisty, did her best but she couldn't protect both lambs.  Two foxes dead 1 day later courtesy of a friend, who has now shot 21 within a mile radius in the last 4 months.
What doesn't help is local bunny huggers who feed them over the winter.   

[Me]

It does help - tie a sausage to the end of the gun

[Marches Farmer]

Badgers will take the little 'uns too.

[Me]

Chipolatas?

[Tim W]

This year I think I have lost more to Ravens but I know that foxes and badgers can take lambs too (I have seen all 3 do it)
The ravens seem to land 10 m from a ewe and lure one of the lambs off with a little dance, lamb becomes interested , follows for a few metres and then the raven delivers a mighty wallop to the lambs head
yesterday I saw this happen (through binoculars ) to a lamb born 24/4/14 ---that's almost 4 weeks old!

The thing I find sickening is that the raven just seems to want to kill the lamb and maybe peck out its eye--at least the fox usually has a meal out of a lamb

[Melmarsh]

Thanks for the extra information. I am glad we have no ravens around here but we do have plenty of badgers as well as foxes. I have noticed that all lambs show an interest in the crows when they hop around the field but haven't seen any of them attacked. My youngest lamb is now three weeks old so I may just bite the bullet and turn them out.