[Beeducked]

About 18 months ago we moved from  an urban setting to a rural one with my merry band of ducks and generally it went very well.


The ducks think they are in paradise with more grass than they can eat and more space then they need and a lovely pond.
For the most part we have also been very lucky with foxes. We lost 2 old girls last year about 8 months apart, but this year we have lost 7 ducks and a goose in just over a month. Sadly that has included my favourite drake who is the patriarch of there gang and father to many.
The last 2 attacks have been in broad daylight with us in the house although nothing taken today and the OH managed to get a shot off but didn't hit it.
We have bought a trap and I have accepted I need to learn to handle the shotgun as it almost always seems to be me in when the fox comes to call.


I know it has to be done but still makes me really sad. I know many on here will not agree (OH certainly doesn't) but I think foxes are beautiful and they are only doing what is in their nature. They have to eat too. Sadly my nature it to protect the animals in my charge and I'm not raising them to feed the foxes. Live and let live is not working so will have to go for the alternative.


Sorry, just needed to unload a bit. OH can't understand why it upsets me that the foxes have to be killed.

[in the hills]

  I understand.

Sometimes unavoidable. I'm glad that the keepers around here do a good job and I haven't had to face it yet. If I did have to I would feel just the same as you. 

[kelly58]

Me too, they are beautiful,  fox cubs are gorgeous
BUT we have to get a grip, l too have the same  decision.
We have built a new build house 10 miles away, in the middle of nowhere, we have 
so foxes are a problem. Here we have a neighbour who deals with them but over there hubby will have to get a gun license.
If they killed to eat it would be acceptable but what they do is not    Its a tough one,  I sympathise

[Beeducked]

I think they do just kill to eat. All the stories about them killing for the love of it are in my opinion a misinterpretation. Yes, they occasionally kill a whole hen house and only take a couple but that is because they are interrupted. Given a chance they will come back for what they can't carry and bury it in larders. Lets face it, killing everything in sight makes evolutionary sense as dead prey can't get away.


Unfortunately I just can't keep breeding and raising ducks for them to be eaten by foxes. For the first 18 months, just putting them away on time seemed to work but now they are being attacked  in broad daylight. I have seen the fox at 07.30, 11.00 and 13.00. I could lock them in a small pen but what sort of a life is that for them. Sadly the fox just has to go.

[doganjo]

Foxes enjoy killing - they don't just kill to eat.  if they did I would feel the same as you.

Last year I lost my Drake and duck, and their three beautiful daughters.  One youngster was just left in the run with her throat bitten through, another was found when I sent my dog out to search the paddock - head missing; another had a wing and her head missing.  We never found the mother and father (a pedigree Swedish Blue) so I assume they were taken to eat.  A couple of weeks later the fox was back and made an absolute devastating mess of my chicken run - feathers and bits of body and blood everywhere.  Four never found, lots of feathers on the driveway and the lane -  these consisted of 3 White leghorns and 8 very tame ex battery hens; the dogs brought back various body parts from the paddock to account for  6 of the ex batts, and when I opened the pop hole to check for bodies my last rescue hen walked out - she must have had enough sense to get up on the high perch in the shed.  She is still here, but I have moved her and my new acquisitions to the back garden which is hopefully more secure.

Do NOT feel sorry for  a fox.

[Beeducked]

I'm sorry, I still disagree. Foxes kill to eat. Certainly rural foxes kill to eat or they starve. Urban foxes may have forgotten that but like many animals they are pretty hardwired and killing everything makes sense.


I raised my favourite drake from 5 days old when I was assured he was a girl. I have had him in my kitchen as a duckling and on the sofa injured when he survived an attack as a young drake in Liverpool and in a box next to my bed when I thought he was going to die of his broken neck. He has fathered most of the ducks I have and was 7 this year. I do not take his loss lightly but I cannot but feel sad that it must come to killing the fox and it must, I am under no illusions. If I don't it will simply return daily until they are all gone.


Hopefully it will be dispatched soon.

[Porterlauren]

To be fair, in my experience they do kill to eat. A fox will kill a house full of chickens, or a pen full of pheasants, and carry as many of them off as possible, as long as it feels safe. Usually it gets interrupted mid way, and has to leave most if not all. They bury them as a stash for later. I've had them carry off an entire pen of chickens, one by one, into the woods.

Luckily, it means if you are quiet and canny, you can wait for them to return for the next body and intercept, but usually they suss you.

Killing foxes is part of the cycle of nature, we removed the larger predators, so we now take their place, to keep the population in balance. 1000's are killed every year, but still they remain.

Foxes come by your chicken run each and every night and check to see if you've shut them in, hence why folk only leave it open once and their gone.

A few handy dogs around the property does somewhat dissuade them though, but they will still chance it from time to time...

[doganjo]

I'm sorry, I still disagree. Foxes kill to eat. Certainly rural foxes kill to eat or they starve. Urban foxes may have forgotten that but like many animals they are pretty hardwired and killing everything makes sense.
.

This was no urban fox!  It was killing for killings sake - why else would it or they only take two ducks then later four hens and kill the rest and leave them.  If they wanted to eat them they'd have come back for them and the bodies would have all been gone by morning.

I think fox hunting should be reinstated!

[Porterlauren]

At time when a fox is seemingly killing things with no purpose, it's often a cub, getting caught up in the excitement. By cub I mean this years fox, not a wee fluff ball.

[plumseverywhere]

Beeducked, I hate it too but...I've found that we have a lot of mange ridden and quite unwell looking foxes round these parts, quite possibly because they are overpopulated. We raise pekins and have a gorgeous flock from broody to egg to chick to hopefully full grown soon, if the fox comes calling again I will not hesitate to get the trap back out.

2 years ago, my then 7 year old was first on the scene to a total wipeout of our flock (it came a week after 2 german shepherds got into our land and killed her lamb) she lost her hair as a result of the stress. Killing the foxes never comes easily, nor should it (IMO) but neither does picking up the pieces of your decimated flock and the knock on effect on your family.

I'm not sure they kill for pleasure as such but I do think they get into a frenzy wtih all the clucking and noise and therefore swiftly try to kill everything. Given time they tend to come back and collect their kill which they bury for colder times when food is more scarce.  We baited the trap with the killed but left behind hens which felt horrible but made their deaths more purposeful in a way,  8 foxes shot in 2 weeks and still many mooching about!   

[doganjo]

At time when a fox is seemingly killing things with no purpose, it's often a cub, getting caught up in the excitement. By cub I mean this years fox, not a wee fluff ball.

I honestly don't care what age they are  - they kill for fun!

[mentalmilly]

I agree with doganjo they are a pest. Sure they look cute and cuddly but when they take your stock, and favorite birds that you have reared, they are not cute and cuddly anymore.  I would not hesitate to shoot them if l see them.  We are lucky so far that they have only taken one at a time but seem to pick the ones you want to keep the most.  They would not hesitate to kill the flock if they could get to them.

[in the hills]

I know that people say they kill for fun but think it probably is more to do with killing and then stashing. Never researched that side of it .... maybe there have been studies carried out on their apparent 'mass' killing. I can't think of many animals that kill for fun though  ...... oh, except humans.

[Porterlauren]

There HAVE been studies.

A fox, like most predators, will get pretty excited when in close confines with a lot of pet species, and will get into a bit of a frenzy. Especially young animals.

But it's an in built survival mechanism, as we like to say "make hay while the sun shines", something kicks in, and they kill as much as they can while it's on offer, and as you say, bury it for later.

They are canny creatures though and for the most part, they don't feel safe carrying them all off, and give up after a couple, hence they leave so many.

Some animals do kill for 'fun', well maybe not fun, but for the joy of killing, mustelids are a good example, a weasel or stoat will decimate a pen of poultry without the hope of carrying even one bird off.

But then again, what creature that you know, kills only what it needs if given a chance? How many cats would only kill the one mouse or bird it needed?

I do like foxes, they are one of my favourite animals, but I also see the damage that they can do if uncontrolled. I was out last night on a call out, a free range chicken farm with automatic pop hole closers. . . . had a power cut on friday night and the pop holes opened at night! You can imagine the mess the fox made. So I sent a few hours out in the rain last night, had the dog fox, but couldn't take the vixen as she wasn't in a safe position. So it's back out today or tomorrow sometimes (as soon as it starts to rain heavy) checking earths in the day.

Killing anything can be an un pleasant task at times, but it's part and parcel of the countryside.

[JulieWall]

As long as you realise that another fox will just move in and take his place, this could be an on-going situation.
If it were me I would deal with this bold fox who has already learned where the easy pickings are and then get some good deterrents in place before a new fox moves in. An electric fence with plenty of strands right around the perimeter of the field the ducks live in and then a run for them to be in when you aren't around.
Ours only free range while we are home and up and about, they have a big moveable run in front of their house for all other times. There is a massive dog fox in the woodland around us but he stays away for some reason. I have to assume it's just too risky to come here and negotiate all the obstacles because I know how many years he's been here.
If I'm honest, I'd do the barrier stuff before trying to shoot the fox but I'm not in your situation, only you know how practical that would be for you of course ......
Hope you can get this sorted soon