[withnail]

sorry to hear that compost queen

on saturday our neighbour said she had seen a fox in our garden and that it was cooly eyeing her through the hedge. this was at 11:30 am  the chickens (in their run)were going ape

we are due to go away for a week and we will have to leave the pophole open  :blink:
im pretty confident that only a very determined fox will dig in to the run, but it does unnerve you when you know that they know the chickens are there

the neighbour is going to keep an eye on them and collect the eggs, shes getting on a bit so i dont want to burden her with the pophole thing morning and night

[Roughlee Handled]

Quote from Radio 4 this morning 07:25 ish 23/09/09.
RSPB survey of birds and wildlife in British gardens has revealed that:
1 in 4 British gardens are visited by foxes.

[compostqueen]

I was going to increase my flock by three new girls as mine are nearly two years old now and their laying whilst still pretty good is beginning to get sporadic.  I've changed my mind now and won't be getting any more. This attack has put me right off 

[vicpic39]

Hi all!, getting slightly obsessed re foxes!! I live in an urban area and have to work a max of 2 days per week. the girls free range all day when im here. As the nights get longer im worried about keeping them in the run all day and would rather they freerange, however im worried about foxes when im not around. The garden is surrounded by both 7ft fencing and equal height privet. we have dug in wire under all fencing and privet. i get the old man to liberally douse boundaries with urine on a regular basis!!!
what do you think should i let them freerange or keep them in their run? cheers v much. P.S. Shirley has perked up, still on antibiotics fingers crossed.
vic xx

[Thrift]

I wonder is there more chance of penned chickens being completely wiped out if a fox gets in as they have nowhere to get away?

I have lost an odd one to the fox but the rest dispersed by flying up into trees and onto walls etc.

They are in the hen house at night and free range during the day. Fingers crossed everyone!!

[janeheritage]

I'm very interested in any views about free range birds managing to esacape the fox. Mine have the range of the back of our garden, full of shrubs etc. If a fox came for them would they be able to fly away? Any experience?

[Kate and her Ducks]

Really please don't count on it.

Don't rely on luck to keep your birds safe. Some of them might fly to safety but they might not and the fox will just be back the next time if it knows dinner is about.

[Roughlee Handled]

.........
what do you think should i let them freerange or keep them in their run? cheers v much. ......

As I said earlyer.

Quote from Radio 4 this morning 07:25 ish 23/09/09.
RSPB survey of birds and wildlife in British gardens has revealed that:
1 in 4 British gardens are visited by foxes.

[poultrygeist]

If you bear in mind that foxes have been taking chickesn long before they were kept in fox-proof runs and are quite good at it after several hundred thousand years of evolution. I don't mean that flippantly, but they are very, very well adapted at sneaking up on prey and managing to get the slower ones.
They have 2 great advantages. They are very agile, like a cat, and very intelligent, like a dog.
I have a great deal of respect for them and can't help but amire them but wouldn't want one to come for tea 

Rob

[pandora]

5 of mine were taken in May by a fox, in the daytime, including the hen that I found impossible to catch as she would fly into a tree whenever I went anywhere near her. They were free-ranging on my 5 acres, and of the 5 killed only one was eaten, the rest abandonned. Husband was not flavour of the month (I was out and he said he would keep an eye on the hens.) Mine ar now in an enormous pen surrounded by an electric fence. I don't even trust that - I know a pig farmer who keeps a bunch of cockerels in his maternity field. He says it is the easiest way to tell if his pig fences are vulnerable to foxes, if a cockerel is taken. The foxes like to break into the maternity unit - they can take the piglets from a farrowing sow as she is delivering them and helpless to defend them. He loses about 260 piglets a year in this way, and that is even with his fields surrounded by a 9 strand 6000 volts mains powered fence. When it snows you can see where the foxes test the fence, by their pawprints left in the snow.

Do not underestimate the fox. For 364 days of the year your free-ranging birds may be safe, then on the 365th day he will have the lot in one go.

Our local fox killed 19 out of 20 adult geese in a night. I am a member of the local hunt, and people in the village shop are asking me to ask the hunt to have an 'accident,' but it isn't as easy as that. The most effective way of getting rid of the fox is now illegal, so more underhand and inhumane ways must be adopted. Since losing my first hens to her, I have had a man with a gun try to dispatch her, but this fox is a tricky vixen and does not sit in the gun's sights easily. The alternatives are trapping or poisoning her. Both of which would lead to much slower and more painful deaths than a hound would.

[Roughlee Handled]

I agree with hunting but .... the only way I believe is to protect against foxes. There will always be another fox to fill the boots of the fox you have just killed.  Not intimidately  but in a week a month or a year there will be one along to get your chucks unless you have secured your chickens appropriately.
I think your farmer must be something wrong id a fox can get over a 9 wire fence. As my experience there is no such thing as a fox that can stand a jolt from a fence.

[pandora]

You are right - where you leave a gap it will be filled by another fox. But some are more problematic than others. The one near us is a well known vixen which is a real bother, and she raises her cubs to be as much trouble as she is. There are other foxes about who are not so bold, and less inclined to venture into back gardens to take poultry and pets. The good thing about a hunt rather than shooting or trapping is that they can be so much more specific.

As for the farmer - he uses the standard industry recognized fencing, with a bit more juice going round it. He can see the pawprints going through the fence (not over - through!) and checks the current - all working. The alternative, which many farmers go for, is to keep their pigs inside for virtually their entire lives. Not a satisfactory answer. I'd rather keep the hunting and have my bacon from happy pigs in the fresh air!

[Roughlee Handled]

............As for the farmer - he uses the standard industry recognized fencing, with a bit more juice going round it. He can see the pawprints going through the fence (not over - through!) and checks the current - all working. The alternative, which many farmers go for, is to keep their pigs inside for virtually their entire lives. Not a satisfactory answer. I'd rather keep the hunting and have my bacon from happy pigs in the fresh air!

I am suprised very. If he has his fence set up with one live and one earth wire there is noway on this earth a fox can climb over it.
"For a secure boundary fence which will also exclude foxes, consider a 9 wire fence approximately 120cms (4ft) high, using stranded steel wire. With the fence wired alternatively live/earth a fox scrambling over or jumping between wires will receive a shock even though his feet are off the ground. "
found here http://www.rutland-electric-fencing.co.uk/PageAnimalSwine.aspx

I would also bait the fence (I regularly bait mine).  This will teach the fox or badger to respect the fence.

I am sure your farmer may believe he is doing it correctly but we all need reminding of we to do every now and again.

[ssc]

Hello All  -  I have just joined the board, and noticed this thread.  Have been keeping poultry for over 30 years, and parents before me.

I always used to let all my poultry free range, with little trouble, as long as they were shut in at dusk, but as time has gone on the foxes have become more troublesome, and will sometimes take stock during the day even when someone is around!  I wonder if urban foxes are less worried about humans, and even where I live, (in the open countryside) trapped urban foxes are often released to enjoy their freedom in the country when becoming too troublesome in the town.

I have found that electrified poultry fencing is safe against foxes/badgers, even when the popholes are not shut at night, though you must ensure that as the vegetation it does not short the fencing out. 

People mentioned digging in chicken wire, this is effective if you do not dig it in straight down, but just under the surface of the soil, bend it outwards from the pen at 90 degrees and bury it so there is about 15" - 24 " of it level with the surface, but just underneath the grass.  It is best to use the stronger smaller mesh wire for this, as normal chicken wire is too flimsy, and any determined fox would scratch through.  Last year I made a large pen for ducks (foxes favourite meal) which was 6ft chicken mesh at the top and then overlapping 3ft small wire at the bottom, following the directions, as above. 

I hope this is clear, but it is difficult to explain without waving ones hands about.

The other way is to have 6 ft chicken mesh pens, with a single stand of electric wire about 12" away on the outside of the pen at about 6 -9" high from the ground, which prevents the fox/badger  from digging under the chicken wire.  Foxes can easily jump  6ft, but generally need something to land their feet on, so never have wood at the top of the wire.
And don't forget badgers love to eat meat and will regularly dig out rabbit nests.    They are much stronger diggers and biters, but again the electric fence seems a deterrent.  My original hen house had some of the smaller stronger wire mesh stapled  to the bottom 24" of my chicken house to stop this.  Many poultry houses are made of quite flimsy wood.

If you can, site any housing closer to the middle, rather than the edge of the pen this seems to help, as the fox cannot smell the poultry at such tantalizingly close quarters.


Hope I have explained this properly.  The main thing is to keep them shut in before dark, and be around and active in the area during the day.  I have also heard that man-pee at strategic points is also a deterrent, but cannot vouch for this!

All the best
Susan

[marygall]

Does anyone have any veiws on poultry arks? If the ramp is up are the hens safe at night?
I noticed that something (probably a rat) had been chewing at the ark yesterday and this morning there was a burrow under it to allow access to something small, thank goodness.
I move the ark regularly, so burying chicken wire isn't an option, should I invest in another type of housing?