[min200]

Well my youngest went up to collect the eggs this morning and came back down saying the chooks were gone.

I shot onto the plot and there was just feather carnage and no birds.  At first look I couldnt see where the damn fox had got in as I have really gone to town making the coop & run save. 

Turns out after a leangthy investigation that the cunning swine had burrowed along under the 6 ft coop and up under the food table in the run.  Therre after he opened the coop door including a bolt and helped himself to the girls

We are very sad.  But as I have told my daughter there are no bodies (just the odd part) so at least the girls were used for dinner and not killed for sport.

Still its a real shame as we loved those little exbatts.  They had a few months of sun and freedom which was a bonus.

Right then im off out to clean the coop and run out and make the whole damn thing bomb proof!!

[sarah f]

awwww so sorry  about your girls

[joyfull]

so sorry min, next time you will have to bury weldmesh underneath the run and coup about 12 - 18 inches below, plus put a padlock on the door.

[Hayley'sHens]

So sorry for your loss, I know it doesnt help but atleast your youngest wasnt greeted with the sight of boddies 

[min200]

Thanks guys.  Ive buried weldmes around the run but never thought for a minute that the fox would tunnel 6 ft to get in

Lesson learnt the hard way. 

[TeaPots]

The foxes are deinately having to get wilier. The one that got into my Poland pen couldnt dig down (buried mesh 2ft down into a trench filled withe gravel and broken galss bottles) cant get in over the top, as the pen is fully covered (Polands need to be dry), so what did it do?.....it huffed and it puffed and it kicked in the whole side panel of the pen.

 I dont think its possible to stop a determined fox, and as we are are all making it harder and harder for them, they are getting more cunning, cos they have to!

[bluecharlie]

so sad the exbatts had to end up as dinner afterall!!
i have some chooks at the bottom of my garden,a lot of my neighbours do too.the garden das a river and open countryside on the opposite side,i have been told that we still need to protect against the fox as they have been known to cross a river,has anyone experienced this with the cunning fox??

[goodegg]

so sorry to hear that min 200 the only way chooks are safe is to keep them in a prison with steel bars

[min200]

Thanks guys.

I have now made the run & coop so bloomin secure that the fox will need to bring an angle grinder and tin snips to get in!!!

I am sad that the poor girls ended their short hard lives this way but am damned sure that they had more  happiness in the last few months than they had ever known.

[Manlea1]

Im not really a fan of fox hunting but surely it wasnt this bad for the chooks when it was legal?  :blink:

[joyfull]

Yes it was, I lost my ducks to foxes when hunting was still legal. Fox hunting only took care of a very small percentage of foxes most were and still are killed by vehicles.

[Ribbit]

I think its time to start sharpening poles that stick out the ground. Hey you could build a chook fortress! Sorry for your loss, at leats they had the best time of their short lives with you.

[min200]

Now theres a thought for a run.  Make it look like an old fort with the same protection 

Might make some cash there!!!

[digalotty]

sorry min

[IMOmimey]

They have their own set of tin-snippers...called teeth