Oh darn, a fox just attacked one of my hens...

[spiritdance]

electric fencing is fairly cheap once you buy the charger, and depending on the area you want to fence those can be affordable, too. I can buy a 5 mile charger for around 30$ here, and a role of rope is about 25. If you use t posts the price goes up a bit, as they're almost 4$ apiece (figure 1 every 10 - 15 feet) and need insulators (5$ to 7$ per 25), but you can also use temporary step-in posts if you're not containing anything large. They are about 1.75$ but you have to put them a bit closer together. They're easy to set, though, and can be moved easily if you want to change your fence configuration. they also don't require insulators like T posts so that reduces costs as well.

Electric fencing works quite well on ground dwelling predators. I have a strand 6 inches above the ground around all my runs, as well as two strands on top of them, plus the entire perimeter of our front 12 acres is fenced with it. It's done great at keeping out coyotes, stray dogs, coons, possums, etc. The only ground dwelling predators we've had to watch out for are snakes, and I have 26 guinea keets coming along (to go with my big, brave "snake wranglin' adult pair) to take care of that.

 

[NHchicks]

spiritdance - We have 12 acres too and I'd love to see your setup. Do you have any photos? You mentioned rope, but I was thinking it was wire, unless that's what you call it.

We did have guineas, but boy do they travel, and the neighbor (who is not close, but too close) did not appreciate them so we had to get rid of them. Will your guineas be able to stay within your electric fence also? Or will you pen them? They fly.

Rather than watching my chickens get picked off one by one, including my 9 new chicks with 2 mother hens, and figuring no one here is going to be willing to post sentry for hours to shoot foxes, and not having a coop run and hating to see them cooped up anyway, and not really excited about having to find them all new homes in a hurry, I think an electric fence might be the best bet.

Does Lowes sell that setup?

Our hen doesn't seem to be looking too great today. I might have to entice the teen with $$$ to see if he's willing to change his mind & shoot her, like the prior poster suggested. Hate to do it, but I can't stand to see her suffer either, and I'm a huge coward and couldn't do it.

 

[Rocky Top Chick]

Quote:
We have a fox for the first time ourselves. Never had a problem until now. Luckily our girls are in a secure run, but we do let them out to free range. Now we have to sit with them and DH has seen the fox again. He now carries his pistol to sit with the girls.

 

[NHchicks]

Rocky Top Chick - I hope your DH is able to get the fox.

I hate to kill anything, esp. knowing that this may be the time when mama fox has a litter of babies, but that ends where my chickens' feathers begin. The war is on.

The thing about hens is they are so defenseless. There is really nothing they can do when faced with a fox. And they are so sweet. They just go about their business every day, scratching, dust bathing, and laying, and they are conscientious mothers too.

GRRRR.