Fox buried neighbor's chicken in my garden this morning

[K0k0shka]

She's your garden's friend! When she's done with the chicken, she'll keep the rabbits, chipmunks and other garden-destroyers in check. I saw a fox near my garden the other day (right by the chicken coop) and I was so happy. I don't free range and my coop and run are predator proof, so the fox doesn't worry me. But chipmunks, rabbits and squirrels have demolished everything I plant, despite repellents and nets and whatnot, so the fox can make herself at home in my yard!

 

[DaisyNoelle]

I do really like the fox and I am planning a secure enclosed run and coop when I get my flock. We're not really in a reasonable place for free ranging, we've got lots of predators but also the road, the neighbor has already seen someone narrowly avoid an accident trying to dodge his chickens out on the road. Even though I'm so new I thought that those chickens couldn't last out the winter and a couple of them did, but only by a couple of days.

This is why I joined here to research before getting chicks! I've been able to figure out what type of coop and run that I want to build this summer, what reference books to buy and read, what supplies and meds to collect beforehand, and where I can find info in an emergency.

I am feeling apprehensive about what I might find when I go out to plant this spring! All sorts of little skeletons, or worse, newly deposited corpses! We'll be watching that space hoping to see an empty hole

Mrs. Fox really is quite pretty though isn't she?

 

[DaisyNoelle]

Perhaps you could help her figure out something? Or is she the neighbor you avoid, or watch and laugh at?

They're nice people, I think the chicks and coop were an impulse buy last year. I did make a couple suggestions including this website.

 

[centrarchid]

I do really like the fox and I am planning a secure enclosed run and coop when I get my flock. We're not really in a reasonable place for free ranging, we've got lots of predators but also the road, the neighbor has already seen someone narrowly avoid an accident trying to dodge his chickens out on the road. Even though I'm so new I thought that those chickens couldn't last out the winter and a couple of them did, but only by a couple of days.

This is why I joined here to research before getting chicks! I've been able to figure out what type of coop and run that I want to build this summer, what reference books to buy and read, what supplies and meds to collect beforehand, and where I can find info in an emergency.

I am feeling apprehensive about what I might find when I go out to plant this spring! All sorts of little skeletons, or worse, newly deposited corpses! We'll be watching that space hoping to see an empty hole

Mrs. Fox really is quite pretty though isn't she?

Most of the time the fox will come back to collect what is buried. Odds are fox had a full stomach at time of burial.

 

[Isadora]

I did make a couple suggestions including this website.

 

[Geena]

I get where you are coming from, but obviously the people didn't really care about losing the chickens or they would have done something to protect them. Sad for the chickens, but it's kill or be killed and the fox happened to come out on top this time.

 

[DaisyNoelle]

I get where you are coming from, but obviously the people didn't really care about losing the chickens or they would have done something to protect them. Sad for the chickens, but it's kill or be killed and the fox happened to come out on top this time.

I think they didn't realize this would happen because of inexperience. There are lots of reports of people who are able to free range in their specific area or situation with maybe only an occasional loss and I think they thought that outcome was an okay tradeoff for giving the surviving chickens a very good life.

But they maybe didn't do enough research to help them think about our specific environment here...when I did that I came to the conclusion that the danger here would be very high which is why I plan to have an enclosed run and try to give them a good, and much longer, life by making it large and comfortable and adding enrichment, another thing I've been learning about here.

I suspect that the neighbors will try again this summer and now that the predators know where the chicken buffet is they will have quicker losses. They have good intentions but it can be confusing when learning to keep an animal because different methods work in different situations so it can be hard to see what applies to our own situation!

 

[DaisyNoelle]

You all were right, the fox came back sometime within the past hour to get her chicken so there is an empty hole in the garden and a trail of feathers heading out to the woods behind the house.

For me this has been a valuable first hand experience because it confirms to me how careful I should be about predators when I am building my run this summer. I want the fox to come here and eat up rats and keep all those other critters in balance, but it's my responsibility to keep my own livestock and pets safe!

 

[Geena]

I think they didn't realize this would happen because of inexperience. There are lots of reports of people who are able to free range in their specific area or situation with maybe only an occasional loss and I think they thought that outcome was an okay tradeoff for giving the surviving chickens a very good life.

But they maybe didn't do enough research to help them think about our specific environment here...when I did that I came to the conclusion that the danger here would be very high which is why I plan to have an enclosed run and try to give them a good, and much longer, life by making it large and comfortable and adding enrichment, another thing I've been learning about here.

I suspect that the neighbors will try again this summer and now that the predators know where the chicken buffet is they will have quicker losses. They have good intentions but it can be confusing when learning to keep an animal because different methods work in different situations so it can be hard to see what applies to our own situation!

True, we all have different methods and results, and have to figure out what works best for our situation. But by my way of thinking when one watches 1, 2, 3 ... 10 chickens get killed and doesn't somehow put a stop to it, then it's obviously not a priority to them.

 

[DaisyNoelle]

True, we all have different methods and results, and have to figure out what works best for our situation. But by my way of thinking when one watches 1, 2, 3 ... 10 chickens get killed and don't somehow put a stop to it, then it's obviously not a priority to them.

I kind of thought this also as I watched it happen, with sorrow because their chickens coming over to visit me as I worked in my garden was the final straw that determined me to stop waiting for the perfect time and go forward with my flock. I'm hoping it will become so after this experience!