Fox in the hen house

[Trawets]

Well not actually in the hen house but close. I have been losing some of my chickens lately. They free range so I know that I am going to lose a few, it’s just a fact of nature. Normally I miss about one a month. This spring I have had more than usual disappear and now I have an idea why. Over the weekend I saw two foxes, a gray fox aboutdaylight, and a red fox about 9:30 with one of my girls in its mouth.

The first thing I did was mow the field next to the hen house so they have don’t have cover/concealment to slip up as close as they could anymore. But I don’t know what else to do. Any ideas?

 

[smedly9921]

Fox's are hard to deal with, cant trap them cause they are too smart for that. Mowing the field is a good start. Maybe a small fence along the field edge if that's the way they keep coming in. Or if you keep seeing the foxes around the same times set out there with a gun and shoot them. They know your flock is an easy meal so they will keep coming back. You say you loose chickens during free range. I never have. I guess i am just lucky. I have lost them at night to racoons but never while free ranging. Foxes are smart so you are up for a challenge. Look up a snare... if the foxes come in on the same path each time you might be able to snare one. Also you might try a meat hook trap. Hang a piece of meat from a tree, Surround a large treble hook with meat, Fox jumps up and grabs meat swallows hook then you take care of it. However if a dog finds it you just got that. Foxes are very difficult. Good luck. If i were you i would not free range for a while. Maybe if they think the food source is gone they will move on.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Someone recently had a thread on here where they showed a picture of their fox trap set-up. They put a live chicken in a cage, then set the live trap in front of that in a “row”. Then they covered it well so the only way in was through the trap. He did say it took several nights to get the fox. They are hard. But it did finally go into the trap.

When I was a kid, we had a fox that got into the habit of showing up right after daylight to take a chicken. Because that fox was regular, Dad was able to set up and get a shot.

I wish you luck. I find foxes to one of the more difficult ones to deal with.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

I just posted about this in another thread, but 2 nights ago, I lost 10 chickens to a pair of foxes. I didn't know the culprit was a fox until I caught them on film last night. They came sniffing around the coop right after the sun went down, which means I'll have to be extra careful to lock up the girls early! Still baffled as to how 2 foxes broke the door latches took 10 chickens so quickly though.