Watch out......foxy's about!!!!!!

[Snadger]

A week or two ago a fox got my allotment next door neighbours chooks! Last night he came back and got my neighbour on other sides seven chooks.

It IS a worry when either side has been raided and i'm stuck in the middle with my chooks.
Trying to think like a fox, my runs are 6 foot high with a wire mesh roof. I've also dug corrugated sheeting into the ground vertically around the runs.

One section hasn't had the corrugated sheet dug in yet and it will be just my luck for foxy to attack this side!

Fingers crossed!

[MaureenHall]

Oh yes! Finger, toes, eyes, everything crossed for you and your chooks Snadger

[KimT]

Keeping everything crossed..................hurry up and get that last bit done.

[frias]

I'm crossing everything too. A fox attack must be much worse than losing them naturally. The fox is my biggest worry and I know they are about as they are still noisy at night around here. How were your neighbours chickens protected?

[Westcoast]

Do get it done as soon as possible Snadger.
I only had my chooks 5 days when we had our first visit from Mr Fox, foot prints around the run suggests he has made a few return visits.

Every thing crossed for you and the chooks.

MG

[HayleyB]

Gawd Snadge get that end done as soon as you can, Id put some heavy stuff around that edge in the meantime so Charlie doesn't get close enough to dig under

[Suechooks]

Someone took over a plot on my allotment site and he has a terrier which immediately unearthed a big dog fox. Panic stations at Suechooks! Purchased electric fencing plus another layer of weld mesh all round the existing runs!
Snadger - were the hens taken out of a closed hut? If so how did the fox get in? Or was the pop-hole open?
My butcher is also a farmer and for the first time for many years he has had lambs taken by foxes.

[Flummery]

Cor - worst nightmare, foxes. Mr Flum thinks I'm paranoid because I've put bricks or pavers round the outside of the run (as well as inside) so it can't be dug into. I keep telling him how often I read about fox attacks. Hope you get your last vulnerable bit protected Snadge.

[Glutton4...]

My folks want me to put the Chooks out into their small paddock, which backs onto open farmland. We do have foxes locally, one even came into the garden a while ago, but didn't go into the run, but that may just have been because of our presence. I can't afford to fox-proof half an acre, and I'm not convinced that the electric mesh is a good enough deterrent on its own!

Meanwhile, they don't have to mow half their lawn!

[Sue]

Snadger
I'm trying to type this with finger's crossed but it does seem possible to put them off, both of the other lots of hens on my allotment have been raided, both in vulnerable runs - makes me angry just to see them, inviting the fox in really but so far I've managed to keep them at bay with total enclosure and wire mesh round the bottom of the run. If you imagine an allotment path then a row of sheds then on the other side of that is a huge pile of soot that now contains a fox earth - they are that close to my hen run and in the snow was able to see that they walk past my hens on a regular basis not one foot away from them.
So far so good but I'm always on the lookout for any signs of invasion apart from the trauma for the hens I would be devastated to lose "my girls".

We don't know how many foxes in total on the allotments but 7 have been seen together. I know one poor hen got out of one of the other henhouses recently (yes, it's that well built) and was spotted pacing up and down the run outside - so sad - and of course she wasn't there next morning, well I think it was half of her rib cage I found buried in one of my raised beds yesterday and I wasn't wearing gardening gloves either.

Sue

[frias]

That's so sad. We have double wire, dug in wire, slabs all the way round the run and I still worry about my girls.

[Snadger]

Thanks for all your good wishes. Another 13 eggs from 13 chooks today so 13 must be lucky for me and them!
Did a bit of work on the remaining bit this evening and I think things should be ok for a while now.

The chooks (and duck) to the left of me were easy meat for Reynard, being in a polytunnel.
The chooks to the right, killed recently were in a six foot high pen and he left the pop hole open at all times. Fox managed to scale the wire somehow (unlike mine there was no wire over top) kill the chooks and get away with three, leaving four dead ones behind.
I found a hole with feathers in on my plot where Reynard must have temporarily buried one chook but retrieved it soon after.

Next week my chicks will be going to the allotment so I'll have 20 chooks at risk then!

[frias]

Six foot just doesn't seem to be enough to keep a fox out. A roof is a must. Glad your girls are safe Snadger. 13 out of 13. You go girls!

[digthatchick]

Reynard was sat watching my chooks in their run on Sunday at 11.45 am!! (I realise he didn't know the clocks had changed but... I ran down the garden screaming like a Banshee he turned and looked at me then strolled down the garden and climbed over the 6' fencing ( I knew he was poking his tongue out on the other side) He's not getting this lot after taking six in February.

[Hilary B]

Electric wire SHOULD work IF
a) it is high enough they can't jump over without touching and
b) they can't readily dig under either.
Since the normal 'digging' technique is to get as close to the fence as possible, most digging beasties get a shock early on, and while it may take a couple of such experiences to deter them, they tend to get the message quite readily.

make sure the fence hasn't managed to get 'earthed' by vegetation or thrown-up soil.

All that said, I wouldn't be over-confident if it was a large area, but Paxcroft seem to use electric fencing with their free-range layers (we drive past the farm moderately often) and if it didn't work, I can't see them continuing with the idea.