Warm boot recommendations please

[Aunty e]

....and he wants my chooks. LAst night I heard an almighty sqwauking and so the entire household sprinted outside in dressing gowns to find a fox clawing at my chooks through the run. the four little girls were hiding and the three big ones were flapping and clawing and pecking and screaming the place down. We chased off the fox and calmed them down and locked them in the eglu so they wouldn't be disturbed if foxy came back. I remember hearing the fox scramble back over the fence again, but as the chickens were quiet I ignored it and tried to sleep (difficult when your heart is racing like mine was!).

 

This morning I go down to complete garden chaos. Mr Fox (who was quite young from the looks of him) has WRECKED my garden, ripped my thick rain cover to tiny pieces (need another shower curtain now!) and tried to dig under the eglu from every conceivable angle, and got quite close in a couple of places. He got between my pots and dug under the poop tray with little success and then he pulled out the half bricks I shoved under the eglu after fluffy and chloe died and dug under the nest box and very nearly made it. Couldn't get in the other side though. So what do I do? I can lock the girls into the eglu so they don't get upset, but if the bl**dy fox comes back and trashes my garden every night, it'll be horrible. I don't want to put netting on my fence as I worry the fox would get caught in a horrid way and I'm not sure how effective the peeing has been as this has been done loads. The one thing I wondered was that my security light has not been working for a week and suddenly we have a fox in the garden. Should I get the council to get it working again? or now that they know us are we stuffed. My poor fluffy darlings looked so shell-shocked this morning.

[Cinnamon]

How horrible - aren't they the most determined creatures when there is the possiblity of a hen on the menu?

 

I think there is some sort of sonic Fox deterrant available,Revnev has one.

You might find a post about it somewhere ....... good luck

[Aunty e]

I've seen the foxwatch, and I'm tempted (if skint). There is a cat deterrent in Robert Dyas which says it also deters foxes. Should I believe it?

[The Dogmother]

How awful aunty e - he sounds really persistent! I'd get the light fixed, but try the Foxwatch. Twiglet had one when we visited and they hadn't seen a fox since having it installed. Apparently it takes a while to be effective, but does really work.

 

I hope that you get harmony restored to your garden - alternatively try contacting your council to see if they have a policy for dealing with foxes.

[Jools]

Sorry to hear about your trauma Aunty E. I've used electric wire / tape around the base of my arks before now, mainly to deter my horrible dogs, but I'm sure it would work for foxes too.

 

What I'd suggest is to knock some small pegs of wood into the ground all around the Eglu - they only need be about 12 - 18 inches, so long as they are reasonably secure and above the grass line. Then screw some insulators into the top of the pegs and thread the electric wire or tape through. You then connect an energiser (mine is battery, running on D cell batteries) - red to the electric wire and green onto a bit of metal stuck in the ground to earth it. Switch it on at night and hope Mr Fox gets a nasty shock or two and gives up and goes elsewhere for supper. However, you can probably count on daytime raids to in the Big City I'm afraid, so you might need it on 24 hrs a day. The batteries don't last for ever, but the energiser makes a noise, so once it's getting a bit quiet, you know it's time to change them.

 

It's not as expensive as poultry netting and I think it works well around a small ark / house / eglu. It's no good for protecting them freeranging in the day time - you would definitley need electric poultry netting for that.

 

I have a spare energiser, some insulators and wire if you want to borrow them to try - just let me know

[The Dogmother]

That's a good idea and a kind offer Jools.

[AnnieP]

Jools, that sounds like a great solution. My Foxwatch had to be sent back as it was faulty. Its not very robust for the money it cost! Awaiting the replacement as we speak.

I think that unfortunately the fox will definitely try to come back, so the electric trip wire sounds like a great idea!

I wonder if you could run something similar a few inches off your fence where he comes over into the garden?

good luck and tell the girls not to worry!

[Karen & co.]

How horrid for you might be worth trying the electric fencing, it sounds easy to install.

 

 

We have the omlet fencing with an energiser to charge it - keeps the dogs away and very easy to use too.

 

karen x

[Guest]

I wonder if you could run something similar a few inches off your fence where he comes over into the garden?

good luck and tell the girls not to worry!

 

 

you'd have to clear it with your neighbours (obviously!)...

 

Phil

[Egluntyne]

Why not secure the Eglu down with the pegs available on the site. I find them useful. It would take a very determined fox to budge them.

 

Also have you made use of the men in your life by getting them to pee liberally around the Eglu. That should get your neighbours curtains twitching.

 

Best of luck.

[Aunty e]

Well a number of foxing methods are now in place. Our garden is too small to make effective use of the netting, as a fox could leap from the top of the fence over it. Our run is VERY securely pegged down, but we now have a sheet of weld mesh under the eglu and sticking out to around six inches all around the eglu (including into the run a bit). We pegged this down to. I bought some fruit netting and stretched it across the bit of fence that the fox made use of (trashing one of my favourite rose bushes in the process, which will now have to be hacked back). The lady we bought the pekins from suggested that anything wobbly will stop them getting over the fence and the netting might scare her enough by getting caught, that she leaves us alone. Last and not least, the girls are now locked in the eglu. Which they won't like in the morning, but as they refuse to sleep next to an open door, it has made a bit more room in there. Thanks for all the suggestions and offers of help, I told the girls all about them as I was tucking them up tonight. The only nice thing about last night was how quickly they calmed down when they saw us, and how keen Bonnie was on a cuddle. They do like me, they do, they do!

 

I'm still tempted to attach a car battery to my fence, but I do quite like my neighbours

[The Dogmother]

I know your garden is small auntye, but are you able to put the eglu and/or run on paving? I have just blagged some slabs from a neighbour and plan to sink them under the Eglu and part of the run to stop this happening.

[Aunty e]

I think I probably will, but this involves moving the eglu which I can't do until the weekend. No fox signs last night though, and my roses have escaped unravaged. Saw the fox as I was walking home and gave her a good talking to so maybe she's taken the hint.

 

I also need to construct an extra nest box in the run for my pair of broodies to sit in as they are REALLY annoying the other chooks. May well just let them hatch some eggs out at this rate. They seem quite happy to sit on each other. Thought I 'd shove some golf balls in a cat box filled with straw and see if it attracts them.

[The Dogmother]

Might work, I had to make an extra nest out of an old washing up bowl whe I had loads of broodies, I have now got a mesh pet carrier and that works really well at snapping them out of it.