Single hen

[madmaccey]

I am very keen to have some chickens but we regularly have visits from urban foxes. I really don't want to spend a fortune on a eglu etc for the foxes to come and trash it and kill my new additions.

Before I make a final decision, can anyone give me any reassurance that the run is 'fox proof'? Does anyone else foxes visit regularly and have they failed to attack???

 

Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

 

Regards

[muzzie]

I purchased the eglu because we do have fox. If you check our albumn in the gallery you will see pictures of the Vixen and her kits from last spring, she dens under our garage every spring. I have the run and eglu on cement blocks and have used a few blocks to weight down the run apron so she is not able to tunnel under.

[Seagazer]

We have a regular visit from a fox and he's not managed to get the girls yet thank goodness

[Olly]

The Eglu itself is fox-proof i.e. with the door shut at night.

 

The run USED to be described as fox-proof, but there have been a few rare incidents where a fox has managed to 'get' a chicken through the run. I believe there was also one case where it was on sandy soil and the fox managed to tunnel under, and another case where the green clips had perished, and the fox forced a way in. They are rare, but because of this the run is generally described as resistant, but not fox-proof.

 

You have to make your own decision ... but I've had first one, then two Eglus and now a Cube and have not had a problem with foxes. They are around, they've been seen in the garden and I have even found paw-prints on the Eglus and SEEN the fox pawing at the run cover once, but they have never got in. I think it's the safest possible housing for chickens. I am moving on to a walk-in run soon but that's for my convenience, rather than the girls.

 

I do think it's worth investing in a Foxwatch, which is a sonic repellent that is triggered by anything passing its beam, and it gives off a sound that only foxes can hear (supposedly). (My cat isn't bothered by it all, and it is supposed not to affect dogs but some can apparently hear it. ) I got one and since then I haven't seen the fox in the garden, it's not an absolute solution but it will deter the fox from using your garden as a playground.

 

If you want to keep chickens then in my view the Eglu and run are ideal for suburban gardens. Go on, you know you want to!

[TAJ]

There was also one case when the run clips were apparently bitten off so the end panel was taken off by the fox - but with all run clips in place and checked it would have to be a pretty clever fox to do this. Whilst I have seen a fox in my garden I leave the eglu door open 24/7 and have never had an issue with a fox getting in the run over the last 15 months.

 

Tracy

[Steve.]

My run is on the patio .... and we've just started leaving the cube door open overnight and make sure that the velco + 8 run clips that secure the run-conversion door are clipped shut.

 

Time will tell.

[Peter S]

Regrettably, I have to agree that the Eglu is not fox proof. Yesterday, we shut our four hens into the run at 7 pm, as we were going out last night. We did not shut the house door, as it was still light and they were pottering about. In any case, we usually leave the house door open in the Spring/Summer, so the girls can let themselves out in the morning when it gets light.

 

This morning, I found that a fox (or similar) had managed to burrow under the house itself, at the point where the skirt ends, and enter the run. Nothing left of our beautiful girls except hundreds of feathers in the nest, the run, and the route the fox must have taken out of the garden (over 6 foot fences). I have a horrible feeling that the fox took them one by one, as I don't see it could possibly have taken all four at the same time. Or perhaps there was more than one fox.

 

Our Eglu was not on concrete, so I will be laying some slabs this weekend. I'm also going to try fixing a mesh base to the run, to try to prevent this ever happening again.

 

I feel absolutely awful about this, and keep thinking "If only.." However, this is the first fox attack we have had in ~4 years of keeping hens. It is also, now, the only time we have been without hens in all that time. I think we'll need to leave it a few weeks before getting any new hens, though.

 

Peter

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I'm so sorry to hear that, Peter . What a horrible shock for you . It just shows if you have a fox that is determined enough, only concrete will prevent it digging in .

 

If you are going to wait till replacing your girls (understandably), perhaps you could consider a walk in run?

[quickcluck]

Oh Peter that's terrible...... I dont know what to say.........

 

I do have a fox watch and although they are not 100% fox proof I do think that they help in keep them away from the run i say this as the night we forgot to turn it on foxy paid a visit and dug a large hole! Lucky our WIR is about a foot under ground so he was unsuccessfull.......

 

I hope you manage to lay your concrete and enjoy your new lot of girls.

[Peter S]

Thanks both for your kind comments. A walk-in run is an indea, but as we have the Eglu, I think we will try to fox-proof it as much as we can with slabs, and possibly think about foxwatch or similar.

 

I cannot believe we are without hens - it doesn't seem normal! I'm going to miss them pottering around my feet this evening.

 

Peter

[jlo]

So sorry to hear of that experience Peter. I can quite understand why you want to wait for a while. I admit that I never thought that something like that could happen!

[Egluntyne]

Sorry to hear it Peter.

 

My Eglus are on concrete and ehe runs are weighed down with boulders.

 

So far so good.

[Guest]

oh that is a real shame, the fox usually kills the lot then comes back to take them when they need the food. Thats why you will often hear farmers complain they dont usually just kill one they kill all. Apparently foxes sense motion/smell and have really bad eye sight so if it moves they grab..my ducks were all killed apart from one cowering in the corner who was unscathed. Thats what is annoying that in an enclosure they will just kill the lot

 

I think my cowering duck survived as it was stood still in fear! Even when I opened the door I was too busy looking at the carnage I was met with..

 

Electrification every time is good for fox.

 

Sorry to hear indie

[Peter S]

oh that is a real shame, the fox usually kills the lot then comes back to take them when they need the food.

 

Yes, I've heard of that before.

 

Our fox, however, decided to kill and remove all hens, and then brought one back last night, leaving her decapitated remains in the garden.

 

Has anyone heard of this behaviour before?

 

Peter

[quickcluck]

just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.... you poor thing

[Guest]

oh great just what you need it is distressing anyone that sees what the fox does will realise why farmers dont like them. My relative is a farmer he always says that if we had to grow our own food we would understand why the numbers need to be kept under control.

 

The fox may have left it somewhere around and was passing through with it. I have friends who have lost kittens to foxes and when our local farmers cleared a set out they found an elderly ladies cat in their that had gone missing! My friend saw her kitten carried off by the fox.

 

Blooming pest...electric fencing ??

 

I gave the carcasses to a neighbour who used them to entice and shoot the local fox. So I always felt they never died in vain.

 

hope it hasnt put you off it can happen to anyone

 

indie

[Peter S]

It hasn't put us off - just made us realise that we were becoming a little complacent, perhaps, and that we need to make it more difficult for Mr(s) Fox.

[Guest]

Glad it hasnt put you off as chickens are such a great pet to keep. Good luck indie

[Guest]

I watched a prog last night about man-eating lions in Africa and how they were trying to trap and kill them. The lions environment is constantly being encroached upon by humans and whilst I sympathise with the families who have lost relatives to lions, I can't help thinking what a parasite the human being is

 

We breed and breed and breed and if something is in our way, we get rid of it.

 

We have a walk in run with a cube run and cube attached, the cube run is on flags and the walk-in run is surrounded by flags. My husband laughed at me once because I made him put lockable bolts on the run door "just in case". Maybe I was being over the top but I wanted to protect my girls from any predators.

 

I'd rather take the preventative route and if there are any foxes around here, I want to leave them in peace.

 

I know it's perhaps not always practical to have a walk-in run but there are a lot of things you can do to help deter the fox. The poor animal gets such bad press for just trying to survive while we glibly carry on destroying the planet.

[FiggyPudding]

Sorry about your hens & horrible to hear about the fox attacks

 

I have an eglu & a fox that may use our garden as a throughfare. I ws very pleased with my eglu until one morning I came to let them out & saw the fox had a very frantic dig (about 6 inches) round the base of the eglu. My poor little girls must have been terrified.

 

Now I place wire shelves (they are from a lightweight greenhouse) around the eglu & I guess because there is no vertical, the fox(es) haven't dug since.

 

A better measure, I think, would be to place the eglu house on mesh, sticking out about a foot. If you put mesh under the run, the hens won't be able to scratch.

[Peter S]

A better measure, I think, would be to place the eglu house on mesh, sticking out about a foot. If you put mesh under the run, the hens won't be able to scratch.

 

That's not a bad idea, although I was intending on putting loads of bark into the run, on top of the mesh, so they can still scratch around. We usually let them out in the day anyway, so this was simply to keep them safe when we are away for the weekend, as the house door will obviously need to remain open so the new girls can let themselves out in the morning.

[FiggyPudding]

Have you thought about a fox watch too ? I am off to collect 2 tomorrow.

 

Hoping that this will mean I can let them free range in a netted run...

[Chucky Mama]

I purchased the eglu because we do have fox. If you check our albumn in the gallery you will see pictures of the Vixen and her kits from last spring, she dens under our garage every spring. I have the run and eglu on cement blocks and have used a few blocks to weight down the run apron so she is not able to tunnel under.

 

How lovely that you are all happily living alongside each other. I do love foxes and handreared one when I was working at the RSPCA years ago. I also love my chooks and would reather not have to test my love for foxes