4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[daj198]

For one and a half years I have got away with letting my hens freerange around the garden during daylight hours without having any visits from local foxes. Nothing short of a miracle! Today, however, was the day that I had been dreading. The chooks had been in their run since sunrise to eat their pellets and started calling to be let out- as usual! Half an hour after letting them freerange, at about 7:40, I heard some strange chook shouts; quite unlike the usual, "Where are you?" or "let me out!". Much like the boy who cried wolf, I thought it was just their usual chatter but then I decided to check. As I looked out of the window, I saw a fox pinning Agnes to the wall of our house. I shouted at it and it retreated a few yards to see if I was a threat. Luckily, there was a spray gun on the windowsill, so I grabbed that and squirted a couple of shots of water at it. Sure enough, it ran down the garden and out of sight.

 

Agnes has the feathers on one side of her back missing and a bit of skin gone off her back but is mainly suffering from shock. Nel has a bad puncture wound at the front and a small one (like a scratch) on her left side. Helga has completely disappeared.

 

This really hasn't been my month for chickens! Matilda died in early April (unknown cause), Maude then died of Histamonosis and now Helga and highly likely Nel have died of fox! I'm convinced that Agnes will never die, it's not in her character!

 

Should I get more chickens? Should I give up? Should I get a big, flashy run from aviaries4u?

Edited May 2, 2009 by Guest

[Redwing]

What a lucky escape, that must have been quite a shock! good job the spray gun was handy

[daj198]

Yeah. I'm not really sure why it was there anyway!

[Lydia]

Dom I'm very very sorry. We were the same - nothing for 3 years then there was Mr Fox one morning.

 

Take some time to get over the shock and treat Agnes and Nel. Then make your decisions.

 

I strongly advise getting a fox watch (or two). We've got 2 and have not seen the fox since in our garden (although it sits in next door's garden all the time). Connect them to the mains though and keep them on.

 

I've also not let ours freerange alone since. It means they get less time out but actually we get to spend far more time with them.

 

Especially now mine don't freerange as much I personally have more peace of mind with my walk in run. It's worth considering but isn't for everyone. Mine came from Flytesofancy, was easy to erect and, bar the door being a tad on the short side, we're very pleased with it.

 

I really hope Helga turns up safe, it's possible she's hiding perhaps.

[badgerbluebadger]

Any news on Helga? I hope eveything is ok - very brave of you foxes can be scary.

[Guest]

Def wir they will get use to it...or electric fence but even then i would still be around...good luck

we have foxes all the time during the day even when we are around we are quite rural, my aunt lives in london and she loves and feeds the foxes that have all their cubs in her garden!

indie

[chick wiggle]

OMG lucky escape, i hope they are going to be ok.

 

A lesson for us all I think! I think we can get quite blaze about them being out in the garden until something like this happens.

 

very best wishes for your girls. X

[Budgies]

I hope your chooks will be ok.

 

It's a bad time of year for fox attack I'm afraid - they're feeding young and are pretty desperate for food.

[Egluntyne]

Sorry to hear it. A nasty shock. I'd recommend a WIR. The fox will be back I'm afraid not that he has found you..

[daj198]

Hello All

 

Thanks for the kind posts. No sign of Helga But Nel was eating some corn and meal worms before she went to bed, and Agnes is acting as though nothing's happened! I am concerned that Nel could get a bacterial infection from the punctures though...

 

I've been thinking about WIRs (thanks for the advice) and think that I will probably make a run with no roof ( ) as a sort of pen/mini field. I have large wooden fence posts already and could use a fine mesh to prevent them sticking their heads out. Do you think there would be a problem with this system? I'm trying to think of a way around foxes digging under the wire... bury it? To help you visualise what I mean, it would be like the run that the people on the Milway estate built on Hugh's Chicken Run.

 

Thanks again for being so kind

[Redwing]

Instead of having to bury the wire you could bend it outwards as a skirt like on the Eglu run maybe? Thats what I am planning to do on my second run.

 

You could use small hole mesh on the lower part and bigger holed mesh from there upwards so that heads can't be poked out of the bottom half (if you do that then be aware of placing perches up high and put the small mesh by them too)

[Egluntyne]

If it has no roof, remember that Monsieur Reynard will have no trouble scaling a 6ft height.

[Aggienator]

If it has no roof, remember that Monsieur Reynard will have no trouble scaling a 6ft height.

 

Some friends of mine have a structure like this without a roof, but have a strand of electric fence wire around the top. The mesh is attached to the inside of the posts and the electric strand to the outside, so any mountaineering fox will get a nasty shock as he reaches the summit

[Guest]

HI

If u do a wir i run my mesh off onto the floor like a skirt on the omlet products and then put rows of spare bricks all along(double layer..fortunately had loads) u could use slabs or long metal pegs ie tent ones??

BUT although my WIR is on my old greenhouse concrete base i did leave one foot of soil so they could dust bath and the chickens have excavated great big holes in the soil..and are going sort of under the mesh now(I can see the bricks and mesh from the inside).

Agree the fox will dig so def make good the boundary...amazed at the chickens now too!!

 

Agree with strand of electric tape(u can buy horse tape ie £13 a 200meter roll if u shop around..at some stage i want to let mine free range enclosed but will be running a couple of electric fence strands at the top(someone on this forum...runs a strand low to the ground..u have to make sure it doesnt touch anyt hing but the proper plastic poles..otherwise it will not work) YOU can get electric fence tape conductors that you can bang into ie wooden posts and run it through those...any good equine shop will sell those...Equine 3 foot electric fence posts are approx £1.50 but u can buy much taller ones too

 

Cant beat electric fencing a big fan!

 

good luck

indie

[Ain't Nobody Here]

So sorry to hear about your fox attack . What a horrible shock . I hope your girls are doing ok?

[daj198]

So sorry to hear about your fox attack . What a horrible shock . I hope your girls are doing ok?

 

Yes thank you. They both seem to be recovering. Nel's a miracle chicken, I was sure she wouldn't last the night with all of her wounds but she's getting stronger again!

 

Thanks for the tip about electric fencing; I like the idea of foxy climbing all that way only to be electrocuted. I'll investigate this further...