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Imo

Fox deterrent

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I have had a quick browse through the forum and not found any specific topics on this but I apologize if my question has been answered before!

I was just wondering what was the most effective way to keep foxes out of the garden? I'm afraid I now have no chickens to protect, since he got them both last week :( But the sight of him sitting in my garden with his fat belly in the sunshine is not helping my temper; I just want him out! I realise he thinks he's on to a good thing after having my girls for dinner, but if there is anything I can do to keep him away, I will! :evil:

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Oh Imo, so sorry to hear that. The best deterrent is a secure run, sadly that's the safest thing but of course it doesn't give your girls much freedom.

 

Some people have electric fences, you can electrify the Omlet netting. That wouldn't really work for me I don't think and I would be worried about the cat, so I bought a Foxwatch - they are very effective in deterring the fox from using your garden for a regular promenade. They are not an absolute prevention, but I noticed a huge reduction in foxy activity when I got one.

 

Other options include getting a man to wee around the perimeter of the garden, ladies' wee doesn't work apparently :roll: , hanging up bags with human hair in - I'm not sure how effective these are.

 

It's supervised free-ranging only for my girls.

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Thanks so much for all your advice! We've had chickens for nearly 5 years now and never had a problem with foxes - we had seen them walk along the wall at the end of the garden before but had always been cautious. Sadly we lost our old springer spaniel about two weeks ago - they don't say foxes are cunning for no reason, I guess, because they must have sensed the dog was gone and we've had trouble with them ever since (as a warning to anyone who owns a dog, I really would look out for this if you sadly lose it. Naturally the last thing on our mind when we lost her was how safe our chickens would be). The first attack was in the middle of the day, about one o'clock, when we were all in the house... Queeny had to be put down because her injuries were too bad. Naturally after this, we kept Vivienne very supervised; she didn't even want to venture into the main garden, we have a fenced off area right by our back door which she was in... and he broke through that fencing, again at about 12/1 o'clock and in broad daylight and killed her. Once again there was someone in the house.

Ever since the fox has been skulking in the garden and as you can imagine, this makes me very angry because he looks quite fat! It makes me skin crawl and I am so disappointed because we have been so careful with our girls and we feel like we've let them down. After 5 years with no fox activity bar the odd sighting, you let your guard down to the threat I suppose, and our girls had always free ranged before.

There is no way we will be getting chickens again until the garden is fox proof - surprisingly, I think the dog provided more of a protection than we could have imagined!

Does anybody know how effective the men weeing in the garden is?!?! I got my dad to do that last night so I shall keep an eye out this afternoon to see if the fox reappears.

I don't think electric fencing would really be an option in our garden as we have a little cat and I would be worried about her... but the FoxWatch sounds very interesting. We have a very slopey odd shaped garden so not sure how effective that would be... Sorry for such a long post!! I am all agitated over the fox!

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You must be really upset, it's such an awful experience - and on top of losing your spaniel, too. It does sound as if the dog was probably more of a deterrent than you realised.

 

I have had a couple of near misses, and now my girls only free-range if I am out in the garden. I'd rather give them more freedom, but at least I know they are safe in the run and they are perfectly fine and healthy.

 

If you look at the Foxwatch details it gives you an idea of the range. I would set it, not to cover the run itself, but to cover the places where you think the fox is most likely to come into the garden. I also move mine every couple of weeks, just in case he's learned to avoid it.

 

You can get two and link them up I believe, a lot of people complain that the batteries go flat quickly but I haven't had a problem with that. Set it with its back to the run, so it isn't triggered every time a chicken moves, and they should last longer. You can get mains wiring for it though, and I think I might invest in that for the future.

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That sounds like a really good idea. I don't want to go through this ever again! It's been quite a trauma to lose three pets in two weeks so I think we will be getting another dog and some chickens soon, the house just seems very empty.

From what I've read, the FoxWatch works by noise? I might order one of those immediately even though I currently have no chickens to protect - I just can't bare to see that fox sitting in my garden!!! And I think the neighbours will start to think I am a bit barmy if I keep going out and shouting at him (which I know won't deter the fox in any way but makes me feel slightly better!!!!!) :evil:

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Yes, it emits a high-pitched noise that (supposedly) only foxes can hear. It certainly doesn't bother my cat at all, I don't have a dog. Others on here might be able to advise whether their dogs react to it.

 

It's not a bad idea to get one now, because it will stop him using the garden and then when you do get some more chooks, he won't be so keen to investigate.

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:DIf you are going to buy a Foxwatch there are two companies I looked at on the net Concept research charge about £50 ish for the main unit and the 240v adaptor is £20 ish extra I bought mine from primrose-london.co.uk and got the whole lot for around the price of the base unit I checked today and they still have them in stock postage free aswell

Jim

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I don't think electric fencing would really be an option in our garden as we have a little cat and I would be worried about her...

 

Just to say that we have two cats and an electric fence. The cats don't go near the fence. I think the netting is much safer for cats when it is electrified than not because our cats managed to get all tangled up in the fence while we were setting it up for the first time and had not yet got it electrified. I didn't see either of them get a zap from it, but they have kept clear ever since. As have the foxes, dogs and rats.

 

Of course there may be other reasons why an electric fence would not be suitable for your situation, but I would not worry about it being dangerous for the cat. (The zap does not do any harm to anything larger than a frog anyway, it just feels horrible and is a sensation no creature...including me...wants to repeat once experienced!).

 

So sorry to hear about your girls. I hope you can get the fox situation sorted so you can have some more.

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Thanks so much for all your help. I will look into both the electric fence idea and the FoxWatch.

I got my dad to pee in the garden two days ago(!) and haven't seen the fox since... so for the meantime, that seems to have kept him away! But once we do get chickens again, I want the garden to be completely secure.

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