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

[poo in a compost loo]

Mrs Fox has struck twice this week!

 

Our hens live in a large (100 sq metres) run with our ducks. Folly went on Friday between 7 - 8.30 pm and today Polly went between 2-4 pm. The area is fenced with 4 foot chicken fencing apart from the bank, which you've guessed it is were the fox is come over.

 

We let the chickens out into their open run about 8am and now shut them in a smaller enclosed run around 7pm and shut them.

 

Overnight they live in a closed shed.

 

How do we stop the fox using our hens for food? We are using the male urine method but it is a big area to cover!!! we have a dog who walks in their run regularly.

 

If we use 'foxwatch' I guess we will need at least two units, we have pygmy goats within hearing range would they be affected?

 

We could fence the bank, it is about 30 metres long, is it really worth it, won't the fox just come in somewhere else?

 

The grass is knee high which seems to give the fox somewhere to hide once in the run, should we strim it?

 

Has anyone tried scarecrows and windchimes?

 

Is it acceptable to lose the occasional hen, this is not said lightly?

 

Will the fox keep returning now it knows where the hens are, or is this a temporary problem?

 

We would appreciate any advice, our aim was to give ex-bats a good home but feel we are letting them down.

[Egluntyne]

Welcome to the forum.

 

Sounds as if an electric fence would be your best bet.

 

Strim the grass around it though, otherwise it will keep 'shorting'.

[quickcluck]

I'd say electric fence too. Or extra fox watches

[alih]

It will keep coming back now it knows there is food there.

 

The fence probably wouldn't keep it out anyway as they can get over much higher than 4ft.

 

 

Electric fencing has worked very well for others!

[Mutrix Farmers]

Electric fence as suggested by the wise Egluntine.

[..lay a little egg for me]

We have had our hens protected by electric fencing for over a year with no fox attacks. As has Gamebird. The farm down the road has about 200 hens free-ranging behind electric fencing for several years and swears it is 100% effective. As long as you ensure nothing falls on it or shorts it out, it WILL work.

[Olly]

Unfortunately I think electric fencing or an enclosed run is the only way forward. Four-foot high fencing is not enough to keep a fox out, nor indeed is six-foot fencing as a fox can easily scale that height.

 

Some people with large flocks will take the view that the occasional loss is part of the pattern. However as you doubtless know, it's not in a fox's nature to take an occasional hen - if he gets into your run and is not disturbed he will kill every hen in sight, with the intention of returning later to collect the others for storage.

 

Foxwatch is good but it's a deterrent, it won't stop a determined fox from getting your hens. With the size of garden you have, electric fencing is probably your best bet and if you search on here, you'll find lots of posts about it.

[Plum]

I've seen chickens protected by an electric wire thread around the top of a tall fence but I guess that with your land it would be too big an area to fence economically.

 

Electrified chicken wire seems to work reliably. I just watch them but am in a back garden.