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

[Mincepies]

I am still reeling from an unexpected fox attack in daylight on Thursday that killed my favourite hen. Fortunately the other four escaped unharmed. I've since been working on fox-proofing and fox-repelling etc and have been told that having a male goose in the garden might keep the fox away.

Does anyone know if this is true? I've read elsewhere on the net that foxes will target geese in much the same way as ducks or chickens, so I'd hate to bring a precious new pet into my life and garden just to provide another meal for a fox.

(I now utterly loathe foxes with a passion, by the way.)

[tara]

Sorry l dont know the answer to your question but wanted to say how sorry l was to hear your news them foxes

Edited February 13, 2010 by Guest

[JS1]

Sorry, but my husband has tried to persuade me to get geese on the grounds that they protect hens. Maybe some do, but a fox got my friend's goose in the next village up. And half her flock, with the result that she rehomed all her hens and ducks

 

So sorry about what happened to your favourite hen.

[sadietoo]

Sorry to hear of the loss of your girl, I lost one of mine to a fox just before Christmas, in the middle of the day too.

 

I don't know whether geese would repel a fox...but it seems to me if the fox is hungry, and especially now that they will be trying to feed cubs too, anything will be fair game including a goose.

 

We had upped our security after a previous fox attack took my first two girls back in the summer - up until then we had never seen a fox in the garden and the girls had free-ranged everyday unsupervised.

 

I can tell you what didn't work:

 

Foxwatch

six foot fences all round our garden (which the fox would have had to cross at least one other garden in any direction to get into in any case)

eight foot gate

Security lights

 

The fox still got in, and sadly has been a frequent visitor to our garden since..seems that he/she got lucky once, and so we are on his/her rounds now. I wait in the hope of catching him/her with the hose pipe (or a supersoaker!) as I've heard that they find that scary, but to date haven't been lucky enough to be near either when he/she appears.

Personally I am of the opinion that the only things likely to keep your girls safe are a

WIR and supervised free-ranging only, or an Electric Fence.

[Ophelia]

Sorry about the loss of your favourite hen. An Alpaca protetcs chickens from foxes but I don;t know how practical it is to have an Alpaca.

[emchook]

So sorry to hear of the loss MincePies !

I feel very guilty as I'm too scared to let my chooks out at the moment .. Its too cold for me to go out and supervise..and its fox central around here !!

 

Roll on warmer weather and summer !!

[Lewis]

I'd say no

 

I think its just because a male goose would be loud if he heard/saw the fox and scare it off, but it doesn't always work.

[legend21]

I agree with you mincepie about foxes before I had chickens I thought they were quite cute, they are now public enemy No. 1.

 

J