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Couperman

anti-fox machine gun battery

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Has anyone employed a Heron Scarecrow as a fox deterrent?

My brother has one fitted by his pond and it certainly deterred his dog, all the local cats, herons and his wife!

 

If you're not familiar with it, it is basically a machine gun style water cannon opertated via an infra-red sensor. Anything that breaks the beam gets blasted with a volley of water jets. It would be fairly easy to hook up to a water butt. You would just have to make sure it doesn't administer any friendly fire on the chucks.

 

ANy thoughts?

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Not sure but I think guys like the 'risque-ness' of sneaking out the back door for a wee, that and the idea that they are protecting their flock Mind you, on the streets of Glasgow on a Saturday night its a fairly public affair :roll: . Also heard that tiger poo is a good fox deterrent :shock: .

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What a wonderful world we live in. I had no idea you could buy essence of tiger poo! What other wonderful delights does that shop sell?

:o

I mean, people used to chase foxes about on horseback with hundreds of dogs and they could have just reached for the essence?

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I was going to say that it is LION poo, not tiger poo, but Egluntine has already done it for me. Heaven forbid that any of you should come home from the garden centre today with tiger poo by mistake. :wink:

 

Lion poo was the only advice I was given by the RSPCA when I rang them about the sick, mangey (sometimes completely fur-free) urban foxes that patrol our street (two families born this year, in two separate back gardens). I did not find it helpful.

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I've just read several articles on tiger poo being used as a repellant - many farmers in Australia use it (sorry don't know how to do links). Anyway, lion or tiger, its all a bit bizarre. I also get a friend who has huskies to walk them round my garden. Sadly, I don't think anything will deter a very determined fox :( .

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I have also heard that hanging bags of hair clippings about the place acts as a deterrant presumably foxes are afraid of barbers.

 

I am not sure if there are many foxes around this area, I have only ever seen one. I guess we will probably see more evidence of their presence once we get the hens, hopefully not

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:) I hadn't heard of the heron scarer before, so that made me laugh as an anti fox idea, although presumably it would also target the hens!

 

But, I'm really posting because I'm worried that, whilst male pee (liked your post Fee :lol: ) and lion poo, and human hair may be deterrents, I can't bear the thought of anyone on the forum using them as foxproof protection. There's a difference, and why risk it?

None of those things will stop a hungry fox if they know there are chickens, and believe me, if a fox (even one, or even if never been seen) is nearby it will know about the chickens. I'd hate anyone to find they had a fox problem when it was too late.

 

It's up to everyone to weigh up their own risks, but please don't think that these methods offer 100% protection.

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On the lion poo issue when we bought the house we now live in the previous owners had cats and as do the neighbours either side and they had a habit of leaving presents for us :evil:

 

We bought a product called Silent Roar from the internet which came as pellets which you spread around the garden - it only took 2 packets and seemed to do the trick! :D

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Sheila,

 

I couldn't agree more, I intend to make our Cube as secure as I possibly can. As a total newcomer I am just trying to glean some info on any possible deterrant to add to the fort Knox approach. It seems to me the biggest risk of suffering a fox attack would be if I forgot to secure the run in good time on an evening. This would be a bigger worry in the winter when it gets dark really early. I don't intend to let my hens out of the run unless we are around though.

 

Thanks for all the advice eveyone,

 

Couperman

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