Ziggy Posted June 27, 2007 Share Posted June 27, 2007 Hi everyone... I have been woken up every morning recently (it's not new but more frequent at the moment), by the chooks squawking to fend off Mr Fox coming to bother them around 4am... I usually just chase the intruder away and calm the chooks by talking to them, but as we are going on holiday soon, I tried the last couple of days to observe what happens. The chooks are in their eglu run. We used to put them in the eglu at night and close the door, but we realised we wouldn't be able to do that whenever we are away for a weekend or holiday, so thought it would be better to get the chooks used to having their door open onto their eglu run, and for us to see how things go, so we can bring any modifications needed for their safety before we go... Now what puzzled me this morning, is how foxes seem both very daring and very cowardly... although they do try their best to attack the chooks, they run off for their life at the slightest noise or movement from me, even from far away (I have to creep up very slowly and without a sound, inside the house, to be able to see what is going on from close enough to be able to intervene should things get dangerous). Most puzzling, the fox went to sit at a distance when it felt movement in the house, and was about to come back to the eglu with me hiding absolutely still out of sight, when my cat walked into the garden and the fox just ran off instantly... My cat is about half the size of that fox!!!! Although stubborn and cunning, he sure isn't very brave... I'm nearly surprised he's not scared of the chooks themselves when they flap and squawk the way they do... It made me wonder whether putting a movement activated noise device just by the chicken's run, just where the fox always comes to them, might be enough to deter the foxes from getting near, for a while anyway... I have seen noise devices like that in form of bird or frog chirping or croaking when someone comes near, but was wondering whether there was anything out there slightly more scary, with alarm sound or something loud enough to scare a fox, but not loud enough to bother the neighbours every time a cat or bird might activate it... I'm sure it wouldn't work for long, but might be good for short times when we are away from home... Will look into it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovemychooks Posted June 27, 2007 Share Posted June 27, 2007 Hi Ziggy, i've read a couple of times about something called Foxwatch and people swear by it. I'll see if I can find the link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starboyhull Posted June 27, 2007 Share Posted June 27, 2007 We used a similar thing to the foxwatch when we had an avery with parrots, to deter the cats etc, it always seemed to work, just have to keep in mind that anyones "pets" in the area could be affected by it. I think most garden centres or big diy shops sell things like that, although I did hear the foxwatch website and its seems a little more advanced than the one we had, but then again they all might have caught up now..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted June 27, 2007 Share Posted June 27, 2007 There is a water scarecrow device available. ....Here.... is a link. It is claimed that it works at night. You can get them cheaply on ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starboyhull Posted June 27, 2007 Share Posted June 27, 2007 My mum has one of those, works great for cats and kids lol Never thought of mentioning that, i'm sure it will work really well........The one my mum has also starts in a different place the next time, sort of keeps the intruders on their toes I got hers from ebay, was a bit cheaper than in the shops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
