alaedw Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Well just come back from lovely day out at seaside... so we let the girls out for a little run 10 mins later Poppy starts clucking very loudly!!... so look out the window and theres a flippin fox!!!! grabbed her by the neck and tryed to take her away lucklily alan got ou into the garden and got poppy back.... her and mabel are quite shaken no marks on poppy that we can see... she is just sitting in eglu... Well its horrible to think but I think I kow where Flo has gone now... What an awful thing to see!! so was wondering are there any deterrents for keeping the foxes away??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin B Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 There is something called a fox watch that you can buy for about £30 it emits a sound frequency that foxes can hear and it scares them off. We as humans can not hear it. You could string up human hair around the garden in tights. Just ask your local barber for hair. Or alternatively get a male to wee around the garden and especially where the chickens free-range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Blimey. I suppose the fox will remember where he might be able to get a meal. Best to stay with the girls while they free range. There is always something to do in the garden! A close shave. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arowland17 Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 you can get fox/cat/dog repellers from places like Homebase too, don't think they're as expensive as £30 although I got mine from Windsor Products (www.windsorproducts.co.uk) and you get 3 months moneyback guarantee on it and we had ours a year and it broke and they've replaced it free of charge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Or alternatively get a male to wee around the garden and especially where the chickens free-range. Yes I love it when this comes up, as it does on a remarkably regular basis in the forum. I'm a great one for the natural remedies - not surprisingly as it gives me an excuse to go out into the garden to 'deter foxes' - something I have to do more and more frequently as I get older and my prostate ... well you don't really want to know about that. Anyway, there will be folk (you know who you are) who will poo poo (or even wee wee) my theory that 'a pee a day keeps the foxes away' and say that you should put 10 ton paving slabs around the run, mount machine guns and search lights on the posts, mine the approaches etc. I'm not saying that they are wrong as I'm sure that those methods are far more effective than a sprinkle and a tinkle round the boundaries - but I enjoy a nocturnal visit to deter the fox so I'm sticking with the natural deterants. Mind you, its a devil around dusk when the midges are biting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Or alternatively get a male to wee around the garden and especially where the chickens free-range. Anyway, there will be folk (you know who you are) who will poo poo (or even wee wee) my theory that 'a pee a day keeps the foxes away' and say that you should put 10 ton paving slabs around the run, mount machine guns and search lights on the posts, mine the approaches etc. The machine gun reference made me chuckle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoid Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Ditto Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaedw Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 Richard you whole post made me chuckle!! thank you!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 ooh - what a narrow escape (and what a nasty experience). If there's a fox in the vicinity, then I just don't think it is ever going to be safe to let your girls free-range. I've just bought a Foxwatch, this morning it seemed not to be working - the red light only comes on if you're about a foot away, which is not much use! so I may have to send it back; but it's very easy to set up and install, I Googled Foxwatch and got mine from a website. I want to deter the fox from hanging around - I won't rely on it to protect them. Sorry to sound a note of gloom, but if one chicken has gone and another has been assaulted, then I think free-ranging is going to have to be supervised from now on; nothing is going to get rid of Mr Fox. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Richard...what are you like! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alaedw Posted August 23, 2007 Author Share Posted August 23, 2007 I totally agree Olly!! me OH are now talking about building a big big run... for the girls which could probably mean that we could get more chooks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arowland17 Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 We have only seen a fox a few doors down along the pavement, not in our garden but that was in daylight so we know they're not far away so we have all freeranging supervised - is a shame as with the awful rainy weather they've not had much chance for a run around as it always seems to start raining as we get back from work in the evening anyway, today is meant to be sunny (although its cloudy, cold and raining here so lets hope the weather forecast is not totally wrong as usual) and if weekend good they'll have lots of chance to be out the run Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutechicky Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 It must be terribly frightening when chickens are attacked. It has never happened to me as my fences are too high for the foxes to get in...I hope I also have electric fences around the parts of the garden that are likely to be weak spots too. I would advise using as many techniques as possible to keep Mr Fox away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 It must be terribly frightening when chickens are attacked. It has never happened to me as my fences are too high for the foxes to get in...I hope I also have electric fences around the parts of the garden that are likely to be weak spots too. I would advise using as many techniques as possible to keep Mr Fox away. Electric fences - wow thats pretty major stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cutechicky Posted August 24, 2007 Share Posted August 24, 2007 Well then I know if a fox can get in, it won't be back! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
