Fox problem

eddiehobbs

Hey guys

Looking for advice. Housesitting at the moment and looking after some hens geese and ducks. Long story short fox came and took one of the ducks today, it would have taken more but it was disturbed by the dog when it came back for seconds. Im wondering if anyone has any advice for deterring foxes, apart from getting someone in to shoot it. Did a quick google but couldnt find much that is helpfull. An noise repellant device isnt much help to me as i have cats and dogs to look after and these devices affect them aswell. I cannot afford to be there with them all the time (have a job) and also dont want to keep them locked up all day.

Any advice appreciated

animalcrazy

Hard one, play a radio out the window of the house? That's what I did before.

eddiehobbs

animalcrazy wrote: »

Hard one, play a radio out the window of the house? That's what I did before.

Nice one, will do that. Did this work for you? He was a fairly ballsy fox to come today when we were here, im not sure if the noise off a radio would be enough to deter him.

rliston

The radio should work, we rare a few dozen broilers for the freezer every year that are left out during the day with the hens, a few years back a fox carried 10 in one day, left a radio playing day and night and havent lost a broiler to the fox since.
We got a bit of work done to a shed last month, where the power had to be turned off for a few days, and a fox carried 4 hens (saw it going across the field with the last one), so the radio does work to keep them away

animalcrazy

Ya it works. Foxes are sneaky little things our enclosure is right beside our house and he still came at 2 in the day!

bunny shooter

Mod edit-not allowed to condone killing any animal here.

Weidii

Right, you need to rally up a gaggle of snobs, dress 'em in red, mount them on only the best horses... and sure throw a pack of dogs in too, why not. Apparently this is the only way of controlling foxes.


More seriously; maybe you could get a dog or put some pepper around the area?

kerrysgold

the radio sounds like a great idea, you can also buy electric netting (same as electic fence but it's like electrified chain link or sheep fence instead of just one wire) which is supposed to be good for keeping the fox out of the run.

rliston

Weidii wrote: »

Right, you need to rally up a gaggle of snobs, dress 'em in red, mount them on only the best horses...

With the amount of noise they make they'd also keep the fox away

Our man in Havana

bunny shooter wrote: »

40 grains of lead travelling at approx 4,000 fps works

Becareful of where you are posting.

whitser

Weidii wrote: »

Right, you need to rally up a gaggle of snobs, dress 'em in red, mount them on only the best horses... and sure throw a pack of dogs in too, why not. Apparently this is the only way of controlling foxes.


More seriously; maybe you could get a dog or put some pepper around the area?

im not a snob, and i keep hounds and hunt,on foot. and its not the only way but it is an effective way.
this nonsense that only snobs hunt is exactly that,nonsense. im from a working class area of dublin and earn a living as a tradesman, hardly a snob by any stretch....
and if you think some pepper and broken mirrors is going to keep a fox away from easy chickens and ducks your delusional.

Morganna

I have free range hens /ducks and a fox earth on my land .I feed the foxes regularly and never had a problem .

whitser

maybe cos your feeding them, they have no need to take your stock. stop feeding them and see how long your birds last.
i regulary get call outs from farmers loosing stock. dont try and tell me foxes dont take lambs or ducks etc....

Morganna

Whitster i didnt tell you they dont take ducks or hens .All i said was i have no problem they come and take food out of my hand.If you dont like foxes that is your problem not mine.

whitser

actually i love foxes. i often watch them, especially cubs during the summer months, and i used to go up to howth to watch them in my car. i respect the fox but i know what he's capable of. and when they get an easy meal they'll be back for more thats all i was saying to the op.

eddiehobbs

Well lads the fox was back today and nearly took another of the ducks, slightly injuring the duck. Was lucky that the other half was there at the time and frightened him away. She was in the house and noticed the geese becoming agitated. We had the radio blaring at full volume but that didnt seem to put him off. Am thinking i may have to resolve to more deadly measures to protect them otherwise i fear i may lose alot more ducks over the next week or two

It wasn't me!

Likewise.

animalcrazy

you would have to have the radio on very near where the poultry are for it to work, not inside the house.

Hellrazer

It wasnt me-I think you need to heed bonds warning aswell.The killing of any animal is frowned on here.

animalcrazy

Well I wouldn't kill the fox. You have to think of it this way. The fox is obviously starving and took the duck to eat, at least he was going to eat it not like when a dog kills them for fun. I mean, if you killed one of them ducks and ate it I wouldn't kill you and you wouldn't even have been as hungry as the fox. It's up to poultry owners to provide a safe place for their poultry if they don't want them to be eaten. I keep poultry too and nearly had mine taken by a fox and I still wouldn't kill them.

Run_to_da_hills

Would you not consider a CD player and play a few tracks like that 70ies hit from Sweet, ie "Fox on the Run", perhaps he might get the message.

Don't harm these creatures, foxes can make adorable cuddly pets.

whitser

eddiehobbs wrote: »

Well lads the fox was back today and nearly took another of the ducks, slightly injuring the duck. Was lucky that the other half was there at the time and frightened him away. She was in the house and noticed the geese becoming agitated. We had the radio blaring at full volume but that didnt seem to put him off. Am thinking i may have to resolve to more deadly measures to protect them otherwise i fear i may lose alot more ducks over the next week or two

i hate saying it..but i told you so. no amount of cd's,pepper or mirrors will keep renard from an easy meal.

whitser

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Would you not consider a CD player and play a few tracks like that 70ies hit from Sweet, ie "Fox on the Run", perhaps he might get the message.

Don't harm these creatures, foxes can make adorable cuddly pets.

your back talking gobble de gook i see.

NoNameRanger

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Would you not consider a CD player and play a few tracks like that 70ies hit from Sweet, ie "Fox on the Run", perhaps he might get the message.

Don't harm these creatures, foxes can make adorable cuddly pets.

No they don't make good pets, they usually end up dead or being put down. They usually end up causing damage, they cannot be trained like a dog. They will either bite somebody or be killed because of their lack of fear for humans. It's not like you haven't been told this before.:rolleyes:

Run_to_da_hills

NoNameRanger wrote: »

No they don't make good pets, they usually end up dead or being put down. They usually end up causing damage, they cannot be trained like a dog. They will either bite somebody or be killed because of their lack of fear for humans. It's not like you haven't been told this before.:rolleyes:

Only a fox murderer or a farmer would suggest something like that.





Who would want to kill such a cute babe

NoNameRanger

whitser wrote: »

i hate saying it..but i told you so. no amount of cd's,pepper or mirrors will keep renard from an easy meal.

I have to agree, the only way is to either remove the poultry or remove the fox from the equation. There are no deterants that work!! An electric fence around a buried chain link fence pen is your best bet for keeping them safe. Forget free range poultry unless you are willing to control foxes. It's not fair to your poultry. A fox killing a duck is not nearly as humane or painless as a human killing a fox with a high powered rifle. Which is the worse of the two?

NoNameRanger

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Only a fox murderer or a farmer would suggest something like that.





Who would want to kill such a cute babe

I am a professional conservationist, i live in the real world. I don't want to kill it and its a cub not a babe or a baby. I don't hate foxes, i actually love watching them and spending time around them. But i know the reality of what they are. You are in for a whole lot of hassle and heart break if you own that one in another couple of months. In fairness it should be in the wild.

togster

Look the OP asked for advice.

The only advice i can give you OP is that any of these other methods suggested (mirrors, pepper etc) don't work. According to the charter i can not give you advice that will actually work. So remove the poultry from the equation. No poultry = no fox.

stevoman

Madame TogBog wrote: »

Look the OP asked for advice.

The only advice i can give you OP is that any of these other methods suggested (mirrors, pepper etc) don't work. According to the charter i can not give you advice that will actually work. So remove the poultry from the equation. No poultry = no fox.

either the fox or the poultry has to go. there's no other way about it.

just on the mods notes, you wont let any advice being given on the fox being killed, even though this fox is clearly causing the deaths of other animals. does the poultry deserve to lose one of its group everyday to a fox because the fox is "cuddly". the fox is a fantastic looking creature, but a killer none the less and once it has killed it will keep returning and returning. its in his nature. but if you indeed want to keep the poultry in this area then the fox that is returning daily to kill the poultry must be dealt with.

togster

stevoman wrote: »

either the fox or the poultry has to go. there's no other way about it.

just on the mods notes, you wont let any advice being given on the fox being killed, even though this fox is clearly causing the deaths of other animals. does the poultry deserve to lose one of its group everyday to a fox because the fox is "cuddly". the fox is a fantastic looking creature, but a killer none the less and once it has killed it will keep returning and returning. its in his nature. but if you indeed want to keep the poultry in this area then the fox that is returning daily to kill the poultry must be dealt with.




my point exactly. But we can not offer any advice that might harm the fox.

Vegeta

lads the mods have put a thread at the top of the forum to discuss this type of thing. No need to drag this one down. lets post our opinions there and not here.

The charter is the charter, its their turf, we cant agree with everyone so lets respect that.