Keeping a fox away from my hens

ballybranach

Would like to know if anybody has been successful in deterring a fox from coming near our free range ducks and hens. He has taken a few recently. We still have four ducks, five hens and a cock.

Sigma Force

Not sure, foxes can be wary of dogs but if there's free range birds around esp. at this time of year when they're hungry little can be done other than fencing in the birds. They could still be able to roam but just in a large enclosed space.

I know it defeats the purpose of having free range but if the enclosure is large enough they will be fine, and adding some extra things in the enclosure for the birds will help. Like a bark pile for them to scratch around in and hanging veg etc.

Magenta

Would a fox go for a goose? They are much bigger than ducks and chickens and they are quite territorial, they are well able to stick up for themselves and will honk to warn of predators. You could get a couple and see if they ward off the fox for you.

convert

There's very little that can deter foxes. Having a few large dogs around can help, but it's not a guarantee.

Building a pen for the ducks to run in isn't a guarantee either. You'll need to make sure that you have it very secure run that goes into the ground (the fox will dig down quite a bit to get into its dinner). Don't forget they climb, too, as well as eating through wire and timber.

The other thing to remember is that once a fox gets into a pen, he'll go into a frenzy and kill every duck/hen/goose as they tend to go into a killing frenzy.

Whispered

If the fox is killing your hens because he's starving, would leaving food out for it help?

(OK I know it's a silly question, and might only attract more foxes etc but I thought I'd ask)

I would suggest against getting a dog for the sole purpose of looking after your fowl.

johngalway

ballybranach wrote: »

Would like to know if anybody has been successful in deterring a fox from coming near our free range ducks and hens. He has taken a few recently. We still have four ducks, five hens and a cock.

How big is the area your birds range in? You could try a five strand electric fence around it. I know of a Teagasc farm, they reckoned one field with this around it never lost a lamb. I've my doubts but that's what they said. Kinda hard to do much else unless you want to put up a real big fence. Foxes can climb up to 8 feet, if pushed, most fox proof fences actually have an overhang towards the outside to stop this. Big costly job I would think.

What part of the country are you in?

Magenta wrote: »

Would a fox go for a goose?

Yes, they'll kill and eat geese quite readily.

convert

helena.ryan wrote: »

If the fox is killing your hens because he's starving, would leaving food out for it help?

(OK I know it's a silly question, and might only attract more foxes etc but I thought I'd ask)

Yeah, unfortunately leaving food out would only encourage the fox to come back again and again, and not just in the snowy weather.

Obviously the fox is hungry and taking your hens/ducks, but now that he's discovered 'easy pickings' in your hens, he'll be more inclined to come back again, and not just in the snowy weather.

Is the fox taking them duirng the day or at night? If it's at night, have you got somewhere secure that you could leave them in at night for the time being, until you have a pen/run constructed (if you decide to go down that route)?

johngalway

Llamas are also supposed to chase away predators. But, like most other options, they're also quite expensive.

Interceptor

1. Keep fowl in a covered pen - I have one which is 4' wide and 18' long and there are eight birds in it with plenty of room. I move it around the garden when the ground gets muddy in it.

2. Dogs are a good deterrent but they need to be outside with the birds. The scent of dogs and humans puts foxes off - have all the males in your family urinate around your garden.

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bogtotty

We had half our ducks taken by the fox this time last year and lost most of our hens to one a couple of summers ago. I didn't mind the hens so much as they were all a bit ancient and I think it was a vixen with cubs who lifted them, but I was very sad after the ducks. We've since built an enclosure and put in a secure duck house. As long as someone is at home and our dogs are out we let the ducks roam freely as before. If there's no one home, we limit them to the pen. We put them in the house every night. This is the only way to keep them safe. Our pen is about 25ftx25ft and the fence is just over 5ft high and goes another 2 ft under the ground. We have 3 dogs who urinate copiously in the area and have tried all the old tricks like hanging hair cuttings from the gate or putting up a sensor light. Even with all that, we've discovered scratch marks on the door of the house where the fox tried to get in. You can buy a product called renardine that is supposed to be of some help in deterring the fox and electric fencing can be effective but vigilence and a solid house are really the only way to go.

Morganna

I used to keep free range poultry never lost one to the fox.I used to feed the foxes still do.I had a litter of cubs reared on my land and the fowl where free range .Feed the fox and u shouldnt have a prob.

ballybranach

Thanks everybody who took the trouble to reply. The fox came in the morning when the hens were out of their pen and we were eating in our house not far from them. Must have been hungry to come so near. We have a dog who is outside a bit bt likes to be inside more this weather. Will have to put her on patrol more We have a house with a small fenced area for them but they do love their freedom. So its a case of a short happy life or a longer boring safe one for them.

johngalway

Reckon you'll have more problems yet, you've been pegged as an easy target

Sigma Force

Awww Bally there's no reason why hens can't have a happy life in a large pen and over time the pen can be increased in size. If you provide a few extra bits, plenty of people keep a few hens in small gardens in suburbia so your pen would probably be a lot bigger than that.

The idea of putting bark mulch down (thick layer) is that you can turn it over and rake it a bit now and then if it gets mucky and the hens will be busy scratching around, making them work for their food and they'd still have lots of space to scratch around on the grass.

Did you see that episode of river cottage where yer man made a little cocktail bar for them..cute and practical another extra place for them to perch and shelter and grab some extra treats.

bogman

Poor fox, feed it, I had one around here for over two years and used to sit down and watch her eat, saucy monkey ran into the hall when I was not looking and ran away with her bag of dogfood:D
She used to eat out of my hand but would not allow me to touch her









A more gentle creature I have not seen, she used to shriek outside my house when she was hungry, loved chips, milk, sausages , dog food and of course chicken!!!
I know the purists will say that we should not encourage wild animals by doing what I have done but thats the way I am

Clever too, used to lead the local dogs on a merry chase

EGAR

I've got 20+ dogs and always had foxes . Friend of mine keeps chicken free range and has alpacas, no fox would dare come near the chicken, the alpis would kill it.

convert

bogman wrote: »

she used to shriek outside my house when she was hungry

Was it just for food/when she was hungry, or did the fox shriek during mating season, too? I remember the first time I heard a vixen shriek during mating season: I didn't know what it was. Very spine-chilling. Never heard them shriek when hungry, though.

Op, just to re-iterate what has been posted before: now that the fox has discovered your fowl and has managed to take a few birds, he's seen them as easy-pickings and will be back again. We had the same problem when I was a child, except the fox managed to take a dozen duck in the first 2 nights we had them

whitser

make it impossible for him to get at your birds. once a fox has got an easy meal nowt will deter him from going back,

westwicklow

bogman wrote: »

...A more gentle creature I have not seen, she used to shriek outside my house when she was hungry, loved chips, milk, sausages , dog food and of course chicken!!!
I know the purists will say that we should not encourage wild animals by doing what I have done but thats the way I am

Clever too, used to lead the local dogs on a merry chase

Gentle creature? They are not very gentle when they savage lambs, hens, ducks, geese...... and when they are full, they continue to kill because they get into a total frenzie of mass murder and the cute fox is clever enough to trick you into feeding it so the chasing dogs have no chance!!

sickpuppy

westwicklow wrote: »

Gentle creature? They are not very gentle when they savage lambs, hens, ducks, geese...... and when they are full, they continue to kill because they get into a total frenzie of mass murder and the cute fox is clever enough to trick you into feeding it so the chasing dogs have no chance!!

A frenzy of mass murder a bit sensationalist there.
A fox may kill all the hens in a pen but they dont have credit cards so kill what they can and store it for leaner times.

Not gonna be every day there gonna get a scatter of fowl handy so they make hay when the sun shines.
Was watching tv documentary and it showed an artic fox getting and killing geese so cants ee why an irish one wouldnt be able too.

bogman

westwicklow wrote: »

they continue to kill because they get into a total frenzie of mass murder !!

Is that hearsay or have you seen it happen?

deman

I once heard of a man who had the same problem and he was told to put a radio in the poultry area and tune it into BBC Radio 4 or some other "chat-only" station. The fox would think there was somebody nearby and wouldn't attack the hens. It worked for him. Maybe you could try it.

Vegeta

Human urine is a good deterrent. Peeing around the pen might make them a bit wary.

It wont stop them on its own mind

lightening

westwicklow wrote: »

They are not very gentle when they savage lambs, hens, ducks, geese...... and when they are full, they continue to kill because they get into a total frenzie of mass murder and the cute fox is clever enough to trick you into feeding it so the chasing dogs have no chance!!

It's a fox, not a Velociraptor. Was there a study done recently that found sheep consisted of 0.6% of foxes food? Calm down and stop panicking!!

who the fug

bogman wrote: »

Is that hearsay or have you seen it happen?

I have, that is why I likes me foxes dead

convert

However, in an unnatural situation such as in a hen house, where the prey cannot escape, this behaviour, called "surplus killing", leads to the fox killing far more prey than it could ever consume.

thefoxwebsite.org

Have a look at this website for tips as to how to keep foxes away.

johngalway

lightening wrote: »

It's a fox, not a Velociraptor. Was there a study done recently that found sheep consisted of 0.6% of foxes food? Calm down and stop panicking!!

You've been around another forum on this site for a time and have heard first hand accounts of foxes and lambs, so you should know better than trotting out such a statement.

Discodog

Thanks Bogman - you bought back some happy memories. I have a Vixen here but she is still a bit nervous. I am wary of making her less nervous of people as many here would shoot her so I have to try & feed her away from the house.

bogman

lightening wrote: »

It's a fox, not a Velociraptor. Was there a study done recently that found sheep consisted of 0.6% of foxes food? Calm down and stop panicking!!

Well said

Fear and superstition is a terrible thing

Farmers say the same about the White tailed eagle, several have been introduced to Ireland and a good few have been killed/poisoned largely by people ignorant of the facts, these pics were taken by a friend of mine











These beauties have a 6 foot wing span and will for sure take an injured lamb but look at what a pack of frenzied dogs would do to a flock of sheep

Discodog

Its so sad that a "politician" like Healey Rae apparently said that they would "take babies from mother's arms" - I believe that he now denies this.

In Scotland, on the Isle of Mull, the Eagles are the number one tourist attraction & the fishermen love them. There is a wonderful documentary & part of it shows a fishing boat coming home. The crew are getting the "Eagle Food" ready & suddenly two birds, described by the skipper as two flying barn doors, swoop down to catch lumps of fish thrown by the crew.

I was involved with the Red Kite release in the UK & we had the same problems. One farmer phoned to say that they kites were in his field & after his lambs. We got there & filmed them feeding .....on earthworms !.

johngalway

bogman wrote: »

Well said

Fear and superstition is a terrible thing

look at what a pack of frenzied dogs would do to a flock of sheep

Ah, here we go again.

For a person with the name "bogman" you don't seem to have much knowledge of how foxes operate in bog areas like where I live.

Superstition didn't kill 18 lambs in one week on a farm in Cashel, two vixens not rearing cubs did. How do I know? I shot them in the course of a week, and no more lambs were lost.

Superstition also didn't kill 22 of my fathers lambs from one field. 13 foxes were shot over 7 nights. No more lamb losses.

Superstition also didn't kill 4 lambs on a farmer between Clifden and Recess. A fox that I shot in the lambing field did.

Superstition didn't kill a neighbours geese one night, a fox did.

Superstition didn't systematically kill one old man's hens who lives a couple of miles from me. The foxes that run along the river behind his house did.

All foxes are born with an instinct to take prey, you cannot deny that, it's in their nature. It doesn't make them bad, but it does give them an impressive ability to kill not only earthworms, rodents etc. but also hens, geese, ducks, pheasants and yes lambs.

On most if not all farms the only solution to fox predation is to remove the offender. Caging and releasing only makes that fox someone else's problem. Giving them a stern talking to certainly doesn't work either.

Probably the point I'll make which will be most disagreeable to a certain type of person reading this will be in this paragraph. Farming is a business, profit isn't the be all and end all of the industry but it is important. It allows farmers keep a roof over their head, feed and educate their kids. There are good and bad in all industries, but, most farmers do have an attachment to their animals. They will care as best they can for them through the year. It is utterly depressing to see your years work being systematically killed, ripped open, eaten and having the bodies left in the fields for you in the morning. That I will tell you from first hand experience.

As for the pack of dogs, yeah, they'll do a hell of a lot of damage to a flock. I know it first hand from three attacks on our flock. Dogs can escape where they're supposed to be, however a lot of the time packs are formed by two or more dogs owned by people who couldn't give a toss about where they are or what they're doing, yet they're the first up on the high horse if their dog get's shot.

Like the fox, it's not the dogs fault, they're both doing what they do. That's nature, it's not always happy families.

If you want to deny all that, OK, I won't argue with you, I've said my piece.

Nice eagle photos btw