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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Have I been UR in telling my DP a chicken-related lie?

26 replies

JasmineBuckles · 19/07/2017 21:16

I go two chickens for DP for his birthday last year, something he's always wanted. An urban fox got in the electrified pen in broad daylight in April, they have a secure house for nighttime.

I replaced the hens in June as another surprise, with reinforced fences and a new house.

DP works away a lot, so the chickens are my responsibility. He was away Monday night, I'd started work at 5.30 Monday morning and finished at 20.30. I checked the hens as I came in and they were busy scratching and eating so I thought I'd have dinner and put them to bed.

I fell asleep, and woke up at 6 the next day. The fox had the hens.

I felt so bad I went and bought identical hens while my DP was away and have said nothing.

He hasn't noticed, but the new hens are nervous in their new home and are clearly (to me) not the same.

I feel terrible. It's not like I've shagged someone else or anything, but I feel the equivalent guilt.

Would you tell him?

OP posts:
plantsitter · 19/07/2017 21:17

Yes, because keeping secrets is horrid (for you!) And there's no need cos he's not a child. YOU didn't eat the chickens. Did you...?

LouHotel · 19/07/2017 21:18

Is your DP actually bothered about the chickens if you look after them?

CryingMessFFS · 19/07/2017 21:20

Just tell him if it is bothering you

UserThenLotsOfNumbers · 19/07/2017 21:20

What's more important in my opinion is the welfare of the hens.
If foxes keep getting to them in such a short space of time I don't think you should keep them, sorry.

Original poster
JasmineBuckles · 19/07/2017 21:21

Well, no. But I fell asleep, and he loved Thelma and Louise. So I drove a 120 mile round trip to get Thelma and Louise mk2.

God I sound mad

OP posts:
Original poster
JasmineBuckles · 19/07/2017 21:25

We have particularly troublesome urban foxes. Since the first hens went, we have humanely trapped two and released them 30 miles away. As long as the hens are shut in before dark they are fine. I fell asleep, hence feeling so guilty I can't tell him.

OP posts:
tamaramcnamara · 19/07/2017 21:25

I went on this thread because I just love the title. I love an intriguing, random sounding title.

Seriously, am sure your DP won't blame you. Best to come clean, I say.

picklemepopcorn · 19/07/2017 21:45

You need an alarm at dusk, to make sure it can't happen again. You can also get a door mechanism that closes on a sensor or timer, at dusk.

Aquamarine1029 · 19/07/2017 21:48

You must feel just awful but this is not your fault. I do think you will feel better if you tell your partner the truth. You didn't get new hens to deceive him, after all. You just wanted to "make it right."

slookiroo · 19/07/2017 21:52

Do more to protect the chickens, it's not fair on the foxes to remove them from their territory.

Girty999 · 19/07/2017 21:54

I think maybe surprise the hungry Fox with a bowl of dog food away from the hens or maybe get a Fox and keep it in the hen pen to scare him off xx

Original poster
JasmineBuckles · 19/07/2017 22:06

I'm not sure what else I can do to protect the chickens. They have a 6ft high fenced run with electrified tape two inches from the ground to stop digging, and three inches above the fence to discourage climbing. Urban foxes are a bastard. If I stay awake til dark and put them to bed they are fine. I fell asleep and I feel terrible.

OP posts:
SpottedGingham · 19/07/2017 22:14

Protect the hens from the fox or don't keep hens. We have geese and foxes do prowl but we do look after our geese.

CloudPerson · 19/07/2017 22:22

Can you cover over over the pen with strong mesh?
6 foot is nothing to a determined fox.
Be careful trapping and releasing foxes though, iirc this is illegal. Any trapped animals considered vermin have to be destroyed.

CloudPerson · 19/07/2017 22:25

Have googled, looks like it's not against the law, more welfare reasons for the fox:

"You can use cage traps and snares to catch foxes.

You should check cage traps at least once a day to stop a captured fox suffering.

You shouldn’t relocate or release captured foxes. This will cause foxes stress by transporting and relocating them to an unfamiliar environment."

The above from a gov.co.uk website.

Original poster
JasmineBuckles · 19/07/2017 22:29

Foxes aren't classified as vermin, they are wildlife. So you can humanely trap and release them as long as you check the trap every day.

OP posts:
Original poster
JasmineBuckles · 19/07/2017 22:32

Wildlife sanctuaries do this every day, releasing a fox into a similar environment is not cruel. Taking an urban fox and letting him loose in the countryside is cruel. Taking an urban fox and releasing him into another urban environment away from our chickens, not cruel.

OP posts:
Scrowy · 19/07/2017 22:33

Please don't relocate foxes in the future.

www.shootinguk.co.uk/features/are-foxes-being-dumped-in-the-countryside-7842

Scrowy · 19/07/2017 22:37

Nope sorry. Still don't think you should be relocating them, if they are attacking chickens then they are a problem fox. Moving them just makes them someone else's problem.

DaviesMum · 19/07/2017 22:43

Poor foxes and chickens. YABU, both for lying and being so obviously clueless.

JustKeepDancing · 19/07/2017 22:46

Please don't relocate the foxes. I can understand why you would do that, but they're territorial animals, and may have cubs which they're hunting to feed. If you take away the mother the cubs will starve. Wildlife charities which do it are experts who know what they're doing and choose the foxes, and areas, carefully.

Motoko · 19/07/2017 22:57

You need a fully enclosed run, preferably with the fencing buried beneath the soil.

I would've been able to tell the difference between the original chickens and the new ones. They do have different faces, combs and personalities. It would seem that your husband doesn't really know them well enough if he hasn't noticed.

I think you should tell your husband and sort out the run so foxes can't get in.

YoureNotASausage · 19/07/2017 23:02

Fox eats chicken, sounds like the natural cycle of things. You know how to keep them a bit safer so hopefully that will be the last bit of access the fox gets for a while. I'd tell your DP.

mychildhasmoremoneythanme · 19/07/2017 23:02

Girty999 I actually LOLLED at that. Do you really think a fox would wolf down (excuse the pun) a bowl of Pedigree Chum the OP left out and think 'actually I'll give the chickens a miss tonight'?

Leaving dog food around will attract foxes to kill T&L 2.0 pretty swiftly...

MothertotheLordsofmisrule · 19/07/2017 23:19

Our run has wire buried with large stones/rocks in with the wire.

Also the bottom foot of the run is double layered which also goes underground and dh also attached shiplap around the base of the run to stop the wire being pushed if one of the ties came loose and to stop chewing of he wire to gain access.

Also the roof is enclosed with wire as a fox will climb a 6 foot fence (and probably ignore the electrified tape) as my PIL found out to unfortunate cost of their hens.

My work colleague says her PIL have a henhouse on a pole which works well and seems to have outfoxed the foxesGrin

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