Fox came last night - he'll come back, won't he?

[Grockle]

I lforhot to lick my girls away til late last night by which time the fox had taken 1 and eas prowling round the run. my chooks free-range during the day but I daren't let them today for fear that the fox will rerun while we're out. It WILL come back, won't it? I hate to keVe the hens cooped up all day and they are screeching already but I don't want to come home to carnage. Wwyd?

Gah, predictive text. I forgot to LOCK them away. I don't lick my chickens

We had a fox take all ours one night when we forgot to lock them away :(

I actually saw him in the front drive at 10am later in the week!

He prowled around the general area for about a week and I haven't seen him since (maybe gone back to being nocturnal). Just let them range while your home for a week or 2.

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Thank you. I feel so sad. Will keep them locked up for the rest if the week and let them have a good run at the weekend. My garden stinks of foxes

I've heard that weeing around the boundaries of the garden (easier for the men than women!) can help discourage foxes - also putting human hair around the boundaries.

I suppose it works in the same way as scent marking!

Pisky - I heard that too but that male urine is better!

My bosses have chickens that free range around the large garden, had a fox attack, they were advised to borrow a dog asap and let him/her roam around and the fox wouldn't come back when they smelled the dog (of course you have to make sure the dog won't eat/kill/chase the chickens first!!)

Get all the males you know to wee in a bucket. soak old rags in it and hang it around the fences. pour some on the ground as well. put a radio on near the coop - tuned to talking type stations not music! leave it on all of the time. vary your routine with the chickens. borrow a friendly male dog for a couple of days to wee in the garden. the scent marking things work. i hate he who cannot be named with an absolute passion. you may have to keep them locked up for a while until he moves on to the next easy prey. good luck.

Does it need to be a male dog? I have access to a female. I'll get everyone to wee everywhere. I'd soak rags in it but I think my neighbours would think I have lost the plot!

My Dp & the dog wee round the yard - some weird male territorial thing I think, this has made not a jot of difference to the murder rate :(

Oh, maybe I won't make everyone who visits wee in the garden then...

Sorry should have clarified you only need male human and dog wee as it is the hormones that put them off. like the idea of dragging any male that comes to my door off to wee in a bucket. not sure how Mr Postie will take it though!

I forgot to ask the postman

If you have an Android phone, check out a free app called "Sunset Reminder". Your phone will automatically remind you to check your chickens every evening, and it automatically adjusts to the changing day length.

We have the occasional fox in the garden even when we are home - usually the shrieks alert us and we run out to scare it off.

But our chicks are not free-range. They used to be - but next door neighbour's dogs jumped over the fence and killed some so we now keep them in a large pen which we defend from foxes digging with a row of sheep-fencing wire all round the perimeter of the pen - about 2 feet away at the base but leaning inwards towards the pen. Chicks still get very distressed at the sight of a fox running up and down the fence hoping to scare them into flying upwards - which they would I am sure except we have mesh over the top of their pen to keep magpies out! We shut them in their coop (which is also inside the pen) at night - it's just part of our routine although of course we don't have to be so careful about dusk and dawn.