fox has visited

[Consils]

I couldn't shut them in last night because the run door blew shut and they had roosted behind the shed. I have a friend coming round to help me survey and dispose of the mess. I feel terrible. They had just started laying. I caught sight of one body but am waiting for help before I fully explore the carnage.

We have cleared up. The fox took the heads off and left the corpses.

Ah, sorry to hear this, I have been lucky as in 4 years I have never shut them away, they go to bed by themselves and the cube door is always open. We are ever so rural too, backing on to acres of fields and woods. I always do a head count i the morning and panic if I miss one, 13 altogether, but they are normally in the nesting box.

Are you going to get anymore, did the fox get all of therm, how many?

I don't think that I am going to get any more atm. I miss seeing them clucking around. They were Cream legbar and had just started laying duck blue eggs. Thanks.

That's so sad. We had a visit from the fox in January but thankfully he only had time to catch and kill one. I think we must have disturbed him, but didn't realise until an hour or so later that one had gone. It's not pretty, though. Glad you had a friend to help you clear up. It's very upsetting. Maybe in time you'll feel like getting more. It's hard to imagine replacing them at first, you get so attached to them. But the garden does seem empty without them.

Famous last words...... I had a fox strike last night and they have had all 10.... all they have left is feathers, not a single body. I feel gutted.

So sorry to hear that.

We had a fox last year. We have an eglu and I believed it was fox proof, well ŵhen it was on hard turf it was, but when we moved it onto softer earth it wasn't. We've not got slabs and wire underneath the run and so far so good with the new chickens, however I know it sounds daft, but they're not the same as my original 2.

sorry to hear that, minding
It is a horrible mess, isn't it?

I know, I'll miss them as I'd had them for over 4 years, and had over 10 eggs already this month. hope to get some more this week, it will be fun choosing them, but the others were my first ones, and they will always be the best!

100 eggs not just 10!

Our first 4 were killed by a fox . They were ex battery hens and had just started to grow new feathers and being a bit bold .
We've had a new lot , a retired old Welsummer , 2 White Sussex , 2 Black Rock and a donated bantam cockerel .
I worry about a fox getting them every day .

I did see on the Internet a chicken coop that has a door that automatically closes at night and opens again in the morning

I bought 5 new ones today!

The worse thing with foxes is they remember and come back. So if you restock do see if you can foxproof even more, because the fox is bound to come back.