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Original poster

oh FFS - a fox killed my entire flock of chickens this morning :-o :-(

30 replies

geekgirl · 10/03/2008 17:29

all 7 of them

went to feed them at 11:45am and they were all gone, just a lot of feathers near then fence. I eventually found the tamest one lying on the neighbouring field with a broken neck, no trace of the others.

FFS It's the second time this has happened - 1.5 years ago we had another entire flock wiped out in one go, too.

This lot was so tame - they'd run up to you to be stroked.

Dd1 is bereft. I guess an eglu is the only answer. The idea of confining them in such a small run has never appealed though.

OP posts:
Wisteria · 10/03/2008 17:31

I'm sorry geekgirl. Can you not just dig some reinforced mesh (note I don't say 'chicken wire as a fox can get through it) really deep on all exposed sides of the run?

dustystar · 10/03/2008 17:31

Oh no

Lauriefairycake · 10/03/2008 17:32

I'm so so sorry , how awful for you.

I have an eglu but I only lock them in it at night and let them have the whole garden during the day.

Maybe get a big shed? and have a run attached?

How awful, I would be distraught

FioFio · 10/03/2008 17:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

MehgaLegs · 10/03/2008 17:33

Oh no geekgirl - I am so sorry that's terrible news.

anorak · 10/03/2008 17:35

so sorry geekgirl. Agree with Laurie, my friend had an eglu but only locked them in at night.

Original poster
geekgirl · 10/03/2008 17:36

well, they did have a big house with a fully enclosed run and a light-operated door, but I think foxes can climb fences - this one certainly did by the looks of it

I did think of digging in a fence (would still have the climbing issue though), but then the feckers can bite through ordinary mesh plus the ground would get fowl sick after a while if the run is always in the same place.

OP posts:
MehgaLegs · 10/03/2008 17:37

An electric fence might be the answer although I'm still trying to work out how to have a child friendly electric fence.

Bloody fox.

Original poster
geekgirl · 10/03/2008 17:39

yes, that's the problem with electric fencing the children are always in and out of the run. and you have to keep the ground around the fence clear of vegetation, which sounds really tricky too.

OP posts:
blousy · 10/03/2008 17:48

Bloody foxes . This happened to us with 12 quails. I hated to think of them being terrified at the end. We thought their home was completely secure. We haven't dared replace them .

Original poster
geekgirl · 10/03/2008 17:50

quails are cute I'm sorry yours met such a grisly end too, blousy

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 10/03/2008 17:52

Aw, I'm so sorry!

tortoiseSHELL · 10/03/2008 17:53

Oh so sorry to read that.

The eglu isn't completely fox proof either - I've heard of chickens being got through the mesh.

What we do is to have our house/run (which is fully enclosed with mesh roof - we used ultra strong mesh, not 'chicken wire') on paving slabs, so the fox can't dig under, and it also means you avoid the problem of the ground becoming sick, as you can just hose the slabs down every so often. I put auboise/easibed on the floor and it works really well. I want to build a bigger run for them at some point with more height, as their house/run atm is basically an ark ( you can see it at the bottom of this page. I would like them to have more space, but they will always need to be secure, as we get lots of foxes. Dh built my coop, and it was a LOT cheaper than an eglu!

Original poster
geekgirl · 10/03/2008 18:14

tortoiseshell, that looks like a really nice run, a good amount of space for them too. I particularly like the covered bit at the end, bet they love that when it's wet!

OP posts:
Original poster
geekgirl · 10/03/2008 18:21

where do you get the bedding for the run from and how often do you clean it out? I think the whole set-up could work really well with our hen house.

OP posts:
StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 10/03/2008 19:01

I'm so sorry. Foxes can jump at least 6ft - a friend of mine saw a fox clear his 6ft fence into the chicken run.

You could get a wooden aviary with a roof that would be 100% fox proof and biger than an eglu.

tortoiseSHELL · 10/03/2008 19:06

I get the bedding from an agricultural supplier near us - where we get the food from. It's basically equine bedding. What area are you in and I'll see if I can find you a supplier?

What I would love to do is to build a walk in run with a house on stilts at one end, all covered so we could put in some straw bales etc for them to perch on during the day if they want to. This run is about 9 foot by 3 foot with a 3x3 house (I think that's right). I'd ideally like to build one that's the same length (but obviously with more room in the run by going under the house, and a little bit wider - maybe 4.5 or 5 foot? But that may need to wait for my next flock! We are going to put a permanent roof on the uncovered bit - probably using onduline which is clear - because we live in the sodden South West and everything does get really wet.

tortoiseSHELL · 10/03/2008 19:14

easibed stockists - just put in your postcode

auboise website

hemcore distributors

These 3 beddings are all very similar and can be composted !

tortoiseSHELL · 10/03/2008 19:17

Cleaning out - we clean the house out once a week or fortnight, depending on how horrible it is! The run - that depends on how wet the weather has been. If it gets really sodden then we do it more often - we did have bark down, and that seemed to need doing every 2-3 weeks, but the new bedding lasts longer and is more like 4-6 weeks. We just live the house off, scrape the bedding into bags, hose it down, lift it back and restock the bedding. If we ever build a walk in run then obviously we wouldn't be able to lift it off, but could 'walk in' to clean it!

Miggsie · 10/03/2008 19:17

Hugh Fearnley-Mad as a Hatter has his chickens in houses on stilts as apparently chickens can get up the ladders and foxes can't.
My brother rounds his up every night and barracades them in, he also has 3 dogs and shotgun and this seems to be effective.
Sympathy though, it is traumatic, a fox had a go at my cat once...that was scary.

binkleandflip · 10/03/2008 19:22

I think foxes get a bad wrap for being, well, foxes basically, but I can empathise as I lost a duck to one once.

tortoiseSHELL · 10/03/2008 19:22

There are some fantastic coop designs here. I particularly like this one and this is the sort of thing I'd like to build.

tortoiseSHELL · 10/03/2008 19:24

The problem with that Miggsie is that certainly in urban areas the foxes are so brazen they come out in the daytime. I saw 3 in my garden the other afternoon! Particularly at this time of year when they are hungry, they don't confine themselves to hunting at dawn and dusk.

Our foxes seem to have learnt that they can't get in, and the chickens seem to have learnt that too - they eye each other up beadily, and then the foxes slink out!

Original poster
geekgirl · 10/03/2008 19:40

thanks for that, plenty of local suppliers here by the looks of it so that's great! My friend's db actually builds things like aviaries and sheds for a living so I'll get his number and see what he says - the house we have for the hens is so nice and spacious, it's built for breeding pedigree cats so is fully insulated, full height and can be completely hosed down inside, it'd be a shame to not use it.

binkleandflip, I agree, foxes just do what comes naturally and they have cubs at this time of year. We usually lose about 1 hen every 2-3 months to the fox and I can live with that... But to lose the whole lot.... the field they were on is full of rabbits and field mice too. But I guess the hens are the easy take-away option!

OP posts:
BoysOnToast · 10/03/2008 20:10

theres a huge amount of info on hen housing here

apparently the ramp up houses are not ideal for the larger breeds of hen (or maybe its just narrow ramps they mean) and you have to watch out when building a house that your hens dont have their heads up in the ventilation draught (sp).

i have a cube with extended run coming but already i am wishing for something like this (scroll down for the covered run to go with)

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