fox killing chickens

This guy does a really good job explaining it, if you want to try yourself.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgpagXcZycA&t=50s

There are bands killing chickens,
My hero's getting pushed around, round, round,

Also, cage traps aren't useless if used in the right way. You don't want them very close to the coop. By that point the fox knows he is having chicken for diner and it isn't easy to sidetrack him. You want them a hundred yards or more away along the trails he uses. If there is a spot where he goes under a fence or gate, you want the trap next to that. Bait it with doller store pop top canned cat food. Crack the lid enough that the odor is coming out and tie it so it dangles from the top of the cage at the back. If he doesn't set off the trap walking in he will trying to figure out how to get the can.

lazarus said:

Yup. Granted it sounds like OP has a lot of birds. I am down to 7 after getting rid of the few roosters I ended up with. My coop is off the ground and 4x4ft and 4-5ft tall (slanted roof). It is enclosed fully to the roof and buried 18” deep with the fencing running horizontal out a foot. Total fenced area is 4x10ft to the roof and a smaller 3ft tall 2.5x10ft area.

There is a fenced 6.5x8ft “annex” that doesn’t have a roof or covering, but the fencing runs 6ft high to keep the birds from flying out or critters from coming in. Only buried a couple of inches. We let them in to the annex if we are around and chase them back in to the enclosed run if we are going to be gone for awhile. Always close it up at night.

We free range them in the late afternoons if we will be around and mostly outside. I can have my 10/22 in hand in about 60 seconds if I need to (how I got the first one).

Granted doing all of that for what sounds like hundred sof birds would be hard. But at least a taller fence if it can just hop the fence. Or cut down whatever it is using to jump over. And lock up the coops at night for raccoons (I don’t, but my run is pretty much entry proof without a LOT of effort)

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We pasture our birds using electrified poultry netting, 48" is as tall as it gets.
Some of you get that others don't. These are mobile coops not your southern states pet bird setups. At one time when we were doing markets we ran three coops with 150 birds for pastured eggs. there is no way to cover a setup like that.

Going to follow up on some of the ideas here, thanks all.

The fox is jumping OVER 48"" electrified netting?! And then jumping back out carrying chickens? Is the electric working properly? I think leghold traps on the trails in and out are going to be your best bet. I wish you luck on catching the bastages.

trailman said:

We pasture our birds using electrified poultry netting, 48" is as tall as it gets.
Some of you get that others don't. These are mobile coops not your southern states pet bird setups. At one time when we were doing markets we ran three coops with 150 birds for pastured eggs. there is no way to cover a setup like that.

Going to follow up on some of the ideas here, thanks all.

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You are correct in that this is the first time you said what type of fencing you are using. That doesn't make the observation that the fence is too short wrong. Even the manufacturer of that type of fencing says it discourages predators not excludes them. Killing the predators is definatly cheaper then replacing the fence as long as you can afford the losses until you get them. When the fence DOES need replacing (because those pieces of junk do break) your money would be better spent on a good fence then a convienent one.

madmantrapper said:

I don't know anyone in the Frederick area to help.

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I might.

Carder Taxidermy is/was a trapper. He might be willing to help:

https://www.fredericknewspost.com/m...ess_b9f471a1-cbd4-5195-8a9f-ae270d86f49b.html

Try getting a few large Geese, they are very aggressive and make lots of noise

jtb81100 said:

You are correct in that this is the first time you said what type of fencing you are using. That doesn't make the observation that the fence is too short wrong. Even the manufacturer of that type of fencing says it discourages predators not excludes them. Killing the predators is definatly cheaper then replacing the fence as long as you can afford the losses until you get them. When the fence DOES need replacing (because those pieces of junk do break) your money would be better spent on a good fence then a convienent one.

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Do you even know what the hell you are talking about? Get a good fence instead of a convenient one, seriously? Try googling pastured poultry. Christ ask a simple question and all the BS comes out of the woodwork.

Yea actually I know exactly what I'm talking about. We used it briefly and had nothing but problems which is why I call it junk. That style fencing isn't meant to be permanent and on the one we had the electric wires kept breaking and getting shorted out by grass. In the 5 minutes I spent making sure it was what I thought I found theTSC page that recommends running extra electric either outside it or over top of it and multiple complaints about it not keeping unwanted critters out of the enclosed area. I really wasn't trying to start an arguement about fencing, but holy crap if I was losing that many birds to predators I'd at least think about what others say about my setup before writing off the advice and saying they don't know what they are talking about. I'm pretty darn sure that if you have your county extension agent take a look at the problem (one of the many things they are there for) one of the things they will tell you is to consider a taller fence, multiple "layers" of fencing a foot apart, or running extra electric wire along t-posts. Like I said before, in this case killing the fox (or foxes) that are preying on the flock right now is a temporary fix. Strengthening the fencing is a more permanent fix. Thinking a 4' fence is all you need to keep predators out is about as absurd as the people who think the 6' state road fencing is meant to keep deer off the interstate. If you ignore everything else I've said, seriously call your county extension office, have them come look at your setup and see how different their advice is from mine. Despite what you may think, I AM trying to be helpful.

I'd say the best fence would be 6 feet tall heavy duty welded wire with very small openings, with a strand of electric maybe 4 inches from the ground to deter digging, and 1 strand right on the top to deter any sort of climbing/jumping. If you have naughty flying chickens, go to 8 feet. The farm I trap at has problems all the time with the hens being picked off no matter how much trapping I do. The farmer said he was going to put electric strands around the fence, but I don't know if he has yet. One year its foxes, the next coyotes, then back to foxes. He seemed miffed at me for not trapping 2 extra months, but my trapping there sucked last season, so I did not go for the 2 month nuisance permit period. Plus when I did the nuisance permit the year before I only caught 2 foxes anyway. I was rather busy in my shop and have also been battling a headache and dizziness problem and dealing with large clear globby floaters in my eyes that drive me nuts.