At 21:14:36 on 12.05.11, dizney princess wrote:
hi all, just wanted to no if anyone has noticed the huge increase in foxes since the ban??? my husband has been in his house for 4 years and had chickens all that time and never had a problem, but in the last 2 months we've had 2 attacks, our local farmer has 'humanly' got rid of 14 this year!!! the fox that has been coming to ours, was even bold enough to be out in broad daylight sat at the bottom of my garden watching my remaining chickens and ducks, i didnt no what to do so i ran at it lol hopefully it wont be back for a few days but ive got a fence going up now!!!!! ha!!! anyone no of any good fox deterents???

At 22:46:07 on 12.05.11, Angelalain wrote:
A B****y great gun!! My friend lost 10 of her chickens two evenings ago, they heard the commotion and dashed out with the dogs, too late, five bodies, two died the next day and 3 are just gone!

At 09:33:24 on 13.05.11, picsnicky wrote:
Oh, dear... yes, we have kept bantams for the past 15 years with no probs.at all 'til this year. We've lost more than half our flock - 12 birds. We also only have 1 of my 3 runner ducks left. The ducks went first - on a night when we forgot to put them away. We heard the commotion, rushed out with the dogs to see the fox fleeing over the fence leaving one petrified duck behind (the other 2 had already been taken). She was so frightened that it took some while to get her from the pond as she kept diving under to get out of sight - actually thought that we would loose her too the following day as she was in such a state of shock. The fox then returned every morning bold as brass, to pick off the bantams one by one... The best deterrent, apart from a bullet (we don't have a gun) we found was to let the dogs out at dawn - Charlie doesn't like them... We think our cat was also terrified by the fox - he was frightened to go outside at all for about a month, at the same time we were loosing the bantams. Our neighbour lost a goose a couple of weeks ago, but as far as I know all has been quiet since then - we haven't lost any more bantams...

At 21:50:01 on 13.05.11, dizney princess wrote:
there such a nightmare aside the fact hunting is a great excuse to gallop across any field it clearly shows that it kept the nimbers under control!!

At 01:55:07 on 14.05.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
You can fox proof your garden :) by making your fence fox proof your animals will be safe and the foxes are too, you need to extend wire from the bottom of your fence underground a metre outward all the way around so they can't dig under then extend wire out the top at a angle because although foxes can climb upward they can't climb upsidedown, also your fences need to be high so they can't jump over, oh and keep sheds etc away from the fence by a few feet so the fox can't use it to get in, it sounds like a lot of work but it takes about a day (if that) and doesn't cost much as it's just mesh wire that you need to use, i think we should learn to live with wild animals rather than control them, we welcome foxes in our garden even though we have rabbits we just made the hutch fox proof, which you could do with night quaters for your animals if you don't want to alter your fences, you just need to raise your animals housing above the ground (waist height for the floor of the housing is usually about right) and instead of having a mesh door make it all of wood with small mesh vents all around that if a fox did get on the hutch and broke the mesh it wouldn't fit through the hole, these are long term solutions and the fox will probably stop coming because there will be no food about.

At 09:47:24 on 14.05.11, Flicka wrote:
Think I'd rather spend the money on a season's hunting that putting up that fence lol! Sorry Jess, I don't hate foxes, but to me hunting is a natural way of keeping their numbers down as they are killed by another animal, the hound. My friend lives in London with a really high fence and a huge fox just climbs up and sits on it then brazenly jumps down and walks through her garden even if she is about. She has a one, and a four year old and is afraid to leave the back door open:(

At 11:34:45 on 14.05.11, picsnicky wrote:
Spoke too soon! Fox took a broody bantam last night - feathers and eggs everywhere this morning :(

At 21:37:44 on 14.05.11, dizney princess wrote:
o poor you a broody one too grrr bloody things, as for fencing we are in the process of putting up new fencing and my husband is having wire put above it too. just cant believe how brave they are getting, ive got a little girl not walking yet but it would be a huge worry to me if she was out in the garden playing now!!

At 22:54:56 on 14.05.11, Angelalain wrote:
You cannot fox proof 23 acres of pasture and attached public forest! Once they have the taste for it they'll be back. It wouldn't take a day, it would take weeks and cost a fortune. Foxes have no natural predators and are increasing all the time, and also getting bolder. I don't hate foxes, just what they do! Why can't they stick to rabbits. They need to be kept in check, at a sensible level.

At 22:57:07 on 14.05.11, Angelalain wrote:
My friends don't have a few hens, they do a small scale free range flock to supplement their income. The fox has take a quarter of them! They are shut up at night, they were just 10 minutes late in shutting them away!