Fox at the henhouse :(

Peace n Quiet · #1 05/29/12, 06:25 AM

Woke up this morning to the sound of chaos in the henhouse. Chickens squawking and frantically flying around. There was a fox circling their house and pen!
Mr. Fox won't be visiting again ... no thanks to our worthless dogs. The 3 of them were laying on the deck watching the whole show! Grrrrr!

Plowpoint · #2 05/29/12, 09:06 AM

Luckily no chickens were lost...

I once knew of a woman who raised LGD (Livestock Guard Dogs) who kept lamenting that she was losing sheep every week to coyotes. She kept adding dogs to the flock until she had 9 out there and she was still losing sheep. I suggested she try using a little better fence then electronet and she was outraged at the idea.

I am just a dumb sheep farmer, but it seems to me if you are losing 30-40 lambs a year, at $100-$150 dollars per lamb, and 9 dogs were not protecting them, then the cost of installing woven wire fence would be mute after very little time. I say that because I use woven wire, and while expensive, it keeps coyotes out, or at least always has. I have never lost a sheep to a coyote yet, nor has my grandparents, or their grandparents...and we have never used LGD's.

I am not saying LGD's do not work, I am sure they do in the right circumstance...and would love to have one for back up protection, but 9 dogs and still losing sheep...come on lady, if you kep doing what you are doing, you will always get what you always got.

Peace n Quiet · #3 05/29/12, 05:37 PM

9 LGD's? Wow! And still having losses.... something is seriously wrong there!

Our dogs are a motley bunch. A Husky, a beagle, and a German wirehaired pointer. I wouldn't expect any of them to try to chase the fox because it was outside of the dog's wireless fence area. But I am really surprised that they didn't bark! That was a shocker! Silly dogs ... what I wouldn't give to know what they were thinking. Lol

scwit · #4 05/30/12, 12:33 AM

We have two outside cats that alert us when critters are around. We get coons and opossum all the time. We set up the live trap. Got four coons last week alone.

Happy-7-farm · #5 05/30/12, 05:03 AM

I wasn't so lucky. Last week I lost 5 out of my 7 chickens to a coyote. The only reason I didn't lose them all was that two were in the barn intent on setting on eggs. It was my fault for not shutting the coop but I hadn't shut it for months. We've been here 5 years and I've not seen a coyote on our property in that time until about two weeks ago. It was probably out looking for food for young ones and boy it sure found some good eats.

motdaugrnds · #6 05/30/12, 08:45 AM

So far this year we've only lost one guinea to a fox. We lock all our fowl up at night; and this helps keep them safe as nothing can get into that chicken house and it adjacent pen.

David shots them when he gets the opportunity!

Peace n Quiet · #7 05/30/12, 07:16 PM

I worry about using the live trap because no one here likes to deal with the skunks that find themselves in it!

poppy · #8 05/30/12, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace n Quiet

I worry about using the live trap because no one here likes to deal with the skunks that find themselves in it!

Back off from the trap and shoot them with a shotgun. Wait to be sure they are dead and dump them out. I've done it dozens of times without harming the traps.

willow_girl · #9 05/31/12, 06:54 AM

I came home yesterday to find a stray golden retriever circling my neighbor's coop! There was a mouthful of feathers on the lawn, but I guess all the birds survived. Dog ran off before I could catch it.

Close call!

puddlejumper007 · #10 05/31/12, 07:35 AM

i just lost four hens to coons, my son has been sitting up at nite, and had shot five... the woods must be full of them... i thought my run was very secure but one place in the bottom fence had come loose.. i hate coons,

puddlejumper007 · #11 05/31/12, 07:36 AM

i just lost four hens to coons, my son has been sitting up at nite, and has shot five... the woods must be full of them... i thought my run was very secure but one place in the bottom fence had come loose.. i hate coons,

**highlands** · #12 05/31/12, 04:43 PM

If you live trap please do not release the animals. Kill them. It is illegal to catch and release in many (most?) states because it can spread disease and you are just dumping your problem in someone else's home.

Our solution is dogs. We have a pack of livestock guardian herding dogs. They eat predators and pests. They kill and eat mice through coyotes. Bear, cougar and two-leggers they scare off.

Add decent electric fencing to the dogs for more protection to keep a perimeter up.

Keep a goose with the chickens and it will raise the alarm. This brings our dogs running. Roosters help too.

Cheers,

-Walter Jeffries
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
ButcherShop | Sugar Mountain Farm