Predator ?????

[opossumholler]

We have lost 2 chickens and 2 ducks since Sunday, in broad daylight. Yesterday I spotted a red fox who I believe is the culprit. Any thoughts or ideas on how to kill the thing so it will stop eating my animals

[WstTxLady]

Live trap or shoot it. Are you sure it was the fox? How were the birds eaten/tore up?

[Ernie]

It's fox season. Right now the mothers are in a den with young and the males are out hunting to feed them. They'll kill every bird you have unless you can either kill them or confine your birds in safety.

Last year I had a fox take 4 chickens in 3 days. I finally put a big pile of chicken feed out for the chickens in the middle of the yard and waited about an hour or so. Sure enough, bold fellow came charging out of the bushes at one of them and got some buckshot in the face for his troubles. His hide hangs on the outside wall of the chicken coop to this very day.

If the birds were missing then it's either a fox or a coyote, and this time of year I'm betting fox. You're going to have to shoot it or confine your birds for at least 4 days in order to force him to move on elsewhere.

[opossumholler]

At first we were not sure what was getting them but Tuesday As I was pilling in my driveway I saw the fox run across the road, that's why he's the suspect

[Ernie]

The kill site usually tells you what kind of predator. A quick and easy reference:

Feathers and picked apart carcass - hawk
Scattered feathers - coyote
Mutilated but relatively uneaten corpse - raccoon
Missing corpse and no feather pile - fox

[opossumholler]

Well that confirms my suspicion then becuase we have seen no bodies, only missing chickens and ducks, and we have had them long enough they dont run off and they all wander together.

[Cyngbaeld]

You can never keep up with the predators, one moves in as soon as there is a space for it. Best to confine the birds or get a reliable LGD.