Blasted Vixen!!! (Cambridge)

[ExpressPrincess]

Anyone want to come and track down a problem Vixen? She is taking our hens and ducks at a rate of 1-2 a day! We have free range hens who are enclosed in our garden in the day and shut up in a brick outbuilding at night, we have a 4ft chicken wire fence all the way round on the wrong side of our conifer hedge and we have a 5 bar gate (also chicken wired), we are not sure how she is getting in but possibly coming over the gate! We have enquired to several "pest control" services however quotes are extortionate due to the fact she is coming in during the day when the birds are out (so probably has cubs to track and dispose of as well) and our location (we are on a farm so lots of outlying land and potential hiding places). When I used to live in Norfolk our local hunt had a "terrier man" who would happily track down problem foxes (which i think he still does and possibly uses them for making up drag sent?) Can anyone help i don’t have £100-£200 to spend on a god-dam fox but I’m down 5 chickens and ducks already!!!

 

[oakash]

Your local hunt may be able to send someone with a gun or rifle to deal with it - even more likely if you let them ride over your land when trail - hunting in the season!

 

[ExpressPrincess]

Would be happy to allow riding if the land was suitable but being in the fens we are surrounded by 10ft drainage dikes so just not practical unless some very brave people fancy an huge adrenaline rush!!! Dont know how to contact my local hunt as never been out with them and everything is so hush hush now!

 

[Dobiegirl]

I used to have 500 free range hens and never lost one to a fox, it was all about good husbandry. Their field was enclosed with a netted fence which was connected to a main fencer(Legal) and their house was of a good standard and they were shut in at night. I know you only have a few hens/ducks but perhaps you could break the cycle by shutting them into their house for now.

The vixen will have cubs to feed now and if you shoot her she will be replaced by anotherand the cycle will begin again.

I am not anti hunt indeed I hunted for years and also worked for a hunt so dont think Im an anti having a pop.

 

[ExpressPrincess]

I usually have about 20 birds out at a time i had 22 now down by 5 (i have an incubator full as well - we sell hens at point of lay) I have never lost any to a fox before (have lost to the neighbour’s dog who also got one of our cats! but that’s a different story) but this seems to be a particularly unwary fox took me 20 mins to chase it out the garden the other day just kept going under the bushes and hiding despite all the shouting had to poke it out with a rake! Im thinking the RSPCA might have done "a good deed" and dropped off a desensitised urban fox onto our land!

 

[ExpressPrincess]

I used to have 500 free range hens and never lost one to a fox, it was all about good husbandry.

we are trying our best! We are already fenced behind our 12ft conifers which are on 3 sides! (my neighbour just lets her birds wander all over the road and our fields!) I could hook our wire fence up to it up to my car battery but I’m sure it will earth out??? I have got my son to spend the weekend weeing around the fence as that’s meant to help deter them, LOL!

 

[EAST KENT]

Poor little devil is indeed some town fox out on it`s own without a clue how to fend except eating your chooks.Not fair on the fox or you,bloody do gooder townies.
Incidently no fox or badger will go past string soaked in creosote ,even a chain soaked in it and hanging in your coop entrance will prevent foxie going in.

 

[Dobiegirl]

Lol Hinge Farm at your son weeing around your perimeter.

I would imagine you have a vixen with cubs desperate for food. At the moment I am seeing them in my garden after the bird food which is a desperate act as 2 Dobermanns would be on her case if they see her.She is no bigger than a cat and can squeeze through anywhere.

A friend had a similar problem, she only had about 20 hens and after losing a couple she moved her goats in there. Geese with a good gander is also an option and there is a substance you can buy( cant remember what it was called) that you sprayed around your perimeter.

 

[Judgemental]

In the absence of hunting, you are free morally and legally to put down a wire.

Available from most agricultural merchants - cost about £2.50

Make sure there is only one entrance and exit for charlie. Properly set on two pegs and securely anchored you will likely catch him.

Check twice every day.

Also make sure you have a gun handy to dispatch - ideally a .410 short gauge.

Oh dear shock and horror from the assembled company on this forum.

Tough, it is illegal to hunt foxes with hounds but not illegal to wire them. I don't give a damn!

 

[EAST KENT]

No animal deserves such a vile death JM, very surprised at you. So effective is creosote though,a fox will never go past it under any circumstances.Times are hard for vixens right now, here at least it has been bone dry for two months,so slugs ,worms and so forth are not available.There will be quite a few starving young badgers and foxes.
As a hunting person my rule is that the alternative controls are both horrific and unselective,not to be contemplated.Plus ,at this time of year cubs will starve if deprived of their mother,unless of course you terrier the resident earth.
Currently ,every evening I see a little vixen hunting mice in the hay field,her cubs are somewhere nearby ,and she is safe if no one knows.

 

[Tormenta]

No animal deserves such a vile death JM, very surprised at you. So effective is creosote though,a fox will never go past it under any circumstances.Times are hard for vixens right now, here at least it has been bone dry for two months,so slugs ,worms and so forth are not available.There will be quite a few starving young badgers and foxes.
As a hunting person my rule is that the alternative controls are both horrific and unselective,not to be contemplated.Plus ,at this time of year cubs will starve if deprived of their mother,unless of course you terrier the resident earth.
Currently ,every evening I see a little vixen hunting mice in the hay field,her cubs are somewhere nearby ,and she is safe if no one knows.

Quite.

Our Muckheap at the moment is the source of much attraction for many above, including frogs, for the simple attraction of insects and grubs. First time in two years I have seen this much activity and at such close quarters.

 

[Judgemental]

No animal deserves such a vile death JM, very surprised at you. So effective is creosote though,a fox will never go past it under any circumstances.Times are hard for vixens right now, here at least it has been bone dry for two months,so slugs ,worms and so forth are not available.There will be quite a few starving young badgers and foxes.
As a hunting person my rule is that the alternative controls are both horrific and unselective,not to be contemplated.Plus ,at this time of year cubs will starve if deprived of their mother,unless of course you terrier the resident earth.
Currently ,every evening I see a little vixen hunting mice in the hay field,her cubs are somewhere nearby ,and she is safe if no one knows.

Oh dear oh dear East Kent, I will get my hankerchief out!*!*

There are no rules, at least not since the Hunting Act 2004.

Before that, matters of this nature were dealt with satisfactorily but Mr Blair fundamentally, created in the Hunting Act 2004 no alternatives, save for those (which you quite rightly say) "horrific and unselective" means of control.

 

[Clodagh]

Creosote is an old wives tale, they aren't keen on it but a hungry vixen won't be deterred. We have, this time of year, to put up electric fence for our chooks. Once the rape is cut they can go free again.

 

[EAST KENT]

Actually Clodagh I beg to differ.And it is through real personal experience that I have; we had some rather mucky people next door breding pigs. Dead piglets were just lobbed onto the dung heap,which became a Tesco takeaway for foxes..unfortunately they "took away" into my fields..in which I ran my foxhound puppies etc.Thus we had foxhounds galloping about with rotting green corpses in their chops and of course impossible to catch and remove the rotten flesh from.Initially I set a couple of wires, but then phoned our huntsman ,who said just paint the entry and exit holes into the field with creosote.This I did,and put the wires up out of the way..so I thought.So anxious to avoid the creosote was one fox was that he chose to jump the fence instead..thereby hanging himself in the wire.So ,yes,it works! In fact a chain soaked in it and hanging down over a chicken house pop hole will keep foxes and badgers outside.
Huntsman usually know about these things I have found

 

[Clodagh]

OK, thats good. Doesn't work here though, my m-in-law next door has creosoted her garden fence and the fox jumps it OK. :-(

 

[EAST KENT]

Think I`d give that one the joy of an electric wire then!

 

[Clodagh]

I have been thinking about your theory and I reckon thats why if I forget to shut the pop hole at night the hens don't get taken, as the fox won't go in the house which smells of creosote...I wonder if they still jump m-in-laws fence as its so low they don't need to touch it?
I have a low point in my garden wall and today have painted a fence post with creosote and laid it along the top...every little helps!

 

[Dogstar]

Electric fence doesn't always work, we used to have lots of lambs taken at our old farm and the fox would jump the electric fence with them. I have just had 6 pedigree chickens (araucanas and welsummers) taken by the fox in a daytime raid (he burrowed under the garden fence). I am so annoyed at the moment I would shoot him but don't have time to stake the garden out, so have had to shut my surviving hens up :-(

 

[EAST KENT]

Someone I knew was equally annoyed at a hen raider..so went off and shot a rabbit..THEN..stuffed a pole up it so it was in a permanent upright sitting position LOL the fox did fall for this,but it took many hours of lying in wait with a rifle.That fox had jumped an electic netting fence..but at just over three foot it was`nt much of a challenge.
Our neighbour lost twelve ducks to a vixen in one night;this little lady must have had cubs,she took them one by one presumably to cache them somewhere for later. To achieve this she had to climb up over six foot of chain link,slip down a hole in the chain link roofing around a big tree,kill duck and take it away by the same route.
Personally I think she deserved a prize for ingenuity and detemination! My vixen was`nt around last night,bit of a shame really as there was a nice big cock pheasant in her usual hayfield. Maybe tonight will be his Waterloo!

 

[Nancykitt]

Well I'm another one fed up of fox attacks. We have had chickens since last year but have only just started losing them to the foxes. We are on the edge of an estate so it's fox heaven - wheelie bin scraps plus fresh chicken and duck.
The place is pretty much overrun with the things, they're all over the show.
Neighbour has a rifle, we're off to get a lamp.
If anyone disagrees - well, sorry but the situation is out of control now. My hens are seriously traumatised after today's attack. I remember some antis once saying how dreadful it was that the fox was chased by hounds - 'it must have been terrified'. Today the fox ran for some considerable distance with a live chicken in its mouth. I suspect that was terrified too.
Fox had my beautiful cat last year too. I'm not prepared to stand by and let things get any worse.

 

[PaulT]

Be careful Nk, almost sounds as though there's a hint of vindictiveness behind your motives. It's worth remembering that, as far as we know, foxes are unable to empathise with their victims - (most) humans can. Although I don't doubt foxes are capable of experiencing fear, I doubt very much they recognise it in their prey.

Isn't our ability to empathise an essential quality which sets us apart from other animals?

 

[mariyar]

Dont know how to contact my local hunt as never been out with them and everything is so hush hush now! ...

 

[Alec Swan]

Nancykitt,

in your shoes, I'd pay scant regard to the philosophical or the moral considerations, that fox would get the gun, and that would be the end of it. Vindictive? possibly, but then I'm a mere human, and fallible, too!!

Alec.

 

[ThePinkPony]

No animal deserves such a vile death JM, very surprised at you. So effective is creosote though,a fox will never go past it under any circumstances.Times are hard for vixens right now, here at least it has been bone dry for two months,so slugs ,worms and so forth are not available.There will be quite a few starving young badgers and foxes.
As a hunting person my rule is that the alternative controls are both horrific and unselective,not to be contemplated.Plus ,at this time of year cubs will starve if deprived of their mother,unless of course you terrier the resident earth.
Currently ,every evening I see a little vixen hunting mice in the hay field,her cubs are somewhere nearby ,and she is safe if no one knows.

Not true EK.

Creosote is only temporary as a deterrent. Foxes will soon get used to it.

You could put down snares, and as long as you check it religiously and are prepared to destroy the fox once it is caught then that is a very succesful way to catch a fox.

But alot of people are put off by the fact that people are too quick to herald it as cruel without understanding them. The use of snares is only as cruel as the person utilising them, if you are prepared to set it and check it after short periods of time then the ''cruelty'' is minimal.

The other choice is to set a fox cage, a live trap baited with a chicken or duck (dead). You could probably find a local farmer or keeper that would lend you one for the week.

Electric fencing is also a good deterrent for foxes.

 

[EAST KENT]

Trouble is that any fox caught in a snare will go into total panic and strangle itself slowly.They are not as dogs,used to a collar..so sorry ,that is out ,and indeed should be outlawed,however,as gins are still in use even today I hold little hope.

 

[pedilia]

pm where you are HM, I have contacts with the hunt, our yard has just had men out to shoot the foxes so I can pass their number to you.

 

[Nancykitt]

I am not being 'vindictive', I am simply not prepared to become a supplier of fresh chicken to the local fox population which is now way out of control.

I only made the point about the fox's behaviour (ie, running with the live prey) because I was heartily sick of people telling me that fox hunting was cruel because it was terrifying for a fox to be chased and at least when a fox attacked it killed its prey outright. I now know tha this is untrue.

After a very successful year's breeding for foxes in 2010, many people are now suffering severe loss of livestock - including pets. The lampers are getting lots of work round here.

The 'cuddly victim' image of the fox is, I'm sad to say, only promoted further by programmes such as Springwatch. This does not bode well for the future of fox hunting - by far the most sensible and humane way to control the fox population.

 

[ExpressPrincess]

Quick update: Fox has now wiped out neighbours chicken population and we have lost over 20 birds and neighbour now has none left we have tried everything including purchasing traps and bating them with some of the dead chickens etc that have not been taken but they have been avoided, have found the "nest" but not on our land and land owners like to see "the cubs playing on their lawn" GRRRRR! So under pressure not to knock the mother off and leave the cubs to die. (not so nice to have dead cubs on your lawn!) What to do, what to do???

 

[Jake10]

I only made the point about the fox's behaviour (ie, running with the live prey) because I was heartily sick of people telling me that fox hunting was cruel because it was terrifying for a fox to be chased and at least when a fox attacked it killed its prey outright. I now know tha this is untrue.

You do realise that when predatory animals have young they bring live prey back so that they can teach their young to hunt. We regularly used to end up with our kittens chasing baby rabbits round the garden. Every time the bunny got too far away mummy cat would catch it, bring it back to the kittens and let it go again.

HingeFarm - sorry for your loss We're currently attempting to build a fox proof chicken run (out of pallets) for our first ever chickens

 

[Fiagai]

You do realise that when predatory animals have young they bring live prey back so that they can teach their young to hunt. We regularly used to end up with our kittens chasing baby rabbits round the garden. Every time the bunny got too far away mummy cat would catch it, bring it back to the kittens and let it go again.

HingeFarm - sorry for your loss We're currently attempting to build a fox proof chicken run (out of pallets) for our first ever chickens

Jake10...in the absence of proper fox control - I would suggest the use of poulty netiing wired to an elsectric fence enigiser.

From the Electric Fence online webite (LINK)

Chicken Massacre
Last Spring, on a beautiful April’s morning before school, our 7 year old daughter Jenny ran down the garden to feed her nine pet hens and collect their eggs for breakfast as usual.

Instead of hearing their contented clucking as she approached the run, there was silence and as Jenny moved closer, a scene straight out of a slasher movie unfolded for during the night, a fox had ravaged. All of Jenny’s hens lay dead, a bloody half eaten mess strewn across the run.

She ran screaming back to the house.

During the next week the household was woken each night by screaming as our child’s increasingly vivid nightmares took hold. Something had to be done and after a little discussion, we decided that the best solution would be to replace the hens and have Jenny included in all aspects of setting up a more secure home for her pets.

The next few evenings with Jenny were spent in front of the pc, researching fox behaviour and looking for a solution to keeping the fox at bay. This in itself was helpful in changing Jenny’s perception of the fox; instead of a marauding monster to be scared of she came to see the fox as an opportunistic “dog” that needed to be guarded against.

We learned that electric fencing was a reliable, tried and tested deterrent of the fox as their natural instinct is to “test” a barrier, rather than take a running leap over it. “Knowing” that it’s sensible to look before they leap a fox will climb a fence looking, I assume, for a safe landing area. Or perhaps it will search the perimeter of the fence looking for a weak spot, sniffing around for a way under, over or even through the fence, all of this behaviour makes it likely that the fox will actually come into contact with the fence and receive a shock.

During our research we had come across Electric Fence Online and after browsing through the website “Jenny and I” placed an order for the battery powered 50m Poultry Netting Kit… Three days later Jenny was helping me erect the fence, fortunately a surprisingly simple process. The posts were already attached to the netting and easy to push into the ground, guy lines to pull everything taught and Jenny shuffling along the base, armed with a mallet and pegs to pin down any parts of the net where a hollow might let the fox through.

Almost a year later, the fence is working perfectly and Jenny is once more enjoying her pets (and her eggs). We haven’t actually seen a fox testing the fence, but can confirm no more fatalities. We obtained a 2nd battery as they take some time to fully recharge using our mains charger and we don’t like to leave the netting without power, apart from that no problems to report. Perhaps we’ll invest in a solar panel to help with the charging.

Thanks Electric Fence Online for selling something that actually does what it says on the box.

Regards

Simon B