Pesky fox again!
10 comments
Was going to sit and write a blog about the garden and what’s in flower but this one came first.
Coming back from a bit of shopping just before 1 p.m. there was so much hooting from the peacocks, cackling from the hens and shouting from the Guinea Fowl that I had to go down onto the field and find out what the problem was.
As I approached the field gate the hens were back in their big run and creating a heck of a racket, two hens sitting this side of the gate and one on the gate. Peacock on the roof of the mobile and G.F dashing back and forth.
When I got there I could see why!
The field had a strip of white feathers all the way across, another small bunch of brown feathers (frighteningly) this side of the field gate and everyone in a tizz. Though the field gate is left ajar for the geese to walk back and forth, we have never seen the fox this close to the bungalow.
With the amount of feathers my first thought was Goose! Luckily all three of those were in the hut, one is sitting on one egg which won’t be fertile anyway! OH decided to take it away but nearly had a broken arm for his trouble, so now she can keep it till she gets fed up.
I walked the field boundary but couldn’t see any obvious spot where it was getting in and as we don’t count the chickens goodness knows if we have lost any more.
All the chickens (apart from one which keeps dashing back under the mobile) have been herded back into the run with the little ducks and shut in.
Even Boris and his two girls have been shut in their shed for now, which won’t go down well.
Though we have stoats living here somewhere I can’t see them taking a full size chicken, so am assuming it’s the fox with young to feed. Why can’t it thin out some of the rabbits that we have loads of? I suppose my chickens are an easier catch!
3 May, 2016
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Comments
Oops I didn't mean to 'like' this. This is terrible news!
3 May, 2016
Thank you both for your sympathies.
OH came home from work and we plodded the boundary and the only possible entry was under the wire, by pushing it up, but was probably the way in. This is of course under the very prickly hawthorn hedge that involves crawling to effect any sort of repair.
We have fixed down the wire and I will do some more work on it tomorrow. Meanwhile the fox has had the little Sussex hen which my OH was very fond of and one of the Welsummer hens - one of the fatter breeds we have of course!
3 May, 2016
That's nasty. Hope you can prevent him from getting in again.
3 May, 2016
Thanks Steragram, My neighbour says it's just nature and the foxes have young to feed too and there is nothing much you can do about it. Not sure he would think the same if it was his pet turkey that got eaten though. You can safely shut them in at night, but when the fox comes during the day, you can't guard them all the time. Too much fencing to make absolutely fox-proof, but we do our best.
4 May, 2016
Oh Honey thats a beggar isn't it, good job you hadn't been away all day, goodness knows how many would have gone, its a tad unfeeling of your neighbour to say that to you, I know its natures way but still not a good thing to find, lets hope your attempts at keeping the fox out have worked, you can only do so much I suppose...
4 May, 2016
Possibly he's hunting during the day just to keep his family fed - the cubs will be quite big by now. I saw one crossing our drive the other day - very rare sight in broad daylight.
4 May, 2016
Thanks Lincslass and Steragram. It is as you say natures way, and the fox needs to live as well as my chickens. One of my other neighbours kept lots of chickens, special breeds, all in beautifully hand made runs, but the fox still got them and he had young in a shed which disappeared and he put down to a rat, but is more likely the Stoat that is about here as the little hole was high close to the roof. It must have thought it had lucked onto a take-away, poor little things. He's decided that chickens are now not his thing.
Spent part of yesterday under the hawthorn hedge trying to make sure it was secure, too hard to dig netting down near the roots - lots of scratches and punctures to show for that job, look like I've been in a brawl!
The chickens are still shut in their run (big, so not a problem really) and looking disgruntled about it, but sooner or later we will have to bite the bullet and let them out, hoping our efforts have been good enough.
5 May, 2016
Well if you've been putting netting under hawthorn you deserve success...
6 May, 2016
Thanks Stera. I have to go to the doctors shortly and hope all the scratches and lumps have disappeared before then or he will counselling me on domestic violence!
Had some thoughts on whether it was a fox, we are now leaning towards the cute little stoats (not quite what we called them) as the culprits. Found some 'remains' in the front garden which lead us in that direction. Who knows, but I wish they would stop!
8 May, 2016
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I sympathise we have to have an electric fence around our field to keep the foxes out.
3 May, 2016