Content:
- Foxes: The Sneaky Tricksters Who Love to Partake in Backyard Shenanigans
- Why Foxes Love Raiding Your Hen House
- How to Tell If a Fox Has Been In Your Yard, Hen House or Garden
- How to Keep Foxes Out of Your Yard for Good
Foxes are one of those adorable and enigmatic woodland creatures. From their dog-like behaviors, cat-like hunting skills and features, and their endless list of sounds, the little fox is a creature that can really be both funny and annoying at the same time. These creatures really know how to stir up trouble when they are sifting around your neighbor’s garbage bins.
If you thought the ominous crow was a challenge to get rid of, wait until you meet a local red fox. While they aren’t as destructive as raccoons, a fox can be a nuisance in other ways. These devious foxes may seem like a very fun companion to have, but they can be quite the adversary too.
You may have heard of the many tales that surround the little red fox. From raiding gardens and trash cans to nabbing a few chickens and other livestock, the common red fox can be very tenacious when it is hungry.
While these creatures can definitely give coyotes, wolves, bears, moose, and raccoons a run for their money, the many fox species usually try to keep within their habitats. They only enter into the human sphere when it is either wintertime, food is scarce, or both. Otherwise, the fox will retain its mystery as the strange red creature of the forest.
But not everything is grand when a hungry fox is around. To anyone who loves having farm-fresh chicken eggs and a reliable source of chicken meat, a fox is often your worst nightmare right next to raccoons.
So how does one say no chicken swiping a to a sneaky fox? How does one keep a fox away from chickens without restricting the chickens’ space? Are there really ways to keep a fox away from your yard for good? Why do foxes love attacking chickens and other small livestock?
When it comes to dealing with foxes there are no half-measures. With this handy fox guide, you will be able to figure out how to protect chickens from foxes, how to secure your yard and henhouse, how to tell if there is a fox presence near your home, and more.
Foxes: The Sneaky Tricksters Who Love to Partake in Backyard Shenanigans
While everyone loves the laughing white arctic fox videos, watching a fennec fox go bonkers for treats, and a pet red fox spin and do tricks, not all foxes are as friendly. While they may not mean to do you direct harm, a fox lives a very pragmatic life in the wild. From the game it chooses to hunt all the way to how it chooses to make its den, a fox can be very practical.
When dealing with foxes, you will need to know what it is that attracts them to your yard specifically, how they live, their habits and behaviors, what they love to eat most, and so on. Dealing with a fox is not an easy task but it is doable when you use the fox’s own quirks against it.
First things first, you will need to understand how a fox lives and hunts. Foxes are usually out hunting around dusk or dawn, but don’t make the mistake of being complacent during daylight. A fox will take an evening opportunity to eat your chickens too. Foxes will generally go for small rabbits, birds, eat eggs, lizards, frogs, mice, rats, grasshoppers, berries, and even fruit.
Often times what attracts a fox near humans is garbage bins full of leftovers or tiny animals. Foxes hunt alone and will bring food back to their kits. Generally, the highest times for you to deal with invading foxes are during winters and during the time when kits are ready to learn how to hunt, this is around when they have reached twelve weeks old.
A fox will live in a type of den, this is usually a hole that they have dug into the ground. It is similar to other woodland creatures who make burrows. Foxes can live above ground but this is typically under decks, sheds, homes, and anywhere they can dig underneath something.
While these enigmatic creatures can make up to 28 different sounds, you will usually hear maybe two or three of them. During wintertime, you will hear the vixen’s loud shrills and the males barking. Foxes will also make an ack-ack sound when around other foxes or when they are playing with you or other foxes.
Why Foxes Love Raiding Your Hen House
It really isn’t personal, but the fox simply sees your chickens as a nice source of protein. Foxes love to hunt birds and chickens just so happen to be on their menu when the opportunity arises.
Foxes are smart when it comes to entering and killing chickens. They won’t do it if you are around.
Foxes will scope out your chicken coop for a while before they actually go in for the kill.
When the fox sees that the chicken coop is left unattended at certain times or that chickens are allowed to move freely, this is usually when they will strike. Despite their hunting hours being around dawn and dusk, a fox will eat chickens whenever they get the chance.
Chickens, geese, ducks, and other small fowl are all prime targets to a fox. They won’t hesitate for even a second unless they are unable to see an opening for them to pounce.
How to Tell if a Fox Has Been in Your Yard, Hen House or Garden
A fox is pretty clean when it comes to taking down its prey. You won’t see much in the way of signs. However, despite how sneaky a fox can be they can mistakenly leave some remnants of their presence near your home, backyard, and other places.
If you see any fox scat, paw prints, or scratched dirt near your garden or home, you most likely had a visit from your local fox. Sometimes you might even see a fox leave its den and this is the surest sign of them becoming a potential problem for your feathered friends.
Fox scat looks different from your average canine in a few ways. It usually is long, squiggly in shape, tapered at the ends, and is very dark brown. You will often see little pieces of bone and leftovers from their past kills inside the feces.
Fox paw prints look like a hybrid mix between cat and dog paw prints. Foxes have the typical four-toe pads around a diamond-shaped central pad. The fox’s prints are also narrower than a dog’s paw print and are without claw marks. This is because foxes, like cats, can actually retract their claws.
Another obvious sign that a fox has come to pay a visit is the victims of its attack. Foxes are light creatures and will often try to take their time eating their prey. Obviously with people around this is not feasible for a fox so they will often leave your dead chickens as an unfriendly reminder that they came.
Sadly, foxes can be a bit greedy and might kill more than they can haul away leaving you with your entire flock dead.
How to Keep Foxes Put of Your Yard for Good
Keeping a fox away is often easier said than done. This is because foxes can be quick to pick up on traps and are highly adaptive. They are smart like raccoons and crows, which can make them a nuisance when it comes to them targeting your hen house.
But don’t worry there are plenty of reliable ways to defend your home, garden, and flock of chickens from foxes.
Here’s a great video on the topic!
How to protect chickens from foxes:
1.) Try to keep your chickens in a well-made caged enclosure.
While most people aren’t keen on the idea of caging their poor chickens, it will do them more good than harm when you are dealing with a fox problem. To compensate for your hens’ lack of freedom, you can make the enclosure as big as you like. Just make sure it is structurally sound and that all openings are locked and secured well.
It is advised to put fencing at least a foot into the ground and use cement to prevent the fox from digging into your hen’s enclosure. For the walls use galvanizing mesh in combination with chicken wire. This will make it hard for the fox to dig around your coop.
Make sure the doors have double locks and always double-check to make sure they are locked every time you tend to your lovely feathered friends.
2.) Use an electric poultry fence as a perimeter around your yard or hen’s coop.
This fencing will protect your fowl while giving that sly little fox a second thought.
This is because the fox can’t tell if a fence is electrified so it is a surprise to them when they get zapped.
3.) Set up sensor lights around your yard and chicken coop.
Foxes can be startled and usually hunt during hours when it is dark. To suddenly have a light flash on will cause them to run away.
These lights are also effective against a few other predators such as raccoons which are also known to prey on young chickens.
4.) If you don’t already have a couple, get yourself a few dogs that are trained to protect your livestock.
Foxes are skittish creatures bigger than them. Seeing your favorite big dog will cause them to run for the hills. Dogs are great protectors of livestock including chickens, geese, ducks, and other fowl.
This is mainly because you can train a dog to do this sort of job, and some breeds of dogs are trained to hunt down foxes.
5.) Refrain from leaving meat scraps and other leftovers in a garbage bin outside.
Try to keep all leftovers until the day when the garbage man actually picks up the trash. If this is not possible, make sure you store your garbage in your garage with a tight lid on top.
Use a cinderblock to ensure the lid doesn’t get pulled off by any scavengers in the night.
6.) Keep your yard, home, shed, garden, and chicken coop maintained.
It goes without saying, a poorly maintained yard will attract more than just foxes, it will attract their other favorite types of prey – rats and mice!
Make sure all bushes and trees are trimmed, all fruit or nuts are picked up, all scraps are removed, and so on. Leave no stone unturned and make sure there are no holes underneath your shed, home, or in your garden.
7.) Call the pest control professional
If there is a fox den in or around your yard it is best to have a professional relocate them. This is because foxes can carry a wide variety of diseases and they may bite you if you come near their kits.
A professional will also be able to provide other pest control assistance and tips to help give those pesky foxes the boot for good.
