Horrible! What Predator attacked and killed 26 chickens in 20 minutes?
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- Horrible! What Predator attacked and killed 26 chickens in 20 minutes? Not a good day on the Stoney Ridge Farm....foxes have taken most of the pastured egg layers all in one morning!
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Don't be deceived that a fox won't enter that coop . Trust me on this one, they will.
I've caught in my coop over the years opossum raccoons .gotta take em out .
@dirtyroofer3678 Or be better at creating a predator proof enclosure. We use Premier1 fence and have not had an issue. The mentality that we can eradicate nature or make it understand that these birds are a "special" form of food is ludicrous. It's like the people that endlessly shoot squirrels because they literally put piles of food in the form of birdseed in their yard. What did they think was going to happen? The human is the only life on this planet that can be taught to respect private property and even that goes awry.
@@dirtyroofer3678 And some the "homestead" channels promote trapping + re locating racoons and anything they catch. I think if I knew someone was relocating them to my property it'd be an overt act of war.
@@dirtyroofer3678I just dispatched 2 possums in the past week lost one chicken my GSD does a good job keeping most the predators away I have only lost a few over the years mostly to small predators and once a mountain lion
Yup. The opening of a fox den is smaller than the coop door.
We are currently dealing with a family of bobcats that are stalking our chickens daily. We have electric fence along the bottom of our bird enclosure. We have a mix of ducks and chickens with a total of 40 birds plus another 10 turkeys in a separate enclosure. The electric fence also runs along the top of the fencing to ward off the bears. The electricity works great while they are in, but we do use the birds to help with the ticks and other bugs. We only let our birds free range when we are working on the farm. This does not stop hungry bobcats which will come onto the farm while we are there. Our dog, a lab/Newfoundland mix is great at scaring the bobcats and raccoons and bears away. The coyotes are only stopped by gunfire. It took a lot of training to get the dog to protect the birds...we lost three ducks to him when we first got him as a puppy. Now he herds them away from the wood line. The only guaranteed solution to predation we have found are bullets. Your only option to ensure the safety of your birds and livestock is to shoot the predator. Leave the carcass on the trail where other predators travel. The sight of their dead ilk will deter them for a few months. This will not work for coyotes...they will eat their own!
Once those fox find an easy meal, they will be back. It does not appear anyone else in the comments is willing to provide this advice. It sounds heartless, but we have a duty to protect the lives of our livestock. It is also important to understand that you will not have much time to stop an attack. We never walk out of the house without a gun either on our hips or slung over our shoulder. By the time you retrieve a gun, you will lose many birds. The only animal I cannot bring myself to shoot is the neighbors dog. We have lost 6 turkeys and one lamb to their husky. The neighbors are well aware that we can legally shoot their dog and they have made much effort to control it and replace our animals. I see I have ranted a bit, but this is a daily struggle for us on our 10 acres. I feel for you and hope you can get the wildlife under control.
If you tie a dead bird around on dogs neck for a few days, he will be disgusted and it will often cure the dog of chicken killing.
I never thought that farming would involve so much predator hunting. Turns out, I love knocking them over. Wild hogs are my biggest 'issue' here in the ozark national forest.
That's how my husband got rid of rabbits eating our garden. He just had to shoot one and leave the dead carcass laying out there and it scared the others off. Never had another problem again.
Thank you... we lost 12 of 18 chickens a couple weeks ago at night, our fault, did not get the chicken coop closed in time, then a couple days ago 4 of the last 6 got it during the day. we had chickens free ranging for years with the only issue of neighbors dogs. Coyotes are getting worse here in KY. I am trying to come up with a solution before I raise anymore. I was thinking of fencing in 3-4 acres, get a Great Pyrenees...
@troycurualla8376
Geez y'all have some serious predators where you live. I couldn't imagine having to deal with bobcats an bears, that's insane.
The only issue we've had is hawks, coyotes, and stray dogs. We are in western NC.
We tried to hunt the coyotes, no luck. Had better luck with leaving out the sponges and sausage grease. It sucks but the coyote we had coming out was coming out during the day. Killing our chickens directly Infront of our kids in the daytime. It was just to much of a risk. We've not had any issues sense.
The hawk incident was completely my fault for leaving chicks uncovered in the yard. Although we never had issues with hawks before, I should of covered it.
After that incident we had one issue with a hawk flying into our run but our roosters attacked it and injured the hawk pretty bad.
Hey buddy, we had a similar issue at our farm in WV. Lost 7 hens and 2 roosters in one day. Witnessed a fox taking another one the next day. Can't remember where I heard it but someone told me to turn on a radio. I have a radio playing 24/7 at my barn next to the chickens. Since that day we haven't lost a single bird!! Theory is that the predators hear the voices and think it is live people in the barn and they stay away. My chickens even wander out in my horse pasture but still no birds taken since day one of radio playing
The effectiveness of a radio it seems depends on the predator. I had a security camera catch a coyote in the early evening attack some of my birds. I turned on a radio real loud as well as put a small radio where the coyote had come from. The next day I went across the road (we live on the edge of a small town) and I saw the coyote standing about 15 feet from the small radio! (and this was about 11:30 in the morning!). This coyote is hunting all times of the day and doesn't seem to be overly concerned with humans. I am in the process now of install a 6 foot fence as well as I'm going to put two electric wires around the outside of the fence to prevent digging, etc.
@@TheologicalQuest you may be right about the type of predators. I was dealing with foxes, not so much coyotes.
We’ve tried the radio. The effect wears off. We had a bobcat take 9 chickens over the course of 3 months. They were our first chickens, and we had a variety of really cute girls that we raised from day-olds, and they all had names. Absolutely heartbreaking. The bobcat would come by at all hours of the day, while our birds, free ranged. Every night they would return to the chicken coop, which is a fortress. I tried setting traps, but in the end, the only thing that worked was that I had a good opportunity to shoot it. We saw it many times before I got that opportunity. That was back last October,. Just last month, another bobcat came by. This one towing along three cubs. My wife chased them off with an assist from my rooster. He is an absolutely enormous Buff Orpington absolutely fearless, he chased that bobcat right out of the yard. She hasn’t been back since. But we have to stay pretty vigilant since there are four new bobcats in the area. They aren’t endangered, and there is no limit on hunting them. And it’s the only solution. Once a bobcat is aware of a food source, he will return over and over until it dries up, or he’s dead.
Coyotes got bored with radio blasting in barn 24/7. DID leave chickens alone after trying to break in multiple times week..BUT then went after beloved barn cats. Ripping the stomach out, eating it, and leaving carcass by barn door when I walked in. Got the Nite Guard blinking red dot solar predator lights. That helped a LOT. Put around outside of barn & outside chicken coops. Good stuff Nite Guard
Josh, you will have to dispatch the foxes. They are raising kits and will continue to kill until no chickens are left. They can go through that pop door too. I've experienced it here at Cedar Falls Farm. At one time we had 300 layers. I pasture raised and ended up having to put 2 foot chicken wire around just over 600 feet of perimeter. 1 foot up and 1 foot out. We lost approximately 100 chickens to rapid, multiple attacks from foxes during daylight hours. We ended up selling off our egg business last October. I kept 16 chickens. Foxes came back and killed them all. I seriously doubt you're going to catch them in live traps. Good luck.
I agree the fox is smart enough to avoid the cage trap. Even when its chicken in there
I tried to live trap a fox once and all I caught was a bunch of the neighbors cats
Sorry to hear about this loss Josh. If you have a pack of nine clustered that close then there’s nothing keeping them in check. You gotta reduce that pack’s numbers.
LEAD therapy.
Get with that neighbor and with their permission give those foxes lead poisoning right at that barn.
A little lead to the head will take care of the foxes. If he doesn't want to kill the foxes though he needs to install electrified netting around the coop.
@@fredcarroll5859 Or put some poison in the dead chickens near that barn the foxes are located and let them eat. Their last supper! I hate the idea of harming wild life, but no way would I allow fox to kill my chickens, especially that great of a number.
Like all nine
I am not sure to express this without being negative: Thank you for showing us the "Reality of being a farmer or rancher."
I had an on going war with coyotes and neighbors dogs untill I got a LGD, Anatolia Shephard . She was 115 pounds and lived with the sheep. 14:47 At nite the herd would hang out by the barn and we never lost another critter. The first thing she did when moving to a new paddock would be to check out the fence lines and mark anywhere she smelled a predator. She chased away or killed anything that came on the farm that didn't walk on 2 legs. I would have to introduce her to friends and their dogs so she wouldn't bother them.
You need to do like Pete from Just a Few Acres does and put an electric fence net around your mobile coop. He will still move the coop around in his yard and moves the net along with it.
Also, that door is not too small for a fox to get into. If those chickens had run into the coop, it would have been like being backed into a corner. I guarantee they all would have been gone.
Yes I agree. Although I thought he bought the netting for that reason but I don't see it?
@@HSB_88 I know he used them for his goats at one point. I can’t remember if he used them with chickens.
Don’t understand why you don’t believe a fox can get in that door. Foxes are not as big as coyotes.
Don't know if anyone has made this suggestion; Get a baby monitor and put it in the coop. These monitors not only pick up the noise in the coop but also from quite a distance. We have saved our hens from predators by the first worried sounds we hear. If you don't get rid of the foxes, you will lose all your hens.
I have eight 18 week old pullets that I have let out of the run twice ,under supervision. I have really struggled with the idea of free ranging, even with a hot wire fenced pasture, and this video has convinced me just to keep them in their run. It's not worth losing them to give them extra enrichment! So sad for this man!😞
Same. We have bald eagles and osprey that live in the trees around us. My girls are always in the pen with a roof, unless I’m right with them. Felt a little overboard until a friend lost 9 chickens and a duck this week to an eagle.
@@araefoxshoot, shovel, shut up. It should not be the place of govt to tell you how to manage predators on your farm.
@@fritzthecat9451 the govt doesn’t tell me how, what are you even talking about? I’m protecting my flock. Smh
@@araefox if that's your position then you shouldn't have trouble eliminating the threats to your flock. That's what I'm talking about. I will not shake your hand because you didn't do anything besides miss the point.
@@fritzthecat9451 okie dokie. Lol
Had a family of foxes take out some of my birds.
I got my revenge, haven’t seen a fox in 2 years. It’s definitely a mom teaching her kits how to hunt. Chickens are easy targets for young ones to learn on. They will be back.
I know this has been said before, but that coop will not keep out foxes. I have seen a full grown adult fox get through a 3 inch pvc pipe to get inside a coop.
You are gonna have to trap them and shoot them. You might not want to kill the predators but if you don’t you won’t have much of a farm left.
Also, once predators mark your farm more will start coming. Coyotes, bobcats and even wild hogs if you have them in your area. It’s like a dinner bell was rung and they are all hungry.
Don’t get live traps. Get some foot holds and conibear body traps. Good luck.
Josh, the only thing I can think of is keeping your German shepherds with your chicken coop to protect them, until you get a specific guard dog dedicated to your chickens.
A lot of homesteaders/farmers keep dogs with their goats and chickens.
This is about the only thing I can think of.
First off, you kill the foxes
@@brandonm6052 All the foxes, and the badgers and the hawks.. all of them in an area so large that ut will take them years to move back in.. right? Might asewell kill off neighbours dogs as well, since stray dogs are one of the biggest pests when it comes to having livestock harassed and killed.
Really dude.. all you can come up with, is kill? Removing existing predators will just cause trouble down the line.. they are needed in the area unless they are an unvasive species.. then by all means , kill it.
Find ways to stop predators from getting to the farmstock to begin with.. be it dogs or fencing or a human guard.. whatever..
Bullets are cheaper than a new live stock guardian dog. Because even if he does put a dog with them they will still eventually get to the chickens as soon as that dog isn't around or paying attention. Especially in the winter when they dont have all the other stuff to eat they will start to get brave as nd test those dogs more and more to see where they are week at.
Maybe have an automatic door for
Your dogs open at 8:45 am right before the chickens come out
This really sucks. It's devastating. About 8 years ago, we had a pack a dogs run our cattle. The cattle are in a leased pasture about 25 miles away. We lost 8 cows. They were really old, but kept having calves so we kept them. My neighbor lost 12 or 13 lambs. If chickens are out, dogs are out. I keep binoculars on the kitchen table by the back door to keep watch along with a 22lr. Same rifle goes with me to check my other pasture.
The 22 would have had a fine effect on any fox/foxes killing my chickens(I don't do warning shots). You'd be surprised by how small an opening a fox can get through, so the chickens going inside would just make them easier to catch.
Check with your county agent or a game and fish agent about trapping/shooting the foxes(you seemed to have already done so from watching). The good thing about a trap is it is always awake. The down side is a non-target species may come for the bait -you may get raccoons, opossums, etc. instead of foxes, but bothe of those will predate your livestock too. Since you cannot relocate live animals, you must kill them. It is a part of the business, but composting animals is a part of nature as well and those minerals will replenish your soil.
Josh, I feel for you. You invest so much physical & emotional time into our animals that it hits hard when something like this happens. We have had this situation (predation) with our chickens & sheep/goats. We had to kill a cougar and her two 1 year old cubs that got into the pen and killed our 2 guard llamas 3 goats and 12 sheep. We caught them at it and they were killing any animal they could catch. I shot them, left them where they fell and called Fish & Game department who came out and did an investigation and told us that what we did was legal. We did that with Fish & Game so that there would no repercussions legally. If you would rather not shoot them, still contact Fish & Game and they should be able to grant you a permit to trap the predators. Those foxes WILL keep coming back!! The door into your coop WILL NOT keep a fox out. A small door into our coop did not stop them either. The electric fence will help. Good luck!!
I practice the 3 S's. Absolutely no reason to seek permission from the govt to protect your property.
👍 thats a wild story
Jose I feel your pain. I had 2 turkeys and 6 guineas killed in 1 night. I never let my birds free range any more due to the predators on my farm over here in Wentworth. I have had foxes and coyotes on my game cameras. Sorry man!
The same thing happened to us, inky it was dumped out dogs in the middle of the night dug under the gate and killed 2 big turkeys and 42 chickens and damaged a dozen more. It was traumatic to all of us.
I'm so sorry. That's very sad. 😔
Horrible. So sorry.
Never a better time to learn some trapping skills till now,if you were to contact the game commission they would likeley give you a permit to shoot or trap them out of season
Asking the government for permission again? C'mon man!
You don't need the government's permission to trap or kill nuisance animals on your own property any time of the year
@@DonnieDarko727exactly. We don’t ask anybody. However, round here you have “permission” to kill them if they threaten livestock without any permits.
Where I live, if you are a farm and it is a threat to your crop or animals no permit needed.
It’s simple your livelihood has been taken, you need to act and act quickly to defend your homestead. They are fed, now clean the barn for your neighbor.
I have a flock of 48 birds and recently had a major issue with a full litter of coyote pups. I have the same rights to my animals like you. I can only defend, not relocate. It took about 2 weeks of keeping my birds locked up, and spraying cougar urine around the perimeter of my property on trees and poles around 2’ up. Coyotes are gone and the birds are once again roaming freely.
I did that on my mountain property to keep the coyotes away but I used wolf pee. It worked.
Yeah, from a previous video, I wondered what the purpose of the German Shepherds were if they were just going to be kenneled up.
Some of the chickens may have runoff into the woods to hide as well, since you had so many. But I’ve seen other homesteaders UA-cam channels, and their chickens were attacked by hawks, and the chickens started hanging out in bushes under the trees.
I wanted to get backyard chickens. My hubby said no. I discovered that we have foxes that go through our backyard garden on camera.
They jump the 6ft wall and walk around like nothing. I even had a fox visit me at work about 2-3 miles from home. One jumped the 10ft wall and were walking along the wall by my room. I’m not getting any for now. They are just waiting on them.
One fox laid down in my backyard like a dog. We had to scare him off. They are used to seeing me. They must watch me when I’m in the garden. It started when I used chicken manure in the garden.
Also, I was told not to use any automatic doors on another channel. They said foxes observe and will learn the schedule. Sorry for your loss.
The GSDs are a decent deterrent, but they aren't necessarily meant to be livestock guardians. You NEED livestock guardian dogs that have the specific job of guarding your chickens. I love the idea of chickens being able to free-range, but it does leave them super vulnerable to both aerial and ground predator attacks.
Granted an LGD will need training, so there will be a portion of time where the chickens might still be slightly vulnerable. But in most cases people stop experiencing losses to predators when LGDs come onto the scene. If you know for certain that the fox family is living in your neighbor's abandoned barn, then you really do need a couple of dogs dedicated to guarding your poultry. Those foxes are habituated to humans and livestock at this point. They were way too comfortable attacking in broad daylight like that and not really being too scared of gunshots going off.
Lived in SW Virginia and had 120 chickens........one morning all was quiet and when I opened the chicken house all but 9 were dead........investigation found paw prints on door and window.....black bear killed to be killing........we were sickened by the carnage
We’ve had this happen too often in the past as well. We put a Premier 1 portable solar electric fence around the perimeter of our chicken coop in the pasture.We haven’t had any issues for years now.
Very sorry to see this. Electric netting absolutely helps with this…but only if you have it setup and charged.
@@BigOulton17 yes we leave it on 24hrs/day and the solar panel energizes without issue from our experience. We've used them for over 10 years without fail.
Only if they're NOT flighty birds. Every once and a while I'll have one fly over my 4' Premier 1 fence.
@@CabinGirl2001 same here, but it's another layer of defense against predators and like I said we haven't lost a single chicken with it and it's been over 10 years
@@CabinGirl2001Yup, I had a Prairie Bluebell Egger(part leghorn) that routinely flew over the electric fence before I gave them their evening scratch. I clipped her wing yesterday morning and the same day during dinner, she managed to still fly out and was snatched up and carried away by a fox. She was squatting and just getting ready to lay soon.☹️. I’m sure the fox will be back for my young escape artists whose wings I also clipped
Having lost almost 200 chickens to foxes in a single night, I can assure you that a fox would indeed get into that coop. Some of my pop-holes are smaller than that.
I'm afraid the one and only way to keep your birds safe is to exterminate all of those foxes. They know where the hens are now and they'll just be an all-you-can-eat buffet as and when the foxes fancy an easy meal. Once you have cleared the problem you can start thinking about prevention, as foxes are all about ease of hunting. But you'll never keep the current pack away.
My grandfather had chickens and he kept them in a chicken coop with fine mesh wire that went down about three feet into the ground and was about eight feet high. The only exception was the gate that he had to open to get into it, but it opened over a slab of concrete that was about 2 in deep. The only way other critters could get in is if someone forgot to close the gate. He also had about nine cows for milking. My dad told me those cows when it was time to go into the barn would lineup in order and then they would each go to their own stanchion. 😊 Then some of the milk was sold to the surrounding area most of the time through a grocery store. The milk was kept cold through a ditch that ran through my grandfather's farm. The water was ice-cold and he would put two of those old-fashioned big silver colored containers down into the water and there was a cement barrier on both sides with the hole in it about as big around as a basketball to let the water through but to keep the milk jugs from floating down stream. Once in a while he would make a big barrel of butter and sell it. So he always had eggs, he would go up into the hills and wait for an elk or a dear and shoot it and bring it back and have it cut and wrapped and it put it into a freezer and the meat would last quite a long while. He grew his own corn he grew apples and he grew different kinds of berries so my grandmother could make pies. His barn was beautiful and it was made by a swedish man that preferred to do a lot of the carpentry when he was about half-drunk. The entire cost of the materials was $300. There was no electricity there so he did it all by hand with a handsaw, hammers and nails. When it was done the upstairs loft was so beautiful they decided to have Barn dances and play basketball in there and it was never used for hay. after my grandfather had purchased all of that lumber at $300 which is a lot of money back then the carpenter went to work sawing all of it before he began which made my grandfather very nervous but it turned out.
Wonderful memories, beautifully and thoughtfully shared. Thank you.
Personally I think this is just a thing that happens when you free-range them but that's farm life.... One thing I would recommend is maybe some guinea fowl But, to be honest I'm surprised that you haven't dealt with raccoons with the coop. Foxes are normally a huge huge issue with any type of coop and on top they can get it if they are determined I will say that door is plenty big for the fox to get in sadly. Sorry for all the loss of chickens.
I'm so.sorry, Josh!! Om April 7th, my neighnors dog broke into my coop and slaughrered 37 hens and 2 roosters. And in 2020, this same neighbors dog (father to this dog), killed 16 of my hens and 1 rooster. He went right through my Premier 1 fencing. And in Hawaii, we cannot shoot the dog. Cruelty to animals. What about my ooir girls and roos?! 😢
I had 6 chickens killed in Jan, from far neighboring house dogs. What made me angry the most was that the dogs didn't even eat them. They just played with and tortured the chickens and left them broken/torn up all over my yard. One hen looked the saddest and had the most gruesome death with her entire back from head to tail completely bald, on my driveway. 2 roosters, father and son, died next to each other, looked like they fought hard and the dogs grabbed them by their necks.
i think dogs killed 25 of mine in the daylight in one day
I think u forgot to aim your 22? I’ve learned of u aim them at the bag guy they tend to quit attacking stuff due to their inability to move anymore.
We had a coyote problem. Lost 26 chickens to them. Got two LGD (Great Pyrenees) and haven't lost another chicken since - going on 5 years now.
Did you buy pups, and did you train them?? We have watched training videos, I don't think I can do it all. Thank you.
I am so sorry! 😥 we have lost 12 chickens from our flock (from old heads to babies) in two months alone. It’s crazy the frenzy they will go on! There’s still a family living around us, so I’ve had to change my chickens free ranting schedules.
That's key. The predators learn schedules, so it's good to change it up.
I keep my chickens safe.... The coop is predator proof, as is the run, completely enclosed, and surrounded with pavers to stop diggers (I hate diggers!). Whenever I let the chickens out to free range, I supervise with a Glock 23 in my pocket, and I don't take my eyes off the birds.... We got all the predators here at the homestead, foxes, coyotes, skunks, racoons, rattlesnakes, and hawks too.
My buddy planted a carefully-curated state forester-approved multi-species crop of trees on his 40 acres of timber land, to replace the timber previously harvested. He and his wife thought it was important to avoid a mono-culture stand of trees, and return the land to as close to native as the state would allow. He had ducks and geese on the pond, chickens in the coop, and some goats in the barn. He was enjoying living in his park-like setting. The coyotes began wrecking havoc on the ducks and geese, so Steve was becoming a good shot on the coyotes from his porch. Some friends were calling Steve the "Great White Hunter". Finally he killed the last coyote, and life was once again peaceful and good. He could enjoy his coffee on the deck, with not a coyote to be heard. A short time later the rabbit population absolutely Exploded (notice the capital "E"), and all of the new rabbits girdled and killed all of his new seedlings. I understand it cost him $5K to replant again. Aggressively manage predator population at your own peril.
There are ways to take out rabbits. Some not pretty or kind, but effective.
Rabbits are east to kill too
Everything has a necessary balance, that’s for sure!
WOW!
sorry to see what happened....I have 0 tolerance for anything that attacks my food source.
Me2 I used a Gamo air rifle to take out the possums.
It's quiet and effective
When we lived on the farm the problem that we had with chickens was we lost our flock several times because of a mink. I trapped the area and caught seven or eight mink and the issue went away. I would trap the fox ASAP if you plan on continuing to raise chickens you are going to address the problem. Your pasture chickens is GOLDEN CORRAL for Fox to get free meals. We lived in Southern Illinois.....
One day my wife went inside for lunch, came out to feathers all over in and outside of the chicken yard. We had a visit from a Bobcat just like that. Unless you have a enclosed run they are never safe
Sorry for your loss, getting hit by a predator is rough. You’ve got a few options to take care of that problem
Sorry for your loss, that sucks.
We had five of them hanging around our property for some time, they'll go through a lot smaller hole than your chicken door very quickly. sorry to say
I'd get you a few sharp shooters & set up and a game call; you can try several different calls/sounds to draw them out. Make it count the first time, they learn fast.
I'd also: Set up the premier one electric poultry netting.
Make sure the dogs are out when coop is open.
Set some traps.
Good luck, hope your day gets better.
Maybe you can make a nice fox cap!
We have a Great Pyrenees that guard our goats and chickens. Our neighbors had chickens that free ranged and a fox got every one of them. I think we lost one in our enclosed area because I saw feathers all over the ground. We moved a fence so our guard dog could roam all sides of our enclosure. Since our neighbor doesn’t have any more chickens to feed the fox it may be trying to get ours now. So far moving the fence has helped. We have a you tube video on Oathers legacy farm to kind of show you what we did
Yup my GSD has done a great job protecting our flock
( johns wife ann here ) make the fencing around them smaller . get some long poles and put poultry netting over top . they can still free range , but will be safer
You definitely need an LGD, preferably two. They work best in pairs. The thing I've heard about Premier fencing is that the bottom wire isn't hot. That keeps it from shorting out on grass, but predators can slip under it. 😢
I use steel with plastic hook tent pegs and put one in the middle of each section of fence. Seems to work
I expect foxes, coyotes, and bobcats to be predators. It surprised me when I saw the foxes eating blackberries and strawberries. Didn’t know they did that.
be glad it wasn't a mink, you wouldn't have any chickens ... I had a mink about 3 weeks ago actually claw and eat through the roof to get to my chickens ... not a single one left alive
I had a bad predator attack earlier this season and lost 13 productive layers that were inside an open coop within electrified poultry netting. In our case, the fence was not hot and there was room for the predator to get under it and avoid any shock. Since then, I've kept the fences hot and used push-in fence stakes to pin the bottom of the fence where needed. So far, so good. If I had been locking them in at night they would have been untouched.
I think the fox could get through the chicken door.
I also have a fox problem. I have lost over thirty chickens. I just got me a live trap also. I even caught the fox on camra trying to get my tomcat.
I've had the fox chase my chickens around my premier fencing, the chickens get flustered and fly out. By the time I got the gun he and the chicken were gone. I now have them locked up in a totally enclosed pen.
I’m sorry for the farms loss. :(
Unfortunately free ranging comes with the risk of an easy meal for predators.
We had too many close calls (fox and hawks) so now we only let our chickens out if we are in the yard.
Also, as others stated- a hungry fox(especially a momma) won’t hesitate to go right up into the coop.
my hawks were so bad at getting the young I had to let the brush and trees start to grow up on the pasture so they had a place to hide.
German Shepherds/ dogs in general are great deterrents. Our dogs get along great with our chickens/turkeys we leave them all roam. They're great at scaring bears off too! Sorry for your loss. Those foxes identified a food source. They'll be back.
I’m no farmer but I think the foxes will be back tomorrow to finish the job.
No trying to kick you when you're down, but if you knew that a family of 9 predators were living next door, you should have had multiple traps set, regardless of what you catch.
Set the traps, catch the foxes and take them to "the stump boy".
I am sorry that you had such a tragic fatality. The fact that you knew of nine foxes in an old barn, I would not depend on automated door opening. The foxes knew the time of day the door would open based on their scrutinizing observation.
We had predator problems 3 years ago when i wasn't keeping the net fence hot. I have kept the net HOT ever since and no problems. Tons of coons and foxes here.
Sorry for your loss. I just learned about the catch and release law down there. Interesting. I would suggest either putting electric mesh around the whole perimeter or dig out your electric netting and put it around the coop so they can't wonder far [ means clipping wings though. Tie a sardine can on each of the sides to one of the electric wires in the netting on the outside of the netting. I would also not be letting them out for a bit either and keep an eye on the other coop - foxes will dig under. You can bury chicken wire on the flat around the coop though about 2'' out.
We had a fox in our hen/duck house about 40 years ago on Christmas day.. 1 fox killed every chicken/duck we had. 20 chick's 4 ducks. We got him as he was leaving.
A good way to attract foxes to a trap is by taking advantage of their natural curiosity about hidden food.
Dig a hole about 6 inches in diameter and around 10 inches deep.
Bury slightly spoiled meat in the hole, being certain to leave a little bit exposed.
Add a bit of commercial fox lure or bait to the hole.
Place the cage trap over the hole so that the rear of the trap covers the actual hole itself.
With this arrangement, the fox will have to walk into the trap to get a look at the hole.
It's tough to get a fox to walk in a cage it can see through. It's tough to get him to walk on the floor of the cage. Those foxes know almost everything in their area. One close call and they become tougher to catch. Hate to put it this way but, he struggled with the muskrats I think those foxes are safe unless he shoots one of them.
I had weasel issues, I added "wire cloth' all around the fence area. 400 ft long, 60 in high
and the openings are 1/2 in squares = from McMaster Carr. love that place.
there is also electric on the fence.
That socks when it happens. We had 6 hens killed by a predator last month. It's always a setback on the farm.
I take hog panels, bend them in a U shape. Wire over top. Flair the wire at the bottom. This won’t keep them out but it will make it harder to get in buying you some time. Really easy to relocate when you move your coop. There’s 4 less raccoons and possums here this year already.
I think you should consider a Guard Goose. I've seen a lot of videos of other farmers with mobile chicken coops that have a guard goose (or two), and they say they work for flying predators too. And, if you're not keeping your fencing electrified 24/7, you might want to.
The foxes are watching you. Fences are your best bet. That groundhog den may become a fox den.
This isn't adding up, no blood, no bones, and what looks like down feathers? at the minimum there should be blood literally everwhere, especially on the feathers. I had 12 chickens as a boy that where killed by a neighbors dog and the entire coop was red inside. 26 birds even small as those are would be at least a gallon of blood.
lol....a gallon of blood? The chickens were out in the pasture....free ranging when the foxes came and chased them all over the field...they grabbed them, bit them, killed them an hauled them away my friend...these are small chickens
Our dog died about a month ago and within 2 weeks we lost 5 hens to either a fox or raccoon. Never saw what it was but it had to climb up the side of the coop to get the last 3 inside of the coop. The eves weren’t secure. Been working all week redoing the coop and run.
Don't overlook an opossum as a predator that climbs although raccoon is most common.Raccoons will find EVERY entrance, believe you me.Great horned owls will go into a coop too.Everthing likes the taste of chicken.
WOW Josh, im, sorry that happened. Man that family of foxes has got to go! I love animals and all but you can't have terminators just in the tree line. We just got chickens for the first time and this is exactly our worst possible senero.
Foxes aren't endangered and have no predators. Their numbers only grow with unlimited house cat + small dog lunch ticket pass.
If you cannot dispatch the foxes yourself whether it’s trapping or shooting them then you need to find someone who can for you
Yes. They will raise their young to know where food is.
I'm sorry for your loss. We just experience this a month ago. Thought it was a chicken hawk but from your video and the feather pattern, I'm leaning on fox, coon, or coyote.
My buddy had a family of Fox come in and eat his chickens. I told him go outside and put a stuffed animal on the ground. Put a chicken distress call on your phone and leave it next to the stuffed animal. Hide nearby with a shotgun. I got a phone call 10 minutes later saying I can't believe that worked
Set-up a tree stand on the perimeter of the woods, grab your .22lr and get to shooting. Especially since you already know where the foxes are bedding. Poor chics
That just costs you money in chickens, feed, and time.
I was thinking the same thing...turn into a sniper and start taking out your targets.
I am so sorry about your loss. Unfortunately, this is the reality of having chickens. We have lost several to foxes, too. MAY GOD BLESS the rest of your flock❤❤❤
Wow I'm so sorry. I know how upset I was just losing my rooster to a predator that's a lot of loss. Hopefully someone has a good solution. I sure don't think I'm the person to hand out that advice.
We have foxes here and our electric fence so far plus having the coop under a tree for protection from hawks and a place for the chickens fly upward from ground predators. Once the door is open a predator will be able to get in. We lost 24 out of 25 chickens our first time with chickens. We notice the foxes like to come out during the day here too and not when dark. We also use motion detectors with sirens as an added protection. Yet we still had a coon get past the fence and detector and killed a smaller chicken that was in a separate area with one other chick and our bunnies.
Sorry this happened. I have learned a lot from your channel. I suggest getting a guardian like an Anatolian shepherd or Great Pyrenees. I have seen most videos , but not all so if you mentioned some reason you can’t have a guardian dog, I missed it. Again sorry it happened.
This is the time of the year that predators have to feed their young offspring it’s the farmers responsibility to understand how all animals live 🤔
So sorry Josh. We’ve been dealing with the same issues. Between the possums, raccoons, bobcats and everything else, we’ve lost all but two Roos and a hen in the last two months. It’s very frustrating
We have that same chicken door you can program it through an app where to open at a certain time instead of using daylight. You can also set it to manual so it will not open unless you hit that button
The fox can get in that door.
You are luckier than us over the past 4 years. We have lost at least 40 birds. Had a raccoon climb up the coop into the opening at the rafters and get inside and kill 3 most recently. Each loss we find more way to secure the coop to prevent loss.
We use premiere one on our mobile coop and as long as we keep it electrified I’ve never had a problem..
I’m sorry to hear about this. It’s one of my worse nightmares.
Run a double layer of fence circled around the coop, 24 - 30 inches apart they won't see the second fence and not jump long enough to clear both. They will learn that the fence bites and could get trapped between the fences so you can dispose if it.
Two years ago I almost was cleaned out like you.
Got a German Shepherd, Belgian melanoi mix, she runs loose and I never see a fox.
I'm sorry this happened to your chickens, Praying God will provide More Chickens. God Speed ❤
God won't provide more chickens! He'll have to buy some.
Dang. This is a sad day on the farm. All we can do is learn and adjust.
I thought you said that the rooster was at your front door. Also the rooster could be so scared that he's not responding to you due to protecting himself. I'm sorry that this happened to you this sucks. I had similar problems when I was living in missouri on my hobby farm 20 years ago but it was coyotes and I had a cat and a small dog a pom and I had a rooster that adopted us when we moved in. But I never had issues with them cause I used a small firearm to scare them off.
just lost 8 last week. (neighbors dog). I was in town at the time (with my Kangal), when the neighbor came over with her dog. It’s a shocking shame to lose birds esp in high numbers. Plug in the incubator again….that’s what I did. Level up!
So sorry for your losses! Tough day for sure!
Our 10 were killed by a neighborhood dog in about 20 minutes. I say it that way because they were not eaten, just killed. Two were missing, the others were left laying.
Funny you mention premiere fencing as that's the company I was goin to use for my turkeys 😵. How did they get in?
Nice coop by the way!
I had neighbor dogs come through and kill 10 chickens and 2 guineas ... at least the fox didn't waste them 🤔
Neighbor would learn quick to replace chickens or lose dogs.
Premier 1 fencing is great. You actually need to USE the fence PROPERLY, which was not done here.
I heard the fox go into the coop during the daytime when the door is open and they wait for the chickens to come inside when it gets dark. The chickens can't see the fox. That's what happened to somebody I know.
It’s nature! Tough loss, need to take additional measures.
They say the only fool proof solution is to kill all the fools... the same goes for chicken predators. Your chickens are the bottom of the food chain with multiple predators. skunk, possum, raccoon, fox, coyote, bobcat, feral cats, dogs, hogs, and hawks, eagles, owls. and snakes. My sister has lived across the creek from me for the past 56 years.... about every 7 seven years she tries chickens or goats again. GOOD LUCK.
So sorry to hear about the loss. Im afraid once they know where to get an easy meal the foxes will come back ,no doubt about it. I agree with alot of the comments below and put an electrical perimeter around the coop. it should get them used to knowing where the safe place will be when a predator comes around because the only place for them to run will be the coop. once they are used to that and the predators realize there efforts are useless my hope is they will go elsewhere to find food . Like the rabbit population🐇🦫🐭🐀
A fox will chase them right into the coop and slaughter them. One of the dangers of free ranging poultry is that you really can't create a secure perimeter. Those mobile electric net fences will stop some predators, but not all of them. Don't let anyone tell you different. It'll happen. My advice is to select breeds that are more self-reliant. Lots of people use the fluffy, heavier bodied, dual purpose type layers and expect them to do well on range. Eventually, they're going to get massacred because they're just too heavy, too docile, etc. and lack the inherent survival skills to thrive unprotected. Pick a so-called Light Breed to produce free range eggs and provide places where they can get off the ground to avoid four legged predators. I breed Campines and they spend half the year on unprotected range. Over fifteen years, my predatory losses among my Campines have been precisely ZERO even though I've sometimes lost other breeds. (Note: We've bred poultry on the property for 60+ years and predators were always a problem. They certainly know where I'm at and I've had late night attacks from the usual fare of predators. My Campines will raise up a vocal storm and the whole flock will scatter like quail in as many directions as there are Campines even in the pitch black when those fluffy heavy boned, brown egg breeds will just sit there like sacrificial lambs. During the day, the males keep watch on the sky and if there is so much as a shadow overhead or a strange noise, they'll raise an alarm and where there were previously 100 Campines, in a matter of seconds, they're gone like a flash into cover and you'd be hard pressed to find them until the danger passes). Fayoumi, Anconas, Hamburgs, Buttercups and others also possess good survival skills. They'll lay smaller eggs than the big dual purpose layers, but in addition to laying plenty of eggs, they'll do it on a less feed. If you're raising poultry for meat, you're more limited, but there are still choices like Bresse, LaFleche, Dorkings and others that will provide a good sized carcass, but still possess some pretty inherent survival skills. Most of these breeds are hundreds of years old and there's a reason why they continue to persist. The important thing is, you need to provide cover and the ability for the birds to get off the ground, even if it's artificially constructed and mobile. The open field is a killing field waiting to happen. I know you need pasture for the cows, but I'd start adding some perrenials that provide good cover and are also beneficial to your needs. I love pastures as much as any old farm boy, but they really are death traps for most poultry. Most important of all, you really need to get rid of your fox problem. They'll be back soon looking for more and would be prime to trap after such a big killing spree like this. Live traps baited with chicken backs WIRED in to the back of the trap past the trigger plate will clean house on them.
In the 1 year I have owned chickens, I have had to kill 12 racoons. The racoons have killed about as many chickens. I agree about the importance of native predators, but remember that we are the highest teir native predator. Even if you kill all 9 fox, you will have touched but a fraction of your local population. Also if I were you, I would still look at a premeir 1 fence. It might not stop the fox completely, but it could buy your chickens extra time to survive.
Consider a llama or alpaca. I understand that they hate foxes and coyotes and they eat grass.
I always watch the older videos before bed. It's nice to go to bed on a good note as well as wake up with a good note. So thanks again.
I understand your thoughts at the time due to what happened. It's a shame we have to go through things like this. I didn't want to talk to folks after Saturday but this fox in a hen house makes a great example or analogy of the point of what happens when one knows what is about to happen.
The best solution is prevention, not reaction like you said. Gonna get you a few views again, thanks Josh. Mistakes will be made in all aspects of life. Best we learn from them so we can do our best to prevent them. 🍻
Oh, and rain dance!😅
That happened to mine last year. Our chickens were attacked during the day. It's gone now...