Foxes - are you a lover or hater (or in between) ?

[Mustardmit]

I aim this mainly at posters in urban areas.
Personally, I like them - I like the sounds they make, the look of them, their habits, the fact that (most) cats co-exist with them.
My solution to them tearing into bin-bags is to wash anything that smells 'foody' before throwing it away and placing any compost/left overs into open containers that they will eat from. Any left over food I have to deal with goes under the "fox tree" here where I live.
MM

[tigerlily11]

PS my apologies to LUcca. I see you are anti hunt. but I still stand by my first statement. I just get annoyed with the whole fox hunting issue and the thought that the Tories will bring it back. Not that it went any where.

[fredpuli47]

We're on a farm and we get foxes visiting the garden. But I'm sure you'll see more in a town.Our visitors are a vixen and, occasionally, the dog fox. They are attracted by the presence of the occasional rabbit and, of course, rats in the outbuildings. That's the key.There's not enough food to support more than the pair.In the wild they require quite a territory to support them and one farmhouse isn't enough ! In fact, I don't see more than, probably those, two on the farm itself. The foxes do raise a family in the woods on the farm though.
You town people provide lots of food, not necessarily on purpose, and a few streets will have enough for several foxes, so you'll see plenty.( And fox-hunting is daft.The most inefficient 'pest control' ever devised, not one adopted abroad much!)

[lucca]

Tigerlily - are you suggesting that I'm pro-hunting? I can't stand it, particularly with all its snobbery and "jolly good exercise for the dogs" rubbish. I may have misunderstood your comment but I'm quite civilized. Sorry, Avatar, but my parents had farmed for about a million years and had seen exactly as I describe countless times (so have I but slightly less often!)

[lucca]

Sorry Tigerlily - didn't see you last comment. Thanks.

[tigerlily11]

As I said in the post above freds I do apologize you are a not a hunt follower. the man I rent my house off shoots foxes if they are a problem but hasn't had to do very often recently.
As Fred says it is a very inefficient form of vermin control but I do not consider foxes as vermin.
It is, whether the Tories like to think so or not a class thing. It is only for the wealthy who can afford to keep horses. Those who follow are just social climbers.
But these people like to give out the impression that they are the top of the civilized world yet they do this to a defenceless animal. Not very civilized really.
But they don't have the excuse of just being an animal for their actions.
At least you are civilized enough to know that fox hunting is not on.

[dizmouk2009]

My mother feeds a fox that lives outside the house, it gets a loads of stuff, especially in this weather. The key is not to over feed them though otherwise they breed like mad and they end up eating your other livestock (chickens, ducks, etc, - if you have any that is, like we do).

[slinkycat]

Just a thought,and going off at a bit of a tangent here, but if a fox gets to some hens, surely its the owners fault for not having a fox proof hen house?
As I've mentioned before, I keep hens in an urban garden, they free range all day, even when I'm out at work.
I'd be devastated if I came home to find them slaughtered by an urban fox, but thats a risk I choose to take, so that they can free range. At night they are securely shut into a henhouse with a concrete base, also surrounded by an aviary type enlosure. Again, if a fox managed to get in, I would review the arrangements before I got any more hens, but wouldn't blame the fox.
And yes I agree, fox hunting doesn't seem to be a very efficient control method.

[dizmouk2009]

slinkycat we have the same setup at our house, free range chickens roamins around in a large fenced off area. A good tip for you if you haven't tried it already is to put a chain hanging down near the hutch/hatch (best word I can think of to describe it). Foxes won't go into the house that way because they dislike chains. We have done that ever since a fox came and killed 3 ducks and 18 of our hens. FREE RANGE ALL THE TIME! lovely eggs too, alot nicer than the battery ones (although I wouldn't know, I have never eaten a battery egg, well not knowingly anyway). :)

[tigerlily11]

You would think they would make good fox proof houses.
The old farmer up the road from us has his chickens out all day and they roam the fields around the farm house. He hasn't lost one chicken in about 6 years he recons to a fox.

[slinkycat]

Didn't know that about chains Diz! How awful about your hens and ducks:-( only have 5 hens myself, constant delight, one of the best things I ever did!
Do you find you have created egg addicts among your friends and family though?
Sometimes feel like a supplier, constantly feeding an addiction, and they get low if I don't have enough for their next fix, cos even free range, organic supermarket eggs don't hit the spot anymore!

[tigerlily11]

PS how nice to see all those fox hunting ads down the side of the screen.:-(

[slinky.kate]

i see a lot of foxes here,even in daylight,i hate the noise they make though it sets my dog off,over the past few days i've also seen 3 roe deer eating grass at the side of the motorway,and a kestrel a few weeks ago.i live just on the edge of the town.

[dizmouk2009]

slinky I know what you mean hehe, everytime we get any eggs they disappear! My brother came round before christmas and took a dozen (amazing they were still laying, although only about 3 a day), I was really angry because I'd planned to bake some cakes and realised my eggs had gone. My step father sells them at work for £1.50 a dozen which is great because it pays for the pellets (not that they need that many, I'm always buying supermarket reduced bread, lettuce, cabbage - anything since they eat absolutely anything!).

[society]

To me, foxes always look fierce and ready to attack. I'm scared of them and don't want them around.

[slinkycat]

£1.50 a dozen, thats a bargain, they're nearly 2 quid for half a dozen free range at asda! Can't talk tho, sometimes ask for 50p towards food, but often as not I'm too soft, and just say no, thats ok, you enjoy them!

[dizmouk2009]

Well we don't charge family but we have (has to make an educated guess because I simply can't remember) 18 chickens, 1 cockerel and 3 turkeys that need feeding so we need to charge.

[tamborine]

Who has a cosy fox fur coat for me?

[slinkycat]

So Diz, have to ask,do you use your birds for the table as well? Just wondering because mine have names, and despite certain family members admiring the girth of their thighs, I couldn't eat them even if they stopped laying!

[dizmouk2009]

I don't go as far as calling them names but no they aren't table birds. Even the turkeys are pets too, had to lock them away over christmas as one of them alone is worth £100 in meat. No point risking it is there!

[slinkycat]

Good grief, they must be mega turkeys! You could get them in lidl for 20 quid! Not as tasty though I bet, even though yours aren't destined for the pot.
so do they lay eggs, never heard of turkey eggs for sale?
(get the feeling thats a really stupid question)