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Foxes
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I have just had a fox come into my garden and kill 3 of my chickens,what would be the most humane way of getting rid of it or trap it.
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Foxes will only kill chickens if they can and it's your duty to ensure your chickens are safe. Foxes don't carry keys or wire cutters, if they can't get in, they can't cause any problems. A fox, given the opportunity will kill more than it will eat in one sitting, this is not killing for pleasure, it's common sense. Kill when it's available, no different to us going shopping, rarely do we shop for the day, we shop for the week and store the rest!
I personally think it is cruel to kill a fox who could have cubs which would starve to death, but thats me, I wouldnt kill anything. Keep the chickens in a secure area, both day and night, and you shouldnt have a problem. It is illegal to catch a fox and relocate it to another area due to mange, and it wouldnt survive anyway, as the other foxes are territorial and would kill it.
I personally think it is cruel to kill a fox who could have cubs which would starve to death, but thats me, I wouldnt kill anything. Keep the chickens in a secure area, both day and night, and you shouldnt have a problem. It is illegal to catch a fox and relocate it to another area due to mange, and it wouldnt survive anyway, as the other foxes are territorial and would kill it.
Environmental Health will set a tray and kill it. Foxes are very adaptable animals, the countryside is no more its "proper", habitat than any other; urban areas are just one more habitat., and they "belong" there just as much as anywhere else. As I said before you cannot move a wild animal to a new area, release it, and hope it will instantly settle down and live happily ever after. Releasing foxes in a new area just doesnt work . It is unlikely that there will be a vacant territory and the animal will be attacked by other foxes and will wander around looking for somewhere to live. Since it does not know the area, it will not know the danger spots or best feeding sites. Invariably it will die fairly soon, and it would have been far more humane to have killed the fox rather than dump it in a strange area.
Exactly right, my cousin is head of the crofting comission in a district of the highlands and they have a huge problem with people releasing urban foxes from Inverness etc, as they cannot cope with life in the country, having adapted to living in cities. As a result they scavenge from bins rather than hunt, and when they do hunt they take livestock rather than rabbits etc because they are easier to catch. Also, foxes are very malicious creatures, someone shot a vixen and before the dog was tracked and killed a fortnight later it had killed nearly a hundred lambs - far more than the two of them would ever have taken.
Basically, don't try and take the law into your own hands because you never know if it's not got a partner somewhere who will make you VERY sorry, and don't even think about "rehoming" it because it just doesn't work. The best thing you can do is make a safer coop.
Basically, don't try and take the law into your own hands because you never know if it's not got a partner somewhere who will make you VERY sorry, and don't even think about "rehoming" it because it just doesn't work. The best thing you can do is make a safer coop.
I live rurally and we do have a problem with foxes.Touch wood I have only had two chickens taken in five years.This was only because I had a hundred free range chickens as well as ducks,geese and turkeys.and I failed to count them all in one night.The silly chickens had hidden from me but the fox found them during the night.Saying that I had one chicken go missing only to turn up three weeks later with her brood of seven chicks.She had obviously hidden herself well away from any foxes.
Foxes only tend to prey on domesticated fowl when they have young to feed and local wildlife is scarce.
I have had neighbours who have stood feeding there chickens and a fox has jumped over the hedge,grabbed a chicken and jumped back over again.
I have five dogs who have the run of my land and I don't know if the smell of their doggy deposits puts the foxes off.
Foxes only tend to prey on domesticated fowl when they have young to feed and local wildlife is scarce.
I have had neighbours who have stood feeding there chickens and a fox has jumped over the hedge,grabbed a chicken and jumped back over again.
I have five dogs who have the run of my land and I don't know if the smell of their doggy deposits puts the foxes off.