Discussion
I have had chickens for the last five years and enjoyed every moment. I have become a bit attached some may say. Two months ago I got three Indian runner ducks and was very pleased with their progress until last night. I live in the suburbs of Bristol and have been well aware that Mr Fox has always been watching my every move.
Most weekends I let my six chickens and three ducks loose in my reasonably big fenced garden and always lock them back in their fully inclosed cage before it gets dark. Last night I was distracted by visitors and delayed the door closing until 7pm and was met by total carnage and murder. My birds were all over the garden, dead, in various ripped apart states.
Once in five years I make one mistake and Mr b
d Fox is in and out in a blink. He didn't take any, he just ripped their necks and heads off. Sorry to share this but be warned chicken owners, the foxes are watching.
Most weekends I let my six chickens and three ducks loose in my reasonably big fenced garden and always lock them back in their fully inclosed cage before it gets dark. Last night I was distracted by visitors and delayed the door closing until 7pm and was met by total carnage and murder. My birds were all over the garden, dead, in various ripped apart states.
Once in five years I make one mistake and Mr b
d Fox is in and out in a blink. He didn't take any, he just ripped their necks and heads off. Sorry to share this but be warned chicken owners, the foxes are watching.Because you probably disturbed him as he was finishing.
Think about it, you come across a stash of food, but it's running around. You don't know how long until your next meal,and you don't mind eating week or more old flesh. What would you do? Yes, you'd kill as much as you could, as quick as you could, then try to store it somewhere.
Hard as it is, and my Dad was very upset when a fox got into his aviary, if the fox can get in, you've not made the cage secure enough, and as you admit, you hadn't locked the birds up when the fox came round.
Nature is a bd at times, and although we have a large back garden, we have lots of foxes around us, and I've seen them in our back garden in the middle of the day. So there's no way I'd have chickens or ducks in the garden. Even our rabbits live in the conservatory, got quite funny when a fox went by the window and the old rabbit squared off to it.
Think about it, you come across a stash of food, but it's running around. You don't know how long until your next meal,and you don't mind eating week or more old flesh. What would you do? Yes, you'd kill as much as you could, as quick as you could, then try to store it somewhere.
Hard as it is, and my Dad was very upset when a fox got into his aviary, if the fox can get in, you've not made the cage secure enough, and as you admit, you hadn't locked the birds up when the fox came round.
Nature is a b
d at times, and although we have a large back garden, we have lots of foxes around us, and I've seen them in our back garden in the middle of the day. So there's no way I'd have chickens or ducks in the garden. Even our rabbits live in the conservatory, got quite funny when a fox went by the window and the old rabbit squared off to it. IroningMan said:
Japveesix said:
Defcon5 said:
Why would it do that and not eat them?
Because it got disturb by the angry chicken owner opening the door, turning on lights etc.Sad thing to happen. My neighbour (also in Bristol area) has lost his chickens two years running to foxes because he's too lazy to go out at night and lock up (not saying OP is like this). Only takes a minute for a hungry fox to have his way.
Once in five years I make one mistake and Mr b
d Fox is in and out in a blink. He didn't take any, he just ripped their necks and heads off. Sorry to share this but be warned chicken owners, the foxes are watching.[/quote]
Foxes will patrol their patch nightly and as you have just found out,one slip up and ...
SmoothCriminal said:
Because they are vermin, heard of foxes getting into the coup and slaughtering every single hen even though max they could probably handle is 1 or 2.
Damn them and their 300m years of evolution. To hell with their exceptional ability to adapt to changing environments and their canny ability to, like man, survive everywhere from the desert to the artic.Perhaps the reason why we hate them so much is because they are a bit too much like ourselves for comfort?
TwigtheWonderkid said:
SmoothCriminal said:
Because they are vermin, heard of foxes getting into the coup and slaughtering every single hen even though max they could probably handle is 1 or 2.
Damn them and their 300m years of evolution. To hell with their exceptional ability to adapt to changing environments and their canny ability to, like man, survive everywhere from the desert to the artic.Perhaps the reason why we hate them so much is because they are a bit too much like ourselves for comfort?
Pothole said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
SmoothCriminal said:
Because they are vermin, heard of foxes getting into the coup and slaughtering every single hen even though max they could probably handle is 1 or 2.
Damn them and their 300m years of evolution. To hell with their exceptional ability to adapt to changing environments and their canny ability to, like man, survive everywhere from the desert to the artic.Perhaps the reason why we hate them so much is because they are a bit too much like ourselves for comfort?
I do f
king hate pidgeons though, fat, flappy, dirty, stupid, useless, flying, disease ridden s that they are. Pothole said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
SmoothCriminal said:
Because they are vermin, heard of foxes getting into the coup and slaughtering every single hen even though max they could probably handle is 1 or 2.
Damn them and their 300m years of evolution. To hell with their exceptional ability to adapt to changing environments and their canny ability to, like man, survive everywhere from the desert to the artic.Perhaps the reason why we hate them so much is because they are a bit too much like ourselves for comfort?
Murder is a legal terms anyway, it's a constuct of human society. Foxes don't commit murder, they kill stuff. And they do what they do because they are programmed that way following millions of years of evolution.
NB. THEY ARE NOT HIDING BEHIND A BUSH WATCHING THE FARMER SURVEY THE SCENE OF DEVESTATION WHILST TITTERING TO THEMSELVES.
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