I have raised chickens for a few years now. I use to have my chicken coop along side the fence that seperates our property from our neighbors but out of consideration for them decided to build a new coop on the other side of our property. our neighbors never complained about the chickens but i figured when they (the neighbors) started crowing that meant they were hearing to much crowing to early in the morning.

I went to the selectmens meeting with my rough scetch of the new chicken coop and a map of our property where the coop would be built. i was given approval and blessings from the selectmen. I am very lucky to live in a town where they work to keep it as rural as possible.

My partner and I did not have any real plans on what the coop would look like we just started digging holes for 8x8 post and 2 months later we had a coop that was the envy of all chicken owners and also a lot of neighborhood kids who thought it would be neat for a playhouse.

We put our chickens in the coop and they thrived. A major problem developed though. We built our coop in the woods and the fox loved this. I was always on guard. it seemed like evryday i would be minus a hen or two.

One day i was in the coop looking out one of the windows and a fox approached the chicken run. The fox laid down by the fence and watched the chickens. After a little while the chickens decided to get a closer look at the fox. As soon as a group of chickens had gathered only 1 feet from the fox with only chicken wire seperating them the fox jumped on the fence. The chickens paniced. One of the hens flew over the fence. I ran out the door and jumped over the fence which was 5' tall (i'm only 5'4" tall) iran after the fox who was chasing the chicken into the field across the road. I yelled at the fox when i was on its heels. The fox stopped, i stopped, the fox snarled at me for some reason i snarled back at the fox. The fox thought i was a tad bit strange so he gave up his chase (for that day).I took the chicken back to the coop. As i passed the section of the fence i had jumped over i bragged to my partner, "I may be short and old (40) but i'll tell you what I can sure jump, just look at this as i stood with the fence just a little above my chin. (o.k. back to the fox)

The fox made daily visits and the number of hens decreased with each visit. Several times we were able to see the fox running off with a chicken. My partner use to shoot at the fox all the time. He claimed everytime that he got the fox but the funny thing is i always watched them just trot off a little ways and sit in some brush and watch him. If the fox were smart they would cross the street. I never let my partner shoot across the street. I would point out that it was illegal. He would get so mad that I wouldn't let him break the law just once.

One day i came home from work to find a fox playing in the back yard> i watched the fox for a little while. After several minutes the fox walked over to the chicken coop. I watched as the fox went from playful to stalking. I ran in the house and got the shot gun. I had never shot a gun before but this didn't stop me. I went into the yard aimed the gun at the fox and pulled the trigger, nothing happened. I pulled again and still nothing. I held the gun out carefully and looked for a lock. I found a red button and pushed. I aimed at the fox again as it got closer to the chicken coop, as the fox went behind a tree i had to wait until i could see the fox in the v-notch of the tree, i pulled the trigger, the fox dropped on the spot. I was shaking bad. I had never killed anything before and had never shot a gun before. I walked over and looked at the fox. What a sight. I couldn't see where I shot the fox but it smelled really bad and it was mangy looking.

My partner came home from work and I showed him the fox.; I thought the least he could do was bury it but oh no not him, he said,"you shot it you bury it, and cut it's tail off to hang in a tree by the coop." I sure put up a stink about doing that but he won. I carried the fox up the hill into the woods. I cut off its tail (which really made me feel terrible in more ways then one). I dug a hole put the fox in it, put dirt over the hole and then placed a log over the grave to keep other animals out.

As i walked down the hill,out of the woods I heard a terrible amount of noise coming from behind me. I glanced back and saw something running after me. I started to run, thinking that i hadn't killed the fox and now the fox was real mad at me. My heart was pounding to the point where i thought i was having a heart attack. As i ran i kept looking back. In the shadows of the trees I could see this wild animal running into trees and bouncing off of them. It looked like the fox was crazed.

Finally I got to the lawn that seperated our house from the woods. I stopped and watched the fox as it lost energy and then stopped completely and lay quietly agains a tree. I walked towards the fox with the knife i had cut its tail off with, held out. When I got to the fox i saw that it wasn't the fox after all, it was the log i had put on the foxes grave. (I still felt like i was having a heart attack)

I still feel bad for killing the fox, and everyone gets a kick out of the fox chasing me.

Sorry this is so long. Hope you enjoy.

-- george (bngcrview@aol.com), November 16, 2001

Answers

George, I'm glad the "fox" didn't catch you. lol

-- Murray in ME (lkdmfarm@megalink.net), November 16, 2001.

George, that is a great story and enjoyed it very much. However, if you want to keep poultry you need to put in a bit of effort on the chicken pen as well. If it isn't foxes it will be coyotes, hawks etc. that will dine on your chickens. No need to kill anything, just build a proper pen. so called "Chicken Wire" is not good for anything except keeping chickens "in". It keeps nothing "out"! Use stronger wire with smaller openings. I use 1 X 1" welded wire for my ducks and of course the pens are covered with the same wire. You might post this on The Poultry Connection, Leghorn Forum and should get some good ideas from the experts on chickens there. Good luck, your place sounds beautiful! LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), November 16, 2001.

Hey George, I don't think I could've shot the fox. When I had chickens a few years back, the heat and coyotes got all of them. I did what I could or what I knew to do to keep it from happening, short of buying a gun. That kind of thing is hard for me, especially since I'm a vegetarian. My husband is different though. He's a vegetarian too, but with all the craziness going on in the world right now, he's thinking of getting a gun for protection from humans. He said he would do whatever it took to protect me. It's the sad state of things, I guess. But, we are planning on building a new chicken house/run around the garden (the chicken mote thing). But now, I guess I will need to figure out how to protect the chickens from the coyotes once again. We had a wire roof over the chicken run, but they simply disappeared during the night. Maybe it was possums instead of the very thin coyotes. I never saw any digging or any way into the chicken house. I'm sorry for your experience and I do understand how this has changed you. You are braver than I.

-- Iris (Sar_India@msn.com), November 16, 2001.

Hi Little Quacker.

I learned my lesson about fencing and predators. We no longer use the new coop for chickens,it is now the work shop. We have another chicken coop over near the old coop and the neighbors have started to crow already. I figure if i can listen to my neighbors dog bark all night they should be able to handle a little bit of squaking from my chickens during the day.

I also like the coop classroom.

-- george (bngcrview@aol.com), November 16, 2001.

Little Quaker, The Poultry Connection? Where do I find that? I'd love to read more on chickens before I get started on the new coop again next spring. And thanks for the hint on the wire. Iris

-- Iris (Sar_India@msn.com), November 16, 2001.

Little Quacker, Found it. Cool. Thanks. Iris

-- Iris (Sar_India@msn.com), November 16, 2001.

Hi Iris, I doubt that i would shoot another animal. I would rather shoot them with a camera. I do love the wild life around here, and we have lots of it. I still have stories about the bear, skunks, coyote and more. I hated having the fox tail in the tree it made me feel like i was bragging. I did tell my partner that the fox and any other animal that gets our chickens is only doing what comes natural to them and that we need to be more responsible about how we fence in our chickens,so new coop and new fencing and all is well.

-- george (bngcrview@aol.com), November 16, 2001.

This is only semi-related to the above story; but I can sure understand the dilemma about shooting something. Just the other day there was a sick & suffering raccoon right in our front yard. My husband wouldn't be home for hours, and I couldn't stand the idea of the poor thing lingering for that long. I called my DH at work and he explained how to shoot our .22, and I shot the raccoon. It was pretty simple; he wasn't moving much anyway. Only took one shot. I had mixed feelings...glad he was no longer suffering, but sad that I had to be a part of his death.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), November 16, 2001.

Thanks George for the chuckles.......Lets see, bear- skunk- oh boy!!!!

-- Jim-mi (hartalteng@voyager.net), November 16, 2001.

If there is a gun in the house, and even the slightest chance you could be forced to fire it, you should take a fire arms safety course. If not, don't pick up the gun, live with your decision. Nothing wrong with the decision, but for your safety and possibly others, stay away from any firearms you are not familar with.

-- Rickstir (rpowell@email.ccis.edu), November 20, 2001.