Fox Attack & Ruffled Feathers

When you first get chickens everybody tells you that the fox will get them. We've had ours for a couple of years now  without any bother from predators (except a visiting dog that killed five). For quite a while we were very lax, leaving the chicken house open the odd night. Then  friends of ours lost all their chickens to something and since then ours have been religiously shut in every night.

A couple of weeks ago we lost one of our red hens. She disappeared without a trace and we came to the conclusion that she must either have gone broody in the hedge with a secret clutch of eggs or a fox got her. It's well known that once a fox finds a stash of tasty hens he'll come back, usually every day, until they're all gone. Yesterday I was just beginning to believe that the red hen couldn't possibly have been taken by a fox because we'd had no problems since. Three other hens have gone broody in the chicken house and because it's the season for it I expected to see the red hen emerge triumphant from the undergrowth any day now with chicks at her side.

Dan and I had been visiting our goats this morning and enjoying a good hearty laugh at the frolics of their kids on the tin roof. We walked up the garden path and both heard a curious noise. It was very obviously from a chicken, but was nothing like any of the calls we'd heard before. We both stopped to listen, looked at each other, then Dan sprinted up the path to the chicken field gate. I ran behind him and we could both see a flash of red fur and the erect ears of a startled fox .... Dan started bellowing like a man possessed and he disappeared into the hedge after the fox thrashing and shouting, doing his best to give it a real scare. Our dog bolted after him barking on the scent and because I was feeling a bit left out of the action I began to shout and screech to hopefully add to the terror of the prowling fox!

Pumped with adrenaline we began counting the chickens. Two of the broodies were still sitting tight on their eggs, but the third broody had disappeared. Out of eight of our chicks we only found four.  The rooster was in a terrible state. He was in the chicken house desperately trying to fly up onto the perch bar, but he kept falling hard on his side and was unable to even flutter six inches off the ground. He kept repeatedly trying and falling, his mouth was gaping and he was gasping for breath. I closed the door so he could calm down but he was in severe shock and I knew we could lose him any moment.

In the meantime Dan had found a huge mound of feathers scattered right across the field. There were so many feathers over such a large area we came to the conclusion that they must have been the remains of the four missing chicks and the broody hen. As we made our way back up the field we saw something white next to a clump of grass. It turned out to be two trembling chicks, hunched down in a bid to hide themselves. We carried them up to the chicken house and they seemed unscathed but the rooster was stilling gasping for breath and now just lying on the ground.

We made immediate plans to fence off a large section of the field for the chickens to free range in safely. I went to start making lunch and thinking about how to break the news to the children and Dan began to clear brambles for a new fence. A few minutes later he came bounding in all smiles ... he had found the final two missing chicks and broody hen in the undergrowth, so all hens were accounted for.

The rooster got to his feet and made a timid appearance. He soon stood tall and began to patrol his patch. We spotted a bare patch of skin on his leg and rear ... it seems he put up an amazing fight with the fox to protect his girls and offspring and that all those feathers scattered across the field belonged to him. I'd like to reward him a medal and a special dinner.

So what seemed to be a predetermined miserable ending actually turned out well. There have been a few things ruffling our family feathers too lately, and I really hope that the chicken's happy ending is a good omen for us.

Comments

[Moonwaves]

Oh my, what a tale! I hope all are still doing well (including you and Dan) - what a morning that must have been. With a bit of luck that fox will think twice about coming back now.

[Terri Pollhein]

I'm so sorry. We lost all but one of our ducks and several chickens before we, ummm, took care of a similar problem on our farm.

Hopefully, your birds our now safe!
God bless.
Terri

[gaile]

Oh, what a great ending! How brave of your poor rooster to fight so hard for his girls!! I hope he gets some porridge as a treat. :)

[Sherry]

I'm happy it ended well like that!

[Deborah]

Oh gosh Rebecca my heart was in my throat reading that. So glad it worked out and you have such a brave rooster! :)

[katrien]

Phew!
You should turn this into a children's book! The drawing of you and Dan running after the fox bellowing and screeching should be a hoot!

[Eddie Christy]

Here's to happy endings!

I've been reading all of your back posts since Typepad featured you and I've really enjoyed it. I'm striving to live in a similar manner, yet in an urban environment. I appreciate all of your insight!

[French Knots]

What a hero rooster! Glad the fox was foiled.

[Claire]

What a valiant rooster! Bless him.

[Eloise]

Sorry to hear about your chickens, a friend of mine came across an old book for getting rid of pests organicly. If you ever find a road kill fox, burn it on a fire, then collect the ashes, mix the ashes with water and spray area with it. This puts the foxes off the area. You can do this with any pest.
I think its called peppering. I was told by a game keeper that if you kill one fox in your area you get seven in its place. My Aunty had a free range chicken that was not caged in any way, the chicken may have survived due to not having wings clipped or luck.

[Kathy]

I am so pleased that everything worked out well, and thank you for writing about it: the image of you and Dan shouting and screeching made me laugh, I had a lump in my throat when I thought your rooster was going to die, and I feel so proud of him for protecting his chickens. You chose a great rooster!!

[Lizz]

Oh yay, it turned out to be Ok!

Those chickens are clever and can manage to get out of the way of harm most of the time.

Here we have raccoons and opossums.

[Brie]

Go Rooster!!!!!
What an eventful morning!! I hope calm has been restored and you are all okay!

[Seosamh]

Oh boy I know how you feel. We had our very first fox losses these last two nights.

An old hen (5+years) who refuses to go in, and our goose both lost. We've alway been fox-ok (they have cubs to feed) but it is still very disappointing. The hen hasn't laid at all this year and we were planning to turn her into a nice curry ourselves.

[Kelly]

Boooo for the Fox. Baaaad bad fox.

Yaay for the Rooster. Tell that dude to take an extra crow or two tomorrow morning.

[Lorna]

Glad you had a happy ending - was v close by the sounds of it. Well done on the typepad feature

[Rebecca Hillman]

Thank you for all your kind words. Luckily we can all laugh about it the whole caper now! Eloise, I've never heard of that 'peppering' technique before ... must remember to scrape up the next road kill fox I encounter!!! I wonder if the same thing would work for slugs? Now there's a product.

[Maddy]

Oh what a brave rooster he was. I was so enthralled by your story I nearly cheered at the end. I can even see a children’s television series here girl.

I must tell you that I did laugh when I read the line "I'd like to reward him a medal and a special dinner" as I suddenly had visions of roasted rooster on a huge platter surrounded by roasted potatoes and onions hahahaha!

[carolyn]

Good old boy they are so incredibly brave aren't they?

[Alan]

Another good reason to keep a rooster!

We keep ours so the hens have someone to pick on. Keeps them from fighting with each other.
My wife says it is also true at work. She works with mostly women (only one poor guy on staff, near, but not at,the top of the management ladder) The girls get along much better when he is there to pick at.

We love our electric poultry fence. So far in three years of pastured hens we have only lost a few to hawks and owls. None to four legged predators.

[Amy Kalinchuk]

What a story! Never a dull moment on a farm. Your rooster does deserve a treat. What do chickens like for a treat? Big, fat slugs, probably. Glad it worked out!

[Karen in Delaware]

This is a story I did not want to hear - it is exactly the reason my husband refuses to allow guinea hens in our yard. :(

[Neasa]

Hi there Neasa from Craft Supplies forum here. Just came across your blog tonight and am thoroughly enjoying it so far. What a brave rooster he was. Makes you think about animals and their protectivness and what we could learn from them! Fantastic post and fantastic blog. I will be back to read more!

[vicky jenkins]

Hi
Glad your flock were ok. I lost 11 chickens yesterday in broard daylight, 1 taken and 10 killed on site, i presume it was a fox? i am putting up extra fencing but its all really expensive, chickens have big run...80ft by 20ft. i am trying to figure how to enclose the top of the run on a tight budget,,,any ideas? someone also suggested that mens urine around the perimiter and mens hair put into socks and tied to the sides of the pen, has anyone tried this?

[Stephen mateer]

You mentioned a broody hen sitting on eggs in a hedge. Is it possible for the hen to hatch eggs out in a secret place? One of our hens is attempting this and I keep wanting to shift her for the chicks saftey , if they come