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Hen slaughter

Last post Sun, Feb 19 2012 12:30 by freeranger. 4 replies.
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  • Wed, Feb 8 2012 12:01

    Hen slaughter

    Over the weekend I noticed one of one of our forum users said 14 of her hens had been killed by a fox, who had sneakily managed to get into the hen house. http://www.fwi.co.uk/community/blogs/saab/archive/2012/02/05/the-hens-are-gone-compost-and-marmalade.aspx Has anyone else had a similar incident? Also what are your thoughts on the best pest control measures?

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  • Wed, Feb 8 2012 13:19 In reply to

    • Peter Wells
    • Top 25 Contributor
      Male
    • Joined on Sun, May 22 2005
    • Gloucestershire
    • Trusted Users

    Re: Hen slaughter

    I guess a lot of us have lost hens to foxes. I also guess that no 'affordable' method of security is totally fox proof. I just go for a mixture of The Hunt. Shooting. Fencing (incl electric) and generally disturbing them as far as I can. More ideas welcome!

  • Wed, Feb 8 2012 16:34 In reply to

    Re: Hen slaughter

    The fox managed to kill about 12 of our birds recently. It was at dusk just before they were going to be shut in. It jumped over the electric netting & chased several birds away from the house & picked them off one by one. Electric fencing is a good deterent, & getting someone to go out lamping & shooting them with a rifle helps. The only thing is that every time one is shot, another soon takes its place!
  • Fri, Feb 10 2012 19:48 In reply to

    • old mcdonald
    • Top 75 Contributor
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    • Joined on Mon, Oct 27 2008
    • Near Castelo Branco, Portugal

    Re: Hen slaughter

    I agree with Dave the Egg. Unless your methods will stop a determined person, they will not stop a fox - and a fox, as Dave points out, can kill a lot more birds than a human (except maybe with a shotgun) in the same space of time. Big cats are even more difficult to stop, but at least, in my limited experience, there are a lot less of them in Britain and they do not kill indiscriminately, taking away what they kill.

  • Sun, Feb 19 2012 12:30 In reply to

    Re: Hen slaughter

     I used to rear thousands of ducks back in the 80s for a certain very large company in Lincs. We brooded them on one farm up to 3 w.o. and then split the flocks into larger fattening houses to finish them. One Winter's day we moved 6000, 3000 going into each  fattening house. The lads were in a hurry it being a Friday and all, and didn't flick the upper bolt across on the outer doors to stop it dropping down if the wind blew and the doors jiggled a bit. Nor in their haste did they put a row of straw bales across the bottom of the doors as an extra 'just in case' like we normally did. Well the wind blew, the bolt dropped down, and the doors blew open allowing about 80 birds to rush out the doorway before they blew shut behind them. They might have been alright but that house was nearest to our cage in which we used to leave fertilizer sacks cable tied with dead birds in for the maggot man to collect twice a week, and which attracted the attention of foxes regularly (hence the cage). There were usually one or two either sitting on the cage or starng into it if you went round late at night.

    Next morning when I arrived the doors were blown shut, and huddled outside looking petrified and exhausted were about 30 birds. The rest were round the corner, 12 without heads buried neck first in tiny little scrapes in the ground, and about 2 dozen pairs of legs were all that was left of 12 more. Scattered along the side of the house for about 100 ft were another 20 -30 birds  that had just been chased up and down for fun until they died from fright or exhaustion. Poor little beggars.

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