It's intentions are probably not good, at least from a chicken's point of view. Is the 6 foot high fence super-secure? No gaps a fox could slip through?

We've had a few fox sightings and attacks over the years, and they always happened at dawn or during daylight. I think foxes are less nocturnal than other predators.

A couple of years ago I found a fox in the chicken coop and slammed the door to trap it. But my husband couldn't bear to shoot such a beautiful and wild animal, so we let it go.

Depends which species too. Grey foxes are excellent climbers, and can scale a fence. Red, not so much, but if there's a way in they'll find it, or dig. You may also have Swift foxes and Kit foxes in your area. Can't help much with them, but same advice as Red fox applies to most all predators.

We lost 2 free-ranging chickesn to a red fox this summer. I think the one attack happened in the evening--the other one I don't know--we never found any remains. I too am curious about when foxes are active and if they hibernate.

It is a beautiful animal! I could not believe how gorgeous it's fur was.... no wonder movie stars in the 40s and 50s would wear then to the Academy awards!
It has been 4 days and no sign of it, & all of my animals are accounted for, so hopefully it has given up on the notion of a free meal at my house!

"I too am curious about when foxes are active and if they hibernate."

All species except the Arctic fox are usually nocturnal, although it's not unusual for them to be out during the day, especially when food is scarce. They do not hibernate.

We have a fox den near our hen house but the chickens have been bothered by a bob cat, hawk and racoons and dogs who aren't ours and I forgot a black bear. We have a chicken fortress.

Acorn~ I would love to see a pick of your "chicken Fortress", do you have any?

I have been impressed with the two posted on the other string about chicken coops!
Wow! makes mine look like it is on the wrong side of the tracks! LOL

I thought the fox was back a little while ago. I looked out through the trees towards the pool and saw something that looked kind of like the fox's tail move.
It turns out to be a gorgeous persian cat that is now sitting quite contently near my office window trying to figure out the tom cat and it's affections towards the rabbits that are about 50 feet away.

The fox is still out there somewhere, but I have not seen it in a few days. Will keep ya'll posted.

How do I post a pic on here? I just took pics of what I just described, they are cute and I want to share.

I keep a radio on all the time in my gazebo,which I use for their storage of food,wood shavings.. ect...and it seems to keep predators away..guess they don't like the music? :) I thought some noise might keep the skiddish predators out. so far so good, now I'm going to go do a head count cause I just jinxed myself...

We Had a fox that got all of my ducks but 2 and they were taken during the day time hours on two different occasions on the same day. The fox is no longer is a bother to us!

Foxes are pretty bold when it comes to humans, too.

One morning I spotted one sitting out in the field, gazing at the henhouse and practically licking its lips. I charged towards it yelling my head off, and it stared cooly at me and didn't run away until I got within about thirty feet.

I was researching llamas as guard animals and came across this link. Interesting information about predators. I had no idea that a weasel can get through a quarter-sized hole.

www.sheepscreek.com/rural/pred.html#llamas

Yesterday we had a huge winter storm.

This morning I went out to get feed for all my critters, and I could not believe ALL the tracks between the house and the shed!
The rabbits, cats, birds of all types, and prossibly the fox, but who knows!
With snow this deep, the tracks of the rabbits tell me they are great jumpers, tells me that Tommy Boy (the tomcat) was trying to catch the birds at the various feeders.
Some of the birds were trying to burrow in the snow(?) others were picking the seed that had fallen off the feeders.
It was so quiet and still out there, all I could hear was the snow falling from the snowladen branches!
ahhh so peaceful!
Then I woke all the kids up for school.....reality check! LOL

I have had chickens for almost 7 years. Last summer I had 12 chickens and we lost them all over a two week period on 2 different nights. We had never had a problem before. Just talking to the people in the neighborhood, they said that they had seen a fox. The thing that I thought was weird was that out of the 12 chickens gone only 4 bodies were left. One lady told me that a fox will teach their kids how to hunt sometimes and not take the body. The guy that lives behind us had 4 chickens killed the first night that we did and all of their bodies were left behind. I have not gotten any more chickens until I figure out a way to keep them safe.

Bill

We also have a 6 ft. fence. We live near the woods and every now and then you'll see a fox. They are small gray ones. They have never bothered to climb our fence, but I bet they could if they tried to.

They get in my neighbor's donkey pen and eat the left over food the donkeys left. I was out feeding the donkeys one night when one came creeping up. I sat still and watched it and it came up so close, but then the donkey chased it off.

Some of they aren't that scared of people around here.
We also have coyotes and they have caused lots of trouble around here. My neighbor w/ the donkeys also had 16 goats that they killed. They killed them all within a few months :(

Good Luck with your chickens and rabbits! I hope the fox forgot about them :)

Genny

Yes, the gray fox will climb fencing. While they may be listed as nocturnal, we have seen them from 2:30 in summer/spring afternoon or 10:00 in the morning, right off the corner of our deck. More predation will occur in the spring when they have kits to feed, so that is the time to be really vigilant with your chickens.

Foxes will move extremely fast for the kill. Generally you will only find a small pile or two of feathers where they have grabbed your chicken but no other evidence. When you find partial remains it was probably a racoon kill; unmauled whole remains may have been a poisonous snake (we have copperheads here), mauled whole remains are usually left by domestic dogs. Wild animals are killing to eat or for defense in the case of the snake, domestic dogs kill for the thrill.

If you have alot of livestock, live in an Ag district or rural area (more than 5 acres) with a predator problem (from hard experience, I consider roaming domestic dogs a predator problem) a livestock guardian dog is your best investment.

I agree about the guard dog. Great pyrenees are good for that :)

You could also put electric fence around the perimeter of your chicken coop. That should take care of the problem if you run it correctly. You want it low enough that the fox would get nailed digging and maybe another strand high enough to get it climbing as well.