Sad day in our garden

Discussion in 'Planting, growing, nurturing Plants' started by Cosmic, Aug 21, 2008.

  1. Cosmic

    Cosmic Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2007
    Messages:
    121
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Yesterday I found a massacre in our chook/duck pen. Three chooks had been killed, one duck was killed and another injured but recovery ok.
    Must have been a dog :evil: who got in somehow and went on a fun filled killing spree. Can't see any signs of entry but there is some digging under the fence.
    We have 5 ducks left.
    R.I.P our lovely ladies. :(
     
  2. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2005
    Messages:
    1,251
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Sad day in our garden

    That's terrible!

    There are only two ways to foil digging: an electric fence, and fastening lengths of wire mesh along the bottom of the fence (outside). Bend the wire mesh into an L and wire-tying the upper part it to the existing fence, and letting the bottom part lie flat on the ground (pinned down with U-shaped wire pins). Dogs (and others) quickly find that they can't dig through the wire.

    Keep in mind, though, that the thin, hexagon mesh is made to keep poultry IN, not to keep predators OUT.

    Once a dog has this kind of fun, he will probably be back.

    Poor chookies and duck.

    Sue
     
  3. Cosmic

    Cosmic Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2007
    Messages:
    121
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Sad day in our garden

    Last night we lost three more ducks. I now believe this is a fox attack after doing research. We are missing a body this time and another was found up the street, crushed on the road :(

    I read this...

    With foxes they grab them by the throat and suck their blood out," Mr Meagher said.


    He said in fox attacks the head could be taken off the bird to reach their blood. He said in most fox attacks the body would still be intact with little sign of injury.

    It fits with the injuries and one had it's head removed.

    We have two ducks left out of 10 birds. The enclosure is a big area and can't be fixed all at once and I don't see how it can ever be fox proof. They are going to have to come inside in the evenings until we work something out. They aren't easy to catch either.

    A fox was only a matter of time.

    Do they eat eggs as well? An egg went missing along with a plastic egg. If it ate the plastic egg won't the fox die?
     
  4. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2005
    Messages:
    1,251
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Sad day in our garden

    A fox was my first thought, if it happened at night. During the day, hawks usually rip the head off and leave the body.

    Don't even attempt to catch them. Lure them. Put a handful or two of grain in a metal container and shake it, calling, "Here, chookies!" Give them a bit when they come. Walk a few feet toward your lock-up, and call them again and drop a bit more grain. They learn quite quickly. Due to predators here, I have to lock mine up every night. A handful of grain in a can and "Chickie, chickie, chickie!" has them lifting up their skirts and running as fast as they can. I have a 2/3 acre field, an inner back yard, a front yard, and their pen. This is absolutely the easiest and quickest way to move them where I want them.

    Sue
     
  5. barely run

    barely run Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2005
    Messages:
    583
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Sad day in our garden

    Yep..my girls are all cupboard loves..rattle the feed tin and they come running. i have a pretty good yard now with the above described skirt of wire pegged down......but i still lock them in the hen house at night.
    Cathy
     
  6. Cosmic

    Cosmic Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 9, 2007
    Messages:
    121
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Sad day in our garden

    How high can a fox jump? The remaining ducks have taken to perching themselves on the highest points of the yard. They feel claustrophobic being locked up and we can't make a fort knox style pen until we can find the materials for a large area. Two can fly up to the shed roof if needs be but I am worried about the one who got injured from the fox. She can't fly as high. She is a tough little duck, a stray we picked up in the past, and I want to do the best for her.
     
  7. bazman

    bazman Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2005
    Messages:
    802
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Sad day in our garden

    Cosmic, I feel for you as 2 months ago we lost all 7 of our girls to a fox in one day. We are chasing more of the same rare breed, but in the mean time I'm rethinking the design and how we keep them, They have a fox/dog proof lock down area with link wire concreted a foot into the ground and a wire roof 4m x 8m, and a day yard which the fox got them in just on dusk before we got home.

    Would love to catch up with that fox for a few rounds....

    I think of a fox like a strong cat, they could go up 8 feet if they could land on something, thick about a floppy fence design if you have an open roof. Animals can't climb up a loose floppy surface.

    Baz
     
  8. Cares

    Cares Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2008
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Sad day in our garden

    So sorry Cosmic :(
    A few years ago we were breeding Chinese Silkies and a friend of ours came over and stayed a couple of days with his two dogs...he lets his dogs out of the house one morning and didn't supervise them (as I had strictly asked him to because of the chickens) even worse, he went back to bed :x .
    I got up at 6:30am to find that of the 60 hens and 20 roosters we had, only 2 roosters and 1 hen were left alive.
    One of the dogs was rather large and literally just forced his way straight through the wire of every cage!

    It was an awful, awful sight :(

    He left our place without saying a word and I think we only saw him once more after that.

    Cares
     
  9. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2005
    Messages:
    1,251
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Sad day in our garden

    Bazman reminded me of the floppy-top fence I used to keep my sister's cats in my yard.

    I installed a regular welded wire mesh fence about 2m tall, secured to wooden posts. I used heavy staples to hold the mesh to the wood, BUT I didn't use any staples for the top .5m of the mesh, just let it flop. When the cats jumped up or tried to climb the mesh, the floppy top tipped over and dumped them.

    But the corner posts seem to be your weak spot, and I don't know what to do about that for foxes, as the cats weren't as determined to go up that way, and my wire tipped over and crossed in front of the poles. I don't think that that would discourage a fox.

    And I assume that foxes will dig, too.

    I still think an electric mesh would be the cheapest way to solve your problem.

    Sue
     
  10. Cares

    Cares Junior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2008
    Messages:
    10
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Sad day in our garden

    I just remembered...

    I went past silverwater jail on the way to the Australian Gardening Expo and on part of the fence they had a large pipe attached to the top.

    So whilst someone may be able to climb the fence, they couldn't reach over the pipe to actually climb over.

    Rather like climbing the leg of a 'Capital P' but not being able to climb over the curve because you can't grip it.

    That sort of thing would outsmart a climbing fox too :D

    Same sort of thing you see on birdhouses to stop cats climbing up (only wood and flat)

    Foxes also usually dig right on the fence line...so if you dig a wide/shallow trench around a chook house and lay chook wire in it, then cover it up. They dig, hit wire...but don't think to go back away from the chook yard a metre and try again.
    Foxes will dig deep, but they won't start digging a metre from the fence line :wink:

    Cares
     
  11. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 25, 2005
    Messages:
    1,251
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Re: Sad day in our garden

    Cares, do you think that pipe rotated? You've reminded me a method that I read about of keeping dogs and coyotes out of a chicken pen. The people stretched heavy wire between the posts, above the 2m fence, and ran the wire through some pipe before anchoring it to the second post. Since the dogs would usually jump and grab the top of the fence to scramble over, they would grab that rotating pipe and fall back to the ground.

    But that still doesn't solve the 'climbing the corner post' problem.

    Sue
     

Share This Page

-->