When the FOX comes calling...
I'm rather disheartened to write this post. As you might imagine from the title, last night I experienced a fox attack - my first.
Over the past 18 months, I've lost a couple of hens to foxes by sheer accident. I live in an urban environment and there are A LOT of foxes around. Most nights there's one in the garden; I can normally tell by the smell it leaves, but sometimes it trips the security light too. I've miscounted hens when I've shut them away and found nothing but a small patch of feathers in the morning.
I have nothing against foxes. They're beautiful animals and they hunt chickens and other birds because that's their instinct. Last night, they hunted my Ixworth flock.
Sadly, they got all four birds - one cockerel (Eddie) and his three ladies. I'm particularly gutted because these birds were a rare heritage breed that I was establishing a show-stock flock of. It was a flock I intended to take to the farm with me - a local Suffolk bred chicken variety that would have been a perfect addition to the small farm. I began the year with one hen and then swapped a cockerel for Eddie - sadly that friend also had her flock decimated by a fox this year. I then hatched a number of chicks - some for sale, some the freezer and two hens which I kept to double the flock number.
I'm pretty gutted by what's happened. I can't blame the fox; I blame myself for not making sure their coop was secure enough, for not locking them up early and for not popping Eddie into his sleep box earlier...at least I might have been able to save him. He was my favourite cockerel by far. On a purely business level, it's also a knock because Ixworth hatching eggs, chicks and pullets SELL. And pretty well. One of the reasons I'd boosted my hens was so I could sell even more eggs in 2018.
I explain a little more in this video I made just after the discovery.
What Next?
Luckily, though Ethel wasn't laying, the two younger hens were. I've raided eggs due for customers and managed to salvage 10 eggs. They have been wiped down so there's a risk some of that important bloom has been removed. But they still might make it. So there are now 10 Ixworth eggs in the incubator. I'll find out in a few days whether they're fertile and then we'll be set for a January 1st hatch.
Fingers crossed some good comes out of this!
Thanks for reading,
Geoff
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I'm so very sorry to hear of your poultry loss. Losing animals to predators is the worst, and you always play the "what if" game after such an incident. That you lost your whole Ixworth flock totally bites, and I'm just hoping that a few of those eggs hatch for you!
Thank you! Really sucks. I'm going to split the flock in future and keep a few hens in another pen as a back up.
Fingers crossed! It would be great if you could ease the sting a little by hatching those eggs.
I also want to thank you for sharing the real deal. I hate it when homesteaders never lose an animal and all is rosy and the manure smells like jasmine.
It's never rosy here! LOL. There's always something to bring you back down after a high. That's life I guess. And yes - would be lovely to salvage a little through the eggs. :)
Sending out hopes and prayers for your eggs.
Thank you!
How devastating! Good luck with the eggs! Please do let us know if they end up developing any.
I'll definitely keep updating. Felt weird with that coop empty today.
Sad sad news. Don't be so hard on yourself, it natural selection. Hope the eggs prove a good batch! Finger crossed!
Fingers and toes. :D
Yer!
How gutting. :(
My fingers are also crossed for a successful hatching of the salvaged eggs.
I still find it weird to think that creatures such as foxes exist in such large numbers in urban areas. If I was a fox I'd be heading for the farmland (but then I guess I'd get pretty darned hungry then too).
My condolences.
I guess food is easier to come by here. We have a lot of parks around us offering ample den sites and then they can just patrol the streets. There's a burger van around the corner, and most nights there's a trio of foxes sitting on the hill looking down at it lustfully.
I know it's not really funny, but the image of those foxes up the hill ... make me picture a Hanna-Barbera or Warner Bros classic cartoon situation - and Foghorn Leghorn, lol.
damn, that chicken looks like its on steroids ..... the size of it ...wow!.... no wonder the fox is sniffing round ... lol
Yes.. fingers crossed for you.
Wishing you luck
Thank you. :)
Oh dear! That's a horrible turn of events. I do hope you get the eggs to hatch - the more, the better. Hugs, bud!
Thank you. I really hope the eggs hatch out.
It is always sad when you lose an animal, whether it is a pet, for profit or for eating. But it is part of the circle of life. Wishing you well on the hatching. Hope they all produce for you.
Thank you. :D