Chickens and Other Animals

Cats, dogs and chickens

Chickens tend to be braver than you think! It is usually better to allow your chickens to settle in for a day before introducing a lively dog. The majority of dogs will be happy with a new companion in the garden but it is still a good idea to introduce your dogs to your chickens on a lead.
If you are at all unsure as to how your dog will behave with the chickens you should never leave them unsupervised together.
Cats will be interested in the chickens but as they are quite large compared with something like a pigeon they are extremely unlikely to chase them – infact if they do get too close they will probably get a good peck on the nose. Two or three chickens wandering around together can prove a formidable foe for sensitive noses!


Fantastic Mr Fox?

Mr Fox, Charlie or Reynard is a graduate of the school of deception and cunning. Fox attacks are a major problem for the poultry keeper whether small or large. We have known people who have had whole flocks destroyed in a single night. Attacks in the day are becoming more of a regular occurrence too as the fox is a smart animal and should by no means be under estimated in its willingness to succeed. The way you control fox’s will be largely dependant on your beliefs and values some people would recommend shooting and removing the pest others would opt for capture and release.

So here are some useful tips to help keep the fox at bay.

Foiling the attack
There are lots of things you can do to improve the safety of your chickens.

• Be conscientious about locking the chickens up at night, preferably before or latest at dusk.
• Don’t leave any food lying around the garden.
• Make sure that the dustbin is always securely closed.
• Increase the height of your fence to at least six feet all the way round.
• Putting up suitable electric fencing, this needs to be high enough and powerful enough to stop the fox, can be rather unsightly but does the job.
• If you have a dog their scent will often put a fox of from entering your garden
• If there is a male in the household, ask him to urinate around the garden this will act as a chemical repellent to the fox (honestly!).
• Tying up bags of human hair around the garden works in the same way.
• Ask your neighbours not to leave out food in their gardens.
• If you have an extremely persistent offender then you can call in a pest control company (look them up in the Yellow Pages).
• Live trapping of the fox if you’re looking for a humane answer, the fox can then be released back into the wild although this will do nothing to stop them coming back or attacking someone else’s flock.
• Shoot the fox, depending on where you live a local farmer maybe able to help obviously not the right answer for people with chickens in highly populated urban areas.
• Ask the local hunt to pass with their hounds the scent of the dogs will keep the fox away for a short period.

What else do foxes eat?
Foxes eat a wide range of things from mammals and birds to insects, worms and vegetables. There is an increasing problem with foxes in urban areas scavenging for food in dustbins. You should avoid leaving anything tempting lying around for the foxes, even fruit that has fallen from trees and spilt bird food will alert them to a potential feeding site. 

Some Tell-tale signs:
● ‘Scraped’ damage to your lawn. Foxes will scratch up grass to find tasty bug and beetle morsels.
● Droppings with lots of berries or pips in.
● ‘Screaming’ in the late evening and night. The sound of a fox can be unnerving as it sounds similar to a child screaming. You will aslo smell if a fox has been near recently, once smelt never forgotten!
It is nice for your chickens to be out of the run as often as possible, but if you suspect any fox activity make sure that you only let them out when you are around. Very few foxes will approach if they sense human activity.