Bloody fox had one of my hens

[gunnerbee]

somehow got under the run without digging and pawed it out underneath, feathers everywhere, no chicken, the others huddled in the corner. not happy  :( :( :( :(

[gunnerbee]

[betula]

Poor chicken

[Poet]

are you sure it was a fox?  mink, weasels etc can squeeze thru the smallest gaps and will kill and eat a chicken.

sorry for your loss and the poor chicken.

[northener]

Sorry to hear that. Sounds like a stoat, if it was a fox i'm sure it would have killed the lot. What time of day was it?

[cocopops]

On another thread I mentioned that we have just had our first hens.  Our neighbours (farmers), and a good friend who has amazed us with his knowledge of hens both gave us really good advice.

Our neighbour, Nadine, said an electric fence is a must, placed at about 8" above the ground.  Our friend, Malcolm, said that even a stoat or weasel will touch it's tail on the fence whilst trying to get under the mesh.  His other advice was to dig the mesh 4" into the ground.  He needed to go to see his parents, leaving the hens, and put the electric fence up before he left so less problems for his sister who is taking care of them.

Other friends lots 15 chicks and 2 hens to something similar last year, it is awful.

I hope you manage to solve the problem as it is so sad to loose a hen this way.