Went to the allotment with DH today. Coffee, our chicken of fate, has a scaly leg problem and needs treating every 5 days with special spray. We parked the car and walked, as usual.
We were met part way by one of our fellow allotment holders who told us that R (an allorment holder for whom we had bred chickens and geese) had had a fox and all his chooks and geese were dead. Ours were, apparently, OK. Whoever found R's, had had the thoughtfulness togo and check the other allotments with chooks to see if everything was OK.
We reached R's allotment to find the next-door keeper there, waiting. He'd tried to phone R but couldn't reach him. He showed us where the fox had got in, and he adn his firend had managed to round up some survivors and put them in the broody pen.
I went in to make sure that the survivors were OK. I gave them a lettuce, some water, and some feed. I took a look round, the carnage was sickening. Even the two geese were dead.
On a brighter note, while I was there another chook came out of hiding, making 4 that escaped the fox. We couldn't account for 3 bodies, we assumed that the fox had managed to get them away.
DH called the chap who shares our allotment and who has phone numbers for everyone. He got hold of R's father-in-law, who was able to go round and find R. We went over to our allotment to tend to our own girls.
R has Heras panels around his chicken pen. They are dug into the ground. The fox managed to find a broken piece, and broke it further, and got in via the smallest imagineable gap. When he arrived, he didn't want any help clearing up. He found the other 3; two in a corner, and one buried. The fox hadn't managed to get away with any - we think the gap was too small for it to get the birds out.
As well as losing 5 hens, 1 cockerel and 2 geese. the eggs that were being brooded by one of the hens have been destroyed.
We separated out an area on our allotment, put our spare coop in, and we've now moved R's surviving girls in there. We suggested this because we are assuming that the fox will come back to R's area. This will give him time to fix the breach and take other necessary action.
I've told him that the eggs that his Girls lay for the next few days may still be fertile, so he's going to collect them and try incubating.
Such a shame.
We were met part way by one of our fellow allotment holders who told us that R (an allorment holder for whom we had bred chickens and geese) had had a fox and all his chooks and geese were dead. Ours were, apparently, OK. Whoever found R's, had had the thoughtfulness togo and check the other allotments with chooks to see if everything was OK.
We reached R's allotment to find the next-door keeper there, waiting. He'd tried to phone R but couldn't reach him. He showed us where the fox had got in, and he adn his firend had managed to round up some survivors and put them in the broody pen.
I went in to make sure that the survivors were OK. I gave them a lettuce, some water, and some feed. I took a look round, the carnage was sickening. Even the two geese were dead.
On a brighter note, while I was there another chook came out of hiding, making 4 that escaped the fox. We couldn't account for 3 bodies, we assumed that the fox had managed to get them away.
DH called the chap who shares our allotment and who has phone numbers for everyone. He got hold of R's father-in-law, who was able to go round and find R. We went over to our allotment to tend to our own girls.
R has Heras panels around his chicken pen. They are dug into the ground. The fox managed to find a broken piece, and broke it further, and got in via the smallest imagineable gap. When he arrived, he didn't want any help clearing up. He found the other 3; two in a corner, and one buried. The fox hadn't managed to get away with any - we think the gap was too small for it to get the birds out.
As well as losing 5 hens, 1 cockerel and 2 geese. the eggs that were being brooded by one of the hens have been destroyed.
We separated out an area on our allotment, put our spare coop in, and we've now moved R's surviving girls in there. We suggested this because we are assuming that the fox will come back to R's area. This will give him time to fix the breach and take other necessary action.
I've told him that the eggs that his Girls lay for the next few days may still be fertile, so he's going to collect them and try incubating.
Such a shame.
