Protecting your poultry (From Smallholder)

Protecting your poultry

9:32am Sunday 11th April 2010

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Today did not start well when I looked out of the window and saw a pile of white feathers in the field heading towards the hedge. Yep, the fox had visited and pulled off the door of our hen house. I’m very obsessive about the hens and these light evenings mark the end of our social life for the summer – if you don’t come to us and sit outside on our smallholding on a summer’s evening, then you don’t see us until winter, because I always need to be back to shut the poultry in at dusk. This particular house was an ex garden shed with a solid door and three catches so this has taken me by surprise. They must have worried at the bottom of the door until it eventually pulled the catches off as the door is actually broken. I find this distressing and also it’s my view that it’s always the owner’s fault so that’s me and I should have realised that the door was getting older. I’ve never had this happen before though, we are obsessive about strengthening wire and putting things against doors so this must have been a particularly determined fox or even more than one. And we also didn’t hear anything - normally if there’s a fox about we are woken by cockerel’s crowing. The foxes, once in, helped themselves to what was in effect a larder for them. Some people will tell you foxes kill for fun, that is utter rubbish. Foxes are wild animals without human emotions. They do go into a killing frenzy when in a hen house because in the wild they would expect to catch a single bird, take it away, eat it and come back for another which is what they do if they take them during the day when the birds are completely free range. In a hen house they are confused by the number of birds on offer and being unsure what to do they just kill the lot. That’s why it’s so important to ensure the doors are closed dusk until dawn and that they are secure…..

Obviously ours were not as secure as I had thought or to be more accurate, the foxes were stronger and more determined than I had ever thought possible.

My elderly hybrids were in a different place and I have some bantams sitting. Two bantams have returned but I have lost at least six lovely hens and cockerels including a couple of Silkies who I find are always the first victims of foxes especially foxes that come during the day. I’m writing this just to warn you to check your doors and windows on your hen houses as ours really were quite strong and here we are today grieving over our girls and boys. Today will be spent strengthening the remaining houses especially that of the ducks (who have only just learnt where their house is – they are the thickest ducks I have ever had!) and hoping against hope that the colourful Old English bantam cockerels are hiding in the hedge and will reappear at some point today. Here’s hoping