Have you noticed chickens randomly disappearing from your garden? Wondering if they are being eaten by some chicken predators? Spotted some foxes and wondering whether a fox can eat chickens? Well, let’s take a look at whether that could be the case.
Do Foxes Eat Chickens?
Yes, a fox eat chickens.
It is a good snack and, to be honest, if you have seen foxes somewhere near your coop then the chances are pretty high that it is actually a fox snatching them as opposed to any other creature.
Foxes are predators, but they do love an easy source of food, so if they spot it in your chickens, then they are probably going to be hanging around.
Foxes love a tasty chicken.
Are Your Chickens Safe from Foxes?
Probably not.
Foxes are very intelligent animals. While there are some predators that will probably look at your chickens and realize that they are probably far more hassle than they are worth, this isn’t going to be the case with foxes.
If they see a chicken, they are going to try and do absolutely everything to get their paws on them.
This means that foxes may dig into the coop. They may try to get through the wiring. They may hang around for hours and hours on end on the off-chance that one of the chickens manages to get loose.
Unless your chickens are well-protected, then they are never going to be safe from foxes.
It doesn’t really matter the size of the chicken either. The fox is more than capable of snatching them away.
The only part of your chicken coop that will actually be safe from foxes will be the chicken eggs. Unlike other predators, foxes do not really eat chicken eggs.
There is a chance that they may do, but it is going to be exceedingly rare. So, we suppose that you can live in comfort knowing that the eggs will probably be fine.
How to Stop Chickens Being Eaten By a Fox
Thankfully, if you spot some foxes in the area, you do not have to resign yourself to the fate that you may lose a couple of chickens.
There are a few things that you can do to protect them.
Not all of these methods may work for you, but if you use a combination of them, then you stand a pretty decent chance of being able to keep the foxes at bay.
1. Foxes Hate Lights
Most foxes hate bright lights. If you light up the area around the chicken coop, then this may keep foxes away.
Although, this is something that tends to work best if you have chickens out in the country. If you have chickens in a town or city, then the foxes will probably be used to the bright lights and thus they won’t really be impacted.
Having bright lights turned on of an evening will probably annoy you far more than it annoys the foxes.
2. Secure the chicken coop
As we said, foxes will try their best to get into the coop and they will stop at nothing to get in there. Your job is to ensure that this job is made as difficult as possible for the foxes.
There are a few things that you can do here.
The first is to ensure that your chicken coop has a roof. This will stop foxes from being able to jump in and snatch the chickens. This should keep most foxes away.
The second is to use the strongest metal that you can find for the chicken coop fence. You want something that foxes are not going to be able to easily rip through.
They are pretty strong animals, after all.
The most important, however, is to ensure that the chicken coop fence extends underground by about a foot or so. The deeper that fence can get, the better.
This means that the foxes will not be able to dig under the coop and get inside. This is how the vast majority of foxes end up snatching chickens.
Every single day, we suggest that you walk around the coop, seeing if there is any damage. If there is, make sure that you repair it quickly. This means filling in any holes.
Hopefully, this should be enough to stop foxes from getting inside.
3. Put the chickens away of an evening
Do it. Seriously.
While you may spot foxes during the day, they are mostly nocturnal animals.
This means that they are most likely going to come out of an evening. If they spot your chickens wandering around in their coop at night, then they are going to try and get in.
If they do not see the chickens, they won’t bother. The sound of the chickens inside of their home wouldn’t really be enough to catch the attention of a fox.
4. Get dogs
Finally, you may want to consider getting some dogs. Foxes will be scared of their scent, even if the dog is not around.
This means that the fox is probably not going to come there as they will feel as if they are encroaching on the territory of another animal!
If the dog is wandering around, then we are positive that your dog is going to scare that fox away pretty sharpish.
If you don’t have pets, then try and walk around your chicken coop a couple of times per evening.
There will probably be foxes watching on, and if they feel that the flock is protected, they probably won’t bother to come close.
Foxes Can Eat Chickens – Conclusion
Foxes are going to be a major problem for chicken owners just about everywhere.
Wherever people live, you can bet your bottom dollar that some foxes won’t be too far behind. This means that you will need to work hard to protect your chickens.
If you put in that effort, then we are positive that you will be able to keep those chicken snatchings down to the minimum. In fact, you may get them down to practically zero.
If you aren’t willing to put in that effort, then you will be losing chickens almost every night.
