Can foxes hypnotise chooks?

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Can foxes hypnotise chooks? The girls next door have disappeared, there was only a pile of feathers in a fox proof pen this morning and the girls who are very vocal made no noise [smilie=a_damnit.gif]

....

Their owner is very distressed as the chookies were her only friends. Chooks love you unconditionally, understand you and accept you for who you are warts and all.

wickedwings · **Posted:** Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:51 pm

Petite Poulet wrote:

Can foxes hypnotise chooks? The girls next door have disappeared, there was only a pile of feathers in a fox proof pen this morning and the girls who are very vocal made no noise [smilie=a_damnit.gif]

.....

Are you kidding, I once saw a stage show where a fox had a chicken impersonating a human! The chook was strutting around the stage pretending to talk on a mobile.

But seriously, I don't know.

purefeather · **Joined:** Wed Sep 29, 2010 6:36 pm **Posts:** 736

Petite Poulet, I think your friend needs to understand that chooks are way down on the food chain and that foxes are one of their prime predators (along with humans, pythons and other beasts). So it might be a good idea to mention to your friend to find some new bigger friends.

wickedwings · **Posted:** Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:08 pm

I guess if the pen truly was fox-proof AND it was closed up properly for the night then the alternative would be 2-legged foxes.

Sebducks · **Joined:** Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:41 pm **Posts:** 812

The question is how fox proof is a chook pen? What we consider fox proof may prove otherwise, foxes dig, scale fences, break wire and climb, they are much smaller than we expect them to be (more fur less body) and are extremely cunning. Perhaps ask your friend what kind of evidence other than the feathers were left behind, was there digging evidence a hole, could they go up and over wire, even a two legged "predator" leaves some sign of their being there.

Foxes are quick, the come, grab by the neck and kill quickly otherwise they'd alert the other hens who would be loud and protesting in the dark which in turn would alert an owner or a dog.

Yes chickens can become our friends, we have some very special ones here that we would be very sad to lose.

Lots of foxes have cubs at present and will attempt pens and coops they would normally find as too much trouble.

wickedwings · **Posted:** Tue Oct 04, 2011 7:29 pm

Good point there Sebducks about our perceptions of fox-proof, the chap 2 doors down from me lost his 4 chooks to fox a few months ago when he thought his run was sound.

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Thank you, kindly, everyone,

Something feral got into my coop last week, and my chookies haven't been quite right, then the neighbour's dog (he likes mutilating chooks and biting humans) got into our property the other day and my chooks who were free ranging went AWOL and flew up an embankment, lucky their wings aren't clipped and they escaped from him. That was all they needed as they had become very nervous and flighty.

Then today the girls next door went missing from their fox proof pen this morning and there was only a pile of feathers left [smilie=a_damnit.gif]

. They are very loud and very local and we can hear them on our property, and their also very tame and vocally communicate with their owner, so she thought that a fox had hypnotised her girls. There were no signs of digging or holes, just a pile of feathers. There are foxes and cubs in the bush, but the bush is far away from her, and her pen is like Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory, nothing should get in or out that shouldn't be there...

We were hoping that they would come home to roost tonight but sadly they didn't

Sebducks · **Joined:** Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:41 pm **Posts:** 812

I'm really sorry Petite Poulet but if that is their pen with the chicken wire surrounds then its nowhere near fox proof. Hens just don't go "poof" there is always some sign of what went wrong, tell them to go and look around the property, chances are there are also piles of feathers further off into the bush and just because the foxes and cubs are in the bush doesn't mean they don't come around to find an easy meal.

I would check again, foxes who find easy meals often come back especially if they are training cubs.

:-D

Hope your chooks get settled back again, if your neighbour refused to keep their dog contained, report them to council.

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

Thank you, kindly Sebducks,

The chook pen is like an enclosed cage and wire is dug into well into the ground. There have been too many feral creatures lurking around

and it makes me even more worried about the safety of my chookies

The dog, a Jack Russell, in question has been reported many times, he seems to get away with things, he tunnels under the boundary fencing and the owner thinks it is funny. Can you recommend any herbal remedies for nervous chookies?

Thank you, kindly again
Petite Poulet

Petite Poulet · **Joined:** Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:17 pm **Posts:** 5219

My neighbour is very [smilie=a_damnit.gif]

and depressed, they were all she had. I would like to go to the poultry farm and get her some new chookies to make her feel better.

AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

Can foxes hypnotise chooks?

Who is on the Forum