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I awoke at about 4:20 this morning to the sound of the cat flap, my cats(8) were coming through it like John Wain through a saloon door, and hey all ended up on my bed looking somewhat conserned with tails like xmas trees.

i thought we were beeing burgled!

So i jumped out of bed and grabbed the torch ( a very big heavy one) and gingerly crept down the stairs.

NOTHING! not a sound not a flinch.

So in tru skairy movie style i went out side to have a look.

I crept around the garden and there it was, the cause of the comotion.

A FOX!!

Sat exactly where the chuk house will be going in about a week.

I dont know who was more suprised me or her, but i think it was me as she just looked at me as if to say " am i early? have the chuks not arrived yet?" then she got up jumped on the compost bin and over the fence and gone into the darkness.

I have lived in this house for 10 years and although we live opporsit a park i have never seen a fox in the garden.

I was prepaired to put up extra fox proof fencing and sink upended flag stones around the chuk pen to stop fox's diging in, but iam i fighting a loosing battle even before i have got my chuks?

HFW says that the sent of human's puts them off and uses tights stuffed with hair as a deterrant dose this work? the fox i saw this morning didnt seem very frightend of me just a little fed up that it had been descoverd.

All good sugestions needed.

Eve

Hi Evelyn.

I think you should fox proof your hen run with wire at the bottom. Mine runs out under the lawn about a foot as well as old broken paving slabs put around it. I live in the inner city and have loads of foxes. Seemed to appear when i got hens!
When i first got a couple of hens they were put in an old hutch over night whilst i finished fox proofing. I got up in the middle of the night to see two foxes rocking the hutch to get to the hens! Needless to say the hens were in the hen house/shed with run the next night and have been fine. Now rats and mice is another problem altogether....................!

Good Luck

I am hoping that my cat population will keep the vermin down to a minimum, these guys catch squills, magpyes and on occasion sea guls.

Thanks for the tip on laying wire fencing under the grass, i will get on that today.

Eve