The fox and the bear

Yes, we have both. 

The tree swallows building their family in the little red birdhouse is the lead photo because it is much nicer to look at than the fox or the bear.

We lose chickens to predators. It happens when you let your chickens free range. In about 10 years of letting them roam, we have lost maybe 1 or 2 in a year...more sometimes when we have the killers who go on a killing spree, like the bobcat (and Cyrus, but that's another issue).

This one distinctive red fox has been around since at least August of 2021, when the trail camera captured it in color. Some internet searching identifies it as a silver fox, an off-colored version of the red fox. It came back in February when we were starting to lose chickens again, and caught it on the camera again, but then it seemed to take a break.

Now it must have kits and it is back with a vengeance. We lost 3 chickens in the last 3 days. 

We built a new fence around the chicken coop on Monday, let them out of the coop next morning only to find they all but 2 jumped the fence to be free again. :(

That was Tuesday, the only day I work long hours.

So I am sitting in work thinking we are going to find another missing chicken when I get home (true) when I get a text from my neighbor that they just spotted a bear coming across the road from our property. In this case it was a good thing we were both in work. At least I wasn't out walking the dogs when that happened, at about 4:30! I am sure that would not have ended well.

So, the question is, what do I do with the 10 growing chicks in the garage?

Somehow I think their future is not going to be as free as their predecessors. But I can't keep them in a dog crate forever...