The fox is winning and it is too cold here!

The last free ranging chicken

Papa Bear's bed is just right

My last post was about a visiting fox and bear. 

Pretty sure the bear was on a romp and has moved on, although I did find where I think he took a nap, just inches from the path where I walk the dogs. Very good thing it was a Tuesday and we were both at work. It was 4 pm when he went on his romp, a typical time for a wander with Woody or Cyrus.

The fox has been more of a problem.

We have had chickens on the loose since we started raising them in 2011. We had 21 chickens happily free ranging in December. The fox, probably an opossum, and maybe, who knows, an eagle or a hawk, have been picking them off one every few weeks or so. I can live with that, but recently a gray fox has been picking off one a day. We are down to 7 chickens.

Too darn cold for June!

I fenced them in and they jumped the fence 20 minutes after all my hard work. I added more fence around the top to keep them from jumping, and the fox dug under and killed another who was in that prison and couldn't escape.

Yesterday I gave the 4 remaining hens that I could capture to friends to keep for awhile. (Thanks, Terry and Alice!) I could not capture the rooster and 1 other feisty gray hen, and we have a broody hen sitting on a dozen eggs. All 3 are locked up in the coop until further notice. I can't keep them in there forever because it will eventually get hot and there is poor ventilation in there since I closed off the 5 big broken-glass windows with plexiglas.

I said eventually get hot, because it was in the low 50°s here today. Had the wood stove going all day, even while wearing a sweater with a flannel shirt. The good news is that I did have the air conditioner working perfectly earlier in the week. At least we can control our in-house weather.

So I think there is solar/electric fencing in our future. Still doing the research while my poor confused chickens are closed up in a "hot" coop.

CORRECTION: In the last post I identified the fox as a silver fox, a variation of a red fox. I was corrected by a friend, a vet tech, who said it is definitely a gray fox. OMG! The internet isn't always correct? Who knew? Thank you Stacey!