Protect Your Pets from Predatory Threats

In this month’s article, I will be talking about how to keep your chickens safe from foxes and minks. The best way to protect chickens is to keep them in a pen. Chickens that are away in a large fenced in space with a cover over top are much safer than ones without. There are some methods on how to have your chickens free range, however. Fake owls and other predators can be posted up around where the chickens will graze, and keep the real predators away from them. Chicken coops can be locked up using carabiners to prevent animals like raccoons with hands to open them. Coops should be checked for any small holes or gaps, even less than an inch of a gap a mink can crawl through. You will need at least two feet of hard cloth around 6 inches to 1 foot deep in the ground to prevent animals from digging in. Any type of animal can get in a regular gate enclosure, so making sure you have a secure pen is top priority when owning chickens. Now, it should be talked about the behavior of these animals.

Firstly, the red fox. Red foxes are the most common type of fox, and the largest. It is most common to hear them at night during the winter shrieking. Between April and July is when their kits are born, which means that around this time they will be looking for more food for their families. Foxes make their dens in the woods or in various buildings like under decks, sheds, or wood piles. Foxes are omnivores, which means that they will eat almost anything they can. If you have a garden that has berry bushes not fenced in, chances are they will take some berries from there as well as your beloved birds. When it comes to killing chickens, foxes are pretty neat hunters. Most evidence you will find is a small pile of feathers, as they take most of their prey to go. If they get into a fenced area, they could have jumped it, or created a small hole under the fence to get in. If a fox gets into an area with many chickens, they will often go into a frenzy and kill many of the chickens, and typically take one with them. They will bite off the heads of the birds and often bury the taken one nearby. The buried bird can be found by looking for loose soil and claw marks where the dirt was scratched up. They will often be accompanied by their classic fox smell, which is similar to a skunk or a ferret. Electric fences or chicken wire fences are the best to be against foxes.

Minks are very tricky animals. They are around the size of a house cat and are found near water like ponds, lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water. They are very fast and often eat small animals. They are semi-aquatic and have webbed paws that allow them to capture frogs, clams, and fish. Minks are often very shy, but can be bold if hungry. They have a similar odor to a fox and a skunk that is very strong. They are notoriously known for biting the heads off of chickens and leaving the rest of the bodies. They also often kill much more than they can actually eat, and they can often be found placed neatly in a pile. The main focus of minks is to drink the blood of the animals. Minks will attack at any time of day, and will not hesitate to strike if they see an opportunity. Minks can sneak through a space as small as one diameter thick, and are excellent diggers.

That is all for this month’s article. I hope you can put this information about foxes and minks to good use, and protect your feathery friends! Stay tuned for the last article next month!