That is arguably the farmer's fault for having a chicken coop that a fox can get into, and storing a lot of chickens in there! If the farmer only had 1 chicken per coop, or made a coop that a fox couldn't get into, fewer chickens would be killed by foxes. It's not like kids are taught a nursery rhyme about a wolf trying to get into a pigpen and being foiled by decent construction methods...
How many individual coops would you need to house chickens on an industrial scale? I can't imagine the amount of space you would need to make that even remotely practical. The problem with the whole fox hunting ban issue is both sides of the affair have axes to grind and are unwilling to see, accept and discuss the others point of view rationally. Until that happens nothing will change and fox hunting will carry on as it always has. I find it personally conflicting. I enjoy the tradition of seeing a hunt in full flow with all the horses, the hounds and all the activity that comes with it but I find the idea of killing foxes for fun troubling. I'm fine with farmers shooting them as part of pest control. Honestly it's easier just to not think or worry about it. Until people on both sides can talk calmly and rationally about it nothing is going to change.
I wasn't taking about a chicken farm, where you'd use double lines of electric fencing I'd imagibe. But just a normal domestic setup with a couple of dozen birds. Sure when the fox gets in you can probably find some fault. But it's still pretty unpleasant as he'll kill a lot of birds but only take 1. Nothing unatural about it, but, they're hardly harmless.
Agreed, but they would go back if the level of risk is deemed low enough to risk going back. They will my nature go back if safe and collect the other chickens and berry them if you let them, but 99% of the time the chickens that are killed are taken away the next morning so not giving the fox a chance. http://www.channel4.com/programmes/...-city/articles/all/do-foxes-kill-for-pleasure He needs to build better fences then.
I had a very similar issue when I first got chickens. I quickly learned my lesson. I built better fences, modified the hen house design a bit and shot a few foxes for good measure to lower the local fox population a bit (there were dozens of them). The net result? No more dead chickens and a reasonable fox population. A win win all round. When I first got my chickens I put them in the hen house. Within about an hour I spotted the first fox out in the field that surrounds my house in broad daylight. At night when I went out with a torch 3 hours later there was 12 of them... It was like someone rang the dinner bell. If they go near my chickens they are liable to get shot. Simple as that. They learn surprisingly quickly actually. I haven't seen a fox in the field yet this year I don't think.
I was being facetious with 1 chicken per coop. Just build a proper coop and it won't be broken into. It's not rocket science.
Actually Archtronics made an excellent point, well presented and informed. It certainly made me think. Ironically, YOUR response says more about you than Archtronics. Cheesecake. At my previous house, at night, I would spend hours with the lights off, in prone position, my nose pressed against the patio window glass, watching happy foxes a few feet away munching on the scraps we put out. I could never support hunting foxes and having them ripped apart by dogs - I see it as morally wrong to enjoy doing it too - but at some point their numbers might require professional pest controls.
