..Fox leaves carnage in its wake
TWO years of work raising an endangered breed of hen - Scots Dumpys - has been brought to an abrupt end overnight thanks to the ubiquitous fox who has stalked our small farm since the day we arrived.
As regulars know there has been a constant battle between Nature and nurture as I've tried to raise sheep, geese, hens and turkeys in as natural an environment as you can hope for. Now all that hard work has virtually been destroyed in a blood thirsty killing spree.
The fox managed to pick away at some chicken wire, I'm not sure if it took hours, days or even weeks, to gain entry into the hen pen where he set about killing off half the occupants including Napoleon, the black cockerel, and hubby's favourite hen Little Dorrit ... we've yet to find their bodies. The video below shows what I found but if you are squeamish don't watch it. The remains of those left behind included a Guineau Fowl, the forlorn Mr Bumbles who lost his mate Mrs Bumbles earlier this month.
The agonising decision to keep them locked up inside the hen pen 24/7 was made after half a dozen hens disappeared last week when they failed to return from a day's foraging. A couple on horseback, who use our grounds for access, reported seeing the fox while out riding and expressed concern for the peafowl.
It was then I decided to lock both the hens and the turkeys in the pen during daylight hours but now, until the hen pen is made secure, the surviving five Scots Dumpys will have to sleep with the turkeys in the stable. I'm heartbroken.
Those of you who have shared the highs and lows of Soho2Silo know that I travelled extensively to build a solid breeding stock of Scots Dumpys drawn from the Isle of Wight, Manchester, Northampton, Cheshire. Many shared in my joy as the first chicks hatched and some sorrows as well as the ever present fox cast a shadow over the future of my birds.
The survivors include Horatio and my little white Dumpy Thumberlina, one of the young black poults ... last week I was hoping it would turn out to be a hen but now I'm hoping it will be a cockerel just like Napoleon. The two surviving cuckoo coloured hens are my Isle of Wight birds Madge and Mildred.
Familiar figures like Lady Gaga, Beryl, Ruby, Flopsy and Charlotte are no more.
At the moment I'm still trying to process what has happened and can't even begin to think about anything just now other than how to get rid of that fox once and for all.
The gloves are off and I know he will come back to try and take the remaining five. In the meantime I've decided to leave the dead birds lying where he slayed them because I know he will return tonight ... and I shall be waiting.
TWO years of work raising an endangered breed of hen - Scots Dumpys - has been brought to an abrupt end overnight thanks to the ubiquitous fox who has stalked our small farm since the day we arrived.
 |
POINT OF ENTRY & ESCAPE: The fox could've spent hours
may be even days or weeks picking away at the hicken wire
|
The fox managed to pick away at some chicken wire, I'm not sure if it took hours, days or even weeks, to gain entry into the hen pen where he set about killing off half the occupants including Napoleon, the black cockerel, and hubby's favourite hen Little Dorrit ... we've yet to find their bodies. The video below shows what I found but if you are squeamish don't watch it. The remains of those left behind included a Guineau Fowl, the forlorn Mr Bumbles who lost his mate Mrs Bumbles earlier this month.
The agonising decision to keep them locked up inside the hen pen 24/7 was made after half a dozen hens disappeared last week when they failed to return from a day's foraging. A couple on horseback, who use our grounds for access, reported seeing the fox while out riding and expressed concern for the peafowl.
It was then I decided to lock both the hens and the turkeys in the pen during daylight hours but now, until the hen pen is made secure, the surviving five Scots Dumpys will have to sleep with the turkeys in the stable. I'm heartbroken.
 |
| MR BUMBLES: Already heartbroken & now dead |
Familiar figures like Lady Gaga, Beryl, Ruby, Flopsy and Charlotte are no more.
At the moment I'm still trying to process what has happened and can't even begin to think about anything just now other than how to get rid of that fox once and for all.
The gloves are off and I know he will come back to try and take the remaining five. In the meantime I've decided to leave the dead birds lying where he slayed them because I know he will return tonight ... and I shall be waiting.
Hello Yvonne,
ReplyDeleteI've been following your adventure in farming for a couple of years. This is easily the saddest story you've told. You have put a lot of effort into this project with the birds and to lose so much of it in one night must be devastating.
I can't even get too upset with the fox. It was just doing what foxes do. And going after the fox is what farmers have been doing ever since the days of Cain and Abel (if I recall correctly they were both farmers until Cain whacked his brother).
Take care.
Andy.
Yvonne, having also followed your activities since the early days, I can only guess how devastating this must be for you. Goodness knows from where foxes get this instinct to kill everything, which defies all logic, but this does seem to be part-and parcel of life in the countryside. Condolences.
ReplyDeleteAndrew/David, Many thanks.
ReplyDeleteI've had a couple of trackers out tonight and it seems the fox found the one weak spot in the pen, which I didn't really know about. Your both right, it is what foxes do but it seems this one is a vixen and took her cubs into the pen to practice the art of killing! That explains why Horatio, the other cockerel, escaped despite being mauled and losing his neck feathers. A seasoned fox wouldn't have let him go but a young cub might have not been able to hold him down. I think this might run for a few days yet. It's just so soul-destroying - and if anyone is to blame its me or the guys who built the pen should've pointed out this 18 inch section as the weakest link.