9 August 2013

Foxies!

| johnboy
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The ABC has the delightful news that increased chicken ownership in Canberra is driving an exploding populations of foxes!

The number of foxes lurking in the streets of the nation’s capital city is on the rise.

Fox sightings in Canberra have increased as cubs become independent and more people keep chickens in their backyards.

Chris Condon, from the ACT Parks and Conservation Service, says urban foxes are a lot more cunning than those found on farms.

mrs fox

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Geoff_from_Lushpup_Images1:39 pm 24 Sep 13

I’d bet on poetix composing wordly aesthetics
But I wouldn’t say Boo! to a goose!

Love foxes they make great floor mats

Oh No ! Look out now it’ll be the UK drama all over again
And if one crafty urban fox kills some ones baby it’ll be on for young and all

I can usually hear them as they run past the house at night as they’ve got a very identifiable raspy sounding bark/screech and I’ve been hearing more of them lately too. Maybe they’re also sniffing out dogfood bowls as well as chickens. When we used to have dogs one used to get into our yard by digging under the fence to help itself to the left over dog food.

BimboGeek said :

Don’t keep pet chicken. Keep pet geese.

‘Boo!’

Don’t keep pet chicken. Keep pet geese.

I have a fox terrier, and hence no foxes.

The wife is pretty foxy too.

I’ve sighted foxes (or the same fox) on my street twice in the last few weeks. Not really that surprising as I’m only a few blocks away from bushland but certainly the first time I’ve ever seen them wandering the streets in my neighbourhood.

Mike Bessenger11:43 am 09 Aug 13

Pork Hunt said :

Mike Bessenger said :

enrique said :

Time to wire up the roofs and bury a deep length of mesh along the perimeters of your chicken pens folks if you haven’t already done so…

Or get a bomb proof coop.

A friend makes his like this: http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/YLD323/FE1E4ACC-FB38-4B61-B201-485A660F49AA-4775-000006EEC4AC101C.jpg and they are solid.

The holes in the upper part seem quite large…

oops, here is the final product:

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/YLD323/113ACDB5-BAF2-41F0-BDB3-1B0025187CB4-6575-000008373E68F535_zps16f1ca22.jpg
[IMG]http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/YLD323/7C580F77-CB26-4223-B5E8-C2D4AB6B02B3-6575-000008375B8CE58D_zpsd13992ee.jpg[/IMG]

From memory it’s 100% welded, with full fox proof floor.

Mike Bessenger said :

enrique said :

Time to wire up the roofs and bury a deep length of mesh along the perimeters of your chicken pens folks if you haven’t already done so…

Or get a bomb proof coop.

A friend makes his like this: http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/YLD323/FE1E4ACC-FB38-4B61-B201-485A660F49AA-4775-000006EEC4AC101C.jpg and they are solid.

The holes in the upper part seem quite large…

marcothepolopony said :

My neighbour tells me he saw a fox running over my front lawn in suburban Tuggeranong one recent morning he was collecting his paper!

That’s one clever fox. Bet it wasn’t the Chronicle. Perhaps The Atlantic would suit?

Girt_Hindrance11:23 am 09 Aug 13

marcothepolopony said :

My neighbour tells me he saw a fox running over my front lawn in suburban Tuggeranong one recent morning he was collecting his paper!

Missus and I were out the front of our corner block in the late hours, chatting away when she pointed out a fox on our lawn, a metre from her. It walked past us and then headed off down the road toward the house with the chickens. Haven’t been that close to one before, let alone had one approach me- very nice shiny coat on it too.

enrique said :

Time to wire up the roofs and bury a deep length of mesh along the perimeters of your chicken pens folks if you haven’t already done so…

No need to go nuts digging a trench. You can extend mesh perpendicular to the fence as a foot netting. Foxes tend to hit a fence and dig at the base until they can dig under. If you have footmesh, they dig, hit the mesh and give up.

See page 12 of this http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/publications/pubs/catalogue.pdf

Mike Bessenger10:50 am 09 Aug 13

enrique said :

Time to wire up the roofs and bury a deep length of mesh along the perimeters of your chicken pens folks if you haven’t already done so…

Or get a bomb proof coop.

A friend makes his like this: http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/YLD323/FE1E4ACC-FB38-4B61-B201-485A660F49AA-4775-000006EEC4AC101C.jpg and they are solid.

Time to wire up the roofs and bury a deep length of mesh along the perimeters of your chicken pens folks if you haven’t already done so…

Mike Bessenger10:32 am 09 Aug 13

I see foxes all the time in Belconnen on Gininderra Drive between Florey and Melba.

Would have thought that the crack fox would have been more apt for foxes in the city.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCuUnTJgD9M

marcothepolopony10:20 am 09 Aug 13

My neighbour tells me he saw a fox running over my front lawn in suburban Tuggeranong one recent morning he was collecting his paper!

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