Welsh Poultry Centre

Know your enemy - some facts about the fox for those keeping hens.

So you have your three or four hens in the back garden. Their happy, you're happy, the kids enjoy them and the eggs are great. Why didn't you do this before? Then disaster; all that remains of the chickens is a couple of bloody  bodies. The kids are traumatised and you're shocked. This was supposed to be reconnecting with nature not turning the garden into a slaughterhouse. The offender is, of course, the fox.

Your irritation rises, why did it kill all of them. One would have been bad enough but it's killed the lot. Such words as, indiscriminate, gluttonously excessive, weapon of mass destruction pass through your mind as your anger increases. Before you apply for a firearms certificate or consider a pack of hounds in your garden take time to view your enemy; the fox.

The fox's lineage

Foxes (Vulpes vulpes) are a branch of the Canidae family. This family includes coyotes, dogs, foxes, Jackals and wolves. They are found on all continents other than Antarctic, (it is thought that the Dingo, a wild dog in Australia, was introduced in prehistoric times, while the fox was introduced by settlers to control the rabbit which was also introduced by settlers). Most people consider the fox to be a rural dweller. However foxes are very adaptable and have a diet and behaviour that finds them in the most unlikely habitats.

The strange and eerie fox call

From December to February you will hear their calling if you live in a rural area and go out at dusk or after dark.  It is a weird call with a sometimes almost human quality to it.  (You can listen to a fox call at www.angelfire.com/ar2/thefoxden/sounds.html ) At this time of year foxes are on the move, looking for mates. Like humans, some foxes mate for life, however each year there will be a number of young and disillusioned foxes looking for new mates.

Fox cubs

During this period they can travel vast distances. Although normally territorial, it seems that these boundaries, which anyway overlap, are forgotten about December through to end of February. In urban areas, probably because of the greater food supply, this mating period can go on to April. The gestation period for a fox is 51-52 days. The fox cubs are born blind and for two weeks the vixen does not leave them. During this period the dog fox will bring food for the vixen. Sometimes there is a helper. This is normally a female cub from the previous year that does not have a mate of her own. The helper will also bring food for the vixen and if, for some reason the vixen dies, will take over the role of looking after the cubs.

Fox dens

Foxes live in dens. They will often have several dens within their territory. In rural areas these could be old, or sometimes-even part of a used badger set, or enlarged rabbit holes. There will usually be one secure den with a number of entrances and a few smaller dens. It is not unusual for the vixen with cubs to move; from the secure den to one of her other dens while the cubs are only a month or two of age. Nobody is sure why they regularly do this. As well as dens, foxes have scrapes, shallow depressions in which they may spend daylight hours, especially when they were not looking after a litter of cubs.