late night attack

darrcow

last night under the cover of darkness mr or mrs fox attacked killing all my turkeys which were fattening for xmas. so in need of more turkeys if anybody knows of anywhere in meath let me know. on the luckey side they left my 6 black minorca hens and rooster and my othe 30 light sussex and laying hens. so fingers crossed no more death tonight

Mothman

That is awful, but I guess something that most of us have experienced.

Are you sure it was fox and not mink?

Can't help with sourcing turkeys

darrcow

im guessing it was a fox it could have been a mink i will have a better look around at the markings where it dug under chicken wire

Askim

darrcow wrote: »

im guessing it was a fox it could have been a mink i will have a better look around at the markings where it dug under chicken wire

the size of the hole should tell you what was in, 2" to 3" hole = mink, hole about the size of a football = fox.

Mink usually just bite the back of the neck.

Dusty87

Darrcow, it would be better if you mentioned your general area. Also white or bronze turkeys? I have a couple of numbers here but they'd be mostly around the midlands.

William Powell

darrcow wrote: »

im guessing it was a fox it could have been a mink i will have a better look around at the markings where it dug under chicken wire

I had chickens where I used to work in an acre padock with a tall brick wall on one side and 8-9foot wire on the other 3 sides. What I ALWAYS found was the Mr Fox would make at least 2 holes in the wire before comming in and killing anything. So once you had found the obvious hole you then had to very carfully look around for another and find that before you could rest easier.

I've even watched a fox make holes in the chicken wire they'll just get a mouthful and move backwards and forwards untill they've either unwound a small section or broken it, but in when I was watching them in broad daylight they were getting up to the bottom of the wire in long grass at the bottom of a hedge which gave them good cover. On one occasion I even watched Mrs Fox show the kids how to make a hole in the wire.

In case anyone is interested that acre had about 200 chickens on it. The fence was put in with a plough so there was at least a foot of the chicken wire burried, the bottom 4ft (inc under gound) was small mesh (can't remember the exact size may be 3/4 inch) and the next 5ft was a much wider 1 1/2 inch mess put up quite losely. The idea was that a fox can climb tight small mesh but his paws slip and get stuck in the wider mesh, none got in over the top thats for sure.

johngalway

Magpies, grey crows, and cats can all make holes in chicken wire. Wouldn't rely on it at all for protection against foxy, seems the only thing that can't figure it out are.... Chickens

William Powell

johngalway wrote: »

Magpies, grey crows, and cats can all make holes in chicken wire. Wouldn't rely on it at all for protection against foxy, seems the only thing that can't figure it out are.... Chickens

I wouldn't recommend relying on just a chicken wire fence no matter how good it was. We've always locked then up at night so the fencing would only be for daytime protection. Worst time of day in my opinion is between about 12 midday and 3pm on a wet afternoon.

MOC1972

What ever done it :mad: its a royal pain in the ass to lock them up behind the wire fulltime. I think for us mink is the biggest risk as the dog spends most of her time herding them and the fox would not take the chance.

darrcow

Dusty87 wrote: »

Darrcow, it would be better if you mentioned your general area. Also white or bronze turkeys? I have a couple of numbers here but they'd be mostly around the midlands.

im based just outside navan. any type of turkey will do thanks

Snowc

Here is a picture of my 7 turkeys which I bought at a market in Offaly.Its my first year so am quiet happy on how the are growing

William Powell

You seem to b rhearing them alright.

Fr Dougal

darrcow wrote: »

Dusty87 wrote: »

Darrcow, it would be better if you mentioned your general area. Also white or bronze turkeys? I have a couple of numbers here but they'd be mostly around the midlands.

im based just outside navan. any type of turkey will do thanks

You could try Hogansfarm.ie
They are just outside Kells. Dunno if they do live turkeys though, if not they might point you in the right direction.

fodda

Why don't you put a proper fence up.......may have to be higher for turkeys?

http://www.grow-your-own.ie/electric_fence.html

William Powell

fodda wrote: »

Why don't you put a proper fence up.......may have to be higher for turkeys?

http://www.grow-your-own.ie/electric_fence.html

A freind in the UK had a very similar fence setup for a large collection of fancy ducks including a lot of quite rare ones. Added to the fence as in your link he also had a "nose wire" about a foot out on the "wild" side of the fence the whole thing worked well for about 5 years then in a power cut one night he lost the lot to a fox attack. I'd always go for physical barrier dug in and high enough to prevent climbing and jumping + electric fence, but I'm a bit belt and braces sometimes and that won't make you any money if the fence costs more than you make from the turkeys.

fodda

William Powell wrote: »

A freind in the UK had a very similar fence setup for a large collection of fancy ducks including a lot of quite rare ones. Added to the fence as in your link he also had a "nose wire" about a foot out on the "wild" side of the fence the whole thing worked well for about 5 years then in a power cut one night he lost the lot to a fox attack. I'd always go for physical barrier dug in and high enough to prevent climbing and jumping + electric fence, but I'm a bit belt and braces sometimes and that won't make you any money if the fence costs more than you make from the turkeys.

Physical barrier is good.....but very expensive:eek: .... Generator or battery backup for your house through inverter and better still generate a lot if not all your leccy.

William Powell

fodda wrote: »

Physical barrier is good.....but very expensive:eek: .... Generator or battery backup for your house through inverter and better still generate a lot if not all your leccy.

Physical barrier shouldn't be that expensive. The way we used to do it was with a decent quality wire burried to cover about the first 3ft from ground level up then used a more open cheaper quality wire for the next 4-5ft. The higher up section was hung from posts at very wide spacing; it flipped around all over if anything tried to climb it and afaik foxes never did.

btw Have you seen the price of a decent electic fence unit recently :eek:.

fodda

William Powell wrote: »

Physical barrier shouldn't be that expensive. The way we used to do it was with a decent quality wire burried to cover about the first 3ft from ground level up then used a more open cheaper quality wire for the next 4-5ft. The higher up section was hung from posts at very wide spacing; it flipped around all over if anything tried to climb it and afaik foxes never did.

btw Have you seen the price of a decent electic fence unit recently :eek:.

Whatever you use if you need it then thats what you have to get!

eatmedrinkme

took our ducks in the depths of last winter. We're still not sure how. So, this winter the plan is to build a space for ducks and chickens, and secure it against the patrolling foxes and martens.

So. we'll cut back the overhanging trees ( does anyone know what use leylandii can be put to? It's apparently a fairly useless firewood, but may be water resistant...), dig a border trench and sink our posts and our fence 18 inches below the ground (any suggestions as to what type of wire to use? It'll have to be fairly permanent, as I only want to do this once every three decades or so) and then put in a mains electric fence top and bottom, or on the bottom, and cover over the top with netting.

I guess we'll also cover the edges with plastic and gravel, to keep the growth down and make damage easy to see.


Ultimately, the space should be big enough to cater to chicken, ducks, and the occasional goose/turkey.

Any suggestions are welcome....

fodda

You should never have hanging trees or anything that a predator can make use of to enter your holding.

Chicken wire is useless and too flimsy, the only stuff you can use is wire mesh which is a lot stronger but also expensive. Otherwise it is a proper electric fence system similar to this maybe www.grow-your-own.ie/electric_fence.html But the down side is nothing is cheap but it works out cheaper than loosing your entire stock to predators which today can be of a 4 legged or 2 legged variety.

greylag

i have white free range turkeys for sale. PM me if interested. i in westmeath.

meathstevie

There isn't a lot you can do about a pine marten but as for foxes and mink the solution is very simple; trap or shoot.

adgsevans

old builders fencing is perfect . it can be bought quite cheap as ex hire