fox bait

[dipper27]

Does anyone know what is the best bait to put in a live trap to catch a fox?. She has had two of my hens in the last week, both taken at lunch time

[sn�gs]

Possibly another Hen... then...

[omelette]

tee hee, I'm inclined to agree with snags x

[Ice.Maiden]

There are lots of things you can do, but trapping a fox in a spring trap is illegal and there's an Act which prevents any form of crueltyt being involved. Your best bet's to contact your local pest control department. Following that, don't use chicken wire. A fox can bite through it or bend it out of shape to make a hole big enough to squeeze through - and this doesn't have to be very big at all.
Build the sides, top and UNDERNEATH of the coop out of welded metal or gridded sheets, and have a lock on the hen house at night. Your chickens'll be fine then.

[Schutzengel]

the fox is probably a vixen with cubs to feed. If you take the advice above about protecting your hens adequately. The fox will soon revert to finding her food in the wild

[wildwood]

Ditto to Schutzengel.

[Mr Veritas]

Our neighbours (we live in the depths of the country) wanted to try trapping (which as Ice M says) is illegal; anyway a farmer advised them (again as Ice M says) to strengthen their run/henhouse,
He said that even if you COULD trap the fox and rehome it to another place,this would leave an empty territory which would soon be filled by another fox.
Much less hassle and fuss to keep the hens better protected than waste time on the fox.

[tamborine]

Report the fox to the RSPCA.....if they dont respond try a snare

[tamborine]

and, as ice says, not in spring - only in summer. skin it.

[tamborine]

even better - invite the local hunt?

[gelda]

What stupid answers Tamborine :{

[RATTER15]

It is perfectly legal to use a live catch cage trap and snares, however to use a snare effectively you really need to know what you are doing. A live catch trap could be bated with pretty much any meat or "dead" animal, it is illegal to use any live animal as bait except in the use of a Larson trap where live magpies are usually used to catch other magpies.

Should you manage to trap your fox you need to know what you going to do with it, you could transport it far away for release, but I warn you, you wont want it in your car, they stink!! your best bet would be to arrange "in advance" for it to be shot once trapped by a local farmer maybe if you are not able to do it yourself.

[Schutzengel]

Sorry Tamborine and Ratter, you are both wrong, and it is illegal.

[Mr Veritas]

I don't know where tamborine and ratter live (cloud cuckoo land by the sound of it!)
I agree with Schutzenge that snares ARE illegal( and have been for quite a few years now).
I can give you a link to a government site if you wish?
If you have ever seen an animal that has died biting off it's own foot to get away from these primitive,cruel and distgusting things you wouldn't reccomend them!
In case tamboring failed(yet again) to realsie hunting foxes is illegal now,there are some circumstances where hounds CAN be used (but not for the hunting/killing of a fox)
that requires shooting,and just brings me back to my first point.
Kill one fox that is getting to the hems,and you will only get another.
Far better to make sure the fox cannot get to the hens in the first place.
Or maybe we should suggest the fox eats Ratter and Tamborine instead? LOL

[dipper27]

i would not use a snare, i know it would cause great pain to the fox, which is not my intention. The trap is a live trap cage and i have made arrangements if we catch it. It is legal to use this trap, but illegal to move it to another area.

[gelda]

What are you going to do with it when you catch it ?
Please remember at this time of year she may have cubs somewhere who are relying on her to feed them and if it is a male fox it feeds the female while she is feeding her cubs.
As other posters have said as soon as you get one another will take over its territory so if I were you I'd give this a lot of thought before you do anything drastic.

[Schutzengel]

As has been said before. Protect your chickens well, and the fox will return to the wild, although food is harder to catch. Who can blame her for looking for easy pickings. I have kept ducks and geese for over 20 years, and only lost one to a fox, and that was out of the garden in broad daylight in a winter when there had been nearly a week of hard frost, when other food source animals in the wild had gone to ground.

[The_Lost_Packet]

Foxes are territorial, they know where in their territory to find food. They are also scavengers, they prefer food they don't have to fight with. To help them help you, and maintain some sort of balance, leave out a little fresh meat and vegetable tops (they love carrots!) daily, they'll go for that and leave the chickens alone while you reinforce the henhouse. You can then move the feeding site slowly away from the henhouse to a place where you know they find regular food such as open fields which are frequented by rabbits, landfills (where they make decent rat control method), and barns such as those used for grain (again, great rodent control!) or bale storage. Give them an easy meal and they won't bother the chickens. I've cultivated a friendly relationship with an entire family of foxes over three years (which is damn fast for foxes), last years cubs are hand-tame!

[Dead_animal_eater_1591]

Here in the county we live in, the state of mississippi set five traps.
However we get out foxed. And they pay $300.00 per Fox. Fox, coons, opossums, and coyotes are well over populated and at the top of this food chain so they have no predators. They have killed off all of the stuff that we like to watch. Like squirrels, rabbits, robins, blue jays, martens,(which eat about 3000 mosquitos a day) red cardinals, quail, house cats, small dogs, rats, chickens, mice, ducks, geese, cranes, hawks, turkeys, and yes the bald eagles. (which are federally protected!!)
So we need a bait that they have not gotten rid of, to catch them, to keep them from killing off all of our livestock and the things we enjoy watching that we cannot build a pen to keep them safe. LIKE BALD EAGLES!!!

[Foxybingo]

Best bait for foxes, I used lambs liver raw, one day, one lovely fox, thank you very much

[Foxybingo]

Try using raw lambs liver, place in the smallest carrier bag, tie to trigger, caught my fox second night, no sign of fox first night, thank you very much, Foxybingo.