6 Proven Ways To Keep Foxes Away From Chickens

Foxes are crafty and cunning, and they love nothing better than getting close to your chickens. No one wants their chickens to become a tasty dinner for the foxes nearby. With these six ways on how to keep foxes away from chickens, you will be able to let your chickens sleep safely at night.

There are several methods to use to keep foxes away from your chickens including:

• Add lights near the chickens
• Secure the coop
• Use a smell that repels foxes
• Put the chickens away at night
• Use Predator Guard
• Add electric fencing

The methods you need to use depend on how determined the fox is to get at the chickens. Let’s look closer at the different methods you can use to keep foxes away from the chickens.

How to Deter Foxes from Chickens

Since foxes love to go after your chickens, it is important to find ways to keep the chickens safe from harm.

Another pest to chickens you need to consider is raccoons, knowing how to keep raccoons away from a chicken coop could be the difference your chickens need.

Sadly, chickens have a lot of predators, they are easy prey if not carefully protected. Understanding what has been killing your chickens will help you know the best way to protect them. If you are trying to find out what animal bites heads off chickens, then check this article out.

Some of the different methods you can use to protect your chickens from foxes include:

Add Lights Near the Chickens to Scare Foxes

Most foxes do not like to be near bright lights because they can be seen. If you light the area up around the chickens, then the foxes are more likely to stay away. This works the best when you are out in the country where everything else is going to be dark around you. For those who live in town, foxes will be more used to the bright lights so this may not be as effective.

Think about the positioning of the lights carefully before putting them up. They could become an annoyance to you and others in the home if they are shining through the window all the time. If you are in the country and the chickens are far away from the home, this should not be a problem.

These outdoor solar LED lights with motion sensors (Amazon link) would light up any predators that trip the sensors, unless you are dealing with particularly brave foxes, this would work nicely.

Secure and Make the Coops Fox Proof

Foxes are going to work hard to get into the coop and if you make a mistake and do not close it up well, they will get at the chickens. You can take a few steps to help with this. First, make sure that the chicken coop has a good lid. This can make it impossible for a fox to jump in and snatch the chickens.

Take a look at the chicken coop fence. You want to use some of the strongest metal gauge chicken wire (Amazon link) that is available. If it is too weak, the fox will just be able to rip through it and get at the chickens. This can be a problem with other predators as well.

If you are using a chicken coop fence, make sure that it extends under the ground at least a foot. The deeper you can get the fence, the better. While foxes would rather climb up or reach over to get the chickens, they will dig under. Make it harder for them to do this.

Use a Smell That Repells Foxes

Targeting a fox’s sense of smell is a great way to keep foxes away and your chickens safe. Although it may sound a little disgusting, coyote urine (Amazon link) is a great way to deter foxes and other larger animals.

Foxes use the sense of smell as part of their awareness, being able to give a fox a false sense of danger is a great way to keep your chickens safe. I must warn you though, the smell of coyote urine, as I’m sure you can imagine, is not pleasant!

Put the Chickens Away at Night

Never let the chickens stay out at night. While you may spot foxes during the day, they are often nocturnal animals, which is the time of day when you will need to worry about them the most. If they notice that your chickens are wandering around at night, they are more likely to try to get through.

If the fox does not notice a chicken out, it will not bother sticking around for long. Just the sound of the chickens in their home is not enough for the fox. They want an easy source of food. Make it a little bit more difficult by keeping the chickens in their coop so they can’t get caught by the fox.

Use Predator Guard to Repel Foxes

Some chicken owners find that using a Predator Guard (Amazon link) is a good option to help keep foxes and other nocturnal predators far from the chickens. These utilize lights as well, but instead of bright lights, they are red flashing lights. The fox will assume that these red lights are a set of eyes, which will scare them away from the yard whenever they get close.

This method is going to be simple to use. Just attach the lights to the chicken coop. make sure that it faces all directions so it can catch the fox no matter which direction they come from.

Add Electrical Fences to Protect Chickens

While you should keep the chickens in a coop, at least at night, there are times when free-range chickens are able to have a lot of room to roam. When this takes them far from the home, you should make use of tall fencing that has a buried perimeter with it. Foxes are able to climb, but they would much rather dig under the fences.

Go with an electric fence (Amazon link) to get the most protection for your chickens. Just make sure that it is running at night when the chickens are put away well and can’t get hurt.

Bonus Tip On How To Keep Foxes Away From Chickens

This is the best time to get a dog. They will be able to keep foxes away. Even if the dog is not around the chickens all the time, foxes are scared away just by their scent. If they smell that a dog is somewhere near the chickens, they will run in the other direction.

When the fox sees the dog wandering around, they will know for certain that a dog lives there. They will be scared of the dog and will run in the other direction too. Keep the dog around to guard the chickens and to leave their scent behind, even when they are inside the home asleep.

Keeping Your Chickens Safe

Your chickens can be a lot of fun. But as much as you enjoy keeping them around, predators are going to want to take time to eat them as well. Above are 6 actionable steps on how to keep foxes away from chickens – Use some of these simple methods above to take care of your chickens and keep the foxes out.