Coming home to roost

When a fox finds its way into a chicken pen with the inevitable result, a plan is hatched to exact revenge and protect the survivors

- MARK RIPLEY

The farmer was distraught. Thirteen of his wife’s beloved chickens lay scattered around the run in a sea of ginger and white feathers. The majority of the recently deceased lay almost untouched; simply bitten, shaken then dropped in favor of the next victim. A few survivors huddled nervously in the corner of the barn, shocked by the terrifying ordeal they had witnessed the previous night, with several others missing.

This wasn’t the first time I’d seen such carnage and I could offer little another comfort than to suggest that there may well be a few survivors that had escaped out of the barn and would likely find their way back over the next day or two. The words that seemed to comfort the couple more were when I told them to “rest assured. I will get it.”

Invariably in these situations, the best tactic is to leave the scene exactly as it is for the next night. Foxes that have done such a deed will almost always return the next evening — or even later the same day — with the knowledge that there is an easy meal left behind. This makes for the perfect opportunity to lie patiently in wait for the culprit.

Under pressure

Attacks on lambs, poultry, and pheasant poults are common at this time of year; first by adults under pressure to feed cubs, then later in the year as cubs themselves grow bolder and less cautious, but still small enough to squeeze through gaps that a fully grown adult would be unable to. With the farmer happy to leave the crime scene untouched, to exact revenge and safeguard the rest of the chickens, I hatched a plan.