Two fox species live in our region, the red fox and the gray fox. Although there is wide variation in the color of red foxes, the two species can be reliably distinguished by the color of their legs and the tips of their tails, even Red foxes always have black legs and a white tail-tip, while gray foxes have pale legs and a black tail tip.
Foxes are notorious raiders of hen houses. Here are some ideas for fox-proofing your coop from D.I.Y. Coop Builder.
While it is understandable for people, especially those who care about animals, to want to give their chickens and ducks freedom, the truth is that there are predators everywhere. Foxes consider any potential meal fair game, and rightly so. If you can’t bear to keep you birds “cooped up,” then you will have to be willing to lose some to predators. Keeping them shut in at night will cut your losses, if your coop is truly predator-proof. We hope that you will agree that the welfare of wildlife should take precedence over that of a backyard bird flock. Please don’t think you can solve predator problems by trapping and moving them.
Foxes sometimes den under decks or buildings, giving those lucky homeowners an opportunity to watch the antics of a fox family. If, for some reason, this is not acceptable, foxes can often be encouraged to move their family to an alternate den site by hazing them. See suggestions for ways to make foxes feel unwelcome in this chapter from the Humane Society of the United States publication, Wild Neighbors: The Humane Approach to Living with Wildlife by John Hadidion:
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