We had a major scare last night which brought to an end our 17-month long claim NOT to have a fox problem. Yep, we had a fox visit! The chickens, turkeys and ducks were all shut away (it being post-midnight!!) but the geese were out as we have not shut them in since moving them to the top three-acre field in the spring - and despite having access to the barn, they have never chosen to spend the night there. This story does have a happy ending though as unlike the rest of the poultry that would have adopted a ‘every chuck for itself’ attitude, all three geese stayed together to fight. The fox had latched on to Barbara but she was seriously resisting, helped hugely by both Tom and Margo who were attacking the fox with beaks and feet and creating a huge noise in the process. This was just as well as it alerted us (Jack) to what was going on and so a few seconds later and after a dodgy sprint down our wet garden path, said fox scarpered!! Barbara had superficial injuries to one of her wings although was also absolutely filthy as the fox had obviously rolled her around in the muddy gateway (in the photo she is at the back). Having checked she really was okay, Jack then herded all three into the barn and the safety of the hospital wing.
This morning we let them out and put them into the poultry area where they had a lovely day enjoying the long grass at the bottom end of it, before, bless their little cottons, they cleverly remembered that in this paddock, they had a nice secure stable to sleep in and so dutifully headed there at dusk! Barbara’s wing is a little droopy but will hopefully heal and get stronger.
We are unbelievably proud that the three of them stuck together and fought the fox off although we are not quite so sure what the outcome would have been had Jack NOT been up and awake still and so able to finish scaring him off!! We aren’t dwelling on that thought too much!!