So yesterdays was one of the worst days of homesteading/chicken owning. Here is the whole story:

It was super warm outside so we decided to push our work around so we could spend the whole day outside doing the light yard work and relaxing (we’ve been doing heavy manual labor every free day since feb). We just finished lunch on the deck and I was headed to putz around.

Just I stepped foot off the deck I heard Helen (our guinea fowl) squawk in that absolutely panic type of squawk, not the usual one so I went running. She was on the outside of the fenced area in her favorite dusty bathing spot. She sits there every day for hours

Except this time a whole fox had her. I went running full speed yelling my head off just as the Ups driver pulled up. He was confused af. But this fox wasn’t letting go! I was 10 feet from it screaming and it was unphased by my presence. I hopped the fence and went right for it

I had no weapons or tools. Just my rage and a set of lungs for screaming and it wasn’t until I was right up on it that it let go and slinked over the rock wall into woods. Huge tufts of feathers and that awful fox skunk stank left behind. Helen went to our basement door.

Helen had 1 large flesh wound on her back but no other injuries, I felt confident she would recover fine. I was flustered as fuck but I scooped her up and got her to the coop where she could relax. At the same time I herded the rest of the flock into the fenced in pool area.

Our fenced pool area is usually our “keep half an eye on the chickens but don’t worry too much” area. It’s fully fenced and we were always able to see the hawks before they get close (and to be fair, our hawk balloons have been working REALLY well!).

Once everything settled and we did a full perimeter check for the fox with our beagle we picked up a small tray of flowers to plant right next to the pool area. We were literally 15 feet from where the chickens were fenced in when...

... I knelt down to plant a 6-pack tray of impatiens into the ground. 3 minutes had passed when I heard HELEN squawk again. My husband reacted before I did because I knew Helen was safely locked in our coop...

But what my husband saw was NOT Helen - it was FOREST! He turned the corner and saw Forest running toward him only to be pulled back away over the rock wall into the woods. My husband RAN. I ran. I picked up Forest and it felt BAD for her. She was gasping, gurgling...

HUGE amounts of feathers all over the yard. Forest’s feathers.

And then I realized. She was OUTSIDE the fence!? What?! Where are the other chickens? Where’s Tim? Where’s Jack? Where’s PeanutButter?!!!

Every chicken that was outside the coop was gone. My heart sank, with Forest gurgling and gasping in my arms I paced and yelled “where’s the chickens!?” While my husband headed in the direction where the fox went when he saw the next horror scene...

Tim and PeanutButter both dragged into the woods and left under a log. Still. He walked up and yelled “No! Timmy! And Tim stood up! He scooped up Tim and walked over to PeanutButter. He rolled her on to her back. She didn’t move. She was alive but in complete shock.

She was barely conscious while Tim start walking around clucking. As we both stood over our wounded chickens in the woods THE FOX CAME BACK!! It ran *right* up on us to take them from our hands!!! We had to actually act aggressively to chase it out of our yard!!!

I put Forest inside the coop and went back into the woods and scooped up PeanutButter and Tim and brought them back to the coop and locked the door. Where’s jack?

I went back and got the beagle while my husband got his literal machete to hack through the brush looking for Jack. We looked for 5 minutes when the beagle laid down in a specific spot. I took at as a “signal” and sure enough I found Jack’s lifeless body 20 feet from the others

She was gone. There was nothing I could do but take her body so the fox cant come back and take her and see our yard as an even more viable source of food. My heart was broken but I have three other birds of varying degrees of injuries in my coop.

Forest was *not* good. She was still panting and coughing and gurgling, Tim was just sitting in a ball, and PeanutButter was hiding and also not moving so we set up our spare bathroom and brought them inside.

After a couple of hours in a quiet dark room it became easier to assess the injuries and damage. PeanutButter was suffering pure shock and also a puncture wound between her shoulders on her back. Tim has abrasions on his back but don’t see other injuries. Forest ...

Forest has a large puncture/tear on her rump. I am concerned she may have damaged her lungs or airway but is walking, eating and drinking so that is good news.

We went back out into our yard to account for one of our cats. The cat was fine. (I more just wanted him indoors at that time than was worried - he’s a former feral survivor cat who lived his whole life before outside and is street smart) and as I walked to the front

THE FOX WAS BACK AGAIN!! It came back after the 4th time we chased it off! This is an incredibly brazen and slightly scary fox. I’ve never encountered such a threatening wild animal. Every fox I’ve ever encountered was skiddish and scared of people, and

while this fox is likely a mother fox with a den of kits, there is no way it was *hungry*. We have about 30 bunnies that live in the front of our woods where the fox was stashing!!

But what keeps getting to me is how the fox got to the chickens. There are no feathers inside the fence so I don’t know if the chickens escaped the fence in VERY FEW minutes we walked away or if the fox got in and out of the fence silently. Either way, we only heard ONE scream

But somehow this fox came into our yard and exited into the woods 4 times for each chicken. There is no way the chickens were already in the woods. It would be impossible given the timeframe.

I truly thought my whole flock was gone yesterday. 3 chicken bodies barely conscious in my woods over 100ft from where I left them and 1 making terrifying sounds. I am going to nurse them again. I’ll keep updates.

Absolutely no more free ranging. Not for a long time. It’s time for a livestock guardian dog, or an electric fence, or both. I am feeling incredibly overwhelmed again. I appreciate everyone’s support on my post yesterday. It’s amazing to know so many people care