On the road we take to get to the beach near us we often see a very tame fox along the roadside. It's always a treat to see such a beautiful creature up close. On one especially hot day last summer he lazed in the shade on the side of the road and didn't even move when Chris and Rowan pulled up right beside him (or her.) I think foxes are lovely looking creatures but that wasn't my first thought about the one that boldly stole one of our ducks not 50 feet away from where I was on the porch hanging laundry. We called her Mabel the wonder duck after that because as I sat outside waiting to see if that fox would come back before the chickens and ducks went in their coop for the night, I counted two brown Khaki Campbells. I couldn't believe it, she must have put up a good flight for the fox to have let her go. She had a minor cut on her wing from the foxes teeth, but made a quick recovery and continued to give us eggs along with her sister Hazel till their time to go to freezer camp arrived.
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| Thankfully we don't have dinos to contend with |
Foxes and racoons are curious and beautiful when they are not trying to steal food from my family. From a distance I love to watch them, but if they step foot on my property you can bet I'd shoot them on sight. That's the odd dynamic I found interesting this week. Thankfully we haven't had losses to predators every year, it seems to only happen every second year. The first year we lived here there were none, the next year was the one that gutsy fox failed to take one of our two ducks but succeeded in snatching a handful of our hens before we started leaving our dog Bear outside whenever the flock was free-ranging. Last year all the creatures survived the jaws and grasping paws of death, but this year again we've had casualties. Here's hoping next year they will be safe when we move to our little house in the big woods.
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| The triumphant chicken defender |
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