Update on the Mangy Fox

[Pol]

Some of you may remember the sad state of the Mangy Fox we were treating earlier in the year. Well she's still visiting, mainly during the night, but we're sometimes lucky enough to have a quick visit during daylight.

We've named her "Stumpy" as she apparently lost quite a lot of that terrible, baldy tail. Otherwise, she seems to be much better, most of her fur is back and looking quite good. She's still looks a bit thin but eating and drinking well. The Conjunctivitis seems to have cleared up nicely too.

This afternoon I happened to have the camera handy when she arrived and managed to capture a brief series showing how she's getting on. She's still a tad thin but filling out nicely. Still hobbles a bit too but nowhere near as bad as she was.

So here she is ...

The arrival - looking at me as I was sitting on a garden bench.



Licking her lips to let us know she fancies a snack ...



Grub up - so she's eagerly on her way at a reasonable trot ...



And a view of Stumpy's stump as she leaves the way she came.



We really feared she may not survive earlier this year so it's great seeing her so much healthier, bright-eyed, though no longer bushy tailed.

Pol

[coupekid]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

super series of photos, and so interesting to hear about Stumpy Pol.

Keep us updated on the fellow!

[Julia]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

Delighted to hear Stumpy is getting better - as long as she stays away from my hens.

Julia

[Pol]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

Delighted to hear Stumpy is getting better - as long as she stays away from my hens.

Julia

Our neighbours aften talked about having hens but there really are quite a lot of foxes roaming around this area so they decided against it. We've sometimes found hens eggs lying in the garden - shells unroken but scratched with teeth marks.

Pol

[Pol]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

super series of photos, and so interesting to hear about Stumpy Pol.

Keep us updated on the fellow!

Will do, assuming we have enough daytime visits. She's a lot better but still looks quite thin and small compared to the others - possibly because the others have more fur and long, bushy tails.

I love her to bits though - she has such a bright, intelligent litle face. Loves a cracker with honey, licks off the honey then takes the cracker behind the compost bins to settle down to eat them in peace.

Pol

[jojo]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

These are great pics of Stumpy Pol; I'm not surprised that you have taken a real shine to her. I agree too that she has a bright and intelligent face and, although she obviously trusts you, there is still that hint of caution in her eyes (understandably so). I hope she stays around with you for a long time to come Pol. Good on yer!

jo

[Ian]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

Our neighbours aften talked about having hens but there really are quite a lot of foxes roaming around this area so they decided against it. We've sometimes found hens eggs lying in the garden - shells unroken but scratched with teeth marks.

Pol

I'm stretching my diy talents (?!) to the limit and am building a large caged fox-proof run for the chooks, so they won't (literally) be 'couped' up all the time. It will be about 15x4 feet. But we will still give them the run of the garden during the day when we are at home and able to watch over them.

Ian

[Pol]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

I'm stretching my diy talents (?!) to the limit and am building a large caged fox-proof run for the chooks, so they won't (literally) be 'couped' up all the time. It will be about 15x4 feet. But we will still give them the run of the garden during the day when we are at home and able to watch over them.

Ian

That's a big job, though I'm sure the chooks are gonna really love you for it!

I suppose you'd need to bury the base fairly deep, otherwise the foxes would dig down. The foxes come from all directions but the ones from the back come in from below the bottom fence, where there's a badger run that's been there for years, since before we moved here. It's always been impossible to block the gaps because the badgers always dig it free again.

One more thing - the foxes have been known to leap up and over a 6ft fence - we've seen one of them doing that, though it was an unusual situation after a neighbour had assumed it was injured and gone towards it to try to 'help' it.

Good luck with the DIY jobbie though. I hope it all works out well and don't forget to show us a few pics.

Pol

[Pol]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

These are great pics of Stumpy Pol; I'm not surprised that you have taken a real shine to her. I agree too that she has a bright and intelligent face and, although she obviously trusts you, there is still that hint of caution in her eyes (understandably so). I hope she stays around with you for a long time to come Pol. Good on yer!

jo

I was maybe 30-40 ft away when I took the picture. It's a crop of approx 60% from a 250mm frame as that's what was on the camera st the time and I wouldn't have had time to go inside and get a longer lens.

She's not that trusting and nor would I want her to be. We don't approach any of the foxes at all as we wouldn't want to make them tame, hence vulnerable. She's still cautious and would take off pronto if we moved towards her. She'd just arrived from the bottom gate and was walking up the path and I happened to be sitting on a bench at the time.

She stopped when she spotted me and just stood there watching me for a few seconds - so David grabbed the chance to sneak out very quietly (in bare feet) and slip more sultanas and a couple of honey covered crackers into the ground feeder tray. She stayed put until he came back inside then took off into her 'fox-trot' to relish the treats.

She came back and forth for about an hour after that - but we both stayed indoors and let her get on with it (having chucked several more treats across the lawn for her).

BTW - the shots were off the new Pentax 60-250mm f/4 lens and attached to the K20D. Nice lens, though I find it a tad heavy and with a wide barrel compared to the 300mm f/4 prime. I think I prefer the 300mm prime for handling - though the 60-250 has the benefit of the zooming range.

Pol

[Ian]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

The pen will be covered across the top with chicken wire too. The ground where the chooks are situated is very difficult to dig, even with a spade. It's full of flint and clay, and there is the remnant of an old brick will there. But I will be very mindful of the digging ability of a fox

Ian

[Pol]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

The pen will be covered across the top with chicken wire too. The ground where the chooks are situated is very difficult to dig, even with a spade. It's full of flint and clay, and there is the remnant of an old brick will there. But I will be very mindful of the digging ability of a fox

Ian

I really don't know a lot about it but I know 'Blithe' used to have hens - until the foxes got them. So maybe she would be able to make a few helpful suggestions.

Cue Blithe - are you there? Can you help?

I can sympathise regarding the clay soil because ours is the same - a nightmare to try to dig. We finally bit the bullet last year and decided to clear out trees, shrubs, wild saplings and other grot that had accumulated down the years so we could start afresh and aim for more of a cottage garden.

We're still at it, still not quite finished preparing the soil and laying out the overall structure, though we've made some huge strides this year. David's outside now even as I type. He's been clearing out a massive bed of Montbretia around the greenhouse.

He did the best he could to double dig the main beds but it was hard, tiring work. So we bought a tiller/cultivator contraption hoping it might help break up the soil more, well good enough to plant new shrubs etc without needing an axe (really) to make the hole.

We only bought a cheapie, not expecting much from it, but we've been astonished and thrilled by the results! It tills to about 8" depth and does a brilliant job! He was careful to remove larger stones as far as possible but the tiller stops anyway if it hits an obstacle - then you can just shift the blockage no bother.

[ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/GARDEN-GEAR-TILLER-AND-CULTIVATOR/dp/B0026LYSDG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=diy&qid=1254390112&sr=8-2"]Here's the one we have.[/ame] Shop around they can often be found for slightly less than that elsewhere We only wanted a fairly narrow one but you can get them in all shapes and sizes and at a wider range of prices. We just wanted something fairly narrow and light to make it easier to dig and hoe around the various beds.

He's now used the tiller to mix in a load of sharp sand and fairly fine bark mulch. It can also be used to'drill and till' the holes for planting shrubs etc - which has been another way we've used it recently. Superb contraption!

Pol

[Ian]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

Interesting. Julia had to buy in a cubic metre of topsoil for her raised bed as the stuff in our garden was completely unsuitable.

At least we are now guaranteed a plentiful supply of compost from the hens. Well, mostly from composting the hens' used bedding, which is now primarily straw and hempcore (derived from hemp plants and commonly used for horse bedding).

Ian

[Pol]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

Interesting. Julia had to buy in a cubic metre of topsoil for her raised bed as the stuff in our garden was completely unsuitable.

At least we are now guaranteed a plentiful supply of compost from the hens. Well, mostly from composting the hens' used bedding, which is now primarily straw and hempcore (derived from hemp plants and commonly used for horse bedding).

Ian

We were tempted to buy a load of topsoil too. Then we decided to have a go at seeing what we could do ourselves first, as we've always kept compost bins and added that, sand and peat down the years. We'd also laid 'stepping stone' slabs for paths last year so we no longer needed to be forever laying bark mulch and shredded branches for paths - so we decided the remaining mulch could also be added to the compost. (we have a Bosch shredder for shredding pruned branches etc).

We've been getting deliveries of sand, peat, mulch and other garden necessities for years from HERE and I think they deliver nationwide. They're very good, usually good prices and they'll ring the day before they plan to deliver - so there's no need to be waiting in.

They seem to be one of the few places where you can get individual slabs at a very good price. We had to wait about 6 weeks for the slabs as they were out of stock when we ordered ours (last year) - but they kept us fully informed all the way until they were deliverd.

How about laying a solid path of thick slabs around the edge of the hen run? Surely a fox couldn't get through that? Dunno - worth thinking about though.

Pol

[Caz]

Re: Update on the Mangy Fox

Cracking series of shots Pol, and I'll echo the other comments. She looks so much better.

I'm still waiting to see the one that visits the partners' garden in Leicester, apparently it's a really old boy. In fact, I haven't seen their squirrel visitor either .

Carol