Foxes are a pest that have increased over the recent year especially in urban areas where food is plentiful and they have few natural predators - country foxes have an instrinct that if people see them they’ll get shot of chased by dogs. This as become bred out of their urban cousins. There are a few ways to deter foxes.
1. Don’t leave food out for them, either intentionally or unintentionally. Secure waste food in lockable bins. Small pets in the garden can also be a target for a hungry fox and a fox can quickly make a hole in a chicken wire enclosure Quality weldmesh is a much stronger alternative and we use this in all our chicken runs.
2. Secure your fences and fill in any holes to prevent easy access but as a fox can climb 6 foot plus over a solid fence of wall you need to pay attention to the top as well. Whilst a fox can jump most fences he likes to see the top is solid for him to jump on. If it is moving in the wind he’ll be deterred from attempting to get over the top.
3. You can also add electric fencing along the top of an existing wall. You’ll need an energiser to create a high voltage charge that produces the shock, at least 2 stands of wire, one “hot” wire connected to the high voltage electric fence energiser and one connected to the earth terminal of the energiser. The fox will need to be in contact with both of these to receive a shock. You can have multiply wires to cover a taller area and connect the earth wire to another metal parts of your fence. The hot wire need to be insulated from earth with some stand off insulators.
A simple electric fence can keep foxes out of your garden
4. Male urine is an effective deterrent spread around the perimeter.
5. If you are keeping chickens or rabbits in a garden our fox proof runs will keep them safe.