This is a real-life tale of a local fox in a local henhouse.
Keeping chickens has been growing in popularity. Columbia Public Schools has several elementary and middle schools with active chicken coop operations. The students can learn all sorts of practical information from these schoolyard birds. There has been chicken math, chicken science, chicken art, and chicken finances.
Students at Jefferson Middle School recently learned that there is another common lesson — chicken sorrow.
Not long ago, a call came from the Jefferson Middle School office letting the “chicken keeper” teachers know that either all the chickens were sleeping or they were dead. They were not sleeping. Chickens were laying on the ground everywhere. They looked just fine — except for them being not alive!
This particular coop has operated for four years, and this was our first animal attack as we have quite a robust coop system. What upset the students (and adults) the most is the fact that the chickens were killed for what appeared to be sport, as only one was taken away and the rest killed and left.
As bad as this was, this is where the learning began.
The history of the urban fox
If you see a fox, it is likely a red fox with the scientific name Vulpes vulpes.
The red fox was native to the old growth forests in North America well before Europeans came to colonize the land. During colonization, the gray fox was also present. However, the red fox seems to have adapted and even thrived in the presence of humans while the gray fox avoided it.
Over time, the gray fox population and territories plummeted while the red fox increased both its territory and population. Now, the red fox thrives where humans are concentrated more than in wild areas.
There are two behaviors that the red fox took advantage of when it came to humans.The most obvious one is we leave a lot of food around. Things we throw away are often delicious to the fox. Our trash also attracts rodents, which are a favorite food for the fox. There are more rodents concentrated in human areas than wild areas.
And of course, sometimes we humans like to put delicious chickens in cages that the fox sees as a buffet rather than a secure enclosure.
The other adaptation that benefits the red fox when near humans: the main red fox predator is a coyote. While the red fox doesn’t mind living near humans, most coyotes would rather not. Humans are inadvertently playing the role of bodyguards for the fox.
Humans benefit too! Urban and suburban areas with foxes have lower instances of Lyme disease than areas without foxes. The reason for this: rodents carry Lyme disease, then insects like ticks carry the disease to humans when they bite a rodent, then bite a human. Foxes eat many of the rodents and therefore control that harmful disease.
Back to the chicken coop
Foxes mate with the same partner for life and the female gives birth to between three and seven babies in mid-spring.
Both the male and female take care of the new litter for the rest of the year, as the new foxes do not leave on their own until the fall season. It’s the springtime fox nursery that puts your chicken coop at the most risk.
The foxes are not just feeding themselves. They are now having to find food for a much larger family. A rodent or so a day is not going to cut it, so they travel further away from their den to try to find new food. Then they happen across a chicken coop.
Experts tell us that there is virtually no fox-proof coop. They are smart and determined. However, it might comfort you to know foxes really do not kill all the chickens just for fun. They can only eat one or two at night, but they are worried the chickens might not be there the next day. So, they kill them all with the intent to come back and eat them later.
As far as the devastated students — they learned a lot that day. We had several community offers to trap the fox and take it away. The students wanted that and many other bad things to happen to the fox.
But then they started wondering what would happen to any baby foxes left behind. They started talking about the good that foxes do. In the end, they voted to let the fox be and work on making our coop even stronger.
Mike Szydlowski is a science teacher and zoo facilitator at Jefferson STEAM School.
TIME FOR A POP QUIZ
Why did the red fox population increase while the gray fox population decreased when humans came to colonize North America?
In what two ways does the red fox benefit from humans?
How do humans benefit from the red fox?
At what time of year are chicken coops most at risk from foxes?Why?
Why does the fox kill all the chickens in a coop when it can only eat a couple?
LAST WEEK'S QUIZ ANSWERS
A typical mole has a mass of 100 grams.How many grams of worms does a mole eat in a day?
Fifty grams.
Why do you think that moles do not share territories and tunnels?
Moles need to eat so much every day that they cannot afford to share their area.
In what ways does a mole help and harm our yards?
A mole will harm your yard creating mounds and tunnels that look bad. A mole will help your yard by eating larvae that might hurt your plants.
Are moles good or bad for the environment?Why?
Overall, moles are good for the environment as they help make soil healthier.
Is a mole a herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore?Why?
Moles are carnivores because they only eat worms and larvae.
