Country mouse - Mark Hedges

First-hand experience leads Mark to remember that you need to keep a sharp eye on your poultry around this time of year, to protect it from hungry vixens with cubs to feed.

Country mouse, Country Life magazine
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The old cockerel is no more. He was killed, together with his entourage of hens, by a fox, almost certainly a vixen with cubs to feed. She was last seen struggling over the fence with one of the Maran hens in her mouth. The vixen must have been pretty desperate to come so close to our house so early in the evening when the sky was still bright. When I opened the back door, I'm not sure which of us was more surprised by the sight that greeted us the fox, the terrier or me.

For a moment, we stood and looked at each other in horrified amazement. Then, at the terrier's first growl, the fox hit the turbo charge and was gone. I was furious with myself. The old cockerel must have been close to seven years old. He and his hens didn't deserve such a violent death, and it was my fault for not locking them up a few minutes earlier. May and June always see the most audacious fox attacks, as the vixens are desperate to feed their cubs. If you have poultry, now is the time to be doubly vigilant.

Country Life
Country Life

Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.

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