No it wasn't you, it was definitely Dawn

I used to have chickens and ducks and in all the time i had them i mever had a visitor from a fox or anything else,i have been trying to work out why aftre reading this thread as everyone else around here has,or had lost many chickens to them and they all had good fencing etc,i have at least 6 ft fencing and they were always put away at night i have dogs etc so would scent there wee,but actually i think its because i back onto a field that has a very small play area in,i think that the foxes can smell humans near the back of my garden due to the little park and that has been there deterrent,i cant think of anything else that would be different,so maybe some human clothing humg around there house???ok it may be a long shot but may be worth a try...
I actually dont think that foxes kill for pleasure,i believe that a fox,vixen would first try to eat for herself and her cubbs i believe the reason they then go on a killing frenzy(i have heard someone call it that)is so that the live chickens will not attract any more foxes into there territory....foxes are like most other creatures and they live in the moment so to give them an emmotion of being evil killers is wrong,they do not predict that tomorrow they may not be around or that they have to get them all now they just live to survive and that would consist off food and territory....i hope that no more of your chicks get taken...

I wouldn't either, we had a real problem, but its been rectified now, not by traps though

That is good and well thought out. Not as expensive as some of the advertised ways to keep them in either. Well done. Wouldnt be feasible for our garden, too much of it and too open - good job!

Thats fine Azz, you must do as you see fit. We have Birds nests here too, wonderful they are.

aha! WENT being the operative word my dear, NOT "go!"

Its very easy and cheap to do. Very effective. These cats do not attempt to get up the fence but if they did I know they couldnt get out. Peace of mind.

So basically what you are asking is if it is not furry but sweet (as some people feel foxes are) is it ok to kill it? It is a good point.

My personal view point is that as far as possible, I don't kill anything.

In relation to bees, I've found very conflicting info as to whether they are protected or not. I think you had a nest which you were told by the council you couldn't touch Shelley (if I remember rightly?). Anyway, we have bees in our garden, I think they must be miner / masonary bees as they have a nest in the concrete path which has broken up a bit. They are about 15 feet from our back door. I have to open our shed door right by the top of the nest, they don't swarm at me and I don't harm them. We live quite happily alongside one another.

Wasps, although disliked, do good. Every year we have a nest start to appear in a shed next to the hens, an area used quite frequently and I do take it down. I usually notice it early, hopefully before the eggs are laid. The wasps pose a risk to us and our hens and it is impossible to protect the hens or us from them. Confined to a run, it is possible to protect hens from a fox although, as Steve said, it is more difficult to protect from a fox when they are free ranging. I don't kill wasps when they come into the garden. We have a laurel bush in the girls enclosure and the wasps are attracted to the new leaves. I prune the new leaves from the bottom couple of feet of the bush (out of the girls reach) and the wasps automatically go to the new leaves well out of reach of the girls.

We have had wasps nests at my Dad's. One was at the bottom end of the garden, surrounded by fields, and we left it alone and just kept out of that corner of the garden. He had another one in the guttering above the front door. It was obviously quite a large one and as soon as a car pulled onto the drive the wasps would swarm all over it. My sister was pregnant at the time and couldn't waddle very fast into the house. We did call pest control out because they would swarm all over us in a very aggressive manner and again, they posed a risk to us that we could not protect against.

Moving onto rats, many people have a phobia about of rats, I don't. I've had pet rats, granted they are different to wild rats, but I don't automatically think eeeeugh when I think about rats! Difficult one because if you don't deal with them, a neighbour will. We once found a couple of droppings in our shed, we turned the whole shed out but never found a nest. I presume one came through, found nothing worth hanging around for (the girls food is well stored) and it left. Again in terms of protection, I would be concerned that if a rat could get to my girls, a stoat could also get through such a small gap and that would pose a real risk to my hens so again, I would up my security.

We have mice in the past, we left them to it but the hens ate them so that was that 'pest problem' taken care of.

So that is my thoughts on it.

A question for people who would shoot the fox for attacking their girls. What if it wasn't a fox? What if it was a cat, dog or human or a magnificent bird of prey. Obviously, you can't go out with a shotgun and shoot a small child for killing your hens (and yes that does happen, in fact we had a case not far from me where a group of kids let someone's chicken out and stoned the poor bird). If you can't kill a 'pest problem', how would you best go about protecting your birds?

id throw stones back at the kids in all seriousness (i dont have chickens yet by the way) children can not get in my garden, the only way in is the gate, but the lock is on my side and is never left open as its hardly used. and even if they could i dont think they would as the dogs barking soon puts people off.

id make sure cats couldnt get in as i have two of my own, and wouldnt want them getting my chickens.
birds of prey are a bit different, but im wary of them now without chickens, as we had some taking small dogs out of gardens so im wary anyway.

Go, went, will go, don't go, who cares? The fact remains is that you did go lamping