We have removed the one remaining quail and all the rabbits in to one of the stables (the hay store actually) as we are worried about it coming back for more.
The chickens are protected by the electric fence, but something did get through that around this time last year and kill some of them. It seems likely our egg glut is likely to be coming to an end.
We don't quite know what to do from here as they cannot really live there forever. It will get very hot in summer, and we need it to store hay anyway. It is very frustrating not knowing what to do. We might give a trap a go. We don't have a gun, and never actually see it to shoot it anyway and we cannot stay on guard all night. You can get electric scarers that flash light or spray water. It sounds like they might work for a while, but then the fox gets used to them.
One of the rabbits had just had babies and I don't suppose that having a quail massacre right beside the nest box and then being carried around will have improved their chances of survival - it is the mother that abandoned the last litter after a few days, a local suggested probably because she was frightened by something...
Both really sad as it is so hard to stop the fox once he starts, steeling ourselves for other losses.
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