Fox Spies on The Girls

See Arriauna (orange), Hecky and Henny (black) in front of the eglu door, but safely in the run. See Mr. Fox (red and white with triangular face) sneaking closer from the upper left. One second later the girls spotted him and dashed into their eglu house. This photo was taken through the kitchen window screen.

I walked out to watch him from the top of the back steps. He was not frightened by my presence. We stared at each other for a few minutes. The girls (bless their dumb little hearts) came out of the eglu when they heard me talking to him. He sat and watched them for awhile. I told him to leave and moved toward him. He yawned! Finally he strolled away, stopping to pee on some weeds. He slowly walked to the back by the compost pile where he usually hops up on the hay bales surrounding it to scramble over the fence. This time he went not over the fence but into the Austrees. I saw him walking the labyrinth. He was not doing the path properly so I threw a handful of pebbles at him and he scampered out of sight which appeared to put him over the edge toward the creek. I was not confident that he had really gone so I stayed out there for awhile.

He's young and curious. I like him and wish we could all be friends BUT I know he would kill the chickies just for sport if not for food. His regular presence is foiling my simple plans to expand the chickie's foraging territory.

The intermediate solution is to plant a tray of grass to give them. I'll keep a couple going to alternate.