A fox killed two hens and a cockerel last night.

When I went to let the  hens out this morning I found a dead hen and cockerel and a hen missing in the small poultry ark. The corrugated iron roof door had been torn off during the night.

It had to be a fox. A mink wouldn't be strong enough and a pine marten couldn't have climbed out with a full grown hen.

So! what next?  He will be back, probably tomorrow night when he is hungry, they are highly predictable. I don't have a cage trap big enough, my rifle doesn't have a lamp fitted, it will have to be the shotgun.

This means sitting up during the night waiting for him. There is no alternative because eventually he will come back again and again until he gets the rest even in day light.

At close range the .410 is just as deadly as a 12 bore.