GUESTjenup: any kind of licorice will do, but the stronger the smell the better, & the basic sort is easier to drop around the coutryside without being so easily spotted. Bright yellow & pink tend to stand out a bit. If you have a bit of room in your frezzer, get some skanky meat from your local butcher & before you go out, defrost & throw that around too.

And yes it has been proven that foxes will decimate a chicken run if they can get into it. They regard it as a kind of 'Foxy McChic', easy, instant food there for the taking. There was a tv documentary here a while ago, where they set up an accessible chicken run, & filmed a female fox, which killed every chicken in one go & then proceeded to bury them one by one, as she wasn't disturbed & left to do what came naturally, so that she could come along later & dig them up for food. In fact no different that a squirrel hiding it's nuts!

If we humans keep domesticated animals, we have to take the responsibilty for them & keep them safe from wild predators that do not have a clue about domestication. Again it is we humans who think that we are always right, & interfering with nature causes problems.

As for the neighbour who left her old hens out, I didn't say that I agreed with the practice. Far better to wring it's neck for a more humane end if she didn't want it to die a natural death.