A tasting menu for the foxes

This was an experiment.  The foxes have been getting mainly dog biscuits in the past year or two, with occasional treats such as a squirrel, a rabbit or chicken skin.  Recently they have seemed less keen on the biscuits so I added some peanuts.  When I did so I could see the fox sorting through the food but I couldn't make out whether it was choosing biscuits or peanuts.  Then the dog turned up the other night and spent 20 minutes eating bits of sunflower seed from below the bird feeder.  So this time I put out three separate lots of feed - peanuts on the left, dog biscuits in the centre and sunflower seeds on the right.

The vixen turned first and started off under the bird feeder.  As soon as she realised there was more food on offer she moved across to the peanuts.  She was happily eating when I saw her ears flatten and her tail curl so I knew there was another fox approaching   It was her daughter from last year (seen here on the left) and they happily carried on eating peanuts.

There was the odd interaction with flattened ears and gaping but it was all quite amicable.

The daughter was the first to notice another fox approaching.

The dog ran in straight to the peanuts so she retreated to a safe distance.  I have seen the vixen very submissive to the dog before but this time she just flattened her ears and carried on chewing.

Eventually all the peanuts had gone and the vixen left.  The dog and the young vixen ignored the  biscuits and moved over to the sunflower seeds.  Although the dog is only her stepfather they seemed very comfortable in each others' company.

Most of the sunflowers had gone when the young vixen spotted another fox.

This time it was her sister, the half-tail vixen.  She made a very submissive entry but was allowed to join in.  All that was left was biscuits but the two sisters carried on eating.

I thought the dog was leaving but he moved over to the bird feeder to glean a few more sunflower fragments.  After a few minutes he and the full-tailed vixen left, leaving the half-tail to finish off the biscuits.

The next night I mixed biscuits and peanuts but put the food closer to the door where I could see.  The dog turned up first and he was clearly picking out the peanuts and leaving the biscuits.  Then the half-tail joined him (she was much less submissive this time) and she was doing the same.

So it seems the foxes prefer peanuts, then sunflower seeds, but will eat biscuits if there is nothing else because they are always hungry.  One other interesting observation is that they eat peanuts much more slowly.  They tend to gobble the biscuits eating several at a time, even though they are slightly larger.  The peanuts are chewed very thoroughly as though they are being savoured.