Fox In The Henhouse or Meredith Gets Embarrassed

The time?  4:45 a.m.  The location?  Inside the chicken coop.  The first indication of a problem?  Meredith screaming bloody murder.  I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.  Away to the window I flew like a flash; tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. "Get outta here!"  I yelled.  Suddenly I heard Offspring #2 say, "What is going on?"  ِAs I threw on a robe I could barely detect the outline of a fox INSIDE the chicken run.  I turned on the kitchen light, opened the deck, turned on the deck light and saw the outline of a fox inside the run while Meredith flew up and threw herself against the sides of the run in her panic.  "There is a fox inside the chicken coop!"  I yelled.  Offspring #2 hurried down the deck steps which was dangerous because of the rain making it slippery plus the fact that two steps are not screwed down yet.  As I shined a flashlight on the situation from the deck, she opened the door of the chicken coop.  I could see the fox was not in the run anymore so he had to be inside the coop.  Meredith was still in the run and in a panicked condition.  We waited an extra long minute.  Even though it was dark we could see the outline of the fox as it burst out of that coop and sprinted to the east as fast as his foxy legs could carry him.  We shut the door of the coop.  With the flashlight we counted five chickens, bid them goodnight, admired the stars and the sliver of the moon and went to bed.  In the morning we assessed the situation again.  Meredith was the only chicken who was injured.  All her tail feathers were gone and we could see the shape of her tail.  She was, mmmmm, bare a$$ed.  She sat still more than usual but when she walked she seemed to be fine.  She had a small amount of dried blood on her rear.  Poor Meredith.  In her chicken life of five years she has been through it.  Attacked by a miniature pincher, lost in the snow for 10 days in October, grabbed by a fox, how much does one chick have to take?  We  investigated the situation and figured out how the fox got in.  The coop is 4 inches off the ground and a board leans against the front legs so the chickens cannot escape under the house.  The fox pushed that board forward, got into the run, and walked right into the chicken coop.  I need that board to be moveable because I move the coop and the run to a new spot of grass each week.  We used a couple bricks to prevent the fox from pushing that board forward again.  We turned the coop so that the door faces the house.  This way I can see both sides of the run more easily and the fox can't hide behind the fencing.  We cleaned out the coop, put in fresh bedding, and offered the chickens a treat of black sunflower seeds and cucumber.  And then we practiced our defense.  We set 3 cans on a board about a fox height from the ground and shot the cans with my new slingshot and fringed white oak acorns until the cans were dented.  Sometimes those cans flew up in the air and did triple flips before landing in the grass.  I learned that my shots were more accurate and powerful when I mentally trash talked the fox as I shot.  (That's for hurting my Meredith red fox!  Thanks for waking me up at 4:45 this morning!  You're the reason I can't make a quiche this weekend even though I have ALL the ingredients except eggs!)  Is this the end of the fox/chicken conflict?  Well, I'm not sure.  But I'm hopeful.