There's nothing like the taste of really fresh free range eggs – preferably poached.

It’s not surprising that there’s a growing trend for keeping chickens in the gardens of Oxfordshire.

It seems we’ve rapidly become a county of backyard chicken farmers.

I can understand the attraction. Hens make great pets, and owning them gives a feeling of the Good Life – but there is a dark side to all recent farming activity in our gardens.

Recently, I visited the garden of a family in deep mourning.

The previous night a violent assault had occurred in the Eglu.

The sole survivor looked deeply shaken and was unable to give evidence but there was sufficient to point to a rather cunning culprit.

I strongly suspect that the dramatic rise in the population of urban foxes in recent years is linked to the growth in back garden chicken coops – which prove to be the fox equivalent of fast-food outlets.

The urban, or suburban (I think it’s the postcode that differentiates the two), fox is becoming a big problem in town and city gardens.

They might look cute, and fox cubs playing on the lawn early in the morning is a charming sight, but they can cause a lot of damage.

If a vixen is a nearby resident in winter, you’ll certainly know about it – her blood curdling scream at night is quite terrifying.

As we live in a rural area, foxes are one of the many frequent visitors to my own garden.

At the sound, our dogs – far from standing firm to protect their indulgent owners from the unwelcome visitor – instead become quivering wrecks.

When I was young(er) the sight of a fox in a town or city was virtually unheard of.

Since then there has been a dramatic shift in the number of foxes deciding to up sticks in pursuit of a life of comfort in city streets.

Apart from their penchant for a slap-up chicken supper, the nuisance foxes cause in a garden is not so much to plants but to lawns.

They dig them up in search of grubs and often leave a deposit of mess of their own.

A favourite place for a den is the back of a garden shed.

It’s a des-res that is not always acceptable to the owner.

When we were landscaping a garden with a resident fox, we filled up the tunnel with earth and spread some evil smelling castor oil all around the area in the hope of deterring our foe.

However, in just a single night the soil was removed.

And overnight the smell of the castor oil was quickly replaced with the unmistakable musky odour of fox.

The truth is that if Mr & Mrs Fox and family have decided to make your garden their dream home, there’s very little you can do to persuade them to move out.

It’s no good calling the council, ASBOs for these nuisance neighbours are somewhat ineffective.

The council has no statutory powers or legal rights to eradicate foxes on private or other land. They are classed as wild animals, not pests.

Foxes are scavengers and on the lookout for food.

If you’re reluctant to have them as residents in your garden, keep your hens locked up at night and make sure the leftover Kentucky Fried Chicken wrappers are firmly shut away in the wheelie bin.