Hungry foxes are being lured to residential Sydney suburbs in search of rats and rubbish, experts believe.

Spring sightings of the feral animals are on the rise as Sydney councils battle to wipe out an estimated one billion rats flooding the city.

The rodents, both dead and alive, along with rubbish, have been washing down storm water drains and attracting fox mothers looking for food to feed their young.

Foxes are also targeting the city to hunt backyard chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.

Hungry foxes are being lured to residential Sydney suburbs in search of rats and rubbish, experts believe

Spring sightings of the feral animals are on the rise as Sydney councils battle to wipe out an estimated one billion rats flooding the city

Sydney University's Environmental Science Associate Professor Mathew Crowther said foxes are known to 'eat anything' but 'rats are a preferred part of their diet'.

'They can survive on rubbish, but they will also eat chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs if they can get them in the suburbs,' he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Foxes were spotted hunting for rats in storm water drains and beaches in Gordon's Bay in Sydney's east.

Wild foxes have preyed on about a dozen chickens at a Coogee home, while two were spotted with dead chooks in their mouths in Stanmore in Sydney's inner-west.

Warwick Waugh, a builder from Coogee, said fox sightings were usually common during spring.

'Foxes will kill everything and cache the food - packing the dead bodies in a pile like a gangland massacre,' he said.

The animals have been specifically spotted at other eastern parts of Sydney such as Waverely Cemetery, Bronte Gully and Tamarama Gully.

There have also been sightings in parts of Randwick and Maroubra.

Wild foxes have preyed on about a dozen chickens at a Coogee home, while two were spotted with dead chooks in their mouths in Stanmore in Sydney's inner-west

Spring is the breeding time for foxes, which means they are likely to be found scavenging for food to feed their cubs.

Although they are primarily carnivores, urban foxes can survive of on a diet consisting of over 50 per cent of food scraps.