- Aug 13, 2012
- 27
- 13
- 87
We live in a county island, where the surrounding areas are city streets and buildings. When we moved in we had some fox attacks, and I thought being in a county island, there should be only a few foxes, so if I trap and remove all of them, I should be at peace.
First one was easy, it fell for the trap the first night I set it. But then they got smart, and didn't go for the trap anymore. I kept losing chickens. I switched to those camouflaged traps, and started to catch a few. Each time when I caught one, I thought it should be the last and my chickens should be safe. But they kept coming back. During the course of a year, I lost more than 20 adult chickens and ducks. Worst of all, all the hens that hatched chicks in the summer time that brought us a lot of joy, perished with their babies. I captured 8 foxes, but there's no end in sight, I still see foxes running on the street. They either breed very fast, or new ones kept coming in from the wild.
Since I acquired the property I got an Akbash puppy to help protect the chickens, as my German Shepherd was more dangerous to chickens than foxes were. It took a year for my puppy to finally grow up to be able to protect the flock. Ever since I put my dog together with the chickens, I never lost one. From time to time I can hear my dog fighting off intruding foxes at night, and sometime in the morning when I go out to hug my dog I can smell strong fox scent on her body.
Having geese around the property also helped a lot. Fox can be quiet and sneaky, and if dogs are not near the flock, they can come for a quick attack and snatch one before dogs get there. But geese would alert the dogs by honking loudly, and dogs will shoot over when they hear geese alarm. Working as a team, dogs and gees give foxes no chance at all.
From my experience, Akbash dogs are much more wonderful than German Shepherds, who not only kill poultry, but are also very destructive. I lost a lot of drip irrigation hoses and electric wires to their chewing, yet never lost any of those to my Akbash. Although ferocious towards predators (my Akbash beat my German Shepherd to submission in a few seconds of showdown, and they are of same sizes), they are very gentle with people, especially with kids. Sometimes they got out and went to explore the neighborhood, and my neighbor's kids told me initially they were scared of dogs' big sizes, but as soon as they got close to the kids they lay down with belly up begging for petting.
Not only they protect my flock against predators, they also break up fights among roosters, to prevent them from hurting each other. My geese also attempted to break up rooster fights but with no success. Dogs can do the job.
Akbash is not a popular breed and not easy to find one in my area. I got my female from a city 2 hours away, and later got a male from a city 8 hours away. Next year I'll have some puppies to help other chicken lovers in my area.
First one was easy, it fell for the trap the first night I set it. But then they got smart, and didn't go for the trap anymore. I kept losing chickens. I switched to those camouflaged traps, and started to catch a few. Each time when I caught one, I thought it should be the last and my chickens should be safe. But they kept coming back. During the course of a year, I lost more than 20 adult chickens and ducks. Worst of all, all the hens that hatched chicks in the summer time that brought us a lot of joy, perished with their babies. I captured 8 foxes, but there's no end in sight, I still see foxes running on the street. They either breed very fast, or new ones kept coming in from the wild.
Since I acquired the property I got an Akbash puppy to help protect the chickens, as my German Shepherd was more dangerous to chickens than foxes were. It took a year for my puppy to finally grow up to be able to protect the flock. Ever since I put my dog together with the chickens, I never lost one. From time to time I can hear my dog fighting off intruding foxes at night, and sometime in the morning when I go out to hug my dog I can smell strong fox scent on her body.
Having geese around the property also helped a lot. Fox can be quiet and sneaky, and if dogs are not near the flock, they can come for a quick attack and snatch one before dogs get there. But geese would alert the dogs by honking loudly, and dogs will shoot over when they hear geese alarm. Working as a team, dogs and gees give foxes no chance at all.
From my experience, Akbash dogs are much more wonderful than German Shepherds, who not only kill poultry, but are also very destructive. I lost a lot of drip irrigation hoses and electric wires to their chewing, yet never lost any of those to my Akbash. Although ferocious towards predators (my Akbash beat my German Shepherd to submission in a few seconds of showdown, and they are of same sizes), they are very gentle with people, especially with kids. Sometimes they got out and went to explore the neighborhood, and my neighbor's kids told me initially they were scared of dogs' big sizes, but as soon as they got close to the kids they lay down with belly up begging for petting.
Not only they protect my flock against predators, they also break up fights among roosters, to prevent them from hurting each other. My geese also attempted to break up rooster fights but with no success. Dogs can do the job.
Akbash is not a popular breed and not easy to find one in my area. I got my female from a city 2 hours away, and later got a male from a city 8 hours away. Next year I'll have some puppies to help other chicken lovers in my area.
