Predator protection advice please!!

[kmartinez]

Also when looking to large breed dogs, I think it is important to allow them to sleep on natural surfaces. A shed with dirt floor with straw or a simple 3 sided run in made from plywood, prefab dog houses do not function as the weight will bust out the flooring. Giving shark cartilage supplements is good for their joints and Bones. Keep them from jumping in truck beds or out of. Keep them out the house couches, beds and fluffy dog pillows not good for their joints. My sat bernard is 12 she never been in the house and has no ailments with her joints, hips, bones not even arthritis has hit her. So these dogs can outlive their normal expectancy without health issues. My girl is a senior so she needs to just lay on her butt now she deserves it lol

 

[gjensen]

It is difficult to beat good housing, a good fence, and a good dog. The next best thing is good housing, a good fence, and a mediocre dog.

Electric hot wire within 6" of the bottom and 8" of the top will eliminate most climbers (and diggers) from entering, or the good dog from exiting. Electric fencing is an economical addition to a fence. It also allows for some degree of flexibility concerning the perimeter fence.

I do not know that you need a LGD and an acre. It could take a year or two to get him/her settled with the poultry. They are long term commitments and investment. You may decide that it was worth it for you. That is a personal choice.

Good luck.

 

[duckets]

Very Good Point @gjensen ,

Inexpensive electrical fencing could be better than additional animal commitments.

http://www.lowes.com/Outdoors/Fencing/Electric-Fencing/_/N-1z0wg5c/pl#!

 

[MichaelZ13]

It kills me to lose one bird, so I lock my meat birds up in a secure house at night. We also have an Aussie that we have kept out on the deck at night til my chickens were processed. Otherwise, I think we would lose them all. We have had predators rip through chicken wire and gobble up my son's rabbit - chicken wire alone won't stop them.

 

[enola]

 Amen, the Amish are Authorities  on animal husbandry! 

Google Amish puppy mills. If you are compassionate about animals what you find will make you sick.

I have been to the horse auction in Lancaster and seen underweight, overworked horses with manure to their knees and sores from harness on their bodies. Animals are nothing more to the Amish than commodities. Breed and work till they are worn out and then sell them.

Before every body gets all up in arms and starts yelling at me, I am sure that not all Amish farmers treat their animals that badly, but, an animal born on an Amish farm is not living the life of Riley.

 

[Folly's place]

x2. The investment in time and training to make a livestock guardian dog is way more than the cost of electric poultry netting. Then there's the investment in the fencing to keep the dog at home. Mary

 

[alibabba]

An 3 foot tall electric fence properly designed, installed, and maintained will discourage more chicken killing vermin than any 6 foot tall fence with a wire apron.

The electric fence conditions the varmints to leave and stay away because they find that your chickens' bit first.

With all other fence types you are just playing Ninja Warrior with the foxes. Some Ninja foxes will always win.

Amen.
...
OP: you can google up: "bear deterrent electric fence". If it can stop a grizzly from getting to the garbage....

Biggest plusses for me: No digging, no giant fence expense, no surprise breaches.

Truly works, multiple personal experiences. If you go with electric strands, you don't need a beefy backer fence, you can go with just welded wire or poultry net or plastic. They don't think it through like humans or try to "figure it out". They get "bitten", and run away...

Concerns about electric?

Complicated: If I can figure it out... seriously anyone can.
Dangerous: My 4 year old bumped it. She thought a chicken pecked her.
Expensive: You don't need the 5 mile charger the little one ($30) has the highest reading on the meter for 300 sq feet, so I know I have plenty of juice for a larger area.

 

[alibabba]

we lost one of my wife's cats to a fox last year a paintball gun seamed to do the trick. for him we still see it from time to time but he stays pretty far from our house now. 30 paint balls up side the head in a second tends to do that.

Awesome! I would have loved to paint my fox!

 

[alibabba]

Electric fence is excellent. You need several wires at different heights to be effective, starting at 6-12 inches. Also, rather than bury wire which causes it to rust quickly, put a perimeter about two feet wide around the entire run laying flat. Attach to the run so there are no gaps. Most predators will dig against the fence, not two feet out. They are digging a so under the fence, not building a tunnel.

I have had opossums climb my five foot fence. I also think using 4-5 foot posts with 6 foot fence is a good idea. The shakiness of the top helps discourage climbing and definitely discourages birds like hawks from perching.

Yep, shaky fence is good for those little climbing preds....that might be why people who build a fortress have more trouble than people with floppy chicken wire and rickety netting tops. They don't want to climb something that doesn't support their weight.

I like my first wire about 4 to 6 inches to make sure a digger will definitely hit it....then a 2nd at nose height. maybe 10? And bait it with a little foil bowl of yummy bacon. The first wire doesn't ground out that easily, a little grass brushing is no biggie. boiling water round there will kill the grass underneath (harmless to pets and livestock)

 

[centrarchid]

With only a single acre electrified fencing would be far less expensive and more rapidly brought on line than a dog which would also require containment. Consider confining the birds to about 1/2 acre most of the time and allowing free-range time outside that while supervised. You should be able to get fence up for about $500.