Simulated Natural Nest Incubation~Experiment #1 So it begins....

[LindaB220]

I hated the wired fencing too...it was ineffective for my dogs and a pain to install and maintain. This one involves placing a collar on the dog and plugging in a box...that's it. It will cover about half acre of land, which is all my dogs really needed to keep the preds away from the coop and forage areas.

I use PetSafe brand...I just bought a new one. The old one lasted me 10 yrs of faithful, reliable service...I was impressed enough to buy another just like it. I used to live right by a busy highway and it kept my dogs safe as houses. One was a GP mix dog and it worked so well on her that I thought it could be used on a full blood GP but his coat was mega huge and like carpeting at the neck line...couldn't trim it enough to get down to any contact point for the fence. I didn't even have to trim any fur for my other dogs and they could wear the collars very loosely, more like necklaces.

Yeah, it was the one the neighbor shot...we only had him 3-4 days. I was right out there in the yard working when he took off...I didn't see him go and he hadn't offered to leave the property before that, but when I noticed him gone I called for him. A few minutes later I heard the shot and he never came back. And that's country justice out here and one cannot blame the neighbor when they see a huge, potentially dangerous dog come running up on their land. My fault.

Bee, I'm so sorry, I hadn't heard. That's a real shame.

 

[OHhappychicks]

I hated the wired fencing too...it was ineffective for my dogs and a pain to install and maintain. This one involves placing a collar on the dog and plugging in a box...that's it. It will cover about half acre of land, which is all my dogs really needed to keep the preds away from the coop and forage areas.

I use PetSafe brand...I just bought a new one. The old one lasted me 10 yrs of faithful, reliable service...I was impressed enough to buy another just like it. I used to live right by a busy highway and it kept my dogs safe as houses. One was a GP mix dog and it worked so well on her that I thought it could be used on a full blood GP but his coat was mega huge and like carpeting at the neck line...couldn't trim it enough to get down to any contact point for the fence. I didn't even have to trim any fur for my other dogs and they could wear the collars very loosely, more like necklaces.

Yeah, it was the one the neighbor shot...we only had him 3-4 days. I was right out there in the yard working when he took off...I didn't see him go and he hadn't offered to leave the property before that, but when I noticed him gone I called for him. A few minutes later I heard the shot and he never came back. And that's country justice out here and one cannot blame the neighbor when they see a huge, potentially dangerous dog come running up on their land. My fault.

Our whole yard is about 2 acres. Can you get them for larger areas? I will search it and find out. I'm sorry about your GP! I understand. We shot our own dog that we inherited from my uncle who passed away. We had to keep him chained up as he had always been chained. He would somehow, no matter how tight we made his collar, slip it and get loose. We lost more chickens by him, than we did from any predator. After he got loose when we weren't home, which he always did, and killed my good roo. which was trying to protect the mama hen, and a maran hen in a pen with some chicks she hatched. He somehow got 1 of the chicks and I think the hen must have had a heart attack because she was dead inside the pen. That was the last straw. DH took him in the back field and shot him. He was a good dog to people, but he had a killer instinct with any other animal. He never caught a cat, but he would have. He was a lab/chow mix. I think DH and I will talk about getting another dog. We had a couple stray dogs that was in my neighbors yard, a month or so ago. As far as I know, they never came in our yard, but I was worried about them. It would be nice not to have to think so much about such things.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, I'm so sorry, I hadn't heard. That's a real shame.

Thank you, Linda. I really liked that dog and he was responding to training, seemed to love living here and was just a nice dog. I felt like such a fool for letting him get in that situation. Some years ago one of my dogs got injured on the road when I had the in ground electric system, so I change over to the wireless and never had another problem. Since then I've always been able to contain my dogs well, but this time I really let the dog down. I just hadn't worked up a good solution for him yet and we live almost a mile from the hard road, so I thought I would have a little time to come up with something workable.

 

[Beekissed]

Our whole yard is about 2 acres. Can you get them for larger areas? I will search it and find out. I'm sorry about your GP! I understand. We shot our own dog that we inherited from my uncle who passed away. We had to keep him chained up as he had always been chained. He would somehow, no matter how tight we made his collar, slip it and get loose. We lost more chickens by him, than we did from any predator. After he got loose when we weren't home, which he always did, and killed my good roo. which was trying to protect the mama hen, and a maran hen in a pen with some chicks she hatched. He somehow got 1 of the chicks and I think the hen must have had a heart attack because she was dead inside the pen. That was the last straw. DH took him in the back field and shot him. He was a good dog to people, but he had a killer instinct with any other animal. He never caught a cat, but he would have. He was a lab/chow mix. I think DH and I will talk about getting another dog. We had a couple stray dogs that was in my neighbors yard, a month or so ago. As far as I know, they never came in our yard, but I was worried about them. It would be nice not to have to think so much about such things.

You can get two systems and overlap them but that gets a little pricey, so not sure if you'd want to. You won't need them to cover the whole yard..at least, I didn't. The predators seem to stay way just because they are out there guarding the area all the time. My flock goes all over 3 acres here and well outside of Jake's boundary but him being out there seems to be sufficient...I've not lost a one. Even had 50+ meaties running all over this place a few years back and didn't lose any.

I understand that. I had to shoot two pups I got some years back for that very reason...first time one of my own dogs had attacked one of my chickens. We hadn't had them very long but we couldn't contain them in any way...they dug out of fencing, chewed each others collars off to escape being tied and even chewed off the electric collar for the system. They were just pups but had already done more damage than any dog I'd ever had, had tore up three of my chickens so bad that two of them had to be killed. Then they were trying to head off to the neighbor's farm and that's when I put an end to it.

Folks give you all kinds of grief when you tell them that and ask why I couldn't rehome them to a family that didn't have livestock, but I can see no sense and giving my troubles a new home where they could possibly kill again or escape again and be killed on the road. Plenty of nice, obedient and helpful dogs out there in the system already, so who needs to overload it even further with two rogues?

 

[OHhappychicks]

You can get two systems and overlap them but that gets a little pricey, so not sure if you'd want to. You won't need them to cover the whole yard..at least, I didn't. The predators seem to stay way just because they are out there guarding the area all the time. My flock goes all over 3 acres here and well outside of Jake's boundary but him being out there seems to be sufficient...I've not lost a one. Even had 50+ meaties running all over this place a few years back and didn't lose any.

I understand that. I had to shoot two pups I got some years back for that very reason...first time one of my own dogs had attacked one of my chickens. We hadn't had them very long but we couldn't contain them in any way...they dug out of fencing, chewed each others collars off to escape being tied and even chewed off the electric collar for the system. They were just pups but had already done more damage than any dog I'd ever had, had tore up three of my chickens so bad that two of them had to be killed. Then they were trying to head off to the neighbor's farm and that's when I put an end to it.

Folks give you all kinds of grief when you tell them that and ask why I couldn't rehome them to a family that didn't have livestock, but I can see no sense and giving my troubles a new home where they could possibly kill again or escape again and be killed on the road. Plenty of nice, obedient and helpful dogs out there in the system already, so who needs to overload it even further with two rogues?

I just searched the wireless. Sounds very nice! If we get another dog, this is what we will get. Do you ever let Jake out of his area? We own 32 acres and sometimes we walk it and take the dogs with us. Can you take them out, or does that mess up their training? My bosses husband raises GP. I would love to get one of his, but like you said, they have such thick fur. I may go to the local dog shelter and see what they have. I think we are going to have to do something. Had a weasel get one of my hens about a month ago. Don't know how that happened as they are night time predators. She must have got caught out and we didn't catch it. DH found her laying out in field behind coops. Thanks for the info!

 

[Oldmomma]

just a quick hello

 

[fisherlady]

Bee, I'm so sorry, I hadn't heard. That's a real shame.

x2...

 

[OHhappychicks]

just a quick hello

Good morning from the USA! Hope you have a good and productive day in getting a place to live. I'm praying for you.

 

[OHhappychicks]

Hey Bee! Just let you know I put the broody in the chicken tractor for the day. Hope this works. I might leave her in it for the night. If I do I will but in another or two. Maybe the buckeye roo, so they can get to know each other a little better, before the honeymoon!!

 

[MistyMountain]

I just searched the wireless. Sounds very nice! If we get another dog, this is what we will get. Do you ever let Jake out of his area? We own 32 acres and sometimes we walk it and take the dogs with us. Can you take them out, or does that mess up their training? My bosses husband raises GP. I would love to get one of his, but like you said, they have such thick fur. I may go to the local dog shelter and see what they have. I think we are going to have to do something. Had a weasel get one of my hens about a month ago. Don't know how that happened as they are night time predators. She must have got caught out and we didn't catch it. DH found her laying out in field behind coops. Thanks for the info!

I'll second Bee on the Petsafe wireless containment unit. We got one when we bought our property. There used to be a 1/2 acre fenced area behind the house, but I guess the people before us decided to take it down. I hear they had 4

german shepherds. Anyhow, all the fence is still here, just not up. It will work well for my garden and coop. Our Lilly is a complicated dog, but very smart. I spent the time working with her to respect the boundary for about two weeks before we took a chance and let her go. Her first thought was to bolt toward the coop. She is FAST and probably made it a goo 50 feet beyond the boundary before she got shocked (on level two, mind you). You would have thought something was killing her! She right back to the house and has not tested the boundary since. Best $100 we ever spent. We bought ours off craigslist, used but good condition.

Oh, and Bee, Lilly is doing really well with the chickens!! She hovers by the hens, no doubt to eat poop, but never chases them and seems unfazed when they flip out and take off for whatever reason. The mean Roo on the other hand, she likes to pester. I guess because he comes back at her. Good thing is, if she keeps him away from the house, the hens will stay away for the most part.