Thursday night, I saw a bobcat cross the road in front of me about 100 yards from my house. He ran off into a wooded area near a pond. Our neighborhood is just outside the city limits and everybody lives on 1 acre lots. I texted my closest neighbors with small animals and posted a warning on the Nextdoor App. It's kind of like facebook for neighborhoods. I recommend starting a page for your neighborhood. We can warn each other about strange cars in the neighborhood, lost pets, and sometimes neighborhood block parties complete with police led lawn mower parade and live band once. (Neighbor won the party on a radio station and we turned it into a block party that returns every Independence Day.)
Friday at 5 pm, a neighbor's chicken was taken by the bobcat. The chicken lady's next door neighbor saw him running off with it.
I'm still building my coop and have no chickens yet. Coyotes hunt in the pasture just outside my back 4 foot fence every night. My boxer ran off a bobcat once and had a big claw mark on his hip to show for it, but it didn't come back. My boxers are gone and we have 2 Chihuahua mix dogs, a black mouth cur, and a 75 lb pitbull/Dalmatian mix. Pork Chop(pitbull/Dalmatian) is pretty formidable and he protects the little dogs until we bring them in at bedtime. Would it be reasonable to leave Pork Chop outside to guard the coop from bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, possums, etc.... as well? I am building a large tractor with 32 s.f. of grazing beneath. I've never seen him dig and I will have a large skirt around the tractor. I don't think he could fit inside the coop even if he dug his way into the run. Would I be better off bringing pork chop into the house at night like usual and depend on my construction to protect the chicks? I'd really like to get my dogs on board with accepting the chickens into the fold.
Friday at 5 pm, a neighbor's chicken was taken by the bobcat. The chicken lady's next door neighbor saw him running off with it.
I'm still building my coop and have no chickens yet. Coyotes hunt in the pasture just outside my back 4 foot fence every night. My boxer ran off a bobcat once and had a big claw mark on his hip to show for it, but it didn't come back. My boxers are gone and we have 2 Chihuahua mix dogs, a black mouth cur, and a 75 lb pitbull/Dalmatian mix. Pork Chop(pitbull/Dalmatian) is pretty formidable and he protects the little dogs until we bring them in at bedtime. Would it be reasonable to leave Pork Chop outside to guard the coop from bobcats, coyotes, raccoons, possums, etc.... as well? I am building a large tractor with 32 s.f. of grazing beneath. I've never seen him dig and I will have a large skirt around the tractor. I don't think he could fit inside the coop even if he dug his way into the run. Would I be better off bringing pork chop into the house at night like usual and depend on my construction to protect the chicks? I'd really like to get my dogs on board with accepting the chickens into the fold.
