It's the daytime predators. I almost lost my entire flock again last week to the neighbors dog.
. I have to carry pepper spray with tear gas because he will bite me in my own yard.
I've talked with the dog owners several times(my neighbors) and all they say is "sorry" and that darn dog is in my yard the next day. What if my kids are outside and that dog is after my flock? If I knew how to shoot a gun, I'd shoot the dog! I'd be in my legal right to. He's a vicious biter and will bite us too. The neighbors do not care or do anything about their dog and he's in my yard a few days a week. Animal control does nothing in our county. The coyotes are a daytime problem as well. I can't wait for our fence to go in next year, but we shouldn't have to spend thousands of dollars to protect our flock when people by law have to control their dog. My neighbor with the dog also said she will not compensate any lost chickens from her dog. It my neighborly duty to accept the loss from her dog. I was speechless. I can't bring him into the humane society, which I've done with other dogs in the past due to getting bit. I'm deathly afraid of this dog in my own yard. He goes right through the electric fence several days a week. We hear him yelp when he does.
I could keep my girls penned up, I'd have the neighbors calling on me due to noise annoyance. I swear they are louder then roosters, they are VERY noisy. They are very loud locked up. Plus, the quality of my eggs decline while locked up. They get to eat greens and bugs outside their pen. They stay in our property. I'll keep free ranging as its my right to do so.
Yesterday another neighbors dog was over and kept eating my feed and drinking the water provided outside for my hens. This dog has nearly killed my cats several times charging and snapping at them. Luckily he won't hurt us, but I do not trust him around my flock either. This is the price I pay living out in a rural area. People do not follow the leash law. I have a pack of coyotes in the backyard that hunt in the daytime. They will go after people too and will attack. There is a bounty on coyotes since last December. I do believe it's still in effect. I think you can get $10 per caught animal. Usually when the state/city puts a bounty on an animal, they want the population numbers to go down.
I have no issues with nighttime predators. My flock is 100% safe in their coop. We built a room for them inside our garage. We doubled wired with welded wire/hardware cloth in the run and buried the wire 20" deep. The top is a steel roof. I'd be surprised if something got in. Once we put our fence in, the existing run will be turned into the coop and our chain link fence will be their run.
