Yesterday a fox or coyote similar took my Speckled Sussex during the day. We are also missing 3 barn kittens and feel it's probably the same predator (but can't be sure of that).
My girls are locked in at night and nothing has ever happened to them at night. There's hard wire on the windows of the coop, concrete floor, two doors, both secured twice, etc. So I think they are safe at night. ( I hope I don't regret saying that)
Day time is when we are losing our chickens.....every one we've lost over the past 3 years has been during the day. We have lost 7 to neighbors dogs, foxes and other predators-which is far too many.
So fa we've tried the Premium 1 electric netting and they just fly over it. We could try getting the taller netting. We have tried a 6 foot chain link dog fence. That's where are now and they are miserable because it's so small (12 sections), and I hate it because they are more vulnerable to hawks. We could get more panels, or a professionally installed fence....
We need a permanent solution and we would welcome any advice and opinions!!
My question is: are we better off with a fenced yard (we would need to fence about an acre) or getting a dog? If we have a dog what kind are people happy with? (I know there will be a lot of opinions on this-which is great) How long does it take until a dog "gets it" and takes care of the chickens? (I know some dogs just know what to do but assuming he doesn't-know how many months of training until the dog is up and running?) If you have a dog that helps to guard them, do you leave him outside all day? (and in that case I guess he isn't coming with you to do shopping etc.)
We have been thinking about an English Shepherd for several years-but when I imagine having a dog, the dog would be with us all day (as my last dog was before we got chickens-she was at my side all the time) ....how are people able to spend time with said dog if it's always with the hens? If we got a fence what do folks recommend? I would of course bury some of the wire under the ground.
Some logistics-we have 2.5 acres and can't fence all of it. A small section is wooded, some is part of a corn field (where I believe the fox came from...) There's various trees and brush that until yesterday the hens loved to scratch away in. We live on a farm road but there's still a fair amount of speeding cars-
We have 6 adult hens and 6 babies.
Again we welcome advice and solutions to this.
My girls are locked in at night and nothing has ever happened to them at night. There's hard wire on the windows of the coop, concrete floor, two doors, both secured twice, etc. So I think they are safe at night. ( I hope I don't regret saying that)
Day time is when we are losing our chickens.....every one we've lost over the past 3 years has been during the day. We have lost 7 to neighbors dogs, foxes and other predators-which is far too many.
So fa we've tried the Premium 1 electric netting and they just fly over it. We could try getting the taller netting. We have tried a 6 foot chain link dog fence. That's where are now and they are miserable because it's so small (12 sections), and I hate it because they are more vulnerable to hawks. We could get more panels, or a professionally installed fence....
We need a permanent solution and we would welcome any advice and opinions!!
My question is: are we better off with a fenced yard (we would need to fence about an acre) or getting a dog? If we have a dog what kind are people happy with? (I know there will be a lot of opinions on this-which is great) How long does it take until a dog "gets it" and takes care of the chickens? (I know some dogs just know what to do but assuming he doesn't-know how many months of training until the dog is up and running?) If you have a dog that helps to guard them, do you leave him outside all day? (and in that case I guess he isn't coming with you to do shopping etc.)
We have been thinking about an English Shepherd for several years-but when I imagine having a dog, the dog would be with us all day (as my last dog was before we got chickens-she was at my side all the time) ....how are people able to spend time with said dog if it's always with the hens? If we got a fence what do folks recommend? I would of course bury some of the wire under the ground.
Some logistics-we have 2.5 acres and can't fence all of it. A small section is wooded, some is part of a corn field (where I believe the fox came from...) There's various trees and brush that until yesterday the hens loved to scratch away in. We live on a farm road but there's still a fair amount of speeding cars-
We have 6 adult hens and 6 babies.
Again we welcome advice and solutions to this.