Dread

[Fricasee]

Over Independence Day holiday a guests unattended dog got into my chicken yard and killed two. That same night a bear came but we managed to scare him off when the dogs alerted us to him.

Yesterday I heard a chicken ruckus and when I looked out the window there was a huge coyote standing right next to the chicken yard on the outside thank goodness. We shooed him away and left one of the dogs outside today to hopefully deter him eating chickens while we're both at work. I called my landlord who lives on the property and let him know about the sighting so he could tell his friend who also keeps chickens and ducks about the coyote and he lives just on the other side of the fence. He free ranges his chickens and they have their run of about five acres of land. I think his are even more vulnerable than mine. There has been three or four does and all their fawns living over there since the fawns were born a month or so ago. One of the does followed the coyote for awhile, they were very concerned....
When I was talking to the landlord he told me when he was having his coffee that morning that he looked down to see a weasel watching him just five feet away in his house.

It seems as though it's going to happen one way or another. I cannot protect them from everything and it really sucks.

 

[azygous]

Actually, you pretty much can protect them from all these predators. A pulsating electric charger sends out a significant shock to any predator touching its nose or tongue to the wire. You invite them to "sample" the hot wire by placing dabs of peanut butter at intervals.

This wouldn't do any good if you have no run since the wires need to be against a barrier, not in open space. If you rig it around coop and run, it will deter all predators, even bears.

 

[Fricasee]

Need to do this. I'm intimidated by the set-up. I have no idea how to do it. There is a bear management org here in Durango that supposedly will help you with that and even provides a grant towards purchasing of the equipment but after my initial phone call with the organizer, he stopped responding. Too busy I guess.

 

[azygous]

Anyone can set up a hot wire system. It's cheap and easy. The most expensive component is the charger and if you have an outlet handy, they're way cheaper than a solar charger.

The only thing you need to understand is the wire has to be insulated from touching anything that comes into contact with the ground, especially metal. So you get any of a number of different types of insulators to hold the wire away from touching stuff. The wire is plastic with thin copper wires woven into it, and it's cheap and simple to rig. You can just knot ends together and you don't even need to try to splice. The charger has to be grounded where you install it and that requires a copper rod to be pounded several feet into the ground.

I have one charger (solar) and it powers the hot wires surrounding two fenced garden plots, the coops and runs, and a cattle wire surrounding all of it and my house to keep the cow pies off the porch and the cows from throwing their weight around.

I'll try to grab some photos and post them if you're interested in seeing how I've rigged it and the different types of insulators I've used for the various fence posts and structures.

Ace Hardware has all the supplies as do most feed stores.

 

[Folly's place]

Also check out Premier1supplies.com. They sell good products online, have a very helpful catalog(s), and good advice on the phone. Mary

 

[Fricasee]

Mary, thank you. I called someone I know who is involved with the bear management program since the contact guy quit responding. It's been a busy bear year in Durango with the late freeze we had so I think he has his hands full. He told me it's not that difficult to set up. We have a Tractor Supply here. They have a large selection of fencing supplies. Yes, I would love to see some pics of your set up. My coop is in the corner of my run and two of it's walls are on the outside. (make sense?) They have about 1500 sq ft of space, but I'm going to enlarge it even more. I have 15 hens and 2 roosters at the moment.

 

[azygous]

This is a solar charger. They run in the three figures, but can be placed anywhere. They also need no shelter as do the plug-in chargers.

As much as I try, I can't seem to get the hang of uploading photos with the new web design. (Took me long enough to learn the old method on the original site.)

Anyway, there are all different kinds of insulators for adapting to different structures. The yellow ones you see are for steel T-posts, but can be adapted to hog panels as I have on my runs. My favorite are the white plastic screw-in type which can utilize trees as well as the wood walls and fences you want to surround with hot wire.

Notice the foil packets hanging from the wire. Peanut butter is folded into these foil pieces and attached to the wire. The predator smells the bait and starts to open the packet. Gets message. I used to dab peanut butter right onto the wire, but it tends to melt in the sun and fall off, and the chickens love to eat it off. They can't see the peanut butter and their smelling ability isn't good enough alert them to the treat inside the foil. It conducts electricity and delivers the shock just the same while saving me the work of constantly refreshing the bait. By the way, the shock is harmless to a chicken as long as they aren't touching metal at the same time.

The main thing to understand is the wire needs to be against a vertical surface or a predator will simply hop over, under, or in between the wires Except for cows. They explore the wire with their nose, and will not touch the wire again. If the hot wire comes into contact with any grounded object, it renders the charge ineffective. I use plastic coated cup hooks to hang my insulator handles on when I am going in and out of the runs or coops and if I forget to re-hook the handle, the system will still work.

In your area, the wild life program is putting out a design that electrifies a metal grate attached to the side of your structures. I cannot tell you how that would work, but I don't think you would be able to safely leave it on if your chickens were outside the run and could possibly touch it. A metal surface of any size packs a much stronger shock that could kill birds. If you touch it it feels like you've been hit with a 2 x 4 and you can feel it inside your body, too. Yes, I accidentally shock myself all the time. It's very unpleasant but can't kill a human.

I have had no bear problems since I've installed this system. I've watched while a bear samples the bait and does a quick exit, never to return. Very effective.