English Shepherd as Poultry Guardian

[centrarchid]

Pens in question have been moved from front of yard to apple orchard in back. Pens kept closer together to obstruct dog / predator from running around. Row position close to hot fence making so offender more likely to be zapped repeatedly if it gets past outer perimeter. Outer perimeter is a single 164' stretch of electrified poultry netting powered by AC charger. Whole setup is where I can here from bedroom window. As winter progresses pens and fencing will be moved up hill to right.

Ben will be taken in under supervision each day.

I have similar setups in field with a lot more pens. Field setups not as pretty.

 

[centrarchid]

A point to consider. Do not handle chickens where the pup can see or hear what is going on. Doing so at this point results in pup showing interest later when not supervised. This is particularly problematic when another dog is present.


To get around this problem, when birds are put up for night which can disturb them, pup is put away first.

 

[scottcaddy]

Interesting point! Thinking about past problems now and what did happen just before sh*t hit the fan.
Scott

 

[perchie.girl]

eggcellent observations and am taking note....

deb

 

[centrarchid]

Ben is starting to learn how to beat electric fences. He is a lot more confident in patrolling in close proximity to the wires and no longer runs all the way back to the house when zapped. Today on two occasions he crossed fenced without getting zapped. He appears to be diving through while clear of ground. With time he will learn to jump the fence avoiding all direct contact. Until then the poultry netting will be a barrier to him which is OK until he becomes trustworthy without direct supervision.

He is also learning from Lucy the science of harvesting and eating persimmons. Lucy is very good at discerning which fruit are ripe before standing on her hind legs to harvest them. Few are ripe so far but before long she will start eating multiple fruit each day. Ben is starting to at least mouth the partially eaten fruit although may be put off yet by the pucker factor.

 

[centrarchid]

We just suffered a loss to be expected when scent marking with the ability to back it up is shut down. A predator, based on signs either Coyote or Bobcat, took a broody game hen just outside core area leaving three orphaned chicks that just over 3 weeks old. The distressed chicks are doing the just about the worst thing they do as cheeping for their mother, they are wandering away from core (also their roost site) into the heavy brush the predator almost certainly made approach through. I have taken dogs through kill site which got Lucy's nose popping and she quickly went down into valley where bad guy went. We will make sweeps every thirty minutes or so until birds on roost. Then remaining chicks and broodies will be penned up until spring. Looks like I will have to brooder rear just over 20 this winter which I have the space for although doing such is more labor intensive.

I will also place a hotwire across the likely approach. Such alone not effective although dogs do help make difference. All said and done, loss to predators very light this year.

 

[scottcaddy]

Hoping for the best tonight!
Scott

 

[centrarchid]

First two images show kill site.

Third picture shows route of approach and retreat.

Surviving chicks. Only three to start with. Hen could have tried to run predator off but was killed on spot with minimal struggle.

Sisters of hen lost. They look very much like her. They are also quick to take on more than they can whip.

Box on top of pen to right of black culvert where lost hen and her chicks roosted by time chicks 14 days old. She wanted them up early. A GHO frequently landed on same pens at night to hunt rodents. Very aggrevating.

New pen three game chicks and three Missouri Dominiques to be combined in. This done so chicks can stay warm at night as they are still too small to stay warm on nights cooler than about 50 F. It contains a bucket chicks will be imprinted on. Imprinting is a concept most poultry keepers do not realize the importance of.

 

[centrarchid]

Lots of action this morning already. Birds penned last night are complaining. Three dogs came walked past property to east. Lucy and Ben barked in protest but could not push them off without my help. They went after Ben before they realized I was there. This is partly a numbers game. We will be going to three dogs next summer which is when I hope to get first goats.

A Merlin also came by in same area. Very unusual time of year for that to occur. Normally only a hard winter waif.

 

[scottcaddy]

If you have time to make a choice, what dog will you be adding?
Scott