English Shepherd as Poultry Guardian

[centrarchid]

No way!



Edited by Staff

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Well you are welcome to that opinion...but it happened.

 

[Mini Meat]

Oh, it happens, my neighbor sent his two German Shepard's to run off a yappy Coyote. Found them a while later bleed out from wounds to their throats.

His chickens didn't last long after that.

 

[centrarchid]

Stories for the most part. Similar I have heard locally from parties that would not stand well in court. Usually key details left out like dogs were pups, only one dog when all coyotes mature, dog old, etc... Great Pyrenees taken out was actually taken out by pack of feral dogs. In this area the Coyotes are Coyotes, not Coy-Wolves or something akin to Bigfoot.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Well you are welcome to your opinion, but I know the man well, knew the dogs. This is NE (he lives in the sandhills) we do not have coyo-wolves, did not know such a thing existed. We do have feral dog packs, but we have many more coyotes. You can dismiss it all you want, but I would never pit my dogs against a coyote pack and expect my animals to live.

 

[centrarchid]

Adult Bald Eagle this morning was perching crag to NE of house. Both dogs saw and responded to it positioning themselves on rise between it and actual yard. I walked towards eagle and it flew to another crag near a pond to SW. Dogs huffed in response.. Chickens around barn made lots of arial alarm calls. Eagles I do not consider a threat to my flock because cover is too heavy. It it too heavy even for Red-tailed hawks now. The eagle does have plenty of vulnerable domestic ducks in the area.


Bald Eagles fly over here frequently as it appears to be a shortcut around bend of the Missouri River when winds are out of the N, NW, and NE. They do not normally hunt on those overflights.

 

[centrarchid]

Both dogs investing a lot of effort in hunting rabbits. I bet I have more than a 100 rabbits in a little over 5 acres of managed brush where chickens are kept. This morning Lucy showed me a new trick. As I walked forward towards a rabbit on the path Lucy, starting from next to me, began moving in lockstep with me at a 45 degree angle. When I stopped, Lucy stopped. When I resumed she did same. Ben walked so Lucy was between him and rabbit. When line of sight was broken between dogs and rabbit the dogs ran along another path to get quickly on other side of rabbit. When rabbit flushed by my approach it went towards dogs. They missed that one but definitely had more of an advantage. The same rabbits move among pens and free-range chickens where dogs are antsy about the hot-wire.

 

[centrarchid]

Fireworks stressing dogs. Lucy coming into house and Ben doing surveillance from concrete pad of driveway. After about midnight both will resume patrols that will go on to sometime after dawn. Lucy is getting fat eating mice and rabbits. Ben is less inclined to eat his catch.

 

[centrarchid]

Fireworks even worse tonight. Chickens cackling with each detonation. Both dogs inside now. I am starting think fireworks are not good around animals.

 

[islandgirl82]

Agreed.