Got my Great Pyrenees today!

[Dr.Dale]

Trust the dog. When the object of their concern (which you may never see or hear) is gone they will happily come to get ear scrubs

100% agree. Here is a photo of exactly that from this afternoon. They had alerted on something, and were in full guardian mode. I have no idea what it was, but that is the direction where most of the predators come from.

I never chastise them when they act like this. Only praise. That is them doing what they were born to do. And they are beautiful fulfilling their purpose. The picture doesn’t do them justice.

 

[Dr.Dale]

We lost our first chicken since getting the dogs. We got them spayed on Tuesday and then they told us that they had to be indoors and rest and recover for 10 days. We were completely surprised. Wednesday was ok but Thursday we lost a silver penciled rooster. He was inside our pen, but it looks like he got grabbed through the pen and his head torn off. I knew we had predators, but did not know how strong the predatory pressure is. To loose one behind a fence after only a little more than one day of the dogs being out of commission. It just speaks volumes to the threat and how well the dogs are addressing it.

 

[drumstick diva]

How horrible? What kind of wire is your fencing? You really need 1/2" hardware cloth securely affixed to fence posts- no wimpy plastic ties or staples. Raccoons love to reach through wire and bite off any body parts they can reach. Even if they don't manage to kill a chicken, it will be so severely maimed, it will need to be put down.

 

[bruceha2000]

Sorry the proof of the value of the dogs came with that price @Dr.Dale Yep, sounds like a coon. Chickens like to lie against fences, coons normally eat only the head, neck and crop of a chicken even when it has full access.

 

[Dr.Dale]

How horrible? What kind of wire is your fencing? You really need 1/2" hardware cloth securely affixed to fence posts- no wimpy plastic ties or staples. Raccoons love to reach through wire and bite off any body parts they can reach. Even if they don't manage to kill a chicken, it will be so severely maimed, it will need to be put down.

We have 1/2” hardware cloth around the run and on all openings in the coop. But the fence where the rooster was killed was at the 2”x4” welded wire fence that we have going around the yard. It isn’t feasible to fence the whole yard with hardware cloth. We will just have to keep the chickens in the run until the dogs recover.

Having been given access to the whole property for more than a month now they did not like being confined to the yard, and they will definitely not like being confined to the run. Unfortunately, since our plan was always to let them free range with the dog’s protection, our run is a little undersized for the flock (~250 sq ft for 28 chickens)

 

[Dr.Dale]

Sorry the proof of the value of the dogs came with that price @Dr.Dale Yep, sounds like a coon. Chickens like to lie against fences, coons normally eat only the head, neck and crop of a chicken even when it has full access.

Thanks @bruceha2000 I am glad to know that the dogs are not just a sop to my paranoia.

It is not a terrible loss in the end, more of an annoyance. I was planning on butchering one silver penciled rooster and two buff roosters this weekend anyway. But I wanted to do the selecting and eating myself instead of having a raccoon do it.

 

[centrarchid]

For next year or so I would be integrating a little hotwire into your setup. Will fill gaps left open by dogs and may help control losses stemming from dog themselves.

 

[bruceha2000]

Having been given access to the whole property for more than a month now they did not like being confined to the yard, and they will definitely not like being confined to the run.

Ain't THAT the truth! My girls get seriously POed when I have the gate that lets them come up around the house closed. You would think an acre out back of the barn would be good enough but NO! They have their favorite spots all around the house and want to be there.

 

[llombardo]

Rarely do I see GP pups available and today I saw 3 available. I am in no position to take another dog on--I have 7 but I still sat there staring at the pictures, thinking how can I make this work?

 

[aart]

Rarely do I see GP pups available and today I saw 3 available. I am in no position to take another dog on--I have 7 but I still sat there staring at the pictures, thinking how can I make this work?

Dog Math?