ideas to keep away predators and pest

[chooks4jay]

come on people tell us a story

 

[lutherpug]

My coop is in on the perimeter of my non fenced backyard that backs to a large wooded area. I see raccoons, deer, wild turkey, skunks, possums, and foxes on a regular basis. Not to mention the neighborhood dogs. I haven't lose a bird to a predator yet but I built my coop like Fort Knox and I don't let my birds free range. Their coop is incorporated into the run and it is secure. That said, my yard is getting fenced in a few weeks and at that time I plan to let them out of the coop several hours a week but only when I can be outside with them. They'll have a tractor in the yard as well-I don't currently do this due to the lack of a fence but I plan to start using one for the times I cannot be outside.

I guess my point is that everyone has to decide what level of risk they're comfortable with and plan accordingly. My risk tolerance is low so I made sure my coop included hardware cloth, padlocks, etc.

Are you losing a lot of birds to predators? There are a lot of great ideas on here about how to predator proof your setup.

 

[missy1971]

I started my little farm with predator protection in mind. set the homestead buildings close together house and two barns with their own fencing areas and then another layer of solid fencing around that.. 3 intact male llamas on the perimeter which turned out to be good coyote killers once they were full grown and that stopped the coyotes from crossing through out pasture. i've always had a large group of dogs 13 GSDs at one time and am sure that didn't make us inviting. Once my GSD were old and passed on I switched over to a general farm dog Cane Corso and added two LGD's. also used as general farm dogs and have access to all the homestead area house, and barns, with the llamas still on guard on the perimeter Got really lucky that one of my LGD is aerial sensitive , reacts to anything that flys Ravens, hawks, owls, are the main ones. any fly bys or attempts to land she barking and charging after them until they have cleared the area. That is new to me and am very happy to have her. only one kill last year one of the dogs killed a skunk in the barn. I had seen a baby skunk outside my fence line earlier in the month so I knew they were near by close, and that the LGDs were sleeping more in the barn instead of central in the backyard . I was surprised that one of my LGDs was acting weird when he was first old enough to be left on his own, he wasn't doing anything wrong, but he was in a weird place in the barn and just stay'd there, so it was weird to wonder if he was ill or something. it was a week later the male had moved his position but still in the barn when i had the new LGD puppy with me for supervision coming in the barn doing chores.. My male sudden let loose rushed over and smashed my puppy to the ground.. I honestly thought my male had gone mad in the head.. A closer look it made sense.. This whole time my male had been watching over a Mamma goose on her nest as they were hatching and she had all her baby's behind a chest freezer where the puppy had walked over to investigate. So that was pretty cool of my male. it made sense the next time he was being weird in the barn not too far from him was a Mamma goose on her nest and a few days latter her babies had hatched he stay'ed close in the barn until the goslings were older then he went back to sleeping central in the backyard. What a big lug how much he loves baby goslings and to know the eggs were close to hatching. Have to say Rattle snakes are an issue so i have let a Rat snake move into the barn to keep the Rattle snakes out, and that worked ok until the Rat snake got too greedy after a couple of years for young chicks and being in the egg nest that I had to re-home him out to the pasture. Brought in some guinea hens ,this is the first year the group seems to be helping as the snakes, have stay'd clear of the barn but moved in around the house. Am hoping the Rat snake under the house will keep the rattlers away. And that is about it. I have two pure breed cats Bengals I give them some time out side during the day and the LGD's will go after them for any stalking of the birds, and the Guinea Hens harass them too. The Bengals move on to go after the wild rabbits that are open game. this is my male all grown up now..

Don't the rat snakes try to get your eggs? And your chickens for that matter?

 

[Sharsoz]

Do not know about the snake issue . Just wanted to say what a beautiful 'spot 'you have. And your companion looks at peace with the world. One thing did come to mind concerning your animals. Before one should get bitten. Have a plan of action for help. Take care.

 

[The Lazy L]

18" apron around the secured run to prevent predators from digging under.

12 gauge shotgun to keep the raccoon population minimal.

 

[Sharsoz]

How's that working on the snake population ?

 

[Sharsoz]

Hello all. New egg here. Keeping predators out is a job. I have a fenced in area within a fenced in area. Although they are 6 foot and the inner area is also cemented down , I still have a problem. I am putting in a alarm motion detector, with light. I would like to know if anyone has neighbors with roosters, who allow free ranging....only in your yard? My Rooster is upset about these two Roosters, who show up everyday and stay until dusk. My questions 'is ;Do Roosters fight to the death? Are these two coming together because my Rooster is 10.5 lbs . They bring a hen with them. Do they want to swap? Lastly, will there hen fight with my hens? I found one dead yesterday. Today one looks like something hold it. I'm not sure if it's the trio or feral cats. Both can get over the fences. Help

 

[Butterscotchbitesfinger]

So um we have a fox who attacks every once in a while he attacks so what we did was double layer our wire and let our Great Dane in with our chickens don’t worry he is very gentle. So that’s how we keep the foxes out