liquid repellant

[check-in]

Hi All,
New to the forum and I've been spending some time reading some interesting posts on all kinds of topics. My coop and run are almost done and I'm hoping to find chickens before the spring comes. I've been spending time reading about predators. Boy are they resourceful and relentless! I'm in the Northeast so I'll be seeing all the usual suspects-racoons, possums, snakes, weasels, skunks, coyotes, fox(saw one today), hawks, cats, and of course maybe even my own dog. Anyway I was in a hardware/ ag store yesterday and I saw some products that claim to repell all kinds of pests. Most of what I saw were garlic based. So my question is this....do these things work?. Do they cause the birds any problems? It sounds to good to be true so I'm guessing they probably don't work-or do they? Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Mahonri]

First off, Welcome to BYC!!

If it sounds to good to be true, it usually is.

nothing substitutes for a predator proof coop and run.

Unless you are with them free ranging, be prepared to lose a few.

 

[Judy]

Sorry, if they worked you'd see it all over this site.

Some people do have some success with male family members peeing around the perimeter of the property. Seriously.

Since you are just finishing up, and have been reading about predators, let me post one link that is required reading, in case you haven't found it:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

 

[check-in]

Quote:
I know what you are saying. My dog counts as a family member too. Since she roams the entire property I've seen some of the bad boys around but they don't come right in close. I've never had any shrubbery eaten by deer in 10 years and most of my neighbors have. We'll see what happens once the predators get a whiff of chickens. That's a different story and the urge for a possible meal may overcome any fear of scents they would normally avoid.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Works for me! LOL All three (male) dogs and my hubby! LOL

 

[Judy]

Quote:
The trick now would be to train the dog not to bother the chickens. My dog got a chicken "playing" with it, so I supervised and taught the "leave it" command for the chickens. Now we haven't had a predator loss in well over a year, since I turned the dogs loose. They don't really guard the chickens, they ignore them. But they bark and chase anything else that comes on the property, so everyone free ranges together.

 

[pringle]

I only use my own NATURAL liquid deterent ya know what I mean