Official BYC Poll: The Worst Predator

[Bert2368]

I dug a trench about 8" deep the whole perimeter of the run, and put in 2 foot wide hardware cloth with 1/2" mesh in it. The cloth runs up nearly 1 1/2 feet outside of the outer 8 foot tall plastic mesh fence, and I have a strand of electric fence tape at a little over 1 foot above the ground to zap anything that tries to climb over or attack the fence higher up.

And I dumped a bunch of dried very hot crushed peppers around the perimeter when something tried to dig under anyhow. It went away, whatever it was!

 

[MrsBachbach]

We are building a new coop, and will be working on the run next week or so.  I am wondering how deep to dig the fence to deter raccoon and stray dogs?  I would prefer not to fence the entire floor.

Lay about a foot of your wire outward and bury with dirt. When they dig they will run into the wire and be unable to dig through it. Another possibility is to lay a small trench of cement about six inches wide on the outside border of the fence. Animals always start digging next to the fence and they will tire of trying to dig through concrete. We had something small trying to dig out the hard packed dirt under our coop gate and poured a small six in wide trench of concrete just under and outside the door. That stopped them.

 

[gailm]

DOGS, DOGS, DOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They are the worst by far in my opinion.
Wildlife will usually attack or kill for survival.
Dogs on the other hand chase and attack for fun or for no reason at all (excluding feral/wild dogs of course).

Also, with wildlife you have a better chance of it being afraid of you and running away whereas the neighbors' dogs are not afraid of people. Nuff said!

 

[Bert2368]

DOGS, DOGS, DOGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They are the worst by far in my opinion.
Wildlife will usually attack or kill for survival.
Dogs on the other hand chase and attack for fun or for no reason at all (excluding feral/wild dogs of course).

Also, with wildlife you have a better chance of it being afraid of you and running away whereas the neighbors' dogs are not afraid of people. Nuff said!

Agree on dogs, they are everywhere people are and mostly do not fear to approach people.

But don't agree on some other things-

Dogs have the same hard wiring as wolves. Canine predators put in close proximity to easy prey WILL KILL WHAT THEY CAN. Not just what WE think they "need". How does the animal know more prey will be easily available next time they're hungry? Spree killing is evolved behavior, most mammalian predators do it. It used to increase their chances for surviving to reproduce, so it was selected for, long before irate farmers with guns made it anti-survival.

Look here:


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...exhibit-hen-house-syndrome-or-surplus-killing


Don't ascribe dog behavior to "lack of morals" or "for fun". Those are human issues.

Understand how a predator runs and deal with that reality. It works better for your chickens, your peace of mind and even for the predators.

Family dogs? Either your dog accepts your domestic animals as members of the pack- Or you keep them physically separated.

Neighbor dog? Securely fenced runs or a rifle and CONSTANT vigilance. The rifle makes for bad relations with some neighboring humans, and is best reserved for last resort. It takes MINUTES for a dog to destroy a flock, how much time can you spend watching your flock?

Stray/ferral dogs? Same as neighbor dogs, secure runs followed by selective use of a gun if it's big and persistent enough to punch through good fences.

 

[Michael Apple]

If a dog or coyote can get through your fence, then it needed to be replaced anyway. Bobcats, weasels, fox, and coons are all much more difficult to control since they are very agile, most climb, and some small enough to get through many openings. Freshly mowed fields attract hawks until they find there is no food source. Covered runs and monitored range time is important (hopefully there are enough trees for chickens to rely on for cover when ranging beyond the penned yard ).

Dog-legging fence beneath the dirt around border fencing prevents digging. 2x4" woven wire no climb is better than 4x4" woven wire goat fencing. 6' perimeter fence is better than 4 or 5', etc. Some people even run electric fence.

At the first sign of wild animal droppings on the property, I bait and set traps in strategic locations. There are many good books written by trappers about techniques for trapping particular problem varmints. Without trappers, we'd have serious problems with overpopulation all over the country. I don't take pleasure in culling animals, but if it is my animals versus the varmint, the varmint must go.

 

[JJSS89]

Racoons, Dogs, Coyotes are probably the most widespread troublemakers.

Weasels are the most frustrating because they can shimmy through just about anything to get a drink of chicken blood. Raccoons and coyotes are much easier to keep out.

 

[Triple Willow]

Dogs and their stupid owners.

 

[white ninja]

which predator reachs into pen thru chicken wire and rips heads off sorry to be graphic but went from 7 quail to 3 im trying to save last three using trail cams n wire guards i live in central texas PLEASE HELP!

 

[Triple Willow]

which predator reachs into pen thru chicken wire and rips heads off sorry to be graphic but went from 7 quail to 3 im trying to save last three using trail cams n wire guards i live in central texas PLEASE HELP! 

Probably a coon, 1/2 inch hardware cloth should keep them out. But yes they do reach in and pull out heads, wings, legs, etc and eat them off.

 

[Michael Apple]

which predator reachs into pen thru chicken wire and rips heads off sorry to be graphic but went from 7 quail to 3 im trying to save last three using trail cams n wire guards i live in central texas PLEASE HELP!

Sorry you're burdened with that. Coons are terrible. Get a cage trap and bait it with any kind of fish or cheap canned cat food. Trap and cull is the only way to keep them down.