Has anyone tried the red lights that are supposed to trick predators into thinking there is already one in the coop? We have Great Horned Owls nesting overhead and we can't really cover the acre of range we have.
I have been using the red lights for ten years and have never had a night time predator attack since. I have heard people say they don't work after a while but that is not my experience. I have several place all over the chicken yard and the coop. They have worked for me very, very well.
I have the "Night Guard" lights (like on the inside front cover of the Feb/Mar 2012 issue of Backyard Poultry) around my coops. I originally had only 4 around some of my coops seemed to work OK. Then last November I ordered 5 more because of an offer from them in the mail. I put up the new ones about knee high from the ground and repositioned the 4 I had mounted shoulder high. I have one over each chicken door on the 3 coops that don't have a covered run. I havent lost a chicken to a predator since putting them in place. I have only lost two while they were free ranging during the day. I have one coop with some old rock hens that ocassionally one will die off. One passed in Dec 2011, I threw the carcass about 15 feet from the gate into one or my runs. It laid there for 8 days till I picked it up and carried it about 100 feet from the run entrance. It was gone the next morning. I had placed one of the new Night Guards on that end of the coop next to the gate just prior to the hen passing. It laid there till I moved it. The Night Guards really do work.
