Predator repellents and how safe are my dogs

[wamtazlady]

My 5 foot welded wire backyard fence is not stopping the fox from visiting a couple times a week. I've recorded her on my cameras from midnight until 9 am. I've seen the fox in the front yard as well as the backyard. I am assuming it is a female trying to feed her kits for the fox to be out well past dawn. The fox hasn't been able to get to the chickens. The run is covered with a roof. There is hardware cloth on the sides of the run. There is a 3 foot hardware cloth apron. I am not letting the chickens out no matter what time of the day. I block any holes the fox digs under the fence but of course it just digs another hole. Yard is too big to add an apron. Was wondering about those predator repellents I have seen at the hardware store. Would the repellents help keep the fox away if I put the repellents around the outside of the fence? Hopefully someone here has tried them. Also, I have 2 small dogs. How safe are they going outside at night? Fortunately I have someone staying here temporarily who has 2 large dogs. I don't let my little dogs out unless a big dog goes out also. However, having the big dogs here is temporary. My dogs are 12 pounds each.

 

[cmom]

Electric wires around your coops and pens. I have had issues with fox in the past. They have killed some of my birds. So far nothing has gotten past the electric wires. They have been up for years. I also grounded my fence so if anything touches the fence and the hot wires it will hurt. I want it to hurt so they won't come back and try again. My pens are also too large to put an apron around so I opted for the electric wires. I think the adult predators teach their young that a bird isn't worth getting zapped for. Good luck...

 

[Coffee N Chickens]

I don't know where you are, but around here we call small dogs coyote bait. Hate to be blunt, but want you to know you will have to watch them super closely.

 

[cmom]

We have a neighbor who bought the farm behind us. She let her little dog out to do it's business one evening not too long after she moved in and some coyotes killed it.

 

[cmom]

A regular visitor. I see this one most nights on at least one of my cameras.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Securing your birds with one or more of the fencing and coop protection methods you'll see on BYC should help. Many use buried wire, electric fencing, etc. Some people will contact the state trapper's association and get in touch with a licensed trapper near them to dispatch and remove the animal. But again, that is a quick fix, and you should also consider predator proofing so new threats cannot get to your animals. Supervise your dogs when you let them out to be safe.

 

[wamtazlady]

I haven't had the electric poultry netting up for 4 years. A deer decided to scratch his head on a post and got tangled. Before 5 fish and wildlife officers came to hold him down and saw off his antlers, he had destroyed over 400 dollars of Premier 1 netting. I decided to not do that again. I do have to say I never lost a bird to a four legged predator before the netting got destroyed.

I am just interested if those smelly predator repellents help at all. A guy I talked to in the store said they worked for him. He worked there so I am not sure whether to believe him or not. I don't expect that any odor would completely keep the fox away, but it if made the fox think twice then it would be worth it.

 

[cmom]

I have never used the electric poultry netting, but the electric wires work for me. Maybe it's where I live but in the past I have lost birds prior to putting up the electric wires but not since. I do have a very powerful fence charger. I know there are deer around but in all the years only seen a couple cross the road coming home from work many years ago. We also had a quite healthy coyote population at that time. A neighbor let some hunters come onto his hand and I think they must have scored because I used to see a lot of coyotes on my cameras and now rarely. I do see fox most nights on at least one of my cameras. Here the predators mostly roam at night. I have heard critters at night so I'm sure they tested out the hot wires and guarantee they don't test them again. I think the adults teach their young that a bird isn't worth getting zapped for and it will hurt. I have posted this video before.

 

[McChooky]

Twice as many predators will show up if one gets lucky. They must tell all their friends.

 

[FoxySonia]

Electric wires around your coops and pens. I have had issues with fox in the past. They have killed some of my birds. So far nothing has gotten past the electric wires. They have been up for years. I also grounded my fence so if anything touches the fence and the hot wires it will hurt. I want it to hurt so they won't come back and try again. My pens are also too large to put an apron around so I opted for the electric wires. I think the adult predators teach their young that a bird isn't worth getting zapped for. Good luck...
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I would like to know how to add electric wires around my coop and pens (10' x 10' and 9' x 6'), both on bottom and on top of the 10' x 10' pen (a welded wire dog kennel with tarp roof) where my chickens prefer to sleep. I don't know anything about working with electrical wires. It would need to be connected to an electrical AC outlet instead of solar battery.

I've only had chickens for a year and was lucky that the raccoons haven't broken in yet, but lately they have been trying. Twice, a couple of days apart, they've come past 2am to try to break into the 10' x 10' pen, getting on the tarp roof either by climbing one of the 2 trees next to it or jumping down from my house's roof. Each time they have scared awake my chickens which alerted me, I ran out screaming and banging the fence and tree with a metal rod while pointing a light at the raccoons, they would freeze in place for a long while, either on top of the pen's roof, or while holding on to the tree trunk or on top of house roof where they remained the longest. The 1st night they tried 3 times. Last night they ignored my yelling and light, so I tried splashing them with water using old hose but damn water pressure was too weak to reach them.

I've been looking at motion sensor strobe light alarms but most are solar, I don't get much sun due to too much shade from trees, and most don't seem to last past a few months. Also read reviews on ultrasonic resellers, most are also solar, and no one mentions if they are effective at keeping raccoons away or if the ultrasonic sound bother chickens, just found 1 mention about installing them away from chicken coop, if that's the case then they won't work to keep raccoons away from chicken coop and pens. I've checked out car garage motion sensor alarms, but don't know if they would work on detecting raccoons. So instead of spending money on those options, I'd like to try the electric wires but need help in finding instructions on how to set that up and what materials I should buy. I need to set it up as soon as possible, so help will be greatly appreciated.

Here's photo of my larger coop (7'x5' Large OverEz Coop) and attached 10'x10' welded wire dog kennel chicken run/pen.

Side view of run/pen

Inside the run/pen

Smaller 9'x6' pen (covered in coated chicken wire so will need to cover in hardware cloth) where my 2 bantam Brahma and 4 Silkie pullets roost. The playhouse coop is 4'x4'.