recommended dog breed

[Bullitt]

I would recommend a German Shepard, they are easily trained when they are still young to not kill chickens. I trained one with my uncle a couple of years ago it took about a week. for ten minutes a couple of times a day a chicken was put in front of the pup and he was scolded whenever he tried to attack. He is now living on my uncles fruit farm (and campsite) and most of the customers love him. He is a black German Shepard though so he isn't as intimidating as a normal coloured one.

Wouldn't an all-black German Shepherd be more intimidating than one colored like Rin Tin Tin?

 

[yogifink]

That all black sheperd is one pretty looking dog. Shed to much for me though.

 

[Bullitt]

...and it takes a couple years to train a pup properly.

The dog just needs to learn not to chase or bite chickens or people. It will naturally chase after predators.

Find a good dog and the rest comes pretty easily.

 

[SunnySkies]

I think hmwalatka whole intent is very different from most of us.  Chickens will be valued as a tool more than as a product.  Duration has potential for being very short-term with birds going out about time cicada emergence starts and then put back into a more conservative mode once cicada emergence stops.  This means more birds will also be needed, at least relative to what I run.  I can easily get suppression of grasshoppers and the like with about 20 birds per acre, and fewer birds are required if I hold back a little on feed but care must be taken to keep birds from expanding range to compensate.  Expanding range will get them away from blueberry plants to be protected and beyond your area where you plan on protecting them from predators.  A problem I see with this application is the birds will first have to suppress the regular insect biomass before taking on a potentially much larger amount coming in as extremely mobile cicadas.  If the hatch is heavy like we experienced a couple years ago, the chickens will have a hard time even putting a dent in them since they will be replaced as quickly as consumed by insects coming in from areas outside.   I call the insects coming in from the outside drift.  One of my free-range flocks that is fed very little goes to considerable lengths to capitalize on the drift but they will only consume so much before targeting green plant materials and seeds.  They seem to like a balanced diet.  Also, some birds seem more than content doing most if not all their feeding from feeder which not benefit the cicada control efforts.  Also think about life-stage of the chickens.  For me, juveniles and chicks are much more interested in animals as eats but larger juveniles at least will be required to tackle such large game.  I recommend not using Cornish cross or bantams for this.

Hopefully there are some large trees nearby that will take the brunt of the egg-deposition coming from the female cicadas / locust.

Yes, I saw that. I raise heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables, in addition to chickens. The chickens do not eliminate bugs in any significant fashion on my property and in my gardens; my squash crop was virtually a complete loss this year due to significant insect damage (I am not alone in that...farmer down the road said the same). I will have to resort to spraying next summer unless I range more birds, but then my losses of vegetables will significantly increase secondary to bird damage to said vegetables. While chickens are often effective insect control, I can't help but wonder if they would not be adequate or if berry loss would outweigh benefits in this situation.

The addition of fresh eggs for sale might offset some berry damage profit loss.

 

[Bullitt]

He already has netting to keep out flock birds which will also protect the main bushes from the chickens but anything low or on the ground is free game. He knows the chickens will not get all the cicadas but will be a big help. Thinking of chicken tractors to move around.

And when the bugs arrive, he can turn the chickens lose to eat as many of the bugs as they can. At least it will help.

It sounds like he has already thought this through pretty well.

I also think having a dog is an easy way to keep away chicken predators. Many different breeds will work. Just find a young dog and spend some time training it to stay on the property and not to chase or bite chickens or people. The dog will chase away predators naturally.

You might check with the local animal shelter to see if any suitable dogs are available. You probably want a dog that will be 50 pounds or more when grown.

 

[Bullitt]

That all black sheperd is one pretty looking dog. Shed to much for me though.

The person said this will be an outside dog. Shedding won't be a problem.

 

[yogifink]

I know, I ment for me

 

[centrarchid]

Yes, I saw that. I raise heirloom tomatoes and other vegetables, in addition to chickens. The chickens do not eliminate bugs in any significant fashion on my property and in my gardens; my squash crop was virtually a complete loss this year due to significant insect damage (I am not alone in that...farmer down the road said the same). I will have to resort to spraying next summer unless I range more birds, but then my losses of vegetables will significantly increase secondary to bird damage to said vegetables. While chickens are often effective insect control, I can't help but wonder if they would not be adequate or if berry loss would outweigh benefits in this situation.

The addition of fresh eggs for sale might offset some berry damage profit loss.

When I have more birds per unit area, insects are not eliminated but the abundances a very strongly impacted. Some species like grasshoppers are effectively wiped put but they can move in quickly (as drift) from outside the areas the chickens forage heavily to repopulate area. It does not take much chicken pressure to make so neat little critters like praying mantises drop out to the point I can not detect them.


I suspect the blueberry crop value dwarfs what the eggs from same ground would be worth. The OP appears more concerned with saving the blueberry shrubs from the locusts / cicadas for producing crops in future years than getting a full crop when the event occurs. If I understood OP correctly the thought is the locust will effectively ruin plants, not simply the single crop produced during the emergence. In my location a lot of smaller trees where heavily damaged by females laying eggs but I do not know if they would do similar to blueberries.


With your squash, did you consider using trap plants to intercept squash bugs and cucumber beetles?