Safe to apply deer repellent on/near coop & run perimeter?

DonyaQuick

Crowing
Premium Feather Member
Jun 22, 2021
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Upstate NY (Otsego county), USA
As the title says...are there any issues to be aware of when appying deer repellent around chicken enclosures and places where chickens may forage? From the products I've looked at so far, it doesn't seem like there would be any actual toxicity issues. But, for example, if the stuff is also repulsive to chickens then I will need to have a bit more of a think about how to apply it...last thing I need is to spray it around the run and then they hate it so much they sulk in the coop all day.

Other background in case anyone has any other deer repelling ideas besides the spray: there's a doe and several of her offspring that I'm pretty sure someone in the area must be feeding from their porch or something. These few deer are currently not afraid of people unless you throw a decent-sized object at them from pretty close, and they seem attracted to structures. They are at least moderately afraid of my 100lb dog, but only if she runs at them - barking does nothing. They are going right up to my house, right up to a garage my husband is building - even while he's working on it with loud power tools, right up behind me when I'm working outside, etc. They show no sign of being anything but fat and healthy (actually a lot better looking than a lot of the other, more timid deer) and the behavior has been getting steadily bolder over the last year. They are clearly interested in the chicken feed in the enclosures since they've been going up and sniffing at the nearest walls, and I'm trying to avoid potentially annoying repairs if one of them manages to put a hoof through the HWC, break a wood beam, or similar. I gather some deer repellents are pretty effective at putting them off, and the edges of my enclosures are largely rain protected so if I can spray right up against the perimeter then it'll be more robust to rain.
 
What repllent are you considering?
My neighbor used coyote urine and a pellet gun.
We have the same issue with elk here, people feed them so now we have giant hormonal deer that arent afraid of people and can kill you.
 
What repllent are you considering?
My neighbor used coyote urine and a pellet gun.
We have the same issue with elk here, people feed them so now we have giant hormonal deer that arent afraid of people and can kill you.
Unfortunately I can't use any kind of canid urine. My dog would lose her mind - she gets any faint sniff on the wind of something like that and goes into track-and-fight mode.

These are the main two products I'd been looking at, the first because it supposedly doesn't smell as bad to people and the second because it's locally available:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DQCEIA/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=A2TSJN02BNZ0BO&psc=1

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/liquid-fence-deer-rabbit-repellent-40-oz-4205806

I guess it's mostly the peppermint oil in the first product and "putrescent whole egg solids" which I think is in both that I'm not sure how chickens would react to. Mint plants haven't been offputting to my birds but I don't know how potent to expect the oil to be.

I spent part of my childhood in a place with elk...definitely not a fan of those!
 
Unfortunately I can't use any kind of canid urine. My dog would lose her mind - she gets any faint sniff on the wind of something like that and goes into track-and-fight mode.

These are the main two products I'd been looking at, the first because it supposedly doesn't smell as bad to people and the second because it's locally available:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002DQCEIA/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_2?smid=A2TSJN02BNZ0BO&psc=1

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/liquid-fence-deer-rabbit-repellent-40-oz-4205806

I guess it's mostly the peppermint oil in the first product and "putrescent whole egg solids" which I think is in both that I'm not sure how chickens would react to. Mint plants haven't been offputting to my birds but I don't know how potent to expect the oil to be.

I spent part of my childhood in a place with elk...definitely not a fan of those!
I don't think k chickens can smell that well. Both the deer and elk ate our mint beds down so I'm not sure how well they'd work. I wouldn't worry about toxic effects from either product.
 
And this is why you don't feed wildlife, it only brings trouble

I would consider electrifying the fence so if they do try anything they'd be in for a shock and definitely run her off every time you see her
 

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