The complete failure of predator lights and motion detector lights

[mowin]

Homer D had a solar light on sale for $39. Decided to roll the dice and grab one. Haven't had much luck with them, but its been at least 6 yrs since I've had one. Hopefully the technology has improved even though the prices have decreased.

 

[45lk9p459gm-w]

@cmom , what would you suggest as wire spacing to deter small diggers and dogs during the daytime. Birds will be locked in a secure coop at night.

 

[Pepperchickamericano]

Just in case anyone thought (like I did) that these work. I have a new coop that my 4-week old chicks have only spent a few days in. I have been taking them in at night because I do not have the machine cloth fully installed. Last night I added red-blinking predator lights and some motion detector LEDs. HAH! this racoon completely ignored them.

So this is just another data point, with video, that these things do not work. They in no way deter racoons who are used to people. Maybe they work for the truly wild ones, but not mine.

That is crazy you caught that dirty rat I mean raccoon looking for a chicken dinner. I need to get another deer cam. I have possums and bobcats so that would help me.

 

[Grannysfuturefarm]

I have electric wires around my coops and pens and nothing has gotten by the hot wires. I also have my fence grounded so if anything trys to climb it and if they touch the hot wire and the fence they will get zapped. I know, I have accidentally tested it and it hurt. I also have game cameras around on my property with most aimed at the coops from different angles and places. In the past I tried different things and the predators got used to them such as motion lights. They thought nothing of it when they set them off. Good luck...

A few years ago we were without power for a week because of a hurricane. My fence charger is AC. Now I have an inverter and a battery so I can run the fence charger with the battery. I didn't have it set up at the time so I put a battery operated radio in the barn which is behind the coop and put talk radio on kind of loud so any predator would hear voices and not music. I didn't have any events when the power was out. I hope it was the talk radio that kept the predators away.

Talk radio would keep ME away!!!!

 

[Pepperchickamericano]

Talk radio would keep ME away!!!!

I put an electric wire around my flower bed to keep critters out and it worked but one day I went out to turn on the water spiket and my calf hit that wire and it lit me up.ZAPP. So you can't have a memory problem or your eggs won't make it to frying pan,

 

[MissE]

Talk radio would keep ME away!!!!

10 minutes of NPR has me wanting to gouge out my eardrums.

My dad always kept a radio on in the barn because he said it kept the cows calm, not to keep predators away. I think he also did it because it was plugged into the same power strip as the fencer so he would know right away if the power was out in the barn. The barn wasn't wired for power. He just ran a redneck line from the house to the barn.

Motion sensor sprinklers help keep deer out of the garden, but doubt they would stop predators from snacking on chickens.

I use an electric poultry fence. Even the bears don't like it. My dogs won't go within 20 feet of it. Unfortunately, I can't use it in the winter, so then the birds have to be confined to their coop and run.

 

[cmom]

@cmom , what would you suggest as wire spacing to deter small diggers and dogs during the daytime. Birds will be locked in a secure coop at night.

This is a picture of one side of my pens. Nothing has tried to get to my birds. I have the wires around all of my pens and coops. I have wires attached to the bottom of the gates but also have concrete under them due to a fox that had dug under a gate. You can see the wire in the left side. I do use another coated wire under the gate under the ground to make the connection which is attached to the wire going across the bottom of the gate. Most predators first explore with their noses. Good luck...

At this gate I have to replace the black coated wire because it doesn't stay buried. You can see it on the ground and connected to the wires on the post next to the gate.

Another gate. This is my chick/grow-out coop.

 

[45lk9p459gm-w]

I do have my wires setup and operating now. The wires are spaced 6 inches off the ground, 12 inches off the ground and 24 inches off the ground.

Watched two stray dogs, that I have seen pass through the property before, this morning come out of the woods and make a wide pass around the coop and run to get back on the little trail that crosses the property. The chickens were out in the run and stopped to stare at the dogs, but the dogs paid no attention to the chickens except for one that did look back at them after they had passed the coop. I think this pair has probably been introduced to the wire at some point. ... I was impressed