The truth about chicken wire

[lv9777]

I have chicken wire and bird netting for my run. However, I live in town with limited daytime predators. I do have a possum and a groundhog that live under my coop. My coop is an shed with hardware cloth and all the precautions. So far (3 years) nothing has been able to get in the coop. The cats help by leaving food for the possum which may be why he has not been a problem.

 

[PaisleyChickMama]

Nah - they'd have recommended chicken wire and DE.

What’s wrong with diatomaceous earth? I use that in my coop for mite prevention

 

[PaisleyChickMama]

They don't need to be a dedicated livestock guardian breed to be good outside protectors. Nearly all the dogs I've had that were good at protecting chickens were just mutts or common breeds. When we moved to my current farm 6 years ago, my two bulldogs and redbone hound had only been urban dogs that slept inside at night and stayed in a picket fence backyard during the day while we worked. They took to country life fast and within a short amount of time they were sleeping outside at night on the porch as their preference.

You are of course correct that if you can't keep your dogs on property, you can't let them go unsupervised at night. I have found that it's pretty easy to keep dogs confined behind electric wire. For the past 3 months we've had to keep our dogs behind a makeshift yard fence made only of 4 strands of electric wire because we've been letting logging trucks come and go across our property to log the land behind us. Know that they wouldn't tolerate intruders and would likely run up under the trucks as they came and went, we just fenced the dogs. Tomorrow should be the last day and I'll turn the dogs free again. But it showed me that it's easy to keep dogs where you want them with a good shock.

I like it, I may take your advice

 

[Painted Calls]

What’s wrong with diatomaceous earth? I use that in my coop for mite prevention

It does nothing. For treatment anyway. I won't chance using the terrible stuff. Horrible on their sensitive respiratory system.

 

[PaisleyChickMama]

It does nothing. For treatment anyway. I won't chance using the terrible stuff. Horrible on their sensitivity respiratory system.

Oh no I didn’t know! It’s my first time using it

 

[Painted Calls]

Oh no I didn’t know! It’s my first time using it

We've all been there. We eventually learn.

 

[PaisleyChickMama]

We've all been there. We eventually learn.

So now what do I do with a 50lb bag of a DE

 

[Painted Calls]

So now what do I do with a 50lb bag of a DE

Just use it as you have been, and then don't buy more.

 

[NatJ]

our dogs tend to wander into the neighbors yard if we’re not outside since we don’t have fences. And I always say if a dog is on my yard trying to eat my ducks I won’t hesitate to shoot it, I can’t be hypocritical and not hold my dogs to the same standard of staying in our yard

I agree with keeping your dogs on your own property.

Would your dogs stay inside a fence made of chicken wire? If so, you could use your chicken wire to make a perimeter fence to keep the dogs home, and then let them be outdoors more of the time, or even all night.

Chicken wire will not contain a dog that is determined to get out, but some dogs do not really try, so I don't know if it would work in your case or not.

 

[PaisleyChickMama]

I agree with keeping your dogs on your own property.

Would your dogs stay inside a fence made of chicken wire? If so, you could use your chicken wire to make a perimeter fence to keep the dogs home, and then let them be outdoors more of the time, or even all night.

Chicken wire will not contain a dog that is determined to get out, but some dogs do not really try, so I don't know if it would work in your case or not.

This is a good idea