Topic of the Week - Keeping the Flock Safe from Predators

[chickengr]

anyone has geese as guardians?

 

[Flock Master64]

anyone has geese as guardians?

No but I'd like to try that.

 

[Devona]

I live in the city, and we have raccoons, possums, and feral cats that get into the yard. There is a six foot high concrete block wall around three sides of the backyard, so any predators have to get over it. The back of the house is on the fourth side, with a five foot wide driveway on the side, that has a six foot solid steel gate at the end. I've seen hawks flying in the distance and eating pigeons in the neighborhood, and there are probably owls around too, but they don't come close to my yard, which is pretty small and has string criss crossed over the top to support my vining vegetable plants in the summer. I leave the string up year round. I've only had chickens for just over a year, and i haven't lost any to predators yet. However, I've had rabbits in the yard for a few years, and never used to lock them up at night, until i lost one on July fourth night in 2015. I had no clue what killed it at first, thought maybe it was a cat. Then three nights later, another one failed to show up at dinnertime, and he's usually the first one at the feed bowl. I called, and looked around, and then i heard rustling noises coming from behind a pile of scrap wood in the corner, and i thought maybe he had become trapped somehow. When I looked behind it, i saw a raccoon hunched over his dead body. I yelled for my husband, and grabbed a shovel, and tried to go after it, but it was too far in. My husband poked it with a long stick from the other end, and it eventually left its meal and came towards me. I whacked it a few times with the shovel, which just bounced off his thick fur, and i couldn't swing that shovel properly in the small area, but I was so angry at that coon that I was seeing red. I had only taken that rabbit a couple of months before to the vet to get neutered, and it wasn't cheap! And he was the friendliest one of the lot, and the only one that let my kids pick him up and play with him. So I wanted to dispatch that coon to its maker. Anyway, thanks to my weak arm and his great speed and agility, he just rushed past me and over the wall. Since then I've had to chase rabbits into various cages at night, much to their disgust. I soon got two hutches set up for them, and they were done with the little cages, and soon learned to go into their separate hutches when I put their dinner in there. I've been locking them up every night, though sometimes i go out, and i get home late with fingers crossed that theyre ok. But the first rabbit that got killed was in a narrow enclosure, and the coon probably cut him off from the hiding place i had set up at one end of it, so he got cornered in the open, on the opposite end. The second one, my daddy rabbit, was a big ole lop eared slowpoke with fur covering half his vision, so he probably didnt see that coon until it was too late. i really had thought that they were too big for the coons to bother with. But i learned the hard way... My chicken coop is made of wooden pallets lined with chicken wire on the inside, and quarter inch wire mesh around the top, between the roof and the top of the walls. the floor has mesh also, above which are big plastic trays filled with straw. its about two feet off the ground. they go into the coop at night, and i try to lock them up just before full dark, unless i'm out. The coop is under a wooden pergola type structure, to which i've attached two by four wire mesh on one side, to keep them out of the rest of the yard. On two sides, theres the concrete wall, the third side a shed wall. The top is somewhat accessible for a climbing animal, but not so easy. I think the best measures to take against predators are preventive ones, and thankfully I havent lost any more critters, even when i return home after dark to lock them up.

 

[henny1129]

anyone has geese as guardians?

The people we get goat feed from have two geese. I'm not sure if they're meant to be guardians or just some more fowl, but anytime anything comes in the yard they're super loud!

 

[sumi]

I've known people who keep geese alongside their chickens and other livestock as "alarms". The moment they become aware of an intruder or predator, they make a racket, which immediately gets the dogs and their owners to come investigate.

 

[SgtLamie]

New to this back yard chicken bit. Lost one hen due to its immobility with one foot not having any toes resulting in her not eating. I never thought of using geese along side my chickens as guardians. Minus my Walker Hound, Beagle, Shiko Inu, and Husky mix stressing them out from time to time they sure keep the intruders out. So far just a random possum here and there.

 

[chickengr]

I asked about geese as a friend of mine put them as guardians as well as some other people on the island where I live. when I visit my friend I cannot walk into the chicken's yard because his geese immediately start chasing me, especially if hungry.

I have seen a few places with second hand iron and the other stuff and there are no dogs but geese. you cannot walk on the street without them trying to attack you.

 

[Beekissed]

Yeah...couple that with the noise and they'd quickly reside in the stewpot here~can't stand cranky and can't stand noisy. Dogs are quieter and run to greet you for pets when you come to visit the chickens.

 

[NathanZee]

No but I'd like to try that.

Take mine!

My African geese scared away a dog once, but I'm not sure it was very intent on attacking anyway....

 

[chickengr]

Take mine!

My African geese scared away a dog once, but I'm not sure it was very intent on attacking anyway....

it was exactly african geese that wanted me for lunch, lol. but they didn't attack dog who broke chain and killed 12 muscovie ducks a few days ago. so not that good guardians.