Topic of the Week - Keeping the Flock Safe from Predators

[DancingWthDucks]

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.

sorry for your loss....

 

[chickengr]

sorry for your loss....

thanks but it was my friend's loss. I feel it like mine as I would like to buy some land and move and this friend with his wife, children and grandchildren would be my future neighbors and we would help each other with chickens.

 

[Ren2014]

Bobcat, Coyotes and Snakes here.

Bobcat has gotten chickens when free ranging, coyotes have gotten ducks when walking through pasture from their pond to a stock tank and snakes have gotten eggs in chicken coop and duck pen.

Rat/chicken snakes have been the easiest to control. Hard ware cloth everywhere, got rid of their food source/rats and keep the area cleaned up so they can't hide.

Bobcat is still on the loose. My BIL saw it shortly after it had gotten one of my Buff Orpingtons. We have traps out for it and the coyotes.

One of our best defenses is when we have LGD's patrolling the perimeter. Nothing gets inside our fences WHEN the LGD's are home. However, as someone already said, we have a problem when the birds free range and a fence ends up between them and the dogs. Our LGD's go over our fences after the coyotes at night and they chase them into other counties. This has gotten them in trouble and of course leaves the homestead vulnerable in their absence. Currently we are without adult LGD's. We have two puppies but they won't be much help for many months.

 

[Beekissed]

You might try electric containment to keep your LGDs at home. I've had great success with a wireless system for this purpose for the past 11 yrs.

Here's a link that's pertinent to this thread...a page about predator management: http://icwdm.org/Inspection/livestock.asp

 

[Howard E]

Rat/chicken snakes have been the easiest to control. Hard ware cloth everywhere, got rid of their food source/rats and keep the area cleaned up so they can't hide.

@Ren2014 makes a good point here. I am convinced that a lot of predator problems start with and flow downstream from issues with rats and mice that move in to go to town on spilt feed. Rats and mice are prolific reproducers, so once they find a place to their liking, they multiply in staggering numbers. Then there are an equally staggering number of predators that follow. Weasels, hawks, owls, snakes, cats, coyotes, foxes and even skunks are all looking for rats and mice to eat. I've heard it said that skunks are as good or better mousers than cats. But I am convinced that a lot of these predators first arrive in pursuit of rats and mice, but all are opportunistic killers and can make the transition to chickens in heartbeat.

The prime example for this may be weasels. They say that nearly 95% of a weasels natural diet consists of rats and mice, and in that vein are a big help. Not so much when they transition to chickens.

So perhaps one of the very best things we can do is keep the feed up off the ground, try to eliminate spilt feed and protect the bulk feed where we can. All to reduce the chance of attracting rat and mice and what follows.

 

[Zoomie]

@Ren2014 makes a good point here. I am convinced that a lot of predator problems start with and flow downstream from issues with rats and mice that move in to go to town on spilt feed. Rats and mice are prolific reproducers, so once they find a place to their liking, they multiply in staggering numbers. Then there are an equally staggering number of predators that follow. Weasels, hawks, owls, snakes, cats, coyotes, foxes and even skunks are all looking for rats and mice to eat. I've heard it said that skunks are as good or better mousers than cats. But I am convinced that a lot of these predators first arrive in pursuit of rats and mice, but all are opportunistic killers and can make the transition to chickens in heartbeat.

The prime example for this may be weasels. They say that nearly 95% of a weasels natural diet consists of rats and mice, and in that vein are a big help. Not so much when they transition to chickens.

So perhaps one of the very best things we can do is keep the feed up off the ground, try to eliminate spilt feed and protect the bulk feed where we can. All to reduce the chance of attracting rat and mice and what follows.

You are so right... I think that would make a good Topic of the Week: How do you control mice and rats in your barn? or something along those lines. Because of course if you do not control them, they get outta control and that is not a pretty sight.

 

[Ren2014]

You might try electric containment to keep your LGDs at home. I've had great success with a wireless system for this purpose for the past 11 yrs.

Here's a link that's pertinent to this thread...a page about predator management: http://icwdm.org/Inspection/livestock.asp

We've tried it all. We didn't have this problem with our very first Pyr that we got at about 9 weeks of age. All of the others have been 4-6 mos when we got them and they were through rescue. Two were named Lewis and Clark and they were true to their names. I'm hoping with getting these new pups at 8 wks we will not have a problem.

Checking out the link now, thank you.

 

[nineyardsfarm]

I am so appreciative of all of these posts, especially because in the beautiful snow today I saw a fox right near my ducks. I grabbed a gun but he was gone, and we have set a live trap where we hope to catch him and release him in a national forest a few miles from us. We lost a chicken a few weeks ago with no trace and I now feel sure this guy was the reason. All of our birds are locked into extremely secure coops at night, but in the day we let them free range.

 

[seanengler]

- What are your most common predator(s) and how do you deter them?

Our common predators are coyotes, foxes, badgers, raccoons. Our POSSIBLE predators are eagles, hawks, dogs, cats and possums.

- What do you do to secure your chicken coop and run?

Chicken coop is built with solid construction on a trailer, moved around our property. Door is a metal door in a track that slides up and door with the chicken guard door opener. When the door is closed, you cannot get it to slide up without a screwdriver to pry into the track. We've had 100% success with our coop being secure at night. Side note, the chicken guard door opener is the best $150 I have ever spent. In our area we have noticed predators lag when going home for the day after being out all night, so we don't use the light censor setting to open the door up in the morning. We have it set to open an hour or so after sunrise so the likely hood of catching some stragglers is reduced. Evenings don't seem to be a problem, we don't hear or see coyotes until totally dark.

Surrounding the mobile coop is an electric net fence, 164 feet long. We run it in a 40x40 square and utilize a solar charger/energizer. This also has been 100% effective, we have never lost a chicken that was inside the fencing. For anyone interested in the electric fencing, we love it. We run a kencove +/- OR all hot net fence, giving us the option of running it all hot which I prefer, but allowing us to go +/- when there is grass causing it to ground out etc. We run a gallagher s17 charger/energizer on it and get anywhere from 7500 to 9700 volts depending on soil conditions. It packs a serious punch and we haven't had anything make it over except deer who don't usually investigate fences by sniffing as a coyote/fox/raccoon would.

- Do you keep LGD's (Livestock guardian dogs) to protect your flock? If "yes", please tell us about them.

We use our two basset hounds who roam constantly all day keeping your dusk/dawn predators away. We also use motion activated sprinklers. We are looking into getting a donkey, would love to hear from anyone who utilizes a donkey.

- What are your suggestions for dealing with/disposing of predators? (Note: Please keep suggestions family friendly and LEGAL - No "Shoot, shovel, shut up" or similar suggestions please)

There are so many different ways to deal with this. I really think whatever works best for you and is legal is great. I am an avid hunter/fisherman, what I mean to say is I have no problem with killing anything. However, I have read scientific studies done on coyotes that have shown coyotes (I'm guessing other predators too) feel pressure to reproduce even faster when their numbers are reduced. So being proactive and shooting coyotes on a regular basis to reduce numbers could have the opposite effect long term. There's a fine line between killing a problem coyote versus killing a coyote who just happened to grab some chickens on his way home after a long night out (which can easily turn into a problem coyote). That being said, we do live in the country and have dealt with repeat problem predators with a dose of lead, then drug to the back 40 for the vultures to handle in no time. I have also used live traps and relocated the more domestic predators when I lived in a more urban area. It's important to follow all the laws in your area specifically when it comes to taking lethal means. I'm all about prevention though, our dogs constantly patrolling and marking do a lot of deterring along with the motion sprinklers and electric fencing.

 

[NathanZee]

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.

Sorry for your loss! Well they areen't really intended for fighting off dogs.