what can i do?

[yetihunter]

We live in the middle of nowhere, by the mountains and prairie. We get so many predators visiting daily its ridiculous. We have a family of multiplying skunks that have picked up residence that i see every time i go into our yard and a fox that comes and sniffs around every night and makes a ruckus. We get a problem bear annually that we always have to shoot, and there's one leaving scat in our yard now. Eagles and hawks are a daily sight, in fact the place we live was named after them, and I hear owls every night. I have found weasel skulls in the yard and my cat has caught weasels in the past. I have seen 3 mountain lions. There is a giant raccoon living in the area. The neighborhood dogs (bird dogs) always run loose and frequently visit our yard despite our complaints.

My birds have been kept in little $400 pens so far, with me staying up late listening for predators and chasing them off several times every night. I live with my parents and my only source of income right now is raising birds. I want to expand my flock but have nowhere to put them. I have calculated how much it would cost for building a decent fence in just the garden area (which is a small space) and it would cost over $1000. I don't have that much.

My parents have kept chickens in the past, and there were never any chickens left to butcher or shelter by the end of summer. They were all picked off by predators. This is why they gave up raising chickens.

I have talked to several people who say the only practical solution for me would be a livestock guard dog. After searching far and wide I found some local lgd pups for sale and talked them down to half the price. I was set to pick it up tomorrow, and my dad said that I couldn't get it because he hates dogs. He said he would help me set up a fence for cheap, and I can only imagine what that would be like. My dad, god bless him, he doesn't know anything about raising chickens properly and he doesn't learn from experience or listen to anyone else. He thinks he can use chicken wire to keep predators out. I have researched my options for months and talked to several experts and compared prices and calculated the costs and he thinks he can just "get something set up" to keep predators out of our 5 acres without

 

[GitaBooks]

Mountains and prairies are awesome! However, I'm not sure I would want bears hanging out around my place! That is incredible all the wildlife around you. The worst predators we have around here are raccoons.

Putting up fencing is expansive, we have over an acre fenced in for our dogs and we also have our chickens in a fence. We use the chicken fence during the winter to keep the dogs off the pond, since the chickens don't forage out in the snow.

Electric fence is relatively cheap and special chicken fencing will keep out even bears (so I've heard) and keep the chickens in. However, hawks can still be a problem, so provide places to hide from them.

Guard dogs are good, we have six dogs, but your chickens would probably still be taken. My only suggestions, besides setting up the large fenced in area, is to switch over to some other type of poultry. Quail lay well and produce good meat in little space and for cheap. Turkey are large enough to fly up into trees and can avoid a lot of the smaller predators such as hawks, raccoons, ect.



Best of luck!

 

[thomasboyle]

Welcome to BYC. Many of us live right next door to predators. I see bears, moose, bobcats, coyotes, fox, coywolves, coons, oppossums, skunks on my land on a regular basis. The biggest thing I did to protect my chickens was to put up an electric net fence. Before the fence, I lost 1-2 birds a month. Since putting up the fence three years ago, I have not lost a single bird to predators. I use Premier 1 fencing and a 1 joule charger with a good grounding rod.

I also built a secure coop. It is a 12x16 shed on a concrete pad, and attached is a 15x15 covered run. The run has two layers of wire fencing on the outside. The outer layer is 2"x4" field fencing attached to the outside of the 4x4 posts. The inner layer is 1/2" hardware wire attached to the inside of the posts. The field fence keeps out the big predators and the hardware wire keeps out the smaller predators.

Hawks, eagles and owls are the toughest to protect against. I have two large apple and pear trees in my chicken yard which provide lots of shade and a place to hide in case a predator flies by, and the branches are close enough together that a large bird can't land in them. Chickens are really woodland birds, so they can run and hide when they need to. Keeping them in an open field puts them at a big disadvantage against predators.

A LGD would be a great addition, but you have to be able to train it properly. Just getting one does not turn him into a guardian. Young dogs, LGD's included can and will harm chickens. But a properly trained LGD is a great asset. You can also use other guardian animals - donkeys and llamas come to mind. Maybe one of these will be more to your dad's liking. Don't forget a good rooster. They protect the flock as well.

I wish you the best luck. Maybe start small, so you don't have to fence in acres at a time. My chickens have a 1/2 acres yard to enjoy. As I have time and money, I can add another section of electric net fence to expand their world.

 

[GitaBooks]

Welcome to BYC. Many of us live right next door to predators. I see bears, moose, bobcats, coyotes, fox, coywolves, coons, oppossums, skunks on my land on a regular basis. The biggest thing I did to protect my chickens was to put up an electric net fence. Before the fence, I lost 1-2 birds a month. Since putting up the fence three years ago, I have not lost a single bird to predators. I use Premier 1 fencing and a 1 joule charger with a good grounding rod.

I also built a secure coop. It is a 12x16 shed on a concrete pad, and attached is a 15x15 covered run. The run has two layers of wire fencing on the outside. The outer layer is 2"x4" field fencing attached to the outside of the 4x4 posts. The inner layer is 1/2" hardware wire attached to the inside of the posts. The field fence keeps out the big predators and the hardware wire keeps out the smaller predators.

Hawks, eagles and owls are the toughest to protect against. I have two large apple and pear trees in my chicken yard which provide lots of shade and a place to hide in case a predator flies by, and the branches are close enough together that a large bird can't land in them. Chickens are really woodland birds, so they can run and hide when they need to. Keeping them in an open field puts them at a big disadvantage against predators.

A LGD would be a great addition, but you have to be able to train it properly. Just getting one does not turn him into a guardian. Young dogs, LGD's included can and will harm chickens. But a properly trained LGD is a great asset. You can also use other guardian animals - donkeys and llamas come to mind. Maybe one of these will be more to your dad's liking. Don't forget a good rooster. They protect the flock as well.

I wish you the best luck. Maybe start small, so you don't have to fence in acres at a time. My chickens have a 1/2 acres yard to enjoy. As I have time and money, I can add another section of electric net fence to expand their world.

I certainly agree with this! Thanks for the advise!

 

[yetihunter]

Thank you both for the suggestions. I'll ask my dad about electric fencing, I have a feeling he will not want to use electricity because it costs money. Would it be safe to have around with children? Could it be dangerous?

 

[GitaBooks]

If something gets tangled in the wire it can be dangerous, but otherwise I don't think it is too dangerous for the chickens. You can use the solar variety to save on electricity money.

 

[yetihunter]

Ok. I'll look into it