Whats a good small livestock guardian?

[tastyacres]

my ask what kind of predators you are worried about?

 

[Finge]

I have multiple areas for my chickens to hide in, and a chain link fence covered in chicken wire from the inside. as for secure coop, I don't really have one, as I have a problem child buckling dwarf goat that breaks everything and tears everything down. i'll try to get a metal shed this October, though wild life tends to stay away from my yard except some pesky sparrows. And do coopers hawks populate southern missouri? i'll to do some research on hawks, though I don't see hawks near my property unless the alfalfa was recently cut and they and the buzzards are searching for unlucky rodents.

 

[Finge]

And for predators, there are coyotes that hunt in the forests close to my property and have went into our yard once or twice before I got my chickens. There are also the neighbors pitbulls running loose that i'm worried about, as any animal can dig under my chainlink fence if they were desperate. those are my main worries for my flock.

 

[twilightgecko]

my neighbours that are only here a few months of the year, have an australian shepherd and she is wonderful running loose.. she only tries to herd my chickens.. but she chases foxes and critters..

 

[tastyacres]

if the pits are a issue (meaning if they ever try to do anything) you can turn them in... you might try talking to the pits owners.

I had coyotes, hawks, dogs, etc and a well fenced area and good coop did just fine.

 

[Finge]

Ah, but these dogs are aggressive, the farmer(my grandfather) whose land surrounds my entire house except for the front where the highway is, has had to chase the buggers off his property because they stood there growling at him and my mother in front of the combine. I'm not going to call the police about it, since the moment they see what the dogs look like, they'll be quickly gotten rid of.

 

[Nksg75]

my neighbours that are only here a few months of the year, have an australian shepherd and she is wonderful running loose.. she only tries to herd my chickens.. but she chases foxes and critters..

I too have aussies, and they are wonderful with my chickens. I did raise the chicks in the house and the dogs got to watch them grow. I always have the dogs loose when I freerange the chickens.

 

[barred2rock]

Ah, but these dogs are aggressive, the farmer(my grandfather) whose land surrounds my entire house except for the front where the highway is, has had to chase the buggers off his property because they stood there growling at him and my mother in front of the combine. I'm not going to call the police about it, since the moment they see what the dogs look like, they'll be quickly gotten rid of.

If the dogs are a threat to people, let alone livestock, they need to be "gotten rid of". Being detrimental to humans defeats the whole point of dogs.

 

[FlyWheel]

I'm not sure if a goose would protect another species, like chickens (maybe if they grew up together from chicks? They are imprint-able). Not meaning to be facetious, but have you thought of a rooster? Assuming you can have one in your area, that is. It won't able to stand up to a large predator, of course. But he will warn the hens of danger.

 

[Finge]

I'm not sure if a goose would protect another species, like chickens (maybe if they grew up together from chicks? They are imprint-able). Not meaning to be facetious, but have you thought of a rooster? Assuming you can have one in your area, that is. It won't able to stand up to a large predator, of course. But he will warn the hens of danger.

I have two, one's about 6 or 8 months old, the other a full adult. completely useless to me. The adult RIR dominant male wouldn't bat an eye when our dogs got close to the pen, nor when the same dog that killed 4 pullets was in the same pen as him. Syde, my less than a yearold polish roo does a screech type thing when he sees something, but it's a one shriek, then he goes back to dodging my RIR roo, my injured hen, Pompo was the one that alerted me of a feral tom cat prowling through the field towards the chicken pen, boys didn't really care after one shriek from syde.

If the dogs are a threat to people, let alone livestock, they need to be "gotten rid of". Being detrimental to humans defeats the whole point of dogs.

unless they are guard dogs that got loose, as they have small children, that run around rampant. Though if the dogs trespass on my property again the owners will be informed that the dogs need to be chained. I believe my grandfather is also going to tell them to chain the dog up or it's getting shot.