Will putting dog poop near the run help deter predators?

[lceh]

We're getting some ducks next week, and while I have a covered pen for them and will lock them up in a secure house at night, I'm still worried about predators (daytime ones mostly). Our neighbor lost some free range chickens to foxes during the day recently.

Hopefully in the next couple of months we will FINALLY get our invisible fence installed and our dog will have the run of the property, which will hopefully mean he'll mark the boundaries and warn off some predators. For now, though, he's in a fenced back yard and can't get to the coop to leave his scent.

SO -- I was wondering if I should pooper-scoop some of his more recent offerings and place them strategically around the coop (in a couple of out-of-the-way spots or maybe even under the coop where no one can step in it

). I might also put him on a leash and walk him over there a few times to see if he will mark around it as well. Is this a dumb idea?

 

[LindsayB]

My 2 dogs poo all over the backyard and we throw it over the fence into the forest behind our house...We have coons and opossums visit us EVERY night. They have torn our bird feeders to pieces and a few months ago killed one of our young pullets (we now have an automatic door). So...I don't really believe the whole dog poo thing.

 

[lceh]

Shoot, I was afraid of that. Sounded too easy

. I can't afford to built a Ft. Knox pen right now, although the shed they'll be locked into at night is tight as a drum.

 

[caspernc]

We use dog poo in a hole that that dog is digging. Electric fence works very well. Even the cheap battery operated type. Kept racoons and fox and herron out of my pond, and they do LOVE fish. You do have to replace batties every month. Solar fences are under $100.00. That will work for many years.

 

[swimmer]

Don't think the dog poo will work either. We toss it in the field behind our house and coons, skunks, you name it march right over the top of it to visit our yard.

 

[woodmort]

Might make it easy to track any two-legged ones.

 

[Mattemma]

I doubt it will do much. I was tossing cat droppings/litter along the fence line to deter the rabbits,but they still came through.Having the dogs outside 24/7 for a few days helped for a while,but all the barking made me lock them inside.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Iceh, unless your dog can have run of place when predators are visiting, the marking will not serve as a deterrent. How is your dog with ducks at his feet? Will dog leave dducks alone?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Possums and skunks have visited my dogs in their 30' x 80 pen they spend the night in. I do not think spreading poop or dog hair is worth the time it would take you to do it.

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
I have used fox urine to bait a trap for rabbits , they are after the salt. The hunt club I belong to has a problem with possums and coon coming up to our dog pens because of the dog food the dog poo does not seem to bother them in the least. we built a steel locker for the dog food to be put in.