There are a pack of stray dogs and stray cats in the new neighborhood, and in time I'm soon we will have a visit from a fox or coyote, so we want to be prepared. We keep improving our fencing, but it still doesn't seem to be good enough.
HOW do you keep predators from DIGGING under your fence? And how to you predator proof without investing several hundred dollars in your birds? It's getting so expensive that I've considered buying eggs again after 4 years of raising hens. This morning, I saw evidence of digging under the fence. Something is after my girls again and I'm out of ideas to protect them.
Is there a temporary fix? The animal will be back tonight, I'm sure of it.
Replies
Yes, of course!!
Meet Auryn, our new sweet luck dragon.
Congratulations, she's a beautiful girl! Sounds like you've got a great new family member :)
What a pretty girl!
This is a photo of one of my Anatolian Shepherds. I've had 6 of these dogs over the years.
I had the same problems when I moved my ostrich ranch to remote Buckeye (yes - coyotes eat ostich!). Tried everything from electric wire to traps and sitting up all nite with a rifle - NOTHING worked. Someone told me about livestock guardian dogs (NOT to be confused with herding dogs). Best investment I ever made!!! No poisons, traps, or super fencing needed! Very natural (permaculture even?) Good luck!
He's very handsome. And good that you mentioned that herding dogs aren't what you're looking for as LGDs!
For those that aren't familiar: herding dogs are bred with a "limited" prey drive...just enough to give chase, but not enough to follow through with a kill. Dogs bred for livestock guardian purposes are bred with NO prey drive. They simply bond with their charges, and act as protectors. I've heard of sometimes herding dogs acting as protectors...but this isn't reliable.
It's also important to find LGDs that have come from working stock...not from a breeder that is breeding pets! Some of the breeds' protective instincts are getting watered down because they are becoming popular as pets...and traits such as obedience are becoming selected for rather than guarding abilities.
We have buried both chicken wire and cement, added a roof (for protection from the second most dominant predator - stray cats), replaced steel wire with chain link fence around the coop and run. We haven't yet added the electric to the fencing for the goats, but it's in the mix. We've moved the livestock around a bit so there is a bit more of a buddy system and everyone is caged at sundown. We've started following the dogs out and blocking old trusty access tunnels the fences. The stray dogs have started crying at our front fence, so we know something must be working! We've got war paint on and our steel toed sandals... we are not messing around. lol. We are also looking into adopting a Great Pyrenees from the AZ Great Pyrenees Rescue. I LOVE that idea. We've got our hopes up on a younger girl who was penned with chickens and cows. There's no telling if this will be a perfect fit for us or not, but our fence is under massive repair and pool fencing is staged for install. It's been a busy week and we hope that we are near a near perfect solution. Thank you all for your input. I'm not sure there's any of the advice we didn't try. Seems to be a bit of a full faceted approach. And we'll spray the predator pee around the perimeter if we need to reinforce the back 40 and along the front yard. We love the idea of the Livestock guardian. I'm interested to learn, since she is a rescue, if she's more guardian or more pet. We hope a little of both!
Please remember that LGD's are usually very barky, to the point often of the whole neighborhood taking steps to rid themselves of your dogs. If they are from working lines, a neighborhood might be difficult for them. I did not recall what type of property you said you were on, but just keep in mind you could be jumping out of the frying pan into a different fire. Often LGD's given to rescues failed as LGD's( too rough with their charges or just not wanting to work) but might make better pets, they will still have the basic characteristics of the breed. Have you loaded up that pellet gun yet?
Lol. Pellet gun remains to be seen. We keep talking about it and we've gotten much better at throwing sticks, shoes, etc. As for the LGD... we have trepidation and are trying to consider carefully. Our neighborhood is full of barking dogs through the night, hence the desire to have one to bark back and at least keep them off of our property. We do love the IDEA and we're preparing for the two week trial adoption period, to give it our best shot. But we are not so intent on forcing the fit that we'll keep her no matter what. We have 3 other dogs she'll also need to get along with that are a first priority. We're kenneled up, stocked up, fenced up and fed up with the trespassing dogs. Thank you for the warning. The woman at the rescue spent an hour after our meet and greet offering some strong words of advice about the breed with a firm "how to even have a chance that this will work" approach. She knows what these breeds do and she wants the dog in the right home the first time. We have plenty of work to do and I've said nearly the same words you did, "I hope we're not replacing problems with different problems." I like the frying pan analogy better. :) We are buttoning up the place in prep for the dog, though, so there is something good coming out of the idea, regardless. I also wondered if predator pee would act as a good perimeter deterrent for the trespassing dogs, just to keep them off the property in the first place, much less out of the coop. Also, anyone know if that helps with cats? Cats are an equal problem.
Predator urine may help with the kitty problem. They are mostly looking for: dinner, a one-night stand :-), or shelter/safety (from the dogs).
-
1
-
2
-
3
-
4
of 4 Next