I know this is not exactly gardening but I think many of you have chickens and might be able to provide advice. This spring I am going to be raising chickens for the first time. I have various concerns. We have foxes in my area. Besides a fence any recomendations on keeping them at bay. I wonder if the neighbors cats will try to eat them. Will my dog attack them, I have a small shelty mix and she is big into herding. Any advice you can provide would be apreciated.

I never had a problem with cats... But dogs, foxes, raccoons and buzzards were another thing. Be sure to put them up at night in something that the foxes or other nightly varments can't get inside.

You don't say whether or not you live in a rural area, however, in my experience, dogs are chickens' worst enemies. Not even foxes will go at them as ferociously as dogs will, and the dog's breed, size and demeanor don't make any difference.
Cats, especially large ones, will try to stalk chickens, and with some luck (on the cats' part), they will succeed at injuring some of them.

My advise to you is to always keep dogs/cats and chickens separated. Do not take any chance, and don't ever allow them to get close. If you plan to let your chickens roam free, do so only if the dog is secured in the house or any other place where he can't get out,
and at night keep the chickens in a little poultry house placed in a tightly fenced area.

I have a rooster and a dozen hens, and I'm smack dab in the middle of predator country.

Bobcats, stray cats, foxes, raccoons, possums, 3 kinds each of hawk and owl large enough to kill a hen and one of each that that could kill a chick up to 8-12 weeks, stray dogs, and coyotes bold enough that one stood yapping in the driveway not 15' from the end of the trailer 2 weeks ago.

Foxes, bobcats, possums, raccoons, owls, and a lot of stray cats are nocturnal hunters. My birds have always slept in a shed at night, so I've never lost a bird to them. After losing eggs to a family of possums 3 years ago, I started making sure the door was latched after dark and haven't had another problem with possums.

I've lost 2 birds to hawks---most of the birds run under an apple tree with very low branches, but a couple didn't make it. Both times the hawks were chased off before they could eat their kills...one came back for a second try at a pullet, but got chased away again. They've never returned. I was told that a cover over a run or visible bird netting suspended horizontally like a protective awning in areas that were open would offer more protection to the birds.

Stray dogs give me no trouble at all--my own 2 dogs raise Cain at trespassing animals who promptly leave. A couple of neighborhood cats were bothering a hen one day, so I charged into the poultry yard snarling like a big dog and chased the cats—in their haste to leave they bounced off the fence a couple times before finding a fencepost to climb. Never returned…one would only pass through the yard a hundred yards from the pen from then on.

So far the coyotes haven’t tried anything….

The worst predator is my own 13yo dog. If he were younger I might try to break him, but this is almost certainly his last year with us, so the dogs and chickens are in different fenced in areas of my yard. Our younger dog is taken in with the chickens regularly to familiarize him with them…tho’ I haven’t risked leaving him there yet.

If your dog is OK with tiny kittens and little babies, I'd say introduce it to the chicks and make sure it understands that you like them. But don't leave them alone together til you're absolutely sure the dog has accepted them as fellow pets.

I realize some of my success is due to luck--being home when some of the problems came up so I could deal with them right then, but I hope this does help some.

Hey Country Kitty. That sounds like some sound advise. That is one reason I'm thinking of getting a dog. Yes I want to rescue a poor doggie from the kennel (I rescue enough cats from friends and family). But I was thinking a good dog who is oriented to me, my kids and animals would serve 2 purposes. It would scare away the $&^%# Deer and be a protector of his/her domain. You must have a nice place. What Western KY town are you close to? I'm in Ashland which is very close to where the Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia Line come together.
Unfortunately for me as a poultry keeper. There are cliffs on the OHio side of the River that are the lairs for Buzzards.

It depends on the breed of your chickens, whether your dog goes after chickens and the amount and type of predators in your area. Some of the older breed of chickens are pretty "street" smart and will instinctively know enough about predators to stay out of their way.... and some of the newer breeds are dumb as a rock! Most of the breeds now bred for commercial chickens are the not so smart ones, they don't need that if they are raised in small cages in a controled enviroment.

Does your dog go after small animals and birds now? If she/he is chasing every critter in sight she should be kept away from the chickens. Introduce your dog to the chickens when small and only let her near the chickens when you are around to make sure she won't harm them, until you are sure they are safe with her. Both of the dogs we had could be left with any of the birds or animals we have here with no problems.

The very worse predator is a mink and if one gets into the chicken coop you won't ever forget the mess you find the next morning as a mink will kill everything it can get near. Best safeguard is to have a secure place for your chickens at night. It has to have either a roof or wire over the top to keep flying predators out. And any fencing should have small holes as a mink can get into some pretty small spaces. If you can keep the mink out, you pretty much have it covered as most of the other predators are bigger.

We have had weasels in with our chickens with no problem to the chickens. The weasels were after the mice and not the chickens.

Hey, Rabbity,

Scaring off critters is one huge benefit of dogs. In fact, it's one of the 2 reasons I walk mine along the property line almost daily. During walks they scent-mark the property line in numerous places. I frequently see dogs trotting along the road, but haven't had one enter the yard except for a couple years ago when the neighbor had pit bulls that came over to start something. A few visits from the cops (and seeing DH draw a bead on an offending dog with a gun) convinced him to take the dogs elsewhere.

The other reason is that it gives me opportunity to do a bit of reinforcement training. If the dogs start to cross the property line I scold them--thus reminding them where it is--and if they get too far ahead or behind I summon them to me. Stay and sit get practiced as well, and if there are cows near the fence I growl "Easy!" to remind them they are not allowed to harass cows. These training sessions/walks mean if they get loose accidentally they still will respond to command rather than go wild and uncontrollable with excitement at being out.

If you're thinkin' poultry just for eggs, I had muscovy ducks for a while--not as many eggs as chickens (tho' my chickens do overwhelm me at times) but the hawks and owls didn't even give the big ducks a second look. They are much larger than chickens or regular ducks and they are nearly silent. And if you like dark meat (ducks have no white meat on them) they are outstanding parents and will raise 2 broods a year.

I'm in Elkton by the way, midway between Hopkinsville and Russelville on 68/80. So small a county that we only have one stoplight--seriously! The junction of 68/80 and 181 is the only place we have a red-yellow-green light--tho' we do have lots of flashing red or yellow caution lights at other intersections. More deer or dogs or cows than people here!

I have a lot of cats, and my chickens often roam free. My cats are more afraid of the chickens than the chickens are of them. Now they get along pretty well. The chickens wll come onto the back porch and eat the cat food! The cats will just sit there and watch them.

I have two dogs that stay outside most of the time, so they keep most stray animals/predators away. I haven't lost a chicken yet in 2 years of keeping them, but I hve no doubt that if my dogs could get out of their pen they'd go after the chickens. They often bark and try to scare off the chickens in addition to the predators.

I live in an rural/urban area. It is a little hard to explain. In front of my house I have a trolly car system, to the side of my house and behind I have a 350 acre park. On the other side of my house I have a office building. I have checked with the codes and raising chickens is ok.

My dog will chase animals until she can get them under control and then keeps them close. My neighbor just got a kitten and she chased it barking at it then she stopped and walked so close to the cat they were rubbing sides. I am going to be very carefull with my dog.

I like the duck idea. I might try that.

I am going to build a compound for the chickens to keep them from the rest of the yard when I am not there. I am planning on a enclosed wood shelter surrounded my a chain fence. Thanks for the tip about putting some type of netting over the area. I did not even think of that.

Thanks for all the tips.

my experience is that the chickens will go into the house toward night and it must be locked up very tight all night. night is the most dangerous time for them.

the problem with duck and geese is that they do not want to go indoors at night. the geese are pretty good on protection but the ducks less so. However, the real problem comes when the ducks and geese sit on eggs on a nest made outdoors. then they will not leave the nest and the night animals catch them easy. they chop their heads off right on the nest. You will wake up in the morning and find the ducks gone from the nest and huge geese still on the nest with the head gone. terrible.

Overall the easiest to keep alive were the chickens because they went indoors every night. unless you forget to lock the door good. In which case the chickens will be sitting ducks all night.

I think my major problem is with racoons. I would catch them all the time next to the chicken pen. huge racoons with baby racoons too. I did get one fox. He kept getting away. but after a long series of problems with the fox, I finally got him.

The fox are extremely smart and most difficult to catch. racoons are comparatively easy to catch. I made my own trap with a real big wood box. put on a sliding door in front and use a string around the back and a nail into a hole in the door just enough to hold up the door and the door slides down to close up the box.

All the chickens ducks and geese were over 20 years ago. I gave up on them from losing too many.

Go to www.backyardchickens.com you'll find all you want to learn about chickens.

Hotsalsa, the birds on their nest without the head is from an owl. A raccoon or fox will take the whole bird. Owls will take just the head/neck, sometimes they will take the whole bird. Owls are protected nation wide so the only way to get past that is to have your birds under wire. I once looked outside late night/early morning to see an owl sitting on my clothes line pole looking back at me!

While birds of prey do behead chickens and eat the head (they actually need it for for roughage in their digestive tract), raccoons also behead birds on the nest. They actually do it for the grain in the birds crops and for the eggs under the bird.

Note about birds roosting outside at night and owls. Years ago my DH and I went to his Mom's house after dark. A guinea hen was perched atop the barn...with a barn owl right beside it! DH informed me that the owl--unable to get off the ground with a bird that large-- would gradually press against the hen, which would move over to give the other bird more room. The hen would eventually be forced off the roof, but before it hit the ground the owl would grab it and glide to a safe distance to eat its kill in the cover of tall weeds. Never actually seen this personally, but I really can't think of a good reason for an owl to give up hunting for the night just to buddy up to a species of prey...

Just thought it might be interesting to y'all.

I am planning on putting a cover net or wire over the fenced area where the chickens will reside. I had never considered ducks or guineas until this forum but I like the idea. If you keep ducks or guineas how are they with taking their eggs (been bit buy a goose and it was very unpleasant), and do you need to get their wings clipped? Forgive me if these questions seem stupid, I am trying to get as much info as possible.

Should I be concerned about heating my coupe in the winter?

Ummmm....I'm starting the feel like I'm acting like a know-it-all here. Don't mean to...just sharing what I know on the subject.

Mom-In-Law had guineas--they were terribly noisy and were a bit wild compared to her other poultry--liable to hide their eggs rather than lay in nests. Hard to catch too as they preferred to roost in trees rather than in the shed. Others here may have had better luck with them, so I'm not saying write them off--just relating what I saw of them.

I had both muscovy ducks and Khaki Campbell ducks (a breed that keeps up with egg-laying chicken breeds in production) for a couple years. Both could fly so I did clip their wings. The khakis had no interest in mothering--laid the eggs and left them. No problem gathering them tho' they occasionally left them in strange places (like the kiddie pool I had for them to swim in). The muscovies were much larger but really not very aggressive. Not as many eggs, but excellent parents.

My ducks needed no heat here in Kentucky--I had a heat lamp for the muscovies at first because the breed is originally from Brazil. Then it snowed. As the snow melted a few days later I caught the drake checking out a slush puddle. There was actually snow still at the edges, and he waded in, tail wagging (indicates anticipation of a good thing)--splashed and played vigorously in the icy water, obviously delighted!

(The kiddie pool for the ducks was one of those 10" deep plastic el cheapos. They used it daily for bathing.)

For my chickens I do put in a 150 watt bulb, 2 for a bitter night. One hard frost caught me by surprise and I hadn't turned them on--my rooster lost a couple points on his comb to frostbite.