Yes I have 2 dogs...One is aging and hasn't been on guard for predators since he lost his 'backup' last year...Tell'em will kill anything another dog finds first, but he's pretty useless at sensing anything amiss in the first place. The other is a puppy in training and is taking too many cues from the older dog, and doesn't leave the front 5 acres unless I make her.Farrier1987 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2017 2:52 pmDo you have a dog? I like that they will usually raise the alarm. And if you choose to trap, a conibear beaver size trap baited with 1/4 of a weiner would do it nicely/ Not too much or too big bait, so they have to get right to it and pull/bite. and the conibear is a killer, not a holder. Set it ground level in one of those grass tunnels you talked about. Use heavy wire or dog chain and a stake to secure it so if by chance it doesn't kill, the trap is still there. I bought a conibear for about $4o on line. Search trapper supply. Lots here in Canada, Manitoba and Edmonton as well as others. Try not to catch the neighbor's dog, that can get fussy.
I don't have wandering neighbourhood dogs at all, well except for that time a beagle broke loose from the guy up the road, looking for some lovin', but that's another story for another day.
Our cat DOES wander back there, and I'd be concerned about him getting caught in a trap...but as cold weather closes in, he will stay closer and closer to home as well.
Still no new missing birds, which is great, but the losses are still burning my biscuits. 19 ducks, 1 mule duck, 3 adult muscovies,, 3 turkeys and 5 chickens so far this year from the coyotes and then this hybrid devil, is the ones I'm sure of because I found what was left.
I'm not big on the kill trap idea, because I'd end up compulsively checking it multiple times a day to make sure nothing was suffering in it, and that would make the coyote dog, who is already steadfastly avoiding being seen/caught (I just got REALLY lucky that day) reluctant to go anywhere near, no matter how yummy the hot dog lol
But kill trapping is definitely in my mind as a plan B, and I'll be digging around online for a good deal as soon as I get 20 minutes at the computer. My phone doesn't like many picture-heavy websites.
I've had a couple people ask me privately why I don't just lock up my birds, and the answer is that my (older) birds, with only a few exceptions, are used to free ranging and get enormously stressed when they can't. If they've been scared by a predator in a field, egg production drops in half for a few days. If I lock them down, egg production drops to almost zero for a month or more. My bantam breeding pen has been locked up all year, because if theres a predator, little guys get picked off first, and I haven't had crap for egg production from them this year, and they have lights. They're not happy, they were used to free ranging too, but until I can build a boatload of tractors, they're stuck in a barn.
My older(standard) birds are older because they're healthy and predator smart, and if I take risk out of the equation, I will get stupid, spoiled, unnaturally kept chickens. I've had hens 12, 13, 16 years old, still laying (even if only a few eggs in the summer), free ranging, and those are the birds I want passing on genes. That's my personal philosophy, and no disrespect at all to those who keep their chickens cooped, I applaud you for keeping your birds safe. You e getting more eggs than I am, no doubt lol