Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

Thoughts??

Years ago when i got into sheep my old timer sheep breeder told me to do this, he did this.. and had large flocks out on pasture so he clearly knew something about dealing with predators and using them to begin with.

I will admit any of my loses were not collared & belled from Coyotes. Do I think this is some 'magic bubble?' nah, i know enough not to stick my eggs all in one basket lol.

I am about to bell and collar my only remaining young ewe tomorrow... All my other ewes have been bell/collared for years...

For what it's worth, i have nice swiss bells so when the sheep all bounce and runabout they sound lovely, plus it was extremely helpful the one day they got lose as we heard bells right beside the house lol.

I'm surprised it would work, I would have thought the coyotes would get used to the noise pretty easily but it's obviously worked for you.

The only sheep I belled in my flock was the ram...then I knew where he was and if the bell started to ring quickly I knew to move fast so he didn’t knock me over! Nothing worse than getting the wind knocked out of you if they nail you!
Luckily, we only had a couple over the years that were nasty enough to get the bell. Otherwise, we used other defences to protect the sheep and I agree that the coyotes probably get used to it.

I put collars on all my goats, mostly so I can catch them and put them through a gate or such. For collars, I go to the Sally Ann or Goodwill and buy people belts, cut them to length and punch appropriate holes. works pretty well.

Old uncle talked about hunting. They used to bell the work horses to graze when not in use. Hunting season he would but a bell around his waist and walk slowly through the bush, letting it clank some. Claimed it did not scare the deer.