>> Sometimes all it takes is to have better livestock security than your neighbor.

If a bear is chasing you, you don't actually have to run away faster than the bear.
You just have to run faster than the slowest person in your party.

;-)

I bought my coop prebuilt, rather on a whim, and the corner posts extend down about 12" which we then set on leveling posts. This effectively gave our chickens a covered area about 18"-24" tall (depending on the slope) which they use a lot. They hate the rain (which we get a lot of) and will huddle under the house rather than going into the more confining coop; it serves as a really good hiding place when an eagle or hawk flies over; and they use it on hot days for sun/heat protection. I also often find them taking their dust baths under or near the covered area, perhaps because the soil is cooler.

Great idea Deb. Plus with all sides open you would get great air circulation during hot weather.

Wish I could claim credit for it, but it just kind of happened out that way. My initial plan was for my husband to build me a coop and I had designed one flush to the ground. I've been pleasantly surprised at how much the hens use their 'basement' covered area. I've also thought about dividing up my yard into a couple rotating yards and will have to give that overhead shelter some thought - either allow access from both yards to the basement or provide them with another big bird/rain shelter in the alternate yard. Likely not much will happen until this spring. They are still working on the initial decimation of all grass/weeds. I find they will not eat the stinging nettles unless I first chop them down, and quite a bit of the tougher bunch grasses are still standing. I'm also feeding a lot from the garden - tomatoes, plums, cukes, grape leaves, grass clippings, etc. plus kitchen scraps. If they don't eat it, they certainly scatter it from here to high heaven and then poo all over it, so all is well.

Chickens composting.

I really like Daves rotating yards.

The first coop I built was also off the ground, but my hens decided the basement was a great place to lay their eggs, so I fenced it off. There is an old picnic table out in their pasture as an emergency shelter if they are not near the bushy areas when a predator flies over.

Love the barn and now the chicken coop threads. We built a similar barn for many of the same reasons. Wish ours looked as great as yours, maybe someday. Have you ever considered livestock guardian dogs for your place? We could not do without them here, in fact we currently have five, two for the dairy goats, and three for the sheep, ducks and geese. Three is because we have an older one who will be retiring soon.
Our dogs keep our farm raccoon, fox, coyote, and bobcat free. They keep the predatory birds away as well. We have only had one coyote and one bobcat actually killed by our dogs but the rest stay away and on occasion we find a coon carcass.
Our birds free range over most of the farm and include six fly in Mallards. We have Barred owls, Great Horned owls, and CaraCaras as well as several species of hawks but have no losses to any birds. Crows, however, were stealing duck eggs until we put bird netting over the top of the night pen.
We do have a couple beef cows that get along with the LGDs. Read that means they ignore each other.

Joy

Warm welcome from the Pacific Northwest. How does one train a dog to be a guardian? I have a boxer mix who I am trying to teach to 'herd' the stray chicken who flies the coop, but she is not catching on too quickly. She does do a good job of alerting when any stray animal shows up - deer, coyote. But, I keep her in at night which is likely when she would be most effective as most of my predators are nocturnal.

We have an assortment of hobo dogs that have become our farm dogs. They are not trained to guard (or do much else) but they are a deterrent to most unwanted wild life or human invasion. They even managed to kill a feral hog once which kept the pigs away for quite a while. They are not allowed in our pig or chicken pastures as they would consider those animals fair game too.

Welcome to ATP, Joy! What kind of dogs do you have?

My son had an Anatolian/Pyrenees mix that he got as a puppy but we are having problems when he is with the goats. He attacks them (bites their necks). No one is with him enough, I think, to let him know what he's supposed to/not supposed to do. Hence, he is penned in a large meadow area next to the goats. He does still keep animals away even though he is not loose. We don't have quite as much problem with hawks as we did before. We have lost guineas to hawks previously. I don't think they could let him loose, he would run off? So he doesn't seem to be much help.

I sure could use some help in my garden keep the bunnies and mice away.

Hi Joy, from your avatar it looks like you may have Border Collies. They are very intelligent and are excellent herding dogs. My dog is Border Collie/Kelpie. He is 14 now and doesn't do much herding anymore but in his day he use to herd the ducks, chickens and even the grand-kids

Welcome to ATP

Duh! I didn't even notice the avatar! Of course, Border Collies!

I have a couple different breeds of personal dogs. Besides being a farmer, I am also a full time dog trainer with the emphasis on stock and herding. My working dogs fall into two catagories, herding and protection. I have Border Collies for herding my livestock and my Pyr X Anatolian X Kommodor for protection.
I explain to folks all the time that if you want the job done right you choose the right tool for the job. With dogs there are two criteria, genetics and environment. You need the right genetics, not just the breed, and the dog needs to be raised properly. I always recommend that you get a dog from someone who uses them for what you want, and then get proper advice on how to raise and keep them.
In our part of the world, often as not the LGDs are a mix of guardian breeds that work for a particular place. Three of my guys are fourth generation LGD, the farm I got them from has been using them for a long time. I would never trust a dog to live with my livestock that wasn't bred to live with livestock. Remember that dogs are predators and livestock are ultimately prey. The pups have to be raised with the livestock to consider them their pack. There is more to it but you can get the idea.
I couldn't take care of the farm without my BCs either, but would never trust them to be with the stock unattended. I'm sorry to go on, but I spend a lot of time helping people fix problems that are easily avoided.

Joy

Feel free to go on as long as you like, Joy, I find this very informative. And, Porkpal, I love the term 'hobo dog' - brought a smile to my face. I always call cats that just show up my 'walk-ons' - perhaps now they will be the hobos. Or the gypsies, sometimes they hang for awhile then go elsewhere.

That's so interesting! My daughter has BC that she used to trial. They are so smart!

Thor was raised with the goats and I believe his parents were also, but I could be wrong on that. I think he just needs more training. He's a sweet dog. He's not quite 2 yrs. old yet so I don't know if that could be part of it?

Nice photos!

abhege, we tell folks that an LGD isn't considered mature till they are two. But if this dog wasn't from protection type dogs, he might never "work" at that job. Also, if he wasn't raised with the goats, then he sees them as prey. Grabbing the back of the neck is a classic predator move. In a successful attack, the animal is bitten through the spinal column thus rendering it immobile and easy food. Most domestic dogs are not very good predators, but you don't want your goats as guinea pigs. I have seen many animals injured by the farm dogs.
We can't have chickens, for example, for whatever reason my LGDs think they don't belong and should die. They have no problem with ducks, geese, a peacock, occasional turkey or my guineas. But my original two LGDs came to me as adults and they hated chickens, now even though they are years gone, the tradition carries on. Sigh.
When I first got my Nubians, my existing dogs had a major problem with the idea of goats. I stepped in and got real ugly several times, but ultimately we decided it was easier to get new pups and raise them with the goats. I now have a year old and an eighteen month old pair with the goats. They will guard anything on the place but they are partial to their goats. We do set them up with the birds to get the point across that they are "MINE" and anyone who thinks different will depart from this earth. We have had a casualty or two, but they have since regretted it.
I would seek some advice from someone familiar with LGDs that can come out and offer on site advice. Or just keep the dog away from stock. It is interesting to me that you think the dog will run off. One of the most important traits of an LGD is the fact that they stay on the homestead.

Here is our "Sullygator"

There is an Emu farm down the road from us and they use to have Great Pyrenese dogs in the field with the Emus to keep the Bob cats and Cougars away. At least once a week we would have to escort one of the dogs back home after his visit with us They were always off wandering around. We have also had an Emu or two visit and they are not as easy to escort home or anywhere else. They can sure smash a plant or two with their big feet.

I wouldn't want to stay with emus either, nasty tempered birds.

They are not that bright either