Dan McDonough
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Mar 2006
Location: Superstition Mtns., AZ
Posts: 1166 |
Ducks...
I lived on a hunt club that shot about 25,000 birds a year. I lived there for seven years and managed the birds there when they needed someone to fill in. The club had both pheasants and ducks. I've delt withevery critter in WI. that can bother birds. It's not as straight forward as it might seem.
First, wire a couple of dead birds to the back of a live trap and set it very light. Block all of the enterence holes you can find with 110 body grip traps (use 180's and 220's and you could get yourself in trouble catching someone's pet...trust me!).
Secondly, dig out the exterior perimeter about 12" down and 24" out from the fence and install some wire fencing like you would install flashing on a roof.
Thirdly...if you are going to have these birds for a long time, get a terrier and raise it in with the birds from a very young age and train it to work on mice, rats, wessels, possum, mink and then coon and fox. You'll have to keep up with certain vaccinations on this dog more diligently than normal because of the dogs living in and around bird poop all of the time. I have a JRT that is trained to work large bird pens for varmints and also to rat around the feeders and roosts. It's a very usefull dog to have and really a lot of fun to work them up. You might have to get a few of them until you find one that has the rigth habbits to successfully live with the birds. Often times pups will pick the wrong place to bed and eventually get sick or they will not have enough attitude and get picked on by the birds until they just die. The right one will do all of the right things and have a happy life. There is always work to do and if you ever forget to feed them they just grab a little corn for a snack until you get there. It's hard to keep the birds from getting into the dogs feed but they usually learn to keep the birds off of their feed. Another type of dog that works well is a whipet. They are as fast as lightening but they do not handle the cold as well. The terriers are better at getting after stuff when it gets inside of the various structures that can be found in bird pens.
If you need to ask any more questions feel free to give me a call at home.
Dan McDonough
715-854-7297
__________________
Dan McDonough
507-261-9121 (C)
jagdlep@yahoo.com
Superstition Mtns., AZ
American Leopard Hounds
& Lurchers
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