http://www.gocomics.com/theothercoast/2016/08/07
This fellow wishes bald eagles weren’t meant to swoop either:
Dozens of the raptors crash White Oak Farms each winter to dine on its fields of pasture-raised poultry. With little recourse, the farmers are racing to adapt.
—An Organic Chicken Farm in Georgia Has Become an Endless Buffet for Bald Eagles
Eagles are classified as an endangered species — humans aren’t allowed to harm them. So the eagles there are thriving on the easy pickings. The farmer in the article says he thinks the ideal solution would be if a lot of other farmers raised their chickens out in open like he does. Then the eagles wouldn’t focus on his farm.
I’m not convinced. My guess is there would just be a lot more bald eagles in the area. Commenters on the article had some good suggestions. One was to raise less stupid chickens. The ones he has now are very docile — they’re not perturbed by the eagles swooping down and picking some of them off. They continue eating, while more alert breeds would run for cover.
The idea I like best is to get some guard dogs. They could be raised to recognize the chickens as their flock, and they would scare the eagles off. I think Montana would have been good at that:
She was one alert pup.
some dogs never seem to look up. and some do.
I had one once that would watch airplanes and bark at them!
montana was clever and observant in so many ways!
I wonder if the farmer could have a flock of guinea hens in with his chickens.
they make so much noise they might scare the eagles away maybe.
or then the eagles might not even notice them. they’re bigger than chickens so the might prove to be more off putting for the eagles to hunt the chickens among them.
The guinea hens sound like a good thing to try.
I suppose it would be hard for a dog to distinguish between a bird and an airplane. That raven in Montana’s video was flying high enough to look small.
oh. loved seeing the video of Montana!
They need a Border Collie.
Once, when I let the dogs out into the patio area some silly bird was out there and as it tried to fly away Nora leapt into the air and snatched it.
I was screaming “Drop it! Drop it!” and the neighbor was outside and hurried to the fence and yelled “What does she have?!” and I said “a bird… and it’s dead now”.
She dropped it and looked so confused. I think she thought she did a good thing.
Yep, they need a Border collie.
Poor Nora. It’s upsetting when we think we’re doing good and get yelled at. I agree with you that the farmer needs border collies. No eagles would mess with them.
Chutki too is very possessive about her territory and resents birds in our garden.
She would be a good guard dog.