We live in black and grizzly bear, cougar, bobcat, coyote, wolf, and smaller chicken predator territory. We never step outside unarmed. We placed a Night Guard light on both sides and both ends of our chickens' fenced in area. There are 2 fences protecting our chickens. In addition, the coop and their attached run (fenced with hardware cloth creates a 3rd inner barrier) sit upon a 4" thick concrete pad. The first barrier is a six ft tall 14 strand electric fence that puts out 14.8 thousand volts and 6 joules. Not just stored, but these are actual delivery measurements. For clarity, it takes about 0.7 to 1 joule to deter a grizzly bear. The first strand of electric is less than an inch above the dirt. The second barrier is just a foot inside the electric fence. This 2nd barrier is livestock wire. It stands 18 foot tall with 2" holes. The first 2' of the livestock wire is also covered in one half inch hardware cloth. Also, between the inside of the livestock fence and coop, (about 3') the ground is covered in half inch hardware cloth. This second barrier is where we placed The Night Guard lights. The electric fence has been breached twice. Once by a cougar and once by a wolf. Both electric and livestock fences are over bare ground. The fencelines are kept free of debris. The cougar made a hasty retreat leaving only front paw prints. The wolf, however, managed to get both front paws and one hind paw between the electric and livestock fences. His retreat was not very graceful as evidenced by the 3" deep trenches it left behind while backing out of the electric fence. The Night Guard lights are set for cougar and wolf/coyote eye levels. The solar part of the lights do power the lights from just after dusk to sunrise. Even during two snowy days, the Night Guard solar packs absorbed enough light to provide power through both nights. The lights have been operating since installation July 2020. It is now October 2020 which is also the month of both breaches. Draw your own conclusions. Including the concrete pad, coop, attached run, the livestock wire, posts, electric wire, gate handles, insulators, fence charger, Night Guard lights, grounding rod, hardware cloth, livestock wire, 4 cameras with audio, motion detector lights, and miscellaneous supplies, we spent almost $3k in protecting our 11 chickens. We're serious farmers with serious intent to keep our livestock safe. It is our duty to our livestock that use their energy toward sustaining us by providing food and nourishment to our family. Our next purchase is a livestock guardian dog who will patrol during the day but sleep with the chickens by night. So, you can add another $2k to our security forces. When our Nigerian Dwarf goats arrive, our dog will also be tasked with their security. We will also provide Night Guard lights on their fencing. We don't truly know if they do or don't keep predators away. One can never over protect. E I E I O !!!
