Quite
some time ago in a chat session of the Field Trial Pointer Home Page
the subject of avian predators was discussed. Some of my South
Carolina friends convinced me that they were really a threat for young
pups in a rural environment. When mine, at three weeks, are moved
from the whelping shed to a fairly decent size puppy pen they are
vulnerable. For a couple of years I protected them by covering
the pen with nylon deer netting from the gardening section of Lowes.
This was a real hassle because I had to remove it after a period of
time and then put it back up over the pen. The size of the pen made
that difficult. That process was necessitated because accumulation of
debris from trees would weight it down.
The Nite Guard device, which I described in my latest installment in
the series regarding using pen-raised birds, appeared to me to have
potential
for nighttime protection for pups from owls and other predators.
I purchased and installed four of them. Since they did not work
during most of the daylight hours I came up with a similar device for
daytime operation. It is much larger than the Nite Guard
and since it has four sides with two lights (eyes) on each side only
one device is needed. Unlike the Nite Guard (only the flashing
light visible) the entire large device is visible and was designed to
present a somewhat threatening appearance. Because of the that
mama dogs may need to become accustomed to it before it is used. I have
had some females to ignore it and others to become very upset with
it. Nite Guard is battery operated and my daytime device runs on
AC current. Albeit in the picture below it is not apparent
the pair of red eyes constantly flash as long as it is cut
on. In the pic below my daylight device is on the left, and
the Nite Guards on the right. Both are mounted on an A-frame (pic),
under which is the puppy box. Puppy box has flat roof which provides at
place for mama to get away fro pus when they start to get on here
nerves. Only one side of the daytime
device is seen in the pic.
There are four Nite Guards mounted on the vertical 2 X 4 on the right;
each is facing a different direction and only the the face of one is
facing the camera.
postscript:
When not in use I use the daytime device to repel deer from my collards
patch. It works.
