Nite Guard predator protection

Anybody tried Nite Guard ( http://www.niteguard.com/pages/Home/ )products? They say it works against night critters and it's environmentally friendly.

I know a commercial poultry man who tried them.  At first, he 'went cheap' and got only one.  Didn't work, so he ordered more, and mounted them as instructed on their website.  Now, he says that they do work.

If you have a secure hen house that the hens get locked into every night, you shouldn't need the cluster-mount (designed for owls/hawks).  But at night, coons, possums, weasels, fox, skunks, etc can be persistent enough to find flaws in your design.  This night light may give you some added protection.

Yes, they can help, but do the math.  It takes a minimum of 4 of them (one on each side of the 'yard', and double that if you are dealing with short AND tall predators) at $20 each.  How much does it cost you to raise a hen, and how many can you afford to lose?

Better to use the automatic chicken door.

I posted a new thread before finding this post.

There is nothing special about the Nite Guard-- just a normal, blinking, red LED.  You can throw something together for about $4, see my other post.  I can make a schematic if there's interest.

This is very interesting. Raccoons or possums have been terrorizing my yard lately. First they killed 2 of my chickens and now they're digging up my raised beds and veggie patch. They haven't really gotten to any veggies yet but I don't want to wait around to let them start.

I recently purchased some solar powered string solar lights to brightened up the inside of my chicken coop at night - the chickens seem to like it, they run right into the coop as soon as they turn on at dusk. I was thinking that maybe purchasing some of the solar string lights that blink could work to scare some raccoons off. The string lights cost the same amount or cheaper as the nightguard - but you get a lot more lights. my problem is that I have lots of planter boxes, and benches and I'm worried that could block a couple of nightgaurd lights making it difficult to place them. I'm thinking an entire string of lights is harder to block... in theory - any blinking light should do the trick, right? I'll look into this - it seems like a better option for me. I do 2 strings around 2 planter boxes (3x8) and leave them on to blink around all night. most of the lights are supposed to stay on for around 8 hrs.. My boyfriend thinks maybe they'll be ineffective because one light looks like a predetors eyes and the string lights are obviously not eyes... but I don't think raccoons have that kind of critical thinking capability... I think that a ton of blinking lights will freak them out.

Any feedback?

It's been my experience that any light or noise that is a constant in an area, that caries no physical repercussions ie.. electrical shock. Soon become just part of the landscape and are soon ignored by the night critters. Blinking lights may be effective, I haven't tried them yet but since my predator problems tend toward coyote and cats (big) I'm leaning towards motion sensor lights and really powerful electric fences.
Good luck

P.S. Usually I find it's the skunks who like to dig up my gardens for grubs

David

A couple I house/animal sit for has something like this for their dogs when they are out at night. Seems like the same idea and much cheaper.

Last year I raised 100 roosters from chicks for meat; two batches of 50 a month apart. I started them out in a chicken tractor PolyFace style but the first batch of 50 wasnt ready to slaughter by the time the second bath needed to come out of the smaller tractor so I let them all out and free range because I just did not have the time to build a secont drag tractor. The three problems I had with this was they shat everywhere, ate the catfood, and I lost about 20 birds to predators, most likely foxes or coyotes, but I have had skunks and coons on the property as well. At thje time I was traveling a lot for work so I could not do a stake out with a spotlight so what I did was took a small radio and tuned it to talk radio (not very loud) and I did not lose one more chicken the rest of the summer. I think the predators particularly hate conservitive talk radio.

Walt Holton wrote: I think the predators particularly hate conservative talk radio.

LOL.

Walt Holton wrote: I think the predators particularly hate conservative talk radio.

It's because nocturnal predators are waaayyy smarter than suburban commuters. I play NPR, Two fox and a coyote have already given a Ted talk.

I lost a nice Katahdin ram to coyotes or wolves (gut ate left ram alive) in June. I installed a number of niteguard lights around the property and I am currently raising a couple of Kangal crosses as guard dogs. My recommendation is give the coyotes/ wolves no break. My neighbor ranchers and I gave the coyotes a break in my area as they mouse but as soon as they have pups they get nasty. So far with niteguard no losses, but I now have no mercy for predators. Talk radio, a waste of time socialist or conservative.

I prefer Predator Guard deterrent lights. The batteries can be changed after a couple of years.
The unit also has a larger solar panel and an on-off switch.
see:
Predator Guard deterrent lights

The "nite-guards" absolutely work for night predator protection, we've been using them for several years now with 0 nighttime losses. I (or someone) needs to come up with a way to reflect sunlight through a flash system that will work for Hawks.