I just read this in Living the country life magazine today,tell me what you think of it?To prevent canine attacks ,I painted a 1-inch striipe of syrup of ipecac on the backs and tails of my chickens to repel the predators,I haven`t lost a bird in over a year I`m wondering,.What happens if the chickens peck it off?Do they throw up or get sick?Any thoughts or has anyone tried this?
preventing canine attacks
I can tell you this, it was used to induce vomiting at one time but no long is recommended. It must be pretty wicked stuff, but I'm not sure how predators would view this as they generally have much stronger stomachs than humans.
Are the predators supposed to recognize the ipecac for what it is and avoid the chickens wearing it, or do they only realize their mistake after they have eaten a few with bad results?
I'm not sure making a dog puke would be much deterent... dogs puke very easily, a survival mechanism, and if you've ever lived with dogs, you know they'll often just gobble it right back up. They don't seem to be anywhere near as psychologically traumatized by it as we humans are. LOL
If you haven't lost any chickens to dogs in a year, it's more likely that there just wasn't a sufficiently interested dog around, and had nothing to do with the ipecac.
In my case, the chickens weren't even actually mauled that bad from a dog.. it was more the trauma I'm sure! I've lost several to a neighbor's dog.. I doubt that ipecac would help. With dogs, sometimes it's almost a sport type killing.. they don't eat them. I sure wouldn't want to do what it takes to find out if it works!
Good point, ZZ... it's the hunt/chase frenzy. Very primal trigger thing.
I had a Sheltie eat most of a full grown turkey (unbeknownst to me), his stomach was as tight as a drum, and he spent most of the night puking (whereupon I found out about the recently deceased turkey...eeew!)... do you think he gave up poultry killing?
Nooooo..... given the opportunity, I have no doubt he would have tried eating a whole turkey again.