Nite guard

[Kelly]

Well, we received our 2010 edition of our Farm Show magazine, and my husband is considering buying one of those "Nite guard" machines ($29.95 per unit). It is a solar-powered, flashing red light that is suppose to repel night predators (mimics the "eye" of another animal). (use for our chickens)

Has anyone heard of this machine? Success? Failure? I told him to hold off ordering until I heard from my HT folks as I value your opinions!

[TheMartianChick]

I've heard of them and have even found discussions about them on the Backyardchickens website. The majority of the people who bought them, felt that they were ineffective...Especially considering the price. You could probably make something similar with a couple of mini Christmas lights mounted on something. It would be a lot cheaper!

[Kelly]

Thanks "MartianChick" for the idea of checking out the website. Mostly mixed reviews, but the ones that said they worked are the ones that actually purchased them so I guess we might give it a shot. But I do like the idea of the mini Christmas light too. Maybe we'll try both.

[orangehen]

I've had one now for about 3 years. I'm on my second one (they last about 2 years). I LOVE it, but I'm only using it in a specialized location: right in front of the "kitty door". I don't have a dog or a gun, and was horribly bothered by racoons coming right in the kitty door into my house. This stopped it entirely. When I come home at night from the south, I can see it clearly flashing on the deck. I personally wouldn't be without it.

As for the people who found it didn't work, it must be set up exactly as the instructions say, i.e., if predators can come from all different directions, you'd probably be better off with 4 of them, one on each side.

[gwithrow]

we have four of them mounted on plastic step in posts..we use them in the summer when we do pastured poultry...and we move them as we move the pens...we killed a fox in the front yard, but no sign of predators in the field with the birds...I point them in different directions and moving them around helps also...interestingly, if the dogs look out at night and see one blinking out in the field, they bark and go on alert...so they must simulate some kind of animal, in the seasons when we are not using them I cover the solar panel with black tape and store them away...they are supposed to last longer that way....

[Darren]

The key is moving them every few nights. Otherwise deer and predators realize the LEDs aren't something watching them.

[Delinda]

I have 4 of them and I Love them. I have been using them for about 6 months now. I don't move mine at all, they completly surround my coops and in my opinion they work great. I have around 500 birds and every night I was loosing 3 or 4 to raccoons and possums, I lost 37 young quineas in one night that were in a tractor, they were just killed not eaten. I used live traps and caught many of the predators but was still loosing birds. Since I have put up the nite guards I have not lost one single bird! You do need to follow the instructions and place them the way they recommend, actually as large of an area as I have I really need to install 4 more according to the instructions and I will probably buy them, but they are working very well the way I have spaced them. I was conserned that they would not hold a charge long in the winter with the overcast and rainy winter days, but they come on every night regardless. I would recommend them.