Letter Re: Ammunition Storage and Do-It-Yourself Desiccants

Hi Jim.  
Dry wall is made of Gypsum, which is composed of Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found naturally and also made Synthetically by Flue Gas Desulfurization at some coal-fired electric power plants. Synthetic Gypsum can be used interchangeably with Natural Gypsum in some applications. There was a problem with drywall from China which contains too much Sulfur probably from the flue gas desulfurization process. When Water is absorbed by the bad drywall, Hydrogen Sulfide is formed which induces corrosion in some metals. I would not trust using drywall as a desiccant for ammo storage. Just think about opening your ammo boxes, finding the contents corroded! That would be "Penny wise and Pound foolish." – Chuck M. from the Northeast Kingdom

Economics and Investing:

The truth behind the “budget slashing” rhetoric: Debt Jumped $54.1 Billion in 8 Days Preceding Obama-Boehner Deal to Cut $38.5 Billion for Rest of Year

If you thought that the systematic looting of the Social Security trust fund was bad, then read this sad portent of future thievery: Treasury may borrow federal retirement funds in debt emergency. (“No cause for alarm. Nothing to see here, move along…”)

Over at The Daily Bell: The Story of Entitlement Addiction

Items from The Economatrix:

Shopper Spending Surprisingly Strong in March (Monetization as stimulus?)

Ron Paul:  Gold, Commodity Prices “Big Event” Signaling Economic Collapse

Who Would Sell Gold or Silver Now?

Banks in Illinois, Nevada Fail; Makes 28 Closed in 2011

Odds ‘n Sods:

Christopher Y. sent us a news item about England’s NHS to file under Dulce et decorum est: Socialized Medicine Director Dies Waiting for Operation

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Pat Buchanan asks: Is tribalism the future?

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I just heard that Emergency Essentials has some Iosat Potassium Iodide Tablets in transit that are scheduled to arrive early next week. They wrote: “After we have filled all backorders, a limited quantity of additional tablets will be available. Order today and you’ll be put into the queue for this shipment. We’ll stop taking orders after this shipment is sold out. We do have more on order, but we don’t have a time table for when they will arrive. Be sure to order some today.” 

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Scott P. wrote to mention: California: Anti-Gun Bills Scheduled to be Heard in the State Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committees on April 12. Scott’s comment: “From what I can tell, it bans the possession of all ammunition capable of penetrating body armor. That would mean all rifle ammo larger than .22 rimfire! I hate living in California.”

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A new, sad, chapter in the history of space flight: “Houston Discovery, For the Final Time, Wheels Stop”.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 34 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 34 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Self-Sufficiency or Communal Living?, by Lisa T.

Is it truly possible for someone to be self-sufficient? I like to garden, grow medicinal herbs and believe it’s good to learn whatever we can about the old-fashioned ways of doing things. Some of my friends like to make their own soap, keep bees, garden, can vegetables, make wine, make their own bread, hunt, butcher their own deer, and raise chickens, and I would love to raise goats, sheep and cows if we had enough land.

It appears to be part of a nationwide trend toward natural living. The reasons for the trend, at least in the beginning, appear to be a mixture of:

– An increased awareness of how unhealthy processed food is;
– The aging of the population leading people to try eating healthier;
– People becoming more involved in their own health care (a trend which began in the 1990s);
– Concern about peak oil and environmental sustainability;
– An awareness of living in the end times and getting ready in case they need to survive without buying or selling (Revelation 13).

The movement has gained momentum in the past few years, mostly due to the economy. More women home schooling their kids, necessitating some home budget cutting measures has also added to the movement. Recently, another reason to be self-sustaining in regard to electricity has been presenting itself: rolling blackouts and brownouts in Texas and elsewhere due to environmental regulations and new power plants not being built. If this becomes more widespread, and it probably will, the less we have to rely on the electrical grid the better off we will be.

Some survival sites encourage people to learn how to do everything – from blacksmithing, marksmanship and candle making to midwifery, weaving and setting up your own solar electric system. It would be great if we could learn all the old skills and some new ones like energy production. The thing is, it really isn’t possible to be totally and completely self-sufficient.

It’s worth trying to learn all we can and to have access to instructions in print, in case the need for something arises. But there isn’t enough time in each person’s day to be able to learn more than a few of these things, at best, at an expert level. I wonder just how many people believe they’re really being self-sufficient while still relying on consumer goods. We may be fooling ourselves since almost everyone still has to rely on regular grocery store trips, maybe ordering ingredients, things that are not produced locally, anything made of or packaged in plastic which is made of oil, shipping to stores or delivery which requires oil, anything requiring electricity or municipal water, or a vehicle that we can’t repair ourselves, especially if it has any computer parts. Even if we have everything we may need, it will eventually wear out and need to be replaced.

Since no one can be truly self-sufficient, I believe we will see a trend toward more communal living. Throughout history, families and tribes tended to live together or near each other and to divide labor. Most people living far from their families and not knowing their neighbors is mostly a recent Western phenomenon. Older people took care of and taught younger children while the more able-bodied adults did the manual labor. There have always been economic systems and trade, and the more intricate the system and the more specialized the labor, the better quality of life was in general.

Capitalism remains the best system, of course, because the other extreme, communism, doesn’t provide enough incentive for production and innovation. I especially dislike the fact that in communism, the hardest workers get the same credit and compensation as the slackers do. We may end up with something in-between at some point in the future, at least temporarily. The idea isn’t an extremely pleasant one but it may be necessary at least for awhile if one of the following or something similar happens to occur:

– The economy completely collapses
– We have war in our own country – civil war or invasion
– If peak oil really is true. We will never suddenly, completely run out of oil. Its easy availability will decline (very slowly at first) and over time become prohibitively expensive. There’s “plenty” of oil left, but it will require more energy to extract it from shale and to find it in harder-to-get-to locations.

I believe it would be a good idea to start thinking about ways to cooperate within a family or community. Read about intentional communities and how they organize, their criteria for membership, and their division of labor. Maybe adapt some of their ideas to use in a family household. If you happen to have the opportunity to make some type of alternative living arrangement, you could benefit from taking it and doing it early. It’s always better to choose something than have something forced upon you. Maybe you could find out what skills or products others could offer for barter in your area, and figure out what you could offer that isn’t already being done. If everyone you know has chickens, you could raise sheep. Find a need and fill it, something that most people can’t do. For example, don’t rely on growing tomatoes or sewing for barter (unless you have an unusual level of expertise, like making clothes without a pattern). Learn a more unique and valuable skill.

There’s a fascinating guest article on a blog owned by Dmitry Orlov, author of Reinventing Collapse. It’s about a 1,050 acre commune in Tennessee [called “The Farm”] that was started in 1971 by 320 people on a 50-bus caravan from San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. While I don’t advocate their lifestyle and don’t think we all need to rush out and join a commune of course, it’s informative and interesting. They weren’t totally self-sufficient either but they had a pretty good system set up.

At its peak, there were over 1,000 people living there plus numerous guests always coming and going, which dwindled to 200 people years later, and lately their population is increasing again. When they got there, they lived in tents and buses while they were building structures for sleeping, bathing, sanitation, and a kitchen. Later they had buildings for canning and freezing, a motor pool, school, clinic, and used an old log cabin already on the property for a business center. They got water from a springhouse, stored in a reclaimed water tower. They had a party line telephone network set up that went to the buildings and even the tents, and was dialed by using Morse code. There was even a line dedicated to emergencies.

Some of the skills they used were welding, auto mechanics, construction, ham radio, printing, teaching, food preservation, and a lot of technical creativity. They had positions for fire marshal, night sentries, gate and patrol security, and medical personnel. They printed a weekly newspaper called “Amazing Tales of Real Life” and printed do-it-yourself books.

Communes are a type of “Intentional Community.” An organization called Fellowship for Intentional Community has a list of over 500 intentional communities of different kinds, and the common ingredient is shared values. Most members are between the ages of 30-60.  Some are just where people live near each other to form a nice family neighborhood. Some are ecology-oriented, many are artists’ enclaves, and some share the same religion. Most of the religious ones tend to be of the New Age variety, but there are some that claim to be Christian. They tend to be egalitarian and democratic. Most are rural or suburban, and some are urban. Very few are true communes, where they share all their possessions.

A few intentional community dwellers deliberately live in crime-ridden areas to be lights in the darkness. More of them, however, form communities to get away from crime. Dmitry Orlov (mentioned above) lived in Russia for 12 years and had an opportunity to frequently visit Russia after their economic collapse. He says jobs providing security detail proliferated and he expects the same thing to happen in the U.S. Many experts advise setting up a serious version of a neighborhood watch if crime gets too rampant in the future.

Communal living, BTW, has gotten a bad name from communism and the recreational drugs and promiscuity of some of the hippies, and rightly so. Remember though, that the early Christians “had all things in common” – they sold their possessions and pooled the money. Some Jews in Israel have taken it a step further, forming kibbutzim (Hebrew for “communal settlements”). They were founded around 1940 mostly by Eastern European immigrants, so they probably were influenced by Soviet Communism. That’s just the lifestyle they were accustomed to, so that should come as no surprise. It’s worth noting that although the atheistic form of Communism has failed, the worshipers of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have made it work for much longer – assuming they kept their Jewish roots and didn’t adhere to the atheist aspect of Soviet Communism.

There are around 700 kibbutzim in Israel now, with 40 to 1,000+ members each. Most members live in their own home and have communal playgrounds, dining halls, auditoriums, libraries, swimming pools, tennis courts, medical clinics, laundry, and grocery stores. It’s largely due to the kibbutzim that the “deserts are blooming” with agriculture in formerly barren land. They grow a large percentage of the produce that Israel exports around the world. They have businesses manufacturing a wide variety of things, specializing in metal work, plastic and processed food. They also cater to tourism, with guest houses, swimming pools, horseback riding, tennis courts, museums, exotic animal farms and water parks. They don’t have enough workers for all the labor available, so they host volunteers to live and work there for awhile, and hire locals.

Whether you get inspired to join or start an intentional community, use some of their ideas within your own neighborhood or household, or set up a bartering situation, these people are on the vanguard of what appears to be a positive trend and we can learn from their mistakes and successes.

Two Letters Re: Living Proof: It All Comes Down to Diet and Exercise

Sir,
I have to agree with this article.  I first heard about the South Beach diet from a coworker who lost over 100 pound and kept it off for many years this way.  I’ve successfully used it myself, me, who thought I could never stick to a diet.  It was developed by a cardiologist with the goal being to provide his patients with a diet that would greatly lower their risk of stroke and heart attack and improve their cardiac and blood profiles.  My only caveat is I don’t agree with his recommended use of Splenda and NutraSweet.  Use all natural Stevia instead. – Kathryn N.

JWR Replies: I concur! As I’ve mentioned before in the blog, I recommend minimizing the intake of aspartame-based artificial sweeteners (like Benevia, Canderal, Equal, NutraSweet, Equal, and Spoonful.) They have some profound negative health effects that are just starting to be revealed. I predict that in the long run, aspartame will have a reputation as bad as Red Dye #2.

Mr. Rawles-
I felt I must respond to the article that was presented on the South Beach Diet as a tool to get into shape before TSHTF. It is an excellent way to eat for those who suffer from hypothyroidism and in fact is one that is highly recommended by many endocrinologists for those with Hashimoto’s Disease (of which I deal with and have dealt with for years). The body turns carbs into sugar which causes an inflammatory reaction within the body and for those with hypothyroidism this means muscle aches, pains and low energy. When I stay away from processed foods, fruit and what I will term ‘bad’ carbs, I feel really good even when my TSH levels are way out of whack. Eat one doughnut, one piece of white bread or drink one soda, I can feel. I believe that if your readers who suffer from hypothyroidism just tried the diet with no other intentions except to feel better that they would find that many of the symptoms of hypothyroidism would either be lessened or go away. Protein is the hypo’s suffers best friend and carbs are not!   Blessings – Rev. L.B.

Economics and Investing:

Avoiding Federal Government Shutdown: The agreement included some $38.5 billion dollars of extra spending cuts. We are swimming in red ink and all they can agree to is a miniscule cut? Do they think that people will be fooled by the “big number” of $38.5 billion? They will never balance the budget! The congresscritters have doomed us to a Dollar Disaster of epic proportions.

Frequent content contributor C.D.V. sent us this: U.S. Dollar Crisis Looms, Spike in Interest Rates Following End of QE2

Also from C.D.V.: Toxic Dollar: Why Nobody Seems to Want US Currency (Finally, the mainstream media is catching on!)

Items from The Economatrix:

Natural Gas Drops; Oil Jumps Above $110

Euro Sinks on Fears of Bailout

Silver Is Getting Too Popular, Right?

When The Saudi Monarchy Fails

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader R.W.M. sent an interesting report on violent crime ratings per state: “U.S. Peace Index”.   

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Stephen M. spotted this: Oklahoma sees driest four months since Dust Bowl

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My wife Avalanche Lily suggested this article about home dairy goats in the cities and suburbs: A Pet That Makes Milk. (Well, “pet” is probably not the best term, since bucklings are traditionally sold for eventual butcher, and retired does usually go in the chest freezer.)

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Reader J.H. suggested Conservapedia, “…as Yin for Wikipedia’s Yang”.He also mentioned that it is a good resource for homeschoolers. JWR Adds: At least Conservapedia admits it has a bias. But the cabals of partisan agitprop rule Wikipedia with an iron fist. Wikipedia is noticeably biased toward socialism and against Christianity. The cabals systematically engage in POV pushing, Wikilawyering, and manufacturing artificial “neutral” viewpoints. They are relentless, yet they maintain their Teflon sheen. Even the very existence of cabals is denied. (You have to look hard to find any evidence in Wikipedia, itself.)

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Denny V. wrote to note: “Recently, the LDS [Bishop’s Warehouse] cannery here in North Carolina has changed their policies and non-LDS members can no longer use their facilities unless accompanied by a LDS member. I am told it is now a nationwide policy change. You may wish to check on it. I had an appointment for April 6th and it was canceled by the cannery, since I am not a LDS member.”  

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.

Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.

Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.

Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou [art] the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they [have been] ever of old. – Psalm 25:2-6 (KJV)

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 34 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , and E.) An M17 medical kit from JRH Enterprises (a $179.95 value).

Second Prize: A.) A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol. It is a $439 value courtesy of Next Level Training. B.) A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $300, C.) A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials, and D.) two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Third Prize: A.) A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21. (This filter system is a $275 value.) , and B.) Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy. This is a $185 retail value.

Round 34 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Living Proof: It All Comes Down to Diet and Exercise, by Midwest Hiker

I would guess that most SurvivalBlog readers would agree that the mind, including state of mind and skill set, is one’s most important asset during TEOTWAWKI. Additionally, I would argue that being physically fit runs a very close second place. I have always been a prepper to a certain degree; even before I had ever heard the term. However in the back of my mind I knew that my body would not make it far even if my family’s survival depended upon it. In addition to being pre-diabetic, I was taking medication for high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I subtly tried to acquire a stock of my medications from my doctor, but was unable to secure more than a few months’ supply. I also spoke to my doctor about my weight and he mentioned that I should take a look at the South Beach Diet. I bought the book and the ideas sounded reasonable. However, I failed to act upon the information until in January 2010, when after several years of working in front of a computer monitor, I hit 300 pounds. I decided that day that I would not gain another pound and I would do everything in my power to regain my fitness.

In my youth, I had been a muscular 200 pounds at 5 foot 11 inches, and I thought that I would never see that level of fitness again especially now that I am in my forties. After all, I had eliminated soda, and started eating more salads and less fatty foods all to no avail. A few years back I had lost quite a bit of weight while on the Atkins diet, but the way I had implemented it was very unhealthy. In fact I developed gout from the all of the red meat I was eating. Once I went back to my old habits, the gout never returned, but I regained all of the weight I had lost and more. Exercise had proven to be even more of a challenge because I was perpetually tired. It’s amazing how just a day at the office can exhaust you when you are carrying an extra hundred plus pounds.

In my mind diets always represented a short-term state. The problem is that as soon as you stop dieting, even if you had reached your goal, you begin to regain the weight because you go back to your old habits. In order to be successful at permanently losing weight, I knew I would have to make lifestyle changes. I studied the Paleo diet and the South Beach diet. I even revisited the Atkins diet, which had even been revised since the time I had tried it to be more healthy. I found a growing body of evidence that avoiding fast carbohydrates and embracing good fats in moderation would cause you to lose weight, balance blood cholesterol as well as blood sugar. In fact, the low-fat, grain based diet that has been advanced by the FDA, which I had believed in as gospel, could actually have been working against me.

The main concept of this movement (at least to the extent of my understanding) is that your body will burn carbohydrates first until they are gone and then it will burn the fats. The more carbs you have in your diet, the less likely it is that you will burn significant amounts of fat. When your body absorbs carbs it produces insulin to break down the sugars, and if you intake a significant amount of carbs that can be quickly absorbed by your body your blood will get a huge spike in insulin to help burn those carbs. Once the carbs have been processed you still have the insulin in our blood, which will cause you to crave even more carbs. The resulting situation can be self-perpetuating and quite addictive. Some sources of quick carbohydrates that I expected to see were sugared soda and sweets. Other sources were more of a surprise such as white flour, white rice, potatoes and fruit juice. As it turns out, while fruit juice is much healthier, it puts just as much sugar into your system as soda and just as quickly. Once you have stopped yourself from riding this carb pendulum, your body will start to process fats, which will naturally lower cholesterol and help you to lose weight.

I started by eliminating almost all carbs from my diet for the first two weeks to break myself from the carb addiction. Meals consisted lean meats, cheese, and lots of green vegetables. I avoided anything made from grains, beans, fruits, and milk. During this time, I was not concerned that I probably ate even more calories than before I started. I felt that I was missing something from my diet and I was trying to make up for it. By the end of those first two week, I had lost 10 to 15 pounds without counting a calorie or working out, and I was starting to get used to the staples of my new way of eating.

After those first weeks, I started to add a serving of slow carbs each day such as beans, a slice of 100% whole wheat bread, a bowl of oatmeal, brown rice. Be careful with bread and especially more processed foods. Many “wheat” breads still have enriched white flour in them, and most processed foods have an incredible amount of added sugars and other hidden carbs. If you are not eating a whole food, it is imperative that you read every label. You will be absolutely shocked at what you find. I also tried to avoid any carbs first thing in the morning, which helps to lower the possibility of a spike in blood sugar.

By the first couple of months, I had lost about 40 pounds, and began eating smaller portions. I was still not counting calories or letting myself feel starved. If I had cheated, then I just restarted the next day. But, I didn’t cheat that much because I was seeing some serious results, and I wanted to see more. Additionally, I was feeling much better, had more energy, and started to walk every day. A visit to my doctor around this time revealed that my blood pressure had dropped and my cholesterol was spot on for the first time since it had been measured in spite of my long history of taken satins to lower it. As a result the doctor took me off of half of my medications for blood pressure, and reduced the amount of statins that I was taking.

About this time, my wife, who was seeing similar results, and I decided to plan a backpacking trip for midsummer. We knew we would have to work hard to prepare, but all of the hiking and workouts we did in preparation started to seem much more like fun than work. Just before leaving for our trip, I visited the doctor again. By this time I had lost about 70 pounds. My blood pressure was perfect as was my cholesterol. I was allowed to discontinue both medications altogether as long as I promised to self-monitor my blood pressure and go in for regular check-ups to monitor the cholesterol. To this day both my blood pressure and cholesterol are right where they should be without the help of medications.

As it turns out, our backpacking trip went without a hitch, with one exception: we had significantly underestimated how fit we had become, and could have traveled quite a bit more distance than we planned.

Today I have lost a total of 95 pounds, and I have added weight training in the last few months. I find that I actually enjoy exercise now that I have energy and my body has become used to it. The remaining weight has been a bit more difficult to lose, but I am building lean muscle. I am within five pounds of my original goal, and I can comfortably hike all day with a 40 pound pack. Well, okay, I am mostly comfortable. I still get sore feet and am glad to sit down at the end of the trail, but the hike is enjoyable and not a strain.

Now that I am close to maintenance weight and have started weight training I have been changing my diet to reflect that fact. I now eat 2 or 3 servings of slow carbs a day including whole fruits. I also try to limit the meat portion of each meal to the size of a pack of cards while each plate is ¾ vegetables. In fact I now eat much of the things that we have in our food storage, such as dried vegetables, canned or in season, dried or canned beans, whole wheat, whole oats, and dried, frozen or canned meats. The closest we come to eating processed foods is bread, which we still eat in moderation.

I intended this article to show others what is possible. It was not possible in an article of this length to fully cover all of the topics you will need to be successful. If these ideas sound interesting, please spend some time studying how to implement a healthy low-carb diet, and discuss your findings with your doctor. I have found The South Beach Diet to be a wonderful resource. The author, cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston, does not try to sell you foods, but provides the science behind the diet as well as real world examples and recipes. I do believe that understanding the science is quite important because that’s what enabled me to work the concepts in to my daily life and around the types of foods we eat and have in our larder (we never stored processed foods). Believe me if I can do it, so can you!

Letter Re: Predator-Proofing Your Property

JWR,  
I particularly enjoyed John L.’s article about predator-proofing property. My family has lived on a 40-acre former farm since 1990, and for quite some time we kept pheasants, chickens, and quail. At times we had nearly 100 birds. To a lesser degree, we did garden as well, though the local whitetail deer tended to make a mess of it. The game birds helped keep the local wild population up and the chickens provided us kids with valuable opportunities to learn how to keep animals for food.  

While not living in mountain country, we had our share of predation as well. The chicken wire we had counted on to protect my 25 chicks brand-new from the Murray McMurray hatchery proved no match for a weasel, which slipped in through the openings and killed and hauled off half of them before their first night at the farm was over. We caught him the next night in a rat trap baited with one that he left stuck in the chicken wire. We also had various other predators come by with less success- including opossums, raccoons, and skunks. The foxes and coyotes on our place never bothered with the pens thanks to a vocal beagle and a couple Labrador retrievers nearby. None of the smaller predators ever made it into our well-built and covered aviaries, but they did set the birds into a panic on a regular basis. A couple of these birds flew up into the wire so hard as to kill themselves. After the weasel attack we fitted our brooding pens with tight-weave metal mesh instead of chicken wire, and the birds were kept in these pens until large enough to fly up and away from a weasel or other smaller predator.  

As John L. mentioned, by far the most-successful predator on our farm was Dad’s beloved beagle. We went to visit our grandparents one weekend and found him escaped from his kennel upon our return. He had killed all our pheasants and most of our chickens, chewing through the chicken wire to get into the aviaries. The event so traumatized one old hen that we saw her hoofing it across a neighbor’s field, away from the slaughter, never to be seen again. When we tell stories about that beagle, we always remember the great chicken escape along with it.  

We learned from our experience and constructed a kennel with a food of buried fence and big, un-digable rocks along the perimeter and a roof that he couldn’t chew or claw through. Our beagle spent the rest of his days looking forward to the winter and chasing rabbits and never again killed another farm bird. Dad still counts him as one of the two best hunting dogs he ever had.  

The point to me writing is to say that dogs are, and always will be, predators. These instincts are exactly what makes them valuable to us humans- and building a proper kennel and training them well can save you, your neighbors, and your dogs considerable heartache over the years. Building your animal enclosures to keep the neighbor’s dog away can also save some grief for your animals and neighbors, too.  

SurvivalBlog is one of my daily “must-reads”- thanks for all you do. – G.R. in Texas