Chickens with a hole in the back....HELP

Please help me with my serious predator issue. Bottom line is that we have recently begun to allow our chickens to free range. In that time we have lost several chickens. They are found dead with a hole in their backs. While I wish that were the end of the story, we also have a 17 month old German Shepherd. The chickens are fine to be around her while I am there...even running under and around her. I say "leave it" and the dog is fine. I do see our dog alert while they are around...but not attacking or barking or even chasing them. She is a smart dog...very smart....perhaps too smart. I feel like it could be her. I don't want it to be her though....and maybe I am blind to what is right in front of me. The birds are not torn apart or even eaten. Just a hole in the back...if it were the dog, wouldn't the bird be mauled...or more than one wound. She has four large teeth not one. I am heartbroken as my chickens trust me and I want to trust my dog. The coop is outside of the dog's domain....but the chickens run around and go into her area. As I said, when I am there, no issues. Grrrrr. It seems ironic as we just hatched nine new chicks. I do not know what to do aside from lock them into their run.
Please give me your thoughts and advise.
Thanks
Sarah

Oh gosh I am so so sorry. -- I haven't had any predator issues yet with my girls, but they aren't free ranged. All I know is what I've researched, and I wonder if what you have going on is a hawk attack? A hawk will surely eat more than what you're describing, but only if it has time to. Maybe your dog is scaring the hawk away before he can do more damage? This is my best guess. As far as the pup goes, I have seen dog bites (but not on chickens), and sometimes there is only one tooth hole. :-( German Shepherds do have a very strong prey instinct. He could also be just lashing out and grabbing a bird, not intending to eat it.

I have no doubt that there will be someone on here who has much more experience than I do. I sure hope you find out what's going on. I would definitely lock them up until you figure it out, that's for sure.

Edit: Oh look what I just found. Check here and see if you can find an answer. Doesn't sound like hawk from what this says. http://www.raising-chickens.org/chicken-predators.html

So sorry :'( My dog did the same thing. Not all dogs thoroughly maul, mine grabbed, shook, and left only a few little puncture wounds. Sometimes only one tooth completely penetrates. I lost four birds due to her, and 3 more were badly injured. She escaped the fence, and did all that damage in less than ten minutes. All of the birds that survived the initial attack made it, luckily. We're still thinking about re-homing the dog, but we do love her.

Is she tied up or in a fence? Having her in a fence or kennel would help a lot, since there would be a barrier between her and the birds. If you want don't like the idea of keeping her confined, you can get "Assembly required" kennel kits and link 3 together, that's a LOT of space. You can let her run free when the chickens are free ranging, if you wanted!
GSDs are very smart, but they do really love to chase! Cats, chickens, horses, my neighbors Shetland ponies..... Point is, it's possible to train her not to hurt the chickens but I definitely wouldn't trust her without a barrier since she does so interest. It also could have been something else, but with my experience, only domestic predators kill and leave it, wild ones kill to eat. It's not worth it for something wild to put all that energy into killing something and then not eat it. Do you have neighbors' dogs that run around?

Again, I am sooo sorry this happened!

Wow, that article was great. Thank you for going out of your way to help me. We have two dogs and the old lab was laying next to it ...almost protectively guarding it. Our German Shepherd does love a chase....but she knows that it makes us angry and sad when we see the bird dead. I could see her playing and then the damage is done. She is still a big teenager who might not know her own strength. I would hate to think she is mean. Again, never seeing any issues when we are there...it is hard to lay blame. My neighbor thinks it was a hawk and that the dogs might have chased it away before they could finish and fly away.
Again, thank you. I am soaking in as much as possible right now. The chickens are locked up for the next couple weeks until we get this figured out. They will miss their free ranging days!

By the way, we have had our dogs on the invisible fence. It has always worked well for us and allows the dogs a lot of room. The chickens are outside of the dogs area...but the chickens frequently cross in. Only people in the group understand how hard it is when you love your girls....and your pups. Today we lost Little Red...not that we are supposed to have favorites....but she was mine. I'm going to miss her running up to me tomorrow morning. Blah!

Sstewart said:

Wow, that article was great. Thank you for going out of your way to help me. We have two dogs and the old lab was laying next to it ...almost protectively guarding it. Our German Shepherd does love a chase....but she knows that it makes us angry and sad when we see the bird dead. I could see her playing and then the damage is done. She is still a big teenager who might not know her own strength. I would hate to think she is mean. Again, never seeing any issues when we are there...it is hard to lay blame. My neighbor thinks it was a hawk and that the dogs might have chased it away before they could finish and fly away.
Again, thank you. I am soaking in as much as possible right now. The chickens are locked up for the next couple weeks until we get this figured out. They will miss their free ranging days!

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That's the sad thing about our pets, especially as puppies, they just think they're playing. My dog didn't realize she was killing my birds, nor does any other domestic dog. Though they are pets, they still have predatory instincts. It's why they rip their toys apart. If she did it (which you don't know for sure), it certainly does not mean that she is mean or aggressive, it simply means that she is a dog being a dog. Like you said, she began to show interest and you were able to break her focus by giving the "leave it" command, which shows she can be trained. When you're not there however, it's possible that she showed interest, went to sniff the chicken, the chicken began to run, which triggered her chasing-hunting instincts.
Remember, GSDs are herding and livestock guardian dogs, and those qualities are based on the hunting strategies of wild dogs, used to a farmer's advantage. She is very young and, because she listens to you when you're there, she definitely has potential to be a guardian for your chickens, with time and training

Oh gosh. I am just so sorry. I know how much we chicken mamas & papas love our girls. I am sure you are devastated. (I totally have favorites by the way. Shhh). We have two dogs that we dearly love too. The Labby is sweet and protective of the chickens. They even used to land on her when they were a little smaller, and she would just stand there fighting back her primal urges, waiting for help from the humans. -- Our other dog is another story. He's a Lab mixed with border collie. Sweet and submissive, but the chickens awaken prey instincts we never knew he had. He's afraid of our cat and bunny, but chickens? Fair game. It's the noise they make along with the quick movements. I know I can never trust him with them when we aren't there to snap him out of it. It's so sad.

I wonder if Caesar Milan has any you tube videos on how to train that behavior out of your dog. Might be worth a look.

I sincerely hope you don't lose any more of your precious girls, and again I'm so sorry you're going through this.
Love to you and your flock.

Well, my remaining girls made it through the day....locked in their run. I put down extra hay and gave them lots of treats. Still some complaining, but they were alive. Very hot and humid where we live. My neighbor found bear scat in the woods near where we live. Just a reminder that there are a lot of wild life creatures close by. Thank you all again for your help. Time to rebuild my girls. All nine baby hatchlings are doing well. Two weeks old today. Let's hope we have more boys than girls.
Goodnight.

I had a neighbors dog I thought it was a puppy now i think it was a Terrier of some kind. ripped off ones head peeled ones neck and the other has never been seen also lost one the next day she was attacked but got away.

I have my own dog who likes to play by pulling the stuffing out of his toys. He has plucked 2 chickens that crossed his path but learned not to do that again.

I keep my ladies locked in the run now I had to add shade and some plants extra dirt for bathing and things to roost and play on but better for them to be safe than for me to be sorry if your ladies only roam when you are supervising you will be able to see what is happening. If it is a hawk it will fly over. If it is the dog it is possible that once tasted he may never be rid of the drive.

Good Luck