All My Chicks are Missing!!!! - Page 2

Well, dogs will show guilt-we have a springer spaniel and  we can tell if he has done something he shouldn't as soon as we see him. Heck, that is how we know to look for something wrong!! LOL And yes, he does stash things. He has never harmed a chicken but will steal an egg out of the nesting boxes if I don't close the door to the coop. I came home one  day to a dead BR and when I ask him about it he just looked at me with no guilt. I knew he didn't do it because he had only been out a little bit and this thing was stiff. I had another killed by a hawk and he found it and brought it to me and he had just been let out--again this one was stiff. Again he showed no guilt. BUT,let me walk into the coop with hiim following me and ask where the eggs are and he will put his head down and slink out.  It probably was your dog but something else could have gotten them and he found one but doesn't sound like it. I hate it for you-it is an awful thing when you own pet is the culprit.

sorry about your loss.  Sounds like you need an electric fence

i know you love your Dog and your chicken but chicken are the vunrible speicies in this equasion

and unless your sure the Dog did it which im not too sure on [i reckon a coon and dog found them dead and brought them back]

well anyway if the dog did do it then you really need to look at the chickens safety before getting more

either the dog is trained, has to go or dont keep chicken

me personally i dont have other pets except bunnies and my neighour has a cat and it likes to sit ontop of the coop

so i cannot trust the cat regardless of its behavious and hence wont let the chicken out without my pressence

I don't think that you need to get rid of your dog to keep more chickens.  I have 4 dogs that live alongside my chickens.  They don't comingle.  I have had them together now for over a year with no casualties.

If the dog is killing the chickens, then I do think she needs to choose between the dog or the chickens. Or invest in some training aids like a shock collar, electric fence, etc. etc. Co-mingling, so far, seems to have had catastrophic results.

Yes, comingling has...but, she could still chose to kennel her dog or build a run for her chickens...she wouldn't have to get rid of her dog or not get anymore chickens.  She could safely separate them and enjoy both.  It is done all the time with great success.

I have a 1 year old Weimaraner that would LOVE to get ahold of my chickens!  I built a 8X10 grazing tractor to graze my chickens all day.  She could get in it if she really wanted to but for daytime use it is pretty safe. I return them to their secure coop for evening time and sleeping. You could build something like what I built and it would keep your dog and the chickens seperate but would still allow the chickens to graze. It probably cost me roughly $100.00 from start to finish. I bought all new materials because I didn't have any laying around I could use. I only have 8 chickens, so the work it takes to put them in and out of the grazing area isn't that big of a deal. Obviously if had ALOT of chickens it probably wouldn't work. I have also handled my chicks from day 1, they are now 10 weeks old so they are pretty friendly and are getting used to the routine of being carried to the tractor every morning and then back in the evening.  For me it is working REALLY well. Don't give up on chickens IF you really like them and want to have them. Dogs are just natural predators and unfortunatly for chickens they are the bottom of the food chain.  As such if you take a few precautions to attempt to keep the chickens safe you can have both.  I love to go up there and sit in the shade with my glass of tea and watch them enjoy the grass and bugs. It is a bit of sanity in an insane world for me...... like a small peice of heaven.   

If you want to see pics of my grazing tractor let me know and I will post some.  Good Luck!