Dogs Killing My Chickens!

CountryPumpkin said:

my little brothers beloved hound keeps killing my chickens and so we tied him up every time we let them out and he kept getting lose, he has killed over 30 chickens and my brother wont let us git rid of him. Have any ideas on how to keep him form getting lose? or what to put him in we tried the horse trailer but then he wont quit barking. 

Click to expand...

When we first got into chickens we had the same problem with our german shepherd. And keep in mind he is very well trained. But natural instincts kick in sometimes over training. So we went with an old country dog tradition and took the dead bird/birds and tied them to the dogs collar, and tied the dog to a nice shade tree with food and water. You need to leave the dog there for three days checking on him multiple times a day and filling up food and water, when u fill up the food and water make sure u scold him for the killing. The first time we did this our dog ATE the entire bird except feet from the collar so the next time he killed we tied the chicken to the collar by the head so when he tried to reach it all he could get was feet. The whole point is the dog will smell the rot of the chicken and hate having dead chickens next to him. We haven't had a problem since. And all of our chickens are free range and our dog is a property dog, so the perimeter of our 7 acres is fenced and he roams. Obviously before u let the dog in give him a bath and calmly tell him why u were upset. Also, for the following 3 months when I went out to care for the chickens I made the dog come with me ON A LEASH, this is very important because u can sharply tug the leash when the dog starts to get frisky to correct the behavior. We haven't had any further problems and actually the dog now protects the flock from other predators like coyotes and foxes. So it worked out well for us.

Thank you, we tried to do that once, but we did'nt know that you have to keep the chicken on him for a few days.

CountryPumpkin said:

Thank you, we tried to do that once, but we did'nt know that you have to keep the chicken on him for a few days.

Click to expand...

Yea you must leave the chicken on the dog for three days for the smell of rot to affect the dog. It's amazing how well that plus the leash training worked. He literally herds them closer to the house when they start wondering too far and has warded off coyotes for them.

I bet it was the leading and correcting on the leash that trained it, not the drooping rotting chicken carcass torture. Just saying.

If you had a dog that killed chickens you would understand, it is not torture the dog has food and water it is fine when the dog kills all 27 of your new chicks thats torture.

CountryPumpkin said:

If you had a dog that killed chickens you would understand, it is not torture the dog has food and water it is fine when the dog kills all 27 of your new chicks thats torture.

Click to expand...

CountryPumpkin... I just wanted to give you fair warning that you will be personally attacked no matter what you decide to do. Don't worry about it. Just do your best and don't let any rude people that might come along get to you. I'd probably just use the horse trailer and muzzel the dog if I had to. I know a barking dog can drive you over the edge! I have one of those too. lol Just make sure you don't leave him muzzled too long because he may overheat if he can't drink water. But also a pen with electricity will keep him in... or the chain.

This is an old thread. I think we're done here.