I am sick of my dogs killing chickens

Harless, as you have found, chicken wire does not work. This will continue to happen in successive hatches unless you get rid of the chicken wire and get something heavier. There are many threads on this issue in this forum, and you may wish to research before deciding which way to go. We went with 1/2" hardware cloth with reinforcement by 2 x 4s and extra-heavy staples - - somewhat expensive, but it's so much nicer to come home and enjoy my Border Collie, Shepherd mix and LIVE chickens. No other way would have worked.

Sorry for your loss. It's a crummy way to learn, but there are plenty of others out here who have suffered the same lesson.

Good luck in whatever you decide!

Just curious, if the dogs are indoor dogs the problem is easily solved...only let the dogs outside when you have full supervision on them. My three would KILL my birds in a second if left to their own devices. Even if they are outside dogs, get a kennel for them and only let them OUT of the kennel when you can watch them. I don't honestly think it's too much to ask if you really dont want your chickens dead i say it's a good option. I guess my train of thinking is if you own dogs, you want them to be happy and normally them being happy is being with you....so just letting a dog live outside and being upset when it kills things I think is silly...they're bored and most still have their natural born instinct to murder.

I'm not trying ot be rude, i jsut read this a lot "My dog killed this or that..." well the only exception i see to dogs killing birds and it really being a problem is when you are raising chicks indoors then that's a whole different ball of wax...but birds outside, with dogs that can be indoors or in a kennel i just cannot wrap my brain aroudn why people are having such problems with it when all they have to do is give their dog more to do, and be with them more...and dont let them unsupervised outside or near your birds...costs nothing except your time and training.

edited because i wanted to add more...if the excuse for letting dogs roam your property is so they can protect your birds from predators...well...that's kind of a *foot in the mouth* statement, because the dogs ARE the predators. I can only understand dogs roaming the property if they are trained to respect what they are to guard.

I dont feel safe letting my dogs roam (for their safety and my other animals safety) so I did not and haven't trained them to respect my birds and what not, i just dont let them anywhere to interact I have full control over my dogs by verbal or leash commands. NO beating involved either....