Dog killed chicken

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jaxneptune

jaxneptune

In the Brooder
9 Years
Nov 10, 2010
16
0
22
I live in a rural part of the city and have a flock of free range chickens. My neighbor built a coop and purchased 4 almost full grown hens. The first evening after dark his family dog somehow managed to get the door open to the coop and killed one of them. The dog who had been fed a couple hours before ate almost the whole bird. I know it is not out of the ordinary for a dog to kill a chicken but to me they usually just leave it lay there when it is dead. My neighbor wants to eventually let his flock free range for a couple hours after work. I am thinking if his dog gets a chance it will kill again. Any ideas?
 
jaxneptune said:
I live in a rural part of the city and have a flock of free range chickens. My neighbor built a coop and purchased 4 almost full grown hens. The first evening after dark his family dog somehow managed to get the door open to the coop and killed one of them. The dog who had been fed a couple hours before ate almost the whole bird. I know it is not out of the ordinary for a dog to kill a chicken but to me they usually just leave it lay there when it is dead. My neighbor wants to eventually let his flock free range for a couple hours after work. I am thinking if his dog gets a chance it will kill again. Any ideas?
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Once the dog gets the taste of chicken blood, he'll go after the birds again.
 
I had a dog kill five chickens one day while I was at work. When I got home and was doing chorse he got after them agen so wiped him with the chicken he had just killed. Two days later my son took a picture of him in the barn with chickens sitting on his back. From then on he protected chickens and any other critter we tended. But everything else was free game.

He was an Australian shepherd. Best cattle dog I have ever seen.
 
Without training, the dog most certainly will kill again. Not necessarily because he "tasted blood", but because he found out how much fun those running, flapping squawking squeaky toys can be. We had a lab for 10 years who was 100% trustworthy with my chickens. We started training him from day 1 when we got him as a 7-week old pup. An adult dog may be a different story. Regardless of the age of the dog, it's going to take patience and consistency to teach him that chickens are not playthings.

By the way - our dog was also a hunter. He knew which birds he could and couldn't retrieve...
 
dawg53 said:
Once the dog gets the taste of chicken blood, he'll go after the birds again.
Click to expand...

This is a myth...the fact is that some breeds in general and any dog of any breed with a strong prey drive will kill chickens. They can absolutely be trained not to do this even after they have "tasted blood". The problems that lead to a persons own dog killing their chickens started long before the chickens arrived on the scene. The bottom line being poor socialization and inconsistent training and, honestly, it take more time and energy to undo this than most people are willing to exert.
 
My Anatolian hybrid killed one of our quail - but she left the Japanese Bantams and the Frizzle alone! When I put the quail in the pen yesterday I noticed that my dog got into like a "stalking-mode" right upon sight of the quail - she's never done that with the chickens. It is unfortunate that she isn't an actual Anatolian/Pyrenees hybrid - there is 1 Labrador in her bloodline. I didn't think it would be enough to matter and I guess I was horribly wrong.....? My question is; does anyone think my chickens are in danger now? I just gave up raising Miniature Dachshunds because they were chicken killers --- there has been absolute "peace" around here until now. I hate the idea of rehoming my big girl, but I just can't go through losing chickens again. Any ideas....?
 
My girl - Raven - had a good start with her first owner; she was on a great road to obedience when I got her and she was 7 1/2 months old. I have kept up with this training, she has been in with the chickens with me since day one so I can't see that it is a lack of socialization or training...... I wonder if the way the quail were "flighty" may have been what "kicked in" her prey drive? She has been in with the chickens since this incident and shows no 'extra' interest in them at all. I have to hope that this is a one time thing and she understands that the behavior is unacceptable -- she had to stay in the kennel run over night and for the whole next day - she is very smart and acted very repentant. I guess I'll know soon enough how this will go. I have been told that Anatolians and Pyrenees are "slow to mature" and that this is not likely to happen again with proper correction. I hope a "time out" was the cure for her. Thank you for answering my question! Have a blessed night.
 
chisandchicks said:
My girl - Raven - had a good start with her first owner; she was on a great road to obedience when I got her and she was 7 1/2 months old. I have kept up with this training, she has been in with the chickens with me since day one so I can't see that it is a lack of socialization or training...... I wonder if the way the quail were "flighty" may have been what "kicked in" her prey drive? She has been in with the chickens since this incident and shows no 'extra' interest in them at all. I have to hope that this is a one time thing and she understands that the behavior is unacceptable -- she had to stay in the kennel run over night and for the whole next day - she is very smart and acted very repentant. I guess I'll know soon enough how this will go. I have been told that Anatolians and Pyrenees are "slow to mature" and that this is not likely to happen again with proper correction. I hope a "time out" was the cure for her. Thank you for answering my question! Have a blessed night.
Click to expand...


I don't know much about quail other than they are small. I know my dog will go after regular birds like sparrows that fly in the coop but leave the chickens alone.
My only suggestion is keep her on a short leash near the quail and let her see you tend to them. Might help if you can hold them and get their scent on you and you on them and maybe introduce one or two to her. They tend to go after anything foreign, so it make take some time for her and them to get aquainted, but make sure she sees you interact with the birds daily.
 
Got to agree with MrsBB. Our Golden is fine with our birds, as long as they stay in their place. If one comes up on the deck, or into the basement then it is brought to our attention. Similarly if a strange bird joins the flock. He wanders thru our neighbours flock of ducks and ignores them, but if they come over to visit they get barked at...
 

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