Keeping dogs away from flock?

[Turken1964]

Hello everyone! It's been a while. Long story short, it's been two years since I've had backyard chickens and I think I'm ready to get a new flock.

Only one problem; my dog. She is a Jack Russel Terrier, and even though she's the sweetest thing to me, she gets to aggressive with other smaller animals. Does anyone have any tips to prevent this from happening? I'm on a tight budget so I can't afford anything fancy like electric fencing or cameras. If you guys also have any good coops to suggest that has enough space for chickens while keeping them enclosed from outside predators, that would be great!

Thank you all, and have an amazing day.

 

[cavemanrich]

Do you have your old coop??? If you are on a budget, (understandable) can you build a coop yourself??? You can find a lot of materials ether low priced or free if you search. Craig's List is one source I use to give items away that I feel someone can use, and I do not want to just throw into trash. There are many other peeps like myself that do same. There is also a site called Frecycle. All things there are FREE.
Don't know your location since not in your profile, so cant really help you much more. You may live where there is no Craigs, or Frecycle.
I have no suggestions about your pet dog. I have 3 dogs myself and multiple cats. None bother my chickens. All live in harmony.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Duckstail]

Just get big chickens like Jersey Giants or something that is big and they're going to do a fine job defending themselves. A roster would definitely help. Just make sure they are fully grown before they free range together.

Give your dog a really good exercise before you start introducing them so that he's very calm and relaxed when they meet.

 

[Ducksandchickens]

When the chickens are out put your dog in a kennel or leash or something like that

 

[misssassyandthechicks]

We had to bury an invisible dog fence around our coop to keep our dogs away from it by at least 5 feet at all times. They attempt to dig underneath the wire, and the dachshund has killed a chick before. Some dogs prey drive is just really high. Our dogs do fine with the chicks when we are supervising, but left alone, they could do some damage.

 

[RWise]

With a bit of training the dog should be fine around the chickens. I have Rat Terrier's, they do love to go hunting, and I take them to the pasture where they can do their thing. I think it helps for them to know what they can hunt, things like rats, rabbits, ground hogs, etc. mine even took out a fully grown coon, tag team! (and no injuries!)

 

[RollTideChicken]

I have a Beagle and he is fine around the chickens. He will get after anything else though. If the dog is smart and obedient it won't take long. I would not train with chicks though, you definitely need full grown and full size -or bigger- birds, and not flighty ones either.
I trained mine like a shepherd, I carried a long stick with me any time we were around our birds. Funny thing is now, my beagle, a hunting dog, will actually help me herd my birds back to their coop when needed.
Oh also, my dog has a bit of skittish in him, so if a bird gets after him he will run.
Good luck with yours! Let us know how it turns out.

 

[sirrobyn0]

This is totally trainable. Though I have never had a Jack Russell, I have Danes. This is what has worked for us. A petronics training collar, cost $20.00 amazon.com. It does three things shock, vibrate, , beep. You have the remote, which like the collar is rechargeable. So put the collar on, take the dog outside when he takes notice of the chickens call him, when he ignores, hit the beep, when he ignores hit vibrate, when he ignores hit shock. He will let out a a bit of a yip but will stop. A few rounds of this and he will associate the sound, vibration and shock to the chickens not to you. So when I take our danes out into the field the first thing I do is put on their collars, they get all excited because they associate the collars with going somewhere fun, none of the other stuff. They leave the chickens alone now for the most part and if they don't a quick vibrate or beep reminds them. I'm not the kind of person that is into negative reinforcement, but when you have a dog (like our boy) who will not listen once he is focused on chasing something you have to do something, and it will only take a couple of shocks for the dog to realize going after the chickens isn't fun.