MY dog killed two of my chickens. :'(

[antrimfarm]

Yesterday it rained all day here, so I didn't go out to check on the chickens. My husband and I usually both check on them during the day, but I saw that their ramp was down (it raises and lowers) so I assumed he had checked on them and they were all accounted for. Apparently, two of them (Red and Penny) had escaped their temporary chicken wire enclosure. When I let the dog out for FIVE MINUTES while I got some laundry out of the dryer, apparently she attacked them. My husband came home that evening to check on them and found Red dead, and Penny severely injured. Penny didn't make it through the night. :'(

I just feel kind of responsible. I should have checked on them even though it was raining. The next step is to make a permanent, dog proof enclosure! Suggestions?

The dog will not bother them in their fence, I have watched her. But if we are not there to keep her in check and the chickens are free rangeing, I guess she'll go after them. I don't let the chickens free range unless we are in the yard.

Is it too soon to clip their wings? They are about 6 weeks old. I think they may have flown out.

 

[HEChicken]

I'm so sorry about the loss of your chicks - always a devastating experience.

This is a decision each person must make for themselves. Personally, I won't keep a dog around who is a danger to my flock - I guess the chooks are just more important to me than the dogs. I was lucky that the two dogs I had before I got chooks, were both good with them, but they were old dogs and both died within the first two years after I got started with my flock. Following that we did decide to give two more shelter dogs a good home but the main criteria was that whatever dogs we adopted MUST be good around poultry. We were able to bring the dogs home for a home visit before officially adopting and adopted the first and thirds dogs we "trialled". The second was just a little too interested in the flock. We gave him a chance to settle down but after he'd been with us 10 days he was still too focused on them so he returned to the shelter to find a more suitable home for him.

Good luck with keeping yours separated, and make sure every member of the family knows. Its all too easy to have one person put the dog out while the girls are free-ranging, without thinking.

 

[dainerra]

do a search here for dogs and chickens. There has been a lot of good advice on how to train your dog to leave the birds alone.

As owners, it's our responsibility to keep track of ALL the animals. Sometimes it's easy to train the dogs. Others, a bit harder. Worst case scenario is constant supervision.

 

[mixitup]

Some dogs are just hardwired to be predators. I have to keep my dogs far away from my birds in a separate enclosure. They do not train as domesticated animals and I know this. So, they are in the front of the house in a pen and the chickens are way back in the barn/enclosures. I, personally, wouldn't trust a dog who shows the least amount of interest in the flock, so precautionary measures are put in place. Accidents can happen, however. But, it sounds like you know that your dog is interested in the chickens. I would pen him up when you are not available to supervise. My opinion only. While you can train a dog such as that, I still wouldn't trust him an inch.

I am sorry about the birds though. We become very attached very quickly.

 

[antrimfarm]

I will try to train her if I can, I can't get rid of her,she's a part of the family. She's been with us for 5 years and believe it or not she is AWESOME with the kids. Seriously. They can climb on her back and pull her ears and she doesn't even growl. She just looks at me like "PLEASE get the hairless puppies off of me!"

She just has an instinct to chase animals that she can't get over. I was watching her closely because she has killed a couple of squirrels and a groundhog and a rabbit. She was doing really well, we even had her in the yard for a supervised free range with the girls and she didn't chase them. It was just in 5 minutes of unattended time with the two chicks that got out that she got them.

We are buying a 10 by 10 dog kennel from lowes for the chickens to attach to the coop, so she can't get at them and they absolutely can't get out until we let them. I'm hoping this is enough of a solution until we can train her so the girls (and their 4 new little sisters I bought this morning) can have more free range time. I still probably won't trust her alone with them.

 

[Davaroo]

Yesterday it rained all day here, so I didn't go out to check on the chickens. My husband and I usually both check on them during the day, but I saw that their ramp was down (it raises and lowers) so I assumed he had checked on them and they were all accounted for. Apparently, two of them (Red and Penny) had escaped their temporary chicken wire enclosure. When I let the dog out for FIVE MINUTES while I got some laundry out of the dryer, apparently she attacked them. My husband came home that evening to check on them and found Red dead, and Penny severely injured. Penny didn't make it through the night. :'(

I just feel kind of responsible. I should have checked on them even though it was raining. The next step is to make a permanent, dog proof enclosure! Suggestions?

The dog will not bother them in their fence, I have watched her. But if we are not there to keep her in check and the chickens are free rangeing, I guess she'll go after them. I don't let the chickens free range unless we are in the yard.

Is it too soon to clip their wings? They are about 6 weeks old. I think they may have flown out.

Sorry, I feel your pain, I lost my entire flock to my own dogs, once.
I personally do not think you ever "train" the predatory instinct out of a dog. They may resist the urges, and this makes the Dog useful. But the appetite remains. I am a hard liner on this; No hall passes for dogs. Period.

For now, I will only express my condolences. Lets see what further responses you get.

 

[Bikerbirds]

So my chicks/pullets are eight weeks and my dog has been great with them the whole time she completely earned my trust and had been left alone with them at least a dozen times with me checking in on them every few minutes well today that little turd decided to kill and eat one of my golden comets I was so mad I would have never left her alone with them but she had been so good with them even as little babies Guess its dog run time

 

[Buckhunter76]

Not to be mean and cruel, but if it was me, I shoot the dog, cause if it ever gets another chance, it'll kill again, Just sayin

 

[nzpouter]

Yesterday it rained all day here, so I didn't go out to check on the chickens. My husband and I usually both check on them during the day, but I saw that their ramp was down (it raises and lowers) so I assumed he had checked on them and they were all accounted for. Apparently, two of them (Red and Penny) had escaped their temporary chicken wire enclosure. When I let the dog out for FIVE MINUTES while I got some laundry out of the dryer, apparently she attacked them. My husband came home that evening to check on them and found Red dead, and Penny severely injured. Penny didn't make it through the night. :'(

I just feel kind of responsible. I should have checked on them even though it was raining. The next step is to make a permanent, dog proof enclosure! Suggestions?

The dog will not bother them in their fence, I have watched her. But if we are not there to keep her in check and the chickens are free rangeing, I guess she'll go after them. I don't let the chickens free range unless we are in the yard. 

Is it too soon to clip their wings? They are about 6 weeks old. I think they may have flown out.

what sort of training have you ever done with the dog and chickens...?

 

[dainerra]

So my chicks/pullets are eight weeks and my dog has been great with them the whole time she completely earned my trust and had been left alone with them at least a dozen times with me checking in on them every few minutes well today that little turd decided to kill and eat one of my golden comets I was so mad I would have never left her alone with them but she had been so good with them even as little babies Guess its dog run time

It's not dog run time. It's dog TRAINING time. You can't just sit around and wait for a dog to do something wrong. You need to show the dog what you want him TO do. You don't wait until your kids burn the house down before teaching them not to play with matches do you?