My dogs are killing my chickens

[Skoda]

Hello,
I own a Border Collie (aged 2 years), who tended to my chickens until we got a French Bulldog, who likes to chase them but is rarely able to catch them. Since then, our Border Collie has decided to become more aggressive with chasing the chickens to the point where he kills them.

I'm sure the answer is keeping the dogs away from the chickens while training them out of this behavior but I'd like to hear what others have done who've had a similar experience.

Thanks!

 

[lgdnevada]

Keep the dogs away from the chickens. Border collies as I'm sure you know, have high prey drive. They will herd and chase. Neither breeds that you own, are considered Livestock Guardians, and can't be, nor should be, trusted to 'do right' around fowl. Two years of age is too late to start training a dog to tolerate poultry. So don't set them up to fail. Keep those chickens penned up or facilitate a way for your dogs to be kept out of the chicken area permanently (divide your yard, kennel them up when chickens are free-ranging, what ever it takes.) Good strong coop construction and fencing guys, with wire netting on the ground so hens can't scratch or dig out, or railroad ties (I've yet to find the chicken who could move a railroad tie, okay?)…..being proactive solves 99% of the "my dog is killing my chickens" problems out there - yes, even in small "backyard" situations.

 

[PeRsOn Gavrocks]

I would make a fenced off area for your chickens to stay in, that they can't get out of. Make it big enough for them to eat grass and roam. You can let your chickens out if you want, but if you do that, I would keep your dog in your house. I have a dog and four chickens, and our chickens are always in a fenced off roaming area. My dog usually stays inside the house unless someone is watching him. One time, the dog got loose and the chickens were out. I had to pry my dog's mouth from one of my chicken's wings. You should find some solution to keep the dogs away from the chickens (fenced off area, dogs inside house, etc.)
Good luck! Also, sorry some of your chickens died.

 

[lazy gardener]

My Jack Russell Terrier mix has a strong prey drive. I bought a behavior monitor collar with remote control. It only took 2 corrections to convince her that chasing chickens was not a wise choice.

 

[jvls1942]

I can't disagree more with you,
I had a 5 year old border collie , rescue dog.
had him trained in two days to leave the chickens and ducks alone. No, I did not beat him.
as you can see from my avatar, I do have LGD's. I got them after my border collie died at a ripe old age..
take a chair, put the dog on a leash. then sit right in amongst the chickens.
teach the dog the word "no" . that comes in handy with any situation..
when the dog shows the wrong attitude toward the chickens. pull him back and say no. if he is just curious, let him sniff the chickens. nothing wrong with that.
If you don't have an hour or two free to train the dog, then you can spend that hour later burying the killed chickens.

 

[lazy gardener]

Did the leash thing, repeatedly, and for hours. The correction collar was required in this case.

 

[lgdnevada]

If you don't have an hour or two free to train the dog, then you can spend that hour later burying the killed chickens.

Sums it all up in a nutshell.

And I too strongly disagree with any type of hurtful, painful correction device (aka "The Lazy Shepherd collar") to discourage dogs from unwanted behavior of any kind. When and why did so many farmers become animal cruelty experts? Gads. Show some compassion. Develop some patience.

This is not easy street, this is not something that happens in just a day or two.
This is what farming is about, guys. Loving the land, being self-sufficient, respecting nature and all her lifeforms. Hard work, sweat, toiling in the cold the heat and the rain and the wind. If you can't hack that, you need to reconsider farming….and find an easier occupation.

Training LGDs to guard poultry is one of the more difficult tasks, because the fowl are so tempting to chase.

And when you complicate it by trying to train high-prey drive breeds and hunting hounds, well….don't get me going on that peculiar American obsession. Suffice to say, where I brought my guardian dogs over from in Spain and other countries, you never see shepherds there trying to make silk purses out of sow's ears (read my lips: in other words, you don't see them trying to train poodles, pit bulls, Labs, etc., to protect flocks from wolves and bears because they know it basically can't be done….they also, being real working farmers, lack the luxury of the huge amount of time it'd take to pursue such a silly romp.)

Why Americans think they have to re-invent the wheel on this subject, has always baffled me, and irked the heck out of me as well...

 

[cassie]

You can try to train the dogs. It might work and it might not. To the dogs, chasing and killing poultry is great fun. Your best bet is to keep them apart. You might look into some electrified poultry fencing. It is easy to put up, effective, and not prohibitively expensive.

 

[PirateGirl]

@jvls1942 is on point with the idea of just hanging out with the dog and the chickens. The key is to teach calming behavior. You no longer want the chickens to be exciting. If the dog can sit still and calm and quiet next to you and the chickens and get treats and be pet, this will go a long way. Age shouldn't make a difference. My dogs were 5 and 12 when they met my chickens, including an Aussie mix with a high prey drive and a retriever (and well they are bred to hunt birds). They don't care much about my chickens anymore. That being said, I do not leave them alone together. If the chickens or ducks get spooked or excited and start running or flapping about, naturally, the dogs get more excited as well and this could prove disastrous. However, this training has helped. My dogs protect my coop from neighbor dogs (and people) and on the occasion that a bird has escaped or when I have the gate open to clean runs/coops or I'm walking with a flapping bird in my arms my dogs do not react. My dogs do not snatch up an escapee if I am nearby, they do not jump at me when I'm holding a bird, they do not try to enter the run gate if it is open. This makes my life with dogs and chickens much easier. I can do my chores and let the dogs run and I don't have to worry. I can send the dogs out in the yard without me and I don't worry about them trying to break into the coop/run. I don't leave them all free to roam together unattended, but it's worth it to put in some training time anyway, things will be calmer and easier overall.

 

[Kessel23]

It took me no time to train German Shepherd not to attack the fowl, I brought her out there and I did not touch the birds, when she tried I said NO and she stopped. She was very good around them but if I had to chase them or grabed one then she would try to attack it, this just took me saying NO again and she stopped. I can let her roam around the birds unsupervised now, she is also nice with rabbits when supervised. I have only had german shepherds, I trained 3 of them this way, my parents trained their first GSD they had with a shock collar. The rest of my dogs are untrained but know how to listen and will avoid the birds if I yell at them.

About the training collars, shock collars and stuff, harmful training ect... I do not care what other people have to say about it, this is not a debate about weather or not this type of training is humane or acceptable, it was a recommendation that will solve the problem, if you have another answer that will also work then feel free to share, no need to criticize the other answers! There is often multiple answers to a question, just because someone disagrees with one answer doesn't mean it is now wrong.