Blue Heelers - Will they kill my chickens?

[johnsons-r-us]

Bummer, I would be worried. I hope you have responsible neighbors.

 

[gpwelding1]

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x2
well said angie3881

 

[1 hen and 1 roo]

When I was a kid we always had red or blue heelers. Never really paid much attention to the dogs around the chickens until I got married and Daddy's heeler had pups. I took one home with me and he became a "City Dog". Very well trained, we worked with him a whole lot (many hours and many days). He had such a strong heeler instinct that he would chase the vacuum cleaner every time we vacuumed, chase the tiller and bite at the tongs when my husband would till the garden (had to keep him in the house), would bite at the broom when we swept the floor and he even bit at our neighbors ankles every time he would ride his bike. Always had to explain what type of dog we had so we would avoid law suits from neighbors getting mad thinking our dog was attacking them when they just were attacking the bike. he also would chase the law mower.

One day when we visited my Dad's (farm with chickens and other animals), his heeler started chasing his chickens and it caught one and killed it. My dad took that chicken and beat his dog with the chicken and then tied it around the dogs neck for a few days. Daddy said that dog would never kill a chicken again and he was right. Now, my dogs ( a blue heeler and a red heeler) watched Daddy's heeler chase and kill that chicken and saw the dog get a beating for it. My dogs never bothered a chicken at my Dad's house ever or anywhere else!

Those two dogs have sense passed on but we have a red heeler/boarder collie mix. Now she has that same herding instinct but not quite as strong but she wants to please us. She was 7 or so when we first got chickens and she did chase the chickens and caught one but did not hurt it. My husband gave her a spanking for it and told her to never bother those chickens. She lays in the yard with our chickens and helps us find any that stray away. She loves them and lets them walk right up to her. Never thought she would be that good. She will protect those chickens from anything.

The rest of the story is that we had baby chicks in brooder boxes staying in our house during the winter/spring of this year and the dogs were in the house with them. They heard chicks peeping for months and saw them running around in their boxes and we would take them out and introduce them to the dogs a lot. The chickens were made part of the family just the same as the dogs are part of the family.

Now, as for the dogs that do not live at your house: Neighbors heelers. I would be quite cautious of. Talk with your neighbor and see if they can come over like another person mentioned above. Introduce the dogs to the chickens and discipline them if they react in any way towards the chickens. They need to become familiar with them.

Our neighbor has a stray heeler mix that he took in a while back. Our neighbors down below lost one of their chickens to that dog but the neighbor whopped and shot at the dog and it does not bother chickens anymore. It comes in our yard to play with our dogs and does not bother the chickens but I think if it did, our dogs would whoop him and send him running home. At least that is what they do when we tell the dog to go home.

Good luck!!

 

[angie3881]

We live close to an Amish community and my husband delivers oil and gas to them. He always likes to talk to them about my chickens. He just told me an old Amish guy with chickens had just told him the very same thing. If you have a dog who chases and kills a chicken, tie the dead chicken onto it's collar for a few days and it will never bother another chicken.

Lol... wondering if I attached a LIVE chicken to my poodle's collar if that would stop him from chasing them?? Funny to imagine how that would play out!!

 

[txchickie]

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Wrong. It does not work. You can't completely get rid of their instinct to chase/herd/and or kill.

 

[angie3881]

Quote:
Wrong. It does not work. You can't completely get rid of their instinct to chase/herd/and or kill.

I would never do it-- seems a lot easier to just keep the dog and chickens separated... but what are your thoughts on tying the live one to the poodle? Bahahahaha

 

[Oregon Blues]

Heelers are bred for chase livestock and nip livestock. That's their job on the ranch. So no, I wouldn't trust them around birds without a lot of careful training.

Since they are the neighbor's dogs, you can't really train them.

Maybe you are worrying unnecessarily. the neighbors haven't turned them loose to roam, yet. Maybe the neighbors will keep them home.

Any loose dog can kill your poultry, so I suggest a nice fence around your yard to keep any and all dogs out. If you are anyway that even resembles "the country" you will eventually have some city folks out there to throw their unwanted dog out of their car and leave it to fend for itself. Without a fence around your property, that abandoned dog is very likely to see your birds as an easy meal.

 

[dinahmoe]

"I was wondering if I should be worried about these dogs escaping from their yard, coming into my yard and killing my chickens."
yes


i have 2 who are great with the chickens.they killed one when i first got them 3 yrs ago and never has again.she realized it was wrong and they are so smart and all she wants to do is make me happy.my DH still can't believe they do not kill them and he was raised with heelers.
however,i would be very,very nervous if my neighbor got 2 dogs,heelers or any other breed, and didn't keep them on his property.the dogs are only going to obey their owner and you are not the owner.
if i were you,i would keep my chickens up when i am not there, get some hot wire up around the pen and get a great pryrenees type dog of your own.

 

[dinahmoe]

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i agree,if your neighbor trains these dogs ,they are strictly a one person dog and will stay with him and his things.

adopted adult dogs will take some time tho
you also have to be careful about bringing them over.IF they were trained by him when they come over it MIGHT work but if it doesn't,i wouldn't want the dogs to think it is OK to come over.this breed of dogs really only listens to one owner.my dogs are not curious about anything on the other side of the fence and are not taken anywhere so they stay very close to the house,if not in it.

 

[cgmccary]

I disagree with most of the above posts. Dogs are all different. There is no way to answer this question.

I took in an adult mongrel stray with puppies that had been deemed a vicious dog by animal control and was going to be put down, and she has been my birds' savior. She will kill opossums and coons but is protective of the farm and my animals. She'll chase a stray cat but doesn't bother my cat; she will cahse deer but not my cows. I can free range my birds, and I totally trust my dogs. I adopted a hound mix (mostly looks red bone) from the shelter and he too is great with the birds and animals and acts as a helper to my stray adoptee/mother dog. They keep the coyotes, coons, fox, opossums, bobcats away. The geese keep the flying predators away. I free range all my birds during the day. The only losses I have is an occasional Guinea (2) that strays off the property and into the woods and one goose (when I had the dogs in the house one night). Otherwise, 48 chickens, 41 Guineas & 7 Geese free range 7 days a week and stay safe due to my two adopted dogs -- both mutts.

When I got both dogs, I spent time with them with my birds and only trusted them around my birds once I learned the dogs. You have to know the individual dog. Some will kill in front of you, some will kill when you are not looking, some will never kill and some will never kill anything & still others will act protective over the birds -- attack something that doesn't belong in their territory (my dogs) & finally, an true LGD will protect livestock even from you.