We don't have a border collie, but we have an australian cattle dog, which is another type of herding breed. He stays on our property (Almost all of the time, except when the neighbor calls him over to visit with her dogs). We let him have run of the five acre yard during the day and when we leave and at night, he is kept in the garage. During the winter he comes inside, but during the fall, summer, and spring he is outside. He is great with our chickens. He thinks they are "his" and he runs down there as soon as he hears them making noise. He will chase them sometimes, but they are so used to him, they rarely run away anymore. That takes a lot of the fun out of it for him! He also does help me herd them back into their coop at night, or if they go into the farmer's yard behind us. He likes to terrorize our horses more than anything, but they just usually give him evil looks and continue eating.
I think you could definitely get away with this sort of set up and a herding type of dog. Just make sure your coop is secure at night, and refrain from letting your chickens freerange when you are not home. Our cattle dog always stayed on the property with very little training and he was exposed to all sorts of livestock at a young age. Your best bet would be to get a farm raised border collie.
I think you could definitely get away with this sort of set up and a herding type of dog. Just make sure your coop is secure at night, and refrain from letting your chickens freerange when you are not home. Our cattle dog always stayed on the property with very little training and he was exposed to all sorts of livestock at a young age. Your best bet would be to get a farm raised border collie.
