Can a dog eat a chick (approx 6 weeks) whole and leave no feathers or blood?

[truegrit44]

Believe me it was horrifying! I thought my husband was going to kill the dog but only threatened. This dog was our most precious pet, he even stood up with us at our wedding and we never went anywhere without him, but he was a terror......killed skunks, everything was bitten 3 times by copperheads when killing them, nothing deterred him. He is gone now and will never ever be forgotten

 

[bobbi-j]

I don't understand the whole "taste of blood" thing. My black lab/blue heeler mix killed a hen and mortally wounded my rooster when she was about a year old. With months of training, she doesn't have the slightest interest in them. She's almost 5 years old now and we have never had a problem with her since that day. She even turns and runs from our rooster when he instigates a fight.....

It's an old wives' tale that keeps coming round and round. There are plenty of people who have had a dog kill chickens that have since taken the time to properly train their dogs who now have trustworthy dogs. It's more a case of, "The dog has now discovered the joys of playing with chickens and if no one takes the time to correct the behavior it will continue." There are people who feed their dogs raw diet, including chicken. Those dogs do not necessarily go out looking to kill chickens because they have "tasted the blood". Our dogs have all eaten raw venison at some point or other in their lives. None of them have gone out trying to take down a deer to eat. Our 6 month old pup was left unsupervised for a day last week while I was gone. He killed 11 of my 7-week old Freedom Rangers. We will work on training him when I am home again in 2 weeks. Until then, either the chicks or the dog will be contained. He has not bothered my adult laying hens who still free range.

 

[nzpouter]

yep... taste of blood is myth, most problems you get is from chase gone too far.

My dogs are fed whole prey (inc chickens) and they live with them.

 

[truegrit44]

Ditto on the taste of blood myth............I have fed a raw diet consisting of mostly raw chicken for 14 years to all my dogs and none of my dogs have killed a chicken.........well, other than my post above when the one ATE all my day old chicks but again I know he thought they were little fuzzy squeaking mice He never even looked at an adult chicken. Now if it were dead and I threw it out to him I am sure he would eat it.

 

[oreochick]

I'm glad you found your chicks.

My dog killed my chick Oreo but never ate her. Then he killed 3 other chickens.

 

[FreeRangePamela]

Aw... so sad to hear stories of chicks killed by dogs. Our elder dog is now starting to show Livestock Guardian behaviors with the chicks, following them around and (maybe) beginning to ensure they're staying together. And this new one seems to be getting better -- we are taking her out at the same time as the chicks are out and observing closely, so we can correct her if need be. She has chased once (seemingly wanting to play), but nothing since. She's also turning to the older one for guidance. Fingers crossed.

As for the "taste of blood" thing, I have read lots of stories of people having trouble with their dogs, but then being able to train them to leave the chickens alone. That would seem to go against the "taste of blood" theory. I tend to think that some dogs are just more difficult than others, because they have more of a prey instinct. Wish me luck with ours. Best of luck with yours!

 

[bobbi-j]

Aw... so sad to hear stories of chicks killed by dogs. Our elder dog is now starting to show Livestock Guardian behaviors with the chicks, following them around and (maybe) beginning to ensure they're staying together. And this new one seems to be getting better -- we are taking her out at the same time as the chicks are out and observing closely, so we can correct her if need be. She has chased once (seemingly wanting to play), but nothing since. She's also turning to the older one for guidance. Fingers crossed.

As for the "taste of blood" thing, I have read lots of stories of people having trouble with their dogs, but then being able to train them to leave the chickens alone. That would seem to go against the "taste of blood" theory. I tend to think that some dogs are just more difficult than others, because they have more of a prey instinct. Wish me luck with ours. Best of luck with yours!

I very much agree with this statement. Some are just more hard-headed and difficult to train. There may be dogs out there that are untrainable, and their owners learn to adapt to the situation - usually by keeping the birds and dogs separated.

 

[aart]

Quote: Agrees also......and this goes for both dogs and their owners.....LOL!

 

[nwchknfrmr27052]

How do you train dogs to not harm chickens? I know a neighbor who has a great piranese that guards a pasture where he raises goats, cows, and free ranges chickens. I figured he jus got lucky and had a really good dog.

 

[FreeRangePamela]

Well, Great Pyrenees are a livestock guardian breed and have been bred for thousands of years to protect sheep and goats from predators. So they have a strong instinct that helps and they can be encouraged to think of chickens as their charges, too. Other dogs have been bred to herd or hunt, and it might be harder with them as it goes against their instincts. But I have heard of a lot of different types of dogs being trained to be ok with chickens.