Can my dog scare my chickens to death?

[Stellaluna1107]

I have never had chickens before and I am trying to get a few in the near future. Anyway, I don't have a lot of land, and I have two dogs that I am worried that they might scare the chicken to death, by constantly barking and such. The chickens would be in an enclosed run, of course. What do you guys think? Thanks

When I got my Goldendoodle puppy he ran into my chickens coop and the next morning out Polish who wasn’t even a year old yet had passed away. We aren’t sure it was from the puppy running in there but nothing else new had happened and there wasn’t any wounds on her so that’s all we could think of that was different.

 

[azygous]

This is an old thread.

In your case, It was likely a coincidence, though a tragic one. However, dogs making aggressive moves on a flock of chickens can cause stress. This can result in some chickens becoming sick from the stress, since stress causes body chemistry changes. Untreated, this sort of stress can be fatal is some cases. Also, a chicken can react in panic to a dog intrusion and injure themselves. If it's a head or spinal injury, death may be a result. No signs of injury would be noticeable on the body.