Cheapest Dogs For Protecting Chickens?

[ravenvalor]

Can you locate a more affordable feed?
I feed Diamond Beef and Rice and we get ours for $25 for a 40 pound bag.

I can get dog food for less money but I am kind of particular about what I feed our 14 year old. She is a beauty and most people are surprised to hear she is that old.

I am particular about what I feed my chickens also. Reedy Fork organic feed $32 for 50/LBS. This is why I am trying to find a less expensive way to feed them healthfully.

Thank you.

Jim

 

[luckysaysgo]

Hello

Hello My Fine Feathered Friends,

I switched from free range to chicken tractor over a year ago and I am ready to return to free range or a combination of both. Can someone please recommend the best dogs for protecting my flock? Marimmas are popular here in central North Carolina but I find them a little too expensive to feed. Are they actually expensive to feed or do they get alot of their sustenance from the chicken droppings?

Thank you so much !!!

Jim

,

I got a humane society hound/pointer mix. She is four. I had her before chickens and was worried about how she would react to them. However she has turned into the absolute most amazing protector of the flock. She is on high alert day and night and I swear she and the rooster are working as a team. She even herds them into the coop or under the deck when she sees danger. I think any smart dog that is bonded to you can be taught to care for your chickens. One thing I did learn is that she is alpha and must be offered mutually interesting treats first, then she will let the chickens have some when she is done. It took one week exactly to train her to protect and not snap or chase. Now I count on her whenever they free range and I'm not around.

 

[TLWR]

I can get dog food for less money but I am kind of particular about what I feed our 14 year old. She is a beauty and most people are surprised to hear she is that old.

What in particular about your current food do you like?
I am also very particular about what my dogs eat. And I have also had to feed different foods for different dogs. Diamond fits my requirements and I can also pick it up at a very good price at our feed store.
Different foods work for different dogs - mine never did well with Nutro varieties, nor the grain free options either.

 

[Folly's place]

Electric poultry fencing is expensive, but not compared to the cost of caring for one or two dogs. Mary

 

[ravenvalor]

LGD is Livestock Guardian Dog -- and "laundering nutrients" seems to refer to the flock picking feed from the feces of other barnyard animals - the undigested grains passed through horses, cows, etc. The economic benefit being that the feed that would be wasted by those larger animals is consumed by your flock and the overall waste is cut, if not all out eliminated (depending on the digestibility of those feeds for poultry being passed through the larger animals)

Would pig and goats be considered for that if raising chickens?

Thanks ,

Jim

 

[centrarchid]

Yes. Both better than one alone. Edibles come not only from grain bits not digested. During growing season even manure from forage fed animals (except poultry) can provide good insects and chickens can disperse those piles while eating / scratching about. Horses are handily the best for such. The other livestock can also keep pasture in growing state suitable for chickens, especially chicks to navigate. Best to make so paddocks are allowed to rest such that taller vegetation grows up providing chickens cover for weather and aerial predators.

 

[girliemomca]

We have always had a Golden Retriever for our pet, and he makes a great protector for our chickens. Our biggeat problem here is coyotes. We trained him from the beginning to leave the chickens alone. They free range and he goes outside with them to hang out. My biggest problem with this arrangement is the that chickens eat the dog's food if I have to leave it in the backyard from time to time.Our Golden let's the chickens to whatever they want.

 

[enola]

Guard dogs should be fed and then the food bowl removed before chickens can consume the dog's food. Running pigs and chickens together can lead to disaster. Pigs will run down and kill chickens.

 

[centrarchid]

Hogs in my experience only run down chickens when snow if deep. We kept only games in areas overlapping hogs and hog area was divided into several free-range paddocks of 1 to 2 acres each. Hens with chicks need to be able to get through a fence is pressed by hogs going after brood. A hog free area needed for ground roosting birds and nests.

 

[chooks4life]

Guard dogs should be fed and then the food bowl removed before chickens can consume the dog's food. Running pigs and chickens together can lead to disaster. Pigs will run down and kill chickens.

I agree. I've heard of plenty of problems developing between guard dogs and the animals they're guarding due to human mismanagement, generally involving feeding malpractices, or using poorly bred animals, or trying to cut too many corners, never mind trying to use just any type of dog for a specific and specialized purpose.

All pigs I've ever known ended up being kept separate from all other livestock, no matter what species or size, precisely because they did display predatory, carnivorous behavior, among other issues.

Re: all those comments about using crossbreeds... This doesn't work for most people. Most mixed breed dogs, or cheap Maremmas or Heelers, are cheap precisely because they're not fit for just about any purpose. I've known a positive glut of crap worker-breeds and mixes from the wrong background or the wrong breeding plan that were unfit for anything more than being lawn ornaments.

Australia is chock-full of useless Heeler/Maremma/Kelpie/Collie and similar mixes which are at best a danger to everything around them. You generally get what you pay for. Crosses are best known for being some of the most pointless animals in existence when it comes to working dogs. You get maybe one good one for a thousand useless ones that are only able to be pets and cause harm when used in any other situation. Heck, most of them don't even make good pets either. All that working drive but not enough intelligence, or too much disobedience.

I like Dingoes, I find them great dogs, but it doesn't mean I'm so short sighted I'd recommend my personal preference as being the ideal working dog for all situations just because it works for me. lol... Same is true of many working dog mixes. Leave designer breeds to puppy mills and people who only want ornamentals.

I'm not sure where the notion of 'high breeding' came into it, since good breeding is just that, no fancy terminology required.

For most uses, if you want a reliable working dog, don't go getting it from a backyard pet breeder, lol! And don't go buying a suspiciously cheap one either. Unless you're willing to gamble on that risk and the potential consequences.

Best wishes.