Chickens and Dogs

[ChickChic00]

I am looking to buy 2 puppies at 8 weeks age hopefully, and put them in the pen with our chickens. I have two Chihuahuas that guard the outside of the pen, and a lab mix that watches and guard the whole 5 acres. What breed should I get to raise around the chickens, and safely have it running around with them? I was thinking, Australian shepherd, Texas Heeler, blue/red Heeler, German shepherd, or border collie. Any ideas and tips would be very much appreciated!!

 

[Isabella7Storm5]

as long as you expose the puppies to the chickens at a young age and teach them not to eat 'em, those breeds will most likely be fine.

 

[Folly's place]

Puppies left alone with chickens, not a good idea! Supervise interactions, otherwise the puppies may think those birds are toys, never good.
Livestock guardian dogs are raised with sheep, for example, much bigger animals, not the same as chickens at all.
Talk to people who have raised dogs for this purpose first.
Here we supervise puppies closely when they are around the birds, so they learn to avoid interactions, not play with the birds at all.
Mary

 

[Geena]

Australian shepherd, Texas Heeler, blue/red Heeler, German shepherd

All of those breeds have a strong prey drive and would most likely need a good deal of supervision and training to be good with small animals.

Many people get two pups thinking it will be easier because they will keep each other company. But in reality two same age pups, especially if they are siblings, are much more than double the trouble. Yes, they do keep one another company, but they also constantly compete with each other, egg each other on and try to one up one another. I have done so and it can turn out well, but it's a LOT of work.

Is there any particular reason that you want the dogs right in the pen with the chickens? A new pup to help your Lab keep an eye on things would be much easier and probably just as effective without all the headaches of having the dogs in with the chickens.

 

[Folly's place]

Right on all counts!
Mary

 

[ChickChic00]

All of those breeds have a strong prey drive and would most likely need a good deal of supervision and training to be good with small animals.

Many people get two pups thinking it will be easier because they will keep each other company. But in reality two same age pups, especially if they are siblings, are much more than double the trouble. Yes, they do keep one another company, but they also constantly compete with each other, egg each other on and try to one up one another. I have done so and it can turn out well, but it's a LOT of work.

Is there any particular reason that you want the dogs right in the pen with the chickens? A new pup to help your Lab keep an eye on things would be much easier and probably just as effective without all the headaches of having the dogs in with the chickens.

I'm gonna be having some very expensive rooster on tie outs in a huge pen. I want one dog to keep watch of predators. And I won't have both dogs together. I'll have the other in another area on the property. That way they don't cause each other chaos. And it'll make training a bit easier on me.

 

[Geena]

I'm gonna be having some very expensive rooster on tie outs in a huge pen. I want one dog to keep watch of predators. And I won't have both dogs together. I'll have the other in another area on the property. That way they don't cause each other chaos. And it'll make training a bit easier on me.

Everyone that I know of that keeps roosters on tie outs or in individual pens surrounds the area with electric fence, then has a dog(s) roaming the perimeter areas.

I can tell you for sure that GSDs would not do well in the kind of set up you describe.

 

[ChickChic00]

Everyone that I know of that keeps roosters on tie outs or in individual pens surrounds the area with electric fence, then has a dog(s) roaming the perimeter areas.

I can tell you for sure that GSDs would not do well in the kind of set up you describe.

I have family that has purebred Australian shepherd dogs, they have 6 grown dogs all around their expensive chickens. So I was debating on getting two puppies from them or getting two puppies from their dogs dog lol. Pure Australian shepherd and blue heeler cross

 

[NatJ]

I have family that has purebred Australian shepherd dogs, they have 6 grown dogs all around their expensive chickens.

Have you asked them for advice and tips?
It sounds like they have exactly the right experience to give good advice.
I would be especially curious about whether they raised them that way from puppies, or whether they needed to do something different while the dogs were young.

So I was debating on getting two puppies from them or getting two puppies from their dogs dog lol. Pure Australian shepherd and blue heeler cross

Getting puppies from them sounds like a good idea. At least you know that the parents are suitable for that lifestyle and job, which increases the chance that the puppies will also grow up to be suitable.

I'm gonna be having some very expensive rooster on tie outs in a huge pen. I want one dog to keep watch of predators. And I won't have both dogs together. I'll have the other in another area on the property. That way they don't cause each other chaos. And it'll make training a bit easier on me.

I would not try raising a puppy in the same pen with very expensive chickens. If anything goes wrong while the puppy is growing and learning, it's better to have it go wrong with cheap chickens than expensive ones!

 

[TwoShepherds]

I have German Shepherds and I keep them seperate from my goats and chickens due to their prey drive. While the breed is trainable and mine have had several brief (accidental) encounters with my livestock without harming them, my GSDs are very people/family-oriented and I doubt they would be happy living 24/7 with my flocks. I am contemplating adding a guardian dog(s) someday--but would pick one of the livestock guardian breeds. Have you researched any of those? I think adding electric, like someone mentioned, sounds very wise if your birds are valuable and the predator load is high.