Dogs and Chickens

[epinkstn]

We are new to raising hens, but finally have our girls (nearly 10 weeks old) in the coop/backyard. When we started with them as day old chicks, I took the dogs in the room nearly daily and let them look at the chicks in the brooder while on a leash.
We have a 60lb mixed breed 11 year old male(shepherd/chow/husky???) and a 4 year old standard doxie. Both are rescued and have ?? background. The large dog licked the chicks and sniffed and then ignored them. The doxie drooled and shivered like she was gonna die if she didn't get them. YIKES! It got a little better, but not much.

When we built the coop, it sat in the yard for 2 months empty and the dogs left it alone. We put the girls in there about 2 weeks ago and the large dog "marked" it with the girls inside. Poor girls. Now he sticks his nose in and gets pecked, but acts like he wants to play. This is how he plays with the doxie.
The doxie just wants to eat them. Period.

When the girls free range, I have to be really careful to keep the dogs inside. I tried them on a leash with them and that's fine, but gets old.

Is there any hope in them cohabitating in the yard? Thoughts on trying it supervised with dogs muzzled?

 

[donrae]

The older dog sounds like he might be okay, but I don't think I'd ever trust the Doxie from what you're saying. What you have is a predator bred to hunt and kill small, fast moving creatures. Expecting it to go against all it's instincts bred into it for hundreds of years and co-exist happily with small, noisy fast moving creatures may just be pushing it too much. I'm not sure a muzzle would help, lots of damage can be done with paws.

Thinking of the older dog...that "play" behavior could also lead to dead chickens. I lost several 2-3 month old pullets to a young dog who thought they were squeaky toys. He had no intent to kill them, he just was so excited by them and wanted to play with them. When one "broke" and quit squeaking, he went to find another

I'd say dogs in the house during free ranging is going to be your best bet. You can always put in some intensive hours of training and see how things go, but high prey drive dogs often don't do well around chickens.

 

[epinkstn]

Thank you so much for the reply donrae. I think I'll be keeping them separate. I'd hate to have dead hens and a skinned dog!

 

[angelika]

I'm having the same problem, except my golden retriever actually managed to kill one of our hens and injure another just "playing" with them. He has no hunting instinct, but really wants to chase the birds. But he is 90 lbs. We do keep him outside occasionally while we FR the chickens, but we tie him to a tree. Otherwise he goes bananas being locked in the house if the whole family is outside. The chickens steer clear of him. We are new too, only about a month in with year old hens and 10 weeks old pullets. I don't think our dog would ever really be safe with them.

 

[epinkstn]

I sure with the big dogs knew how to play "safely". I know he feels like he's being punished when we leave him in the house and we're all outside. I'll look at a way to tie him while we're all out there. I think the doxie would pull the tree down. LOL!

 

[bobbi-j]

You can always work on training him (the big dog, I don't know about the Doxie) to leave the chickens alone. He's older, but it could work with time and consistency. There are quite a few threads on training your dog how to leave chickens alone. We have to start working with our pup, too. He's a lab/golden retriever (crossed with "stupid" according to my DH) mix and is 5 months old. He's pretty bullheaded, but we will see how things go. There will be separation for a time, for sure. He leaves the grown chickens alone, but baby/young chickens seem oh, so tempting to a dog!

 

[epinkstn]

You can always work on training him (the big dog, I don't know about the Doxie) to leave the chickens alone. He's older, but it could work with time and consistency. There are quite a few threads on training your dog how to leave chickens alone. We have to start working with our pup, too. He's a lab/golden retriever (crossed with "stupid" according to my DH) mix and is 5 months old. He's pretty bullheaded, but we will see how things go. There will be separation for a time, for sure. He leaves the grown chickens alone, but baby/young chickens seem oh, so tempting to a dog!

Good luck with your pup. From what I've read it seems to be easier with the mixed breeds

I hope with our good ole boy that things work out eventually. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that the doxie wants them as a treat too badly to have it work with her.