Dogs that kill weasels but not chickens?

[Poultry mum]

Well, I've trained my 4 cats not to kill chickens. They don't stalk the chicks in their brooders, either.

But I think dogs are harder to train than cats are.

My cats are scared of the chickens and ducks....lol they bite....!!

 

[parvani]

I think it would be hard for a weasel to kill a free ranging standard sized chicken. Think about the size difference. I don't know that a weasel could get a full-grown chicken pinned down or to stay still long enough to hurt it. A lot of standard sized chickens will go after mice, rats and other small animals. A weasel would probably become prey instead of a predator if it tried to kill a chicken during the day. It's a much easier meal for a weasel at night when chickens are helpless.

SIX out of the 7 chickens the weasel killed last September were very large full size birds. Mostly Faverolles, a couple had been crossed with Brahmas.

Two died slow deaths -- one rooster had been scalped, a hen had been de-beaked. I tried to keep them alive, but after two weeks the rooster's scalp became infected, and a week or so after that the hen died even though she seemed to have been eating enough fermented mash.

It was horribly traumatic for all of us, and it STILL makes me cry to think about it.

And for all the -- let's face it, brain-dead MORONS who think I just strolled off last summer and left my beloved birds to be picked off one by one...

You need to read more carefully.

I don't feel it's safe to let my birds OUT even in the daytime. They are NEVER allowed outside their very-secure run.

I had hoped that posters here might understand my reluctance to re-live the entire ugly episode, and stick to the question at hand.

Some posters actually responded to my question, and I thank all of you who had sensible suggestions.

Those who couldn't be bothered to read the entire first post are apparently only commenting on this thread because you believe you are experts whose every golden word should be treasured for its profound wisdom... regardless of whether it has anything to do with the actual topic of the thread. Well, I wasn't impressed.

So, posters who didn't read the OP carefully and then gave advice on problems I don't have are now all on ignore. And we will all be much happier together on this board if you will please put me on ignore, too. Than we can all avoid you responding rudely and inappropriately to any future thread I start.

 

[bobbi-j]

SIX out of the 7 chickens the weasel killed last September were very large full size birds. Mostly Faverolles, a couple had been crossed with Brahmas.

Two died slow deaths -- one rooster had been scalped, a hen had been de-beaked. I tried to keep them alive, but after two weeks the roosters scalp became infected, and a week or so after that the hen died even though she seemed to have been eating enough fermented mash.

It was horribly traumatic for all of us, and it STILL makes me cry to think about it.

And for all the -- let's face it, brain-dead MORONS who think I just strolled off last summer and left my beloved birds to be picked off one by one...

You need to read more carefully.

I don't feel it's safe to let my birds OUT even in the daytime. They are NEVER allowed outside their very-secure run.

I had hoped that posters here might understand my reluctance to re-live the entire ugly episode, and sensibly stick to the question at hand.

Some posters actually responded to my question, and I thank all of you who had sensible suggestions.

The rest of you are apparently only here on this thread because you believe you are experts whose every golden word should be treasured for its profound wisdom... regardless of whether it has anything to do with the actual topic of the thread, and regardless if whether you even bothered to READ the OP. Well, I wasn't impressed.

Posters who didn't read the OP carefully and then gave advice on problems I don't have are now all on ignore. And we will all be much happier together on this board if you will please put me on ignore, too. Than we can all avoid you responding rudely and inappropriately to any future thread I start.

My apologies - I thought your chickens were killed at night while roosting on patio furniture and in trees, not free ranging during the day (which is what I have been talking about in each of my posts.) I do hope you can find a solution so you are comfortable letting your chickens free range during the day again. (The post you quoted was actually in response to a different poster - I’m surprised you saw and responded to it since you have me on ignore. I will not bother you again.)

 

[GermanRooster]

We have two dogs, a boxer and a Pitbull-boxer mix. They go crazy when a wild animal enter the yard. I think the trick to our dogs is not the breed but rather that we let the chickens loose in the yard with the dogs present. We feed them snacks, like pieces of bread. The dogs like to get into the action snatching a piece of bread too. They seem to know that the chickens are friends and not to be hunted.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

I have Shepradore dog (almost three) and he is a Hunter! He hunts full grown tomcats for fun, but is super smart, he once cornered a racoon. He barked at it for 2 hours but would not kill it till we came out, his reinforcements lol. He has a high prey drive but we have done a lot of training (about 2 years!) and he is doing better, but let me tell you he is one heck of a guard dog!

 

[parvani]

Recently, someone revived an older thread, "English Shepherd as Poultry Guardian". I spent a couple days this week reading all of it -- it's LOOONG! -- and I recommend it to anyone who has the same question I had.

English Shepherds sound like exactly what I was looking for -- intelligent dogs with good instincts who can be trained to respect the poultry and keep it safe, even from other poultry!

There are doubtless many breeds of dogs that would do the job, but this breed is probably going to the top of my list.

 

[bill3607]

Dachshunds are ferocious with rodents. They were bred to be long and low to the ground so that they could go into ground tunnels after rodents. I have had 2 of them in the past at different times and have seen what they will and can do with rodents and things similar to rodents and even ones bigger than they are. Both of mine had the heart of a lion when it came to these type animals. I did not have chickens at the time so I cannot tell you anything on that. However, they were good not to bother cats. They just hated a dadgum rodent or anything similar. It was something to see.

 

[k24atom]

Any dog from the working or hurding group will work. Terriers will also work. Take your pick!

 

[birdfunaddict]

I definitely think locking them up at night - or teaching them to actually roost in trees, though I suspect that is either intuitive or it isn't - is going to be a much faster, cheaper, and easier solution than training a dog to cue in on weasels but not chickens. I would suggest keeping the birds locked up for a week all day and night and then start letting them out during the day. If they dont go back to the coop to sleep, lock them up for longer until they're consistent about it.

FYI - roosting in trees doesn't protect them from either the raccoons OR the owls. Both predators will pick them out of the trees at night.

 

[ackie]

FYI - roosting in trees doesn't protect them from either the raccoons OR the owls. Both predators will pick them out of the trees at night.

Im definitely not saying it's not possible, but i havent seen it with my trees and my birds.

(my birds all have gamefowl in them)