Egg Stealing Dogs

[illinoishiker]

I have two dogs that are very good with the chickens. I like to let my chickens free range and the dogs are handy to keep predators away. I have not lost a guinea or a chicken while dogs are loose with them. BUT, I have to leave the pop doors open for the girls to go in to lay and the sneaky dogs use the pop doors to go in and eat the eggs. Anyone broke their dogs of egg eating?

 

[azygous]

Here is a helpful article on substances that will repel dogs. https://pets.thenest.com/smells-repel-dogs-6274.html

 

[illinoishiker]

Thanks. Will consider those ideas. But, I saw an old thread about this issue that showed a raised pop door the dogs can't reach. That might work well for us. We have a hardware cloth covered window under roof which might be converted to a raised pop door for the birds. I'm thinking that could be a good permanent solution. I'll post pics when get done with conversion. I went out to my garden this morning and when came back I saw one of the dogs in the chook pen. Brazen!

 

[pennyJo1960]

That or contain the dogs in the meantime

 

[illinoishiker]

They do have a pen. I like them out with the birds as we live in the woods with many predators and they protect the birds very well. That would be until we built the pop door conversion. They are penned now.

 

[NatJ]

I have no personal experience with this, but a few possibilities occur to me:

Maybe you could move the nestboxes higher? If the chickens can fly to a perch and then step into the nestboxes, but the dogs cannot, that might solve your problem. (Of course, that only works for some styles of coop, for some kinds of chickens, and for some kinds of dogs. Heavy chickens may not fly any higher than an athletic dog can jump.)

Hot peppers burn the tongues of mammals (including dogs) but not birds (like chickens.) You might be able to put cayenne pepper or something like that in the nestboxes. Especially if it sticks to the wet bloom when the eggs are laid, it might deter the dogs (or it might not.)

You could try letting the dogs out only when you can supervise, and reprimand the dogs each time they try to go into the chicken coop. (Time consuming, probably works better with some dogs than others.)

You could try making a hole in each end of an egg, blowing out the insides, then filling the shell with hot sauce or something else the dogs do not like. Then put that "egg" in the nestbox and let the dogs have it. (I've read of this, and it sounds clever, but I'm sure some dogs would just learn to check for eggs that smell normal vs. different.)

Maybe consider an invisible fence (the kind where the dog wears a collar that shocks it), set up right around the chicken coop to keep the dogs out.

Or an electric fence around the chicken coop, if you can arrange a height that lets chickens in but zaps dogs.

Many eggs tend to get laid in the morning, so you may be able to keep the chickens penned until most eggs have been laid, then collect the eggs, then let the chickens and the dogs out for the rest of the day. This would not re-train the dogs, but would let you get most of the eggs.

 

[illinoishiker]

Lots of good ideas. Thank you. The electric fence would work for one of them. She is terrified of electric wire. Doesn't have to be on, but the other is athletic and jumps like a deer and is not afraid of the wire. Reprimanding won't work. They like eggs too much. I didn't know the red pepper wouldn't harm or bother chickens. That is a thought. Black pepper works very well to deter dogs and is not as harmful as red pepper. I used it when we lived in the city to deter a dog that pooped right at my mailbox every day. My young son stepped in it every day. The owner should have been the one to suffer the pepper up the nose. But the dog stopped pooping at my mailbox. I've been thinking where to put a higher pop door but it doesn't work so well. My hens are heavy and the one dog is very athletic. My house is secure now. I don't want to do anything that would weaken that. If the one dog who is not afraid of the wire got zapped she would respect it. I do have electric wire and the zapper. Used them to get the dogs to stay out of my plantings. Then the one has figured out it's not on anymore. Took her a while. So if she gets zapped and I just leave the wire up after a while it would work for quite a while. There's a few possibilities here. Thanks again.

 

[illinoishiker]

Animal Control urged me to use black pepper not red to repel dogs from my mailbox. Works but is 'kinder'. I use black pepper a lot to repel deer and my cats and dogs from plants and areas. I haven't used with the chicken nests though because thought would repel the chickens from their nest boxes. I'll research it more before trying it. I'm currently saving eggs from a hen that is on medication. I can put hot sauce on or in them and see if that repels the dogs. But the electric fence is the best idea for me and a pop door out of their reach is great if can figure it out with my set up. Also keep dogs in while chickens are out and going in to lay and then letting dogs out after I collect the eggs. And putting the hot sauce egg in a nest. Hee Hee The first year with the chickens and guineas coyotes would come right up to the front porch or back door. Killed my cat during the day right out the back door. There are no coyotes anywhere close with the dogs. One is a pit-mountain cur cross. My husband said he pitied the coyote she gets a hold of. They are wonderful protectors and people friendly. They need to be loose with the chickens and guineas.

 

[NatJ]

Black pepper and red pepper have different kinds of "hot." I do not know whether the one in black pepper (piperine) would bother chickens or not.

Capsaicin is in jalapeno peppers, cayenne peppers, etc. It affects mammals not birds. That is why some people add red pepper flakes to bird seed-- doesn't bother the birds, but squirrels don't like it very well.

As for whether black pepper is kinder for dogs, I'm guessing the effect wears off sooner, which could be good or bad depending on how strong of a lesson the dog needs. But I'm pretty sure the red pepper doesn't do them any long-term harm.

 

[illinoishiker]

Good to know. These two hard cores need a good lesson to get through their thick skulls. But I would never want them really hurt. And I don't want the chickens bothered by it. Red pepper might be the better choice. I'm thinking to try later today. It's 4p and two hens are in the nest boxes so will wait until they've laid their eggs.