English Shepherd as Poultry Guardian

[centrarchid]

Ben has offically been registered. No overlap in any of his progenitors going back three generations. For fun I will be looking further back. Another point worth noting is they did not regard the brindle pattern reference I made with the sable. The color pattern he is registered to have is sable. I wonder why ignoring of the pattern on a solid sable when it appears to be recognized on pied sable.

 

[dan26552]

 

[centrarchid]

Ben did bad today costing me $40. He went with Lucy and attacked neighbors chickens. Keep this in mind we have chickens running loose on our end, usually more, without issues at same time. I do not know what is going on in the dog's head. Not all chickens were on neighbors property at time and some still were foraging on a third parties ground during discussions after attack. The birds have also come onto us barely in the last month or so without issue.

We discussed better containment on both ends. They took a hit but discussion suggests someone else is doing a lot more damage on a nickle and dime basis. I am trying to help get them into some fencing and will allow them to borrow a fence charger. Electrifid poultry netting I think is best for their needs although when they researched they indicated it would cost $500/100 foot stretch of netting and thus they did not invest in it. I was able to get 164' foot stretch with charger setup for just over $200. I will sleep better if they are better protected as I have heard their birds when taken by something at night and I have to rush and make certain my dogs are not involved. Taker runs either east or west and west dogs go after it.



Ben has another year before I will trust him. These dogs still keep my birds very safe and I think neighbors see it. They have three dogs as well and I suspect their dogs have done some damage as well making them particularly sensitive to dog issues. They are also trying to do what I did when first starting out here expecting all to work out with total free-range approach. A little fencing helps and it is the dog that you do not know that will hammer your flock.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

Is it possible that the neighbors chickens and yours were fighting? My shepard often rushes to a fight (it is usually between a stray Tom cat and my farm cats) seeming intent on breaking up the diturbance. The dog will chase off the intruder too. If it were chickens instead of cats I could see how easy that could turn to death.

 

[centrarchid]

No, birds never come closer than 250' of each other. Only hens of theirs come close as they appear to have only one rooster. What might be a problem is their hens can hear my roosters crowing drawing the hens towards them over time. When sex ratio of out of balance, the sex in excess seems more inclined to roam.

 

[Mini Meat]

Young dogs coming of age often make bad choices. And that whole once a chicken killer always a chicken killer is not necessarily true. It can be fixed.

My Border collie/ Aussie once went on a killing spree. After having a "conversation" with the dog she went on to be a great guardian and I didn't lose another bird for over a decade. Then she got old and I lost all but 2 in one night to a coon.

You'll sort it out.

 

[fisherlady]

A young dog just doesn't always have the impulse control. ..my male will intervene immediately when a major squabble arises, as a youngster it only took a minor one to get his attention, and as previously stated that could easily escalate or cause excessive excitement which he wouldn't know how to deal with as a youngster. You could try setting up artificial situations where you're present to provide correction or guidance and to help 'desensitize' him to minor squabbles.

 

[dan26552]

A young dog just doesn't always have the impulse control. ..my male will intervene immediately when a major squabble arises, as a youngster it only took a minor one to get his attention, and as previously stated that could easily escalate or cause excessive excitement which he wouldn't know how to deal with as a youngster. You could try setting up artificial situations where you're present to provide correction or guidance and to help 'desensitize' him to minor squabbles.

x2

 

[dan26552]

The chicken started it, Rex played along

 

[centrarchid]

Ben is a wussy. I caught a male opposum by hand from my new barn. It is not able to get at birds but it did get my stash of eggs collected this morning. I brought it back to house to see how Ben would react. He did not even bark. Opossum briefly stood its ground then tried to make a run for it. My almost 3 year daughter runs faster. Ben chomped it once in shoulder area causing it to play dead and produce the stinky green stuff that comes from the back end. Lucy is normally very unpleasant to such critters but simply watched. Once opossum put on the act Ben lost interest. Scoob would have obliterated the opossum. I dispatched it myself.

Ben is going to need some work to develop the killer in him. We can not give a predator a pass just because it does not fight back effectively.