Flock massacre, what now......

[spiritbrook]

When I ran sled dogs (very hard on livestock if they get loose) I went around to the neighbors and introduced myself and asked if they saw a dog they thought was mine in the stock please come get me. If I couldn't call them in I'd shoot them myself. I was on the Army high power team at the time and I knew my dogs wouldn't suffer. It always irritates me when folks don't take care of dogs.

You might consider geese, pea fowl, or guinea fowl. If I was going for a stock dog I would go for a traditional one like Akbash or Anatolian. They have rescue organizations for most of those and are willing to place a dog who will do their job (or did last time I checked)

 

[RedShuffler]

Where are you Redshuffler?
Karen

I'm in Creek, Texas.......about 23 miles East of Madisonville, Texas.

 

[3riverschick]

Red shuffler,
that kind of sounds like you're in the middle of nowhere. No wonder you have varmints
Best success in your rat War!!
Karen

 

[Mrs. K]

Dogs can be hard on the flock, but so can other predators. Once they find you, they'll be back. Even when you free range most of the time, it is a worthwhile investment to have a run attached to your coop, that the flock can go into lock down for a while. It is sickening when you loose them, I know. I am very remote, and coons and coyotes have at different times treated my coop as the local fast food restaurant.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I'd say an Australian Shepherd ... might stand toe to toe with other dogs, might not ... but would certainly herd those chickens away from danger

I have Aussies and they wouldn't herd the chickens from danger. They're herding fools but chickens don't herd so well. They panic too easy.
Our dogs and poultry are together 24/7 and they are very good as protection. No hesitation to try to kill any threat that comes inside the fence line. But to be honest they don't protect any of our poultry or animals. They would care less if every bird on our property dropped dead. What they do care about is the family and their territory. They protect us and their area it just happens that their area is also the birds area.
If a dog comes around they will go after it but chickens are on their own. We also have guineas and geese. They are beyond useless as any protection. Yes they alarm call but they alarm call if the wind blows too hard. Its like the boy that cried wolf. Nothing pays much attention to their alarms at this point.

 

[The Moonshiner]

@RedShuffler
Sorry for your loss. I have the same policy for the same reason.
I lost 50 something birds to a husky years ago. That damn thing killed turkeys geese ducks and chickens. And was still killing them with me right there.
I felt bad having to kill it but it was a grizzly scene and happening so fast I needed it to end. Later that same year I lost a ewe to two dogs and came out to them playing tug of war with her ewe lamb. We somehow saved her but idk how she was shreaded up and down. I didn't feel so bad about those two.
I don't jack around anymore. Dogs are the worst. I won't call someone to come get their dogs unless its to claim the body and remove it. I have my own version of SSS. Shoot it, show you and sue you if need be.

 

[RedShuffler]

I have very large runs attached to my coops, roughly 1200 sq.ft. run for each 128 sq.ft. coop. My birds are on lock-down now. I integrated them today with no visible issues, they've been together so much already, and they're all pretty ragged, the ones that didn't get physically assaulted still watched and they're noticeably cautious. The dogs were stupid enough to come back for seconds and I took care of them. I'll lose a couple more to wounds, but I'm trying to give them every chance to pull through. Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm not interested in outside dogs so we'll just have to be a little more diligent in watching them when they're ranging.

 

[song of joy]

So sorry to hear about the losses to your flock!

As far as feed goes, you can give chicks, pullets, laying hens, and roosters the same type of feed - a flock raiser feed or chick starter/grower feed. These feeds are low in calcium, so you'll need to provide some crushed oyster shell in a separate dish for the laying hens.