Getting a guardian puppy - any chicken<-->dog communicables I need to worry about?

[chickfused]

Glad she is getting better in areas. Give her frozen carrots for her teeth, my vet told me to do this with my pup to help her. Im not sure how to stop her from thinking the chickens will play with her, eventually she would learn though.

It may take a few years. But that's ok. Her simple presence seems to be enough to keep the fox away so as long as she's outside on a lead (or even not out at all in the evenings) the chickens seem to be safe so far. I pick up her poop and toss it around the perimeter of the property where no one will walk just for the predators to smell. (When she doesn't simply cooperate and deliver it there in the first place )

 

[Aunt Angus]

I am inching closer to getting a LGD or two. This is helping me research and decide.

 

[chickfused]

I have grown to love my wee shovel. It was hard starting, for both of us, but we're much, much happier with each other.

 

[chickfused]

I am inching closer to getting a LGD or two. This is helping me research and decide.

If you want any human love at all, LGD is not the way to go. They are very independent and want to spend their lives entirely with their charges. For me, I'd get another English Shepherd. She's doing exactly what I needed her to. Just the right balance of independence and wanting to please me without all the intensity of a Border Collie. And wicked smart. I remain fairly unconcerned about prey drive with cats and chickens and I'm convinced that first month with the birds was critical to that. The transition when she outgrew them was a bitch though.

 

[chickfused]

Sad day here. Lost a chicken. I don't think Copper got her, she flies the coop all the time solo and I suspect she got foxed. I know there's still a fox around, I've seen him twice in the past 2.5 months Copper's been with us, but I used to see him once or twice a day, so I don't know.

However, and this is a long shot, this little pullet started laying eggs about 6 weeks ago. And...completely stopped 4 weeks ago. I haven't found a single egg from her at all. I'm hoping against hope she's stupidly sitting a clutch somewhere, and likely in the chicken pen in some hidey hole I can't find. I found no feather piles (but she was a banty in size and a fox could have killed her in one pounce - no struggle) and no evidence of mayhem or a dead chicken anywhere.

Pray for my little Anna chicken, may she come home in a month with babies in tow. She was very tame, and very sweet. Borderline lap chicken.

 

[chickfused]

Anna chicken is home! She must have a hidey hole in the pen somewhere, she was in with her birds a few minutes ago. The real test of if she's gone broody is if she disappears again today.

Edit: And she's gone again. Well, hopefully she appears with babies in a few weeks. I can't imagine she's got any fertile eggs. She doesn't have any experienced roosters with her, though they try. I'm not too worried about predators getting her, she seems to have a nest hidden in the pen and Copper polices it at night. (She might eat the babies if mom brings them out before I take her out in the morning though.)

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Sad day here. Lost a chicken. I don't think Copper got her, she flies the coop all the time solo and I suspect she got foxed. I know there's still a fox around, I've seen him twice in the past 2.5 months Copper's been with us, but I used to see him once or twice a day, so I don't know.

However, and this is a long shot, this little pullet started laying eggs about 6 weeks ago. And...completely stopped 4 weeks ago. I haven't found a single egg from her at all. I'm hoping against hope she's stupidly sitting a clutch somewhere, and likely in the chicken pen in some hidey hole I can't find. I found no feather piles (but she was a banty in size and a fox could have killed her in one pounce - no struggle) and no evidence of mayhem or a dead chicken anywhere.

Pray for my little Anna chicken, may she come home in a month with babies in tow. She was very tame, and very sweet. Borderline lap chicken.

Im so sorry for your loss. And lets hope the fox goes away.

 

[chickfused]

Im so sorry for your loss. And lets hope the fox goes away.

There's no loss, she was apparently never gone. She's got a nest somewhere I can't find But thank you nonetheless!

 

[MixedFlock23]

Good thread! I’m hoping to get a chicken protecting pup someday myself. My eldest daughter likes Old English Sheepdogs, so that’s what I’m currently reading up on. (I grew up with beagles & dachshunds—my last dachshund loved our chickens, but she was a house dog, not a farm dog. Beagles are definitely not what I want.) My youngest likes Great Danes, but I’m not on board with a dog that large yet. I like the looks of blue Merle Australian shepherds, but have never really known one. My hubby likes black labs. My brother has a Great Pyrenees—but she wanders too much for our liking. Now I have another breed to consider, thanks to your chronicles of Copper.

 

[chickfused]

She's a handful and then some. Treed my littlest cat today. So I guess we have a new skill to work on for the next few...months...most likely. But we'll get there!

In other news, Anna is definitely broody and sitting a nest somewhere. I saw her briefly twice today, but she didn't come in to roost again.