Guardian dogs for Poultry, Goats, ect?

[Kevin565]

My Danes protect my chickens and go everywhere with them..... Here they are escorting my Maran from her tractor to the coop/run area.

X2 on the Danes. My Danes where raised with the birds and now hang out with them all the time.

 

[afveteran88]

I had a yellow lab that was with my chicks from day one and she did great. I never had to worry about her and the chickens loved her. I had to put her down in November due to cancer and I just started looking again for a new pup. It will be a lab for sure.
Good luck with your search.

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

We started out with Sporting breed dogs. They were great with the birds (they are bird dogs after all) but, where useless for protection. Our retrievers were primarily focused on us, other people and small rodents but where oblivious to predators. We actually had foxes sneak into the yard past the dogs and us and run off with a chicken, in board daylight. We lost half of our small flock before better protection was in place.

My advice is to stick with working dogs with guarding tendencies. It seems that most dogs can be chicken trained but, the guarding instinct is hardwired. We have had a Great Pyrenees and a Newfoundland as the guard dog. The Pyr was 100% successful against predators. The Newfie is still new but, she goes into that guarding mode at times which is great and not was excess as the Pyr. The only time the Pyr was off duty was inside the house and even then a particular sound could switch her into that guard mode.

Jim

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

I second this advice.... except I like good fencing.

We currently have free-range chickens and will be getting sheep.
Our LGD's spend most of their time with the chickens around the pole barn.
Any LGD you get will have to be "trained" around whatever livestock it will be guarding.
I have Great Pyrs (because they bark) and Kangals (because they will kill).
Greay Pyrs are pretty easy to come by and I can PM you some Kangal breeders.
There are also lots of other LGD breeds (e.g. Maremmas, Akbash, Anatolian Shepherds, . . . etc.)
My property has some fencing (just barbed wire) that the dogs can squeeze under; however, I am surrounded by fallow fields, so there is nowhere for the dogs to wander off to.
They pretty much stay close.
Good luck in your search!

Jim

 

[centrarchid]

We started out with Sporting breed dogs. They were great with the birds (they are bird dogs after all) but, where useless for protection. Our retrievers were primarily focused on us, other people and small rodents but where oblivious to predators. We actually had foxes sneak into the yard past the dogs and us and run off with a chicken, in board daylight. We lost half of our small flock before better protection was in place.

My advice is to stick with working dogs with guarding tendencies. It seems that most dogs can be chicken trained but, the guarding instinct is hardwired. We have had a Great Pyrenees and a Newfoundland as the guard dog. The Pyr was 100% successful against predators. The Newfie is still new but, she goes into that guarding mode at times which is great and not was excess as the Pyr. The only time the Pyr was off duty was inside the house and even then a particular sound could switch her into that guard mode.

Jim

In your experience quite likely. I am in frequent contact with all sorts of dogs playing a range of roles. Some dogs, regardless of breeding, are not competent as guardians. Others, regardless of breeding, are very competent guardians. My highly functional pointer operating as a guard dog acts just like your best GP or Anitolian. The best animals (GP and GP crosses) we have at work which are now pushing ten with each pair defending a separate flock of sheep / goats, not one or two dpgs defending a menagerie on a two acre plot. He gets up, orients on threat, makes a ruckess to solicit help / threaten target and then gets after it. I have no doubt he can close distance with red fox quicker than any of the larger guardian breeds since laws of physics apply. The extra size of a the standard flock guardians does not make them better at dealing with the most persistant predator, Mr. Fox. When you say 100% control, if that is achieved at a dog upkeep cost greater than birds that would otherwise be lost then your guardian may as well be killing birds itself. The anti-predator measure must be appropriately sized, otherwise you are hunting squirrels with a cannon.

To the OP, you need to be able to identifiy the characteristics of what makes a dog suitable as guard dog for premises and a stationary flock on it. Consult your local dog trainer for that since most here do not acknowledge importance of individual variation..

 

[Mzyla]

That is so cute ! Two dogs escorting chicken!

 

[TrystInn]

Gracie, our Border Collie (a rescue) is an awesome flock guardian. She doesn't put up with anything messing with her feathered sheep, she's saved us from over a dozen stray/wandering neighbor dogs trying to rip apart or dig under our fences - large enough and powerful enough to cause a fuss. And she's even chased away a couple of burglars and leapt the fence to chase off someone messing with our neighbor's house when her two daughter's were home alone.

She's also a great prognosticator to let us know when eggs are about to hatch, generally she lets me know 24-48 hours ahead of time. Gracie is more accurate than the countdown! She watches over every nest and brooder, though we do get the occasional wise guy:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/image/view/id/4676662/album/6132214

We also have two Basset Hounds, who patrol the property, very effective with four-footed predators and frankly, even the Bald Eagles don't want to hang around the kind of noise these two generate. One of them also doubles as a very effective brooder, when I need to clean them or the power goes out. He's also a bit of a ham:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/image/view/id/4676520/album/6132214

 

[nzpouter]

we have bull breeds, strong enough to tackle the usual tresspasing predators, including other canines.

 

[Farmin Momma]

Well just this morning I lost my first two chickens to a coyote. I live in the city! Anyways normaly I have my dogs out with me for my morning chores, but today I was in a hurry and late so they were inside eating. My dogs are a Great Dane and a Mastiff ( being put down soon due to hips) But they have been inside dogs their whole lives and I know they would not be happy being shoved outside 24/7 all of a sudden. So I am thinking about getting a pup of some sort and raisning it with the chickens, but do you guys think that would work with having other dogs or would it destract the LGD and make him not want to do his job?

Also has anyone noticed if females so better than males or the other way around?

 

[centrarchid]

Well just this morning I lost my first two chickens to a coyote. I live in the city! Anyways normaly I have my dogs out with me for my morning chores, but today I was in a hurry and late so they were inside eating. My dogs are a Great Dane and a Mastiff ( being put down soon due to hips) But they have been inside dogs their whole lives and I know they would not be happy being shoved outside 24/7 all of a sudden. So I am thinking about getting a pup of some sort and raisning it with the chickens, but do you guys think that would work with having other dogs or would it destract the LGD and make him not want to do his job?

Also has anyone noticed if females so better than males or the other way around?

Sex seems to matter only when dealing with other dogs. If intact, then when somebody comes into heat male may wander or female get suiters. I see people with LGD's and others at same time. The distraction seems more of issue when LGD is young. Some folks have both LGD's and herding dogs with distractions being manageable when latter is working.