Help with dog and new coop specs

[Wateredgarden11]

Hi everyone, I have a question about our mini schnauzer and our new chicks coming. I am worried my dog will attack our chickens. Does anyone on the forum have a mini schnauzer and if so how has your dog been around your chickens. Did your ms finally accept that the chickens were part of the family? I see threads where you all talk about your dogs guarding your chickens however so far schnauzer breed has not been mentioned. We are building a portable coop run to move around our small backyard for our chickens as even in town we have a lot of predators. Skunks, raccoons, hawks, and roaming dogs and cats. I only wanted 4 RIR max however Tractor supply would only sell chicks in batches of 6. Not sure what we will do with the extras. We were planning on building a 3’by 5’ coop and attached 9’ run that we would keep in one place in our yard.. We were also going to build a second portable run that we could move around the yard 3’by 8’. We were planning to bring the coop and attached run into our garage for winter as it gets very cold here . Are those dimensions too small for 6 chickens? I think the coop might be too small. We also have a portable dog run which I wondered if I could use as a portable run for the chickens. I could cover it with deer netting to keep out hawks. Has anyone ever used one of these? The chicks arrive in our home on April 9. Any pointers from anyone as to how to train a dog so that they will guard and not eat your birds? I have visions of our dog standing by the run all day barking which my neighbors will not like and never being able to allow our chickens to free range in our backyard even with me standing there due to our own pet! We are making our brooder for them now and I will make sure our dog can not get near them. Also I have read that chicks grow very fast and I am worried that the brooder which is a plastic tub will not hold them long. Has anyone every used a large bird cage to house chicks in at around 3 weeks when I think they like to try wings out? I have one that is 3' by 4' tall. Would this be an alternative? Thanks for any information or ideas for training a dog to not attack.

 

[horsejody]

Miniature Schnauzers are actually a terrier breed. That will make it more difficult for him to be around chickens. I used to have one. He was OK with the birds but we never left him alone with them. The temptation would have been too much.

 

[jonesgirl]

LORDY! Good luck with that little schnauzer!

My dogs don't have that kind of temperment, but what I did was when I got my chicks home, I would hold them, and show the dogs, even let the chicks give the dogs kisses.. With plenty of supervision of course...

My big dog got a hold of our roo once, and she got in B I G trouble.. Now when the chickens get out.. the dogs just stare at them... It takes awhile for them to get used to because thier nature is to eat em up! :}