how many of you let your chickens free range...and have a dog??

[kennyruby101]

we are facing the same situation,we have a rat terrier mix that jumps anything that moves bad for the rats!but we just got chicks .I hope that if he gets used to them he can help protect the chickens.right now it's pretty scary,I keep him on a leash but everytime the chicks take off running his ears go up and i have to hold him

 

[crazygoatlady915]

I WOULD let my chickes out if there wasn't a house fulla hunting dogs across the street!

 

[AUChick9202]

Great question! I was just thinking the same thing the other day. Our babies are only 3 weeks, so they haven't been out of the brooder yet. We have a 3 year old Golden Retriever/Blue Heeler mix. He is great with our kids and very obedient. The neighbors have 3 hens and he never barks at them through the fence, but I am sure it will be different when the hens are in HIS yard!

 

[Mooches]

I've learned the hard way not to trust my German Shepherd. She got to my male Mascovy duck, a baby goose and 1 chicken. With the goose and the chicken I think she was just playing with them and wore them down. Not a mark on them when I found them except a tiny spot on their backs. The duck on the other hand was lunch

. Having geese doesn't guarentee anything. I had 4 huge geese that used to give my dog hell but she still loved to play with them. She does not go out unsupervised anymore. I also have 3 little dogs who couldn't be bothered with the chickens. Depends on the dog I guess.

 

[gryeyes]

I do, and I have two dogs. One of them was a chicken killer when I first got the chicks - actually when they were 12 weeks old. He'd never seen chickens before in his 11 years, but he chased one and caught it, then shook it, which broke its neck. Over the next four months he caught two more, despite my vigilance. At that time, the chickens did NOT free range. Zorro (an elderly miniature dachshund) got the first one in the run, the second one when it got out of the run through a loose part of the fence, and the third one when he slipped in the run between my legs.

Over a period of several months, I worked with him. I yelled at him, I sprayed him with the hose, I chained him for the first time in his life. My other mini-doxie, Dooley, was given to me when he was almost 3 years old and he was scared of his own shadow at first. Zorro's experiences taught Dooley he didn't want to have ANYTHING to do with those chickens!

Finally, when the chickens were fully grown and my very large rooster kicked Zorro's butt and the Cayuga drake ganged up on him and nipped him as he ran all the way back to the house, Zorro decided the chickens were nothing to chase or bother in any fashion. He now walks through a group of chickens without his tail up - but it's not tucked under him - and with his head down, too, until he gets on the other side of the group. I keep an eye on him around the bantam chickens, because I think he MIGHT go after one of those. So far, he hasn't... but the banties hang out with the LF chickens and therefore have protection.

It took a LOT of work. The entire flock ranges freely, now, and has for over a year.

 

[TigerLilly]

My chickens free range more often than not on almost 2 acres. I have a 15 lb terrier mix that had to be corrected twice (once when I first got the chicks & she didnt know what they were & again when my mini aussie killed one)--she has NOT had to be corrected any more. The chicken-killing mini aussie has a new home; she & I are much happier.
I don't even think twice about letting my terrier out with them. My property is also completely fenced.

 

[Higins00]

My boxer actually can hear the hawk calls and runs around looking up at the sky to protect the chickens. Here is a pic when they were chicks. I leave him out all the time alone with the chickens.

 

[sjmarshall87]

I myself have 2 dogs.. Neither one of them I would leave alone with the chickens. One dog is about 4 or 5 and the other is a retired hunting dog about 21 yrs now. The younger of the 2 is always "bringing home" his trophys from our wooded areas (possems, squirells, birds) so I think the free range chickens would make it far too easy for them

 

[Amyh]

I let my hens free range in our yard with our dogs all last Summer. They were fine. Then when the weather started getting cool, my beagle went crazy. I only have one out of those original four hens.

My hens don't free range in the yard while the dogs are there any more. If my dog sees a bird, she is on it. I have to lock the dogs in the house for several hours a day to let the chickens out. It stinks, but I can't have any of them being killed because of my negligence.

 

[TigerLilly]

Quote:
Great pic!