How to train my Border Collie to herd my chickens

[Ole rooster]

I have become amazed at how chickens can learn. And it doesn't take a long time. These 8 week old chicks have already learned my procedure at feeding time. In order for the chicks to eat without the hen barging in, I through out some scratch for the big girls and feed the chicks in the run. Now I throw out the scratch and the chicks run in the pen and stand there waiting for me. I never knew chickens had a brain. I guess they do.

 

[LyrebirdJacki]

I have an elderly friend who has a kelpieXborder collie that she uses to herd her rhode island red chickens every afternoon, and in the morning there is one pair my friend likes to keep locked up, and she can make the dog keep them separate so that they stay in the pen, or herd them back in if they got out. It was quite amazing to watch it, however the dog could get incredibly rough at times where she gets overly excited or a chicken tries to fly over her and she will grab their tails and pull them down, which my friend has to command her to quit it.

Has no history of killing anything, but her herding instinct must have seen grabbing them as the easiest way to keep them in line, but it's not something she wants the BC to do. There was also concern with little chicks following their mother and the dog sometimes frightened the chicks and they'd scatter from the mother hen, so obviously the dog would move quickly to where the separated chicks are, but she never got a chance to grab them with her mouth (as the lady calls her to stop whenever that happens, we don't know what she does otherwise).

So I guess it's something you have to really trust your BC on and spend a lot of time together with the dog and the birds until you feel confident that nothing will die. I have a border collie who I have as a running buddy but shows great interest in herding (for some reason any maltese/shitzu like dogs always get herded and overwelmed), however I do not feel confident in training him with live chickens (as I have no access to cattle or sheep) so I will not. He did well with ducks when I had ducks but chickens can fly over his head and from seeing my friend's BC jump up and snatch them out of the air, I don't want my birds to deal with that stress. However in the next week I am taking another BC puppy home which I am going to raise out in the backyard where the chickens are so I can try it with a young dog. Let the pup grow up with the chickens like how you'd train a Mareema Sheepdog, so it sees them as family. Luckily for me, my chickens are not at all affraid of dogs as my jack russell often is let out the back to kill rats, and the chickens hang around for any cockroaches that come out from boxes I move for the jack russell to find rats; and she isn't interested in killing chickens which helps.

Also make sure your BC gets walked amply. If he gets bored, there is a chance he might just start destroying stuff or even killing.

The main issue I'd see is like my friend, the high energy of a BC would most likely be more intense for chickens, and their size seeming threatening towards the chickens. Maybe a smaller herding breed like a corgi might be better? However I think they nip quite a bit so I'm unsure.

By the way, no idea how old this thread is, so sorry if it's like several years old.

 

[LinaNate]

I'm loving this thread. Lots of good info here. I'm also learning to shape my border collie pup so that she can coexist with my chickens. I mainly need a guardian dog out of her and now know that isn't really what she's built for but I don't want to give up on her. We have made progress teaching her chicken biting is a big NO but still have a long way to go.

One thing that is working for us is enclosing the chicken run in an invisible electric fence. Though she's still fixating on them (only when we go out to feed or tend to them) and will now run back and fourth beyond the invisible electric fence trying to herd them while barking incessantly. My reading in the last few days helped me realize she needs to lay down if she'll be nearby during this time or she should be in her kennel and away from them all together. Obey or no privilege to chicken watching

Ideally I want to shape her to alert us and the animals to predators, to obey commands and potentially help me to pen goats/ chickens- without nipping and to be a companion.

I'm eager to hear training tips from those of you that have successfully trained your BC to exist around chickens. Also what "jobs" do you give your BC other than herding the chickens? I've got a goat herd that she could eventually help me with where herding is concerned but I agree, other than helping to capture a "chicken on the run"- herding birds isn't our cup of tea.

 

[oak_abode]

We have two dogs -- a Border Collie and a young shepherd/beagle/border collie mix. Both are rescues, and both have been trained to coexist with our 12 pullets.

I will let the birds out to free range for a couple hours during the day, and the Border Collie loves helping herd the chickens back into their run when it's time. He is not a trained herding dog by any means, but he picks up which direction I want the chickens to go, and knows to cut of runaways. He knows no herding commands, except "back", which I will tell him if he's getting too intense.

Even more interestingly, the little mutt has learned to help, too. They instinctually move in opposite directions of each other to funnel the chooks the right way. I don't think it's as much a herding instinct as simply a pack hunting tactic, but they never hurt the birds and it works well. It's pretty incredible to watch. The chickens have learned that when the dogs are on the job, it's in everyone's best interest to scurry back to the run, too.

It really is a team effort. What used to take 5-10 minutes of catching chickens, now takes 20 seconds or less, with the dogs doing the work. In summary, no real tips on training, but these mutts can be a lot smarter than we give them credit for! (And even the dinos, too!)