I got a question for you guys...

[bantymum]

Gee, I like the goose suggestion.

 

[fallenweeble]

i like the goose idea too! i know nothing about geese but it sounds adorable - a big ol' goose bossing a bunch o' chickens around.
hey, get two, just for good measure!

 

[dbjay417]

I got lucky I guess. I moved from a suburban sprawl in massachusetts to rural puerto rico two months ago and the two year old bichon frise I brought with me, herds my birds. never trained her, never even thought about it. At first i thought she was gonna run them down and kill them, but she just scares them into running in one direction by sorta bouncing from side to side in a zigzag form as she runs behind them. the only flaw are flighty cowards. instead of running with the other birds a couple of hens have desided to just get up into a tree instead of dealing with the dog.

I would think a smaller breed would be ideal for hurding chickens. They are faster, more energetic, no less threatening to the chickens, and even if they wanted to kill a chicken, it would be considerably more work than for say a German Shepard.

 

[Scrambled Egg]

You are lucky Dbjay, back in my single days, many years ago I had a Bichon Frise and that little dog was cute as could be but dumber than a box of rocks so if yours can gather a group of chickens, it is brilliant! I have a long skinny bamboo stick that I use to herd my 12 into their pen if I let themout and my Dachshund tries to run them in there as a help to me and the stick. She wouldn't do it on her own but she sees me doing it and tries to help. I work with soemone that has a great pyranees and that dog is chest high to me and I'm 5'5"...pony-sized dogs but really gentle from what I hear, loud barkers too though!!

 

[mdbucks]

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why no corgis??

 

[Henrietta23]

Quote:
My Aussie ignores my chickens. My pug tries to herd them. Not helpful I realize but there you have it.

 

[crocodile girl]

Thanks for all the replies. I'm looking into australian shepherds, smooth collies, and belgian sheepdogs.
If the pup is raised around chickens like my terrier, it should be fine.

 

[s6bee]

It will still take a ton of training I think. I would go smaller, 'cause a bigger dog can just trample them easily.
If bringing them around the chickens while it's a pup should help them get used to the chickens, but it may not teach them to heard. I'd do some research on the goose theory myself.

There is something called the Spanish Water dog, kind of cute!

 

[crazy4chicsinBC]

Quote:
Very True!!!!

 

[seminolewind]

I have an American Eskimo that would make a good candidate.
Aside from that, any dog that you want to herd your chickens should sleep with them from a puppy on, so he thinks they're litter mates.