I have had it with my dog eating my chickens

[Beekissed]

Take a strip of fencing and extend it over the wooden part of the top of your fence about 4-5 in. This will create an unstable and nonvisual barrier on which to hop. They will attempt it and it will hit them right about chest high when they try to land...they will then just fall back. They will learn they can no longer hop onto the solid looking boards. Sometimes you can just string a single strand of wire at the same height and it will achieve the same purpose.

This is how I topped all the perimeter gates into my back yard...before this, the birds would just hop to the top of the gate and then over into the front yard.

Dogs can be trained to co-exist with chickens and many, many people have dogs that do this every day for years....I myself have two dogs that I trust implicitly. It takes an intelligent, trainable breed and an alpha leader mentality to achieve this. If you possess neither, its advisable to just keep the chickens confined.

 

[PortageGirl]

Okieglory,

I want to be clear. I said I have seen it work, but it's not at all the best way.

I strongly support you working with them on a lead rather than doing that. They need to learn that the chickens aren't toys... that they're your property and that they need to keep their slobbery mouths off of them, just like you taught them that they shouldn't chew your shoes or slippers in the house.

And yes, get some cover on the pen so the birds can't get out... even if it's just chicken wire covering since it sounds like you have a worse problem with them getting out rather than the dogs getting in, cause we know that chicken wire only keeps chickens in, not predators out.

 

[huntercf]

This is going to sound weird but take the dead chicken tie a leg to about a 3 ft rope and attach the rope to the dog's collar. Leave it on for about 4 or 5 days and the dog will leave the chickens alone. Also, we trained our dogs to leave the chickens alone by squirting them with water whenever they went after the chickens and it didn't take that long. However, once a dog kills a chicken it is extremely hard to correct that natural instinct, I recommend the dead chicken on a rope, we used it back home on the farm and it worked with our dog. Good Luck.

 

[muell112]

I think the overhanging lip at the top of the coop is a good idea. If that doesn't work for some reason, is there anything else you can cover it with? Like burlap?

 

[okieglory]

yes, I should have been clear I don't have a problem with my dog getting in, it's my chickens getting out and thanks guys we'll probably try the wire and tying a chicken to the dog.

 

[Guinea Goonie]

For the ones that know me and my attitude about dogs and chickens, ducks, Guinea fowl and Peacocks you know that what I say has been what I have been saying since i signed up for this forum.

Training a dog NOT to attack your bird friends takes diligence, time, effort and punishment. YES PUNISHMENT.

Shock collor NOT NOT WORK. You HAVE to be there to witness the deed and dogs or notorious to kill when you are NOT looking.

Pens and coops are the only protection you can afford your birds and YOU MUST NEVER free range with a killer dog.

Dogs that kill will coninue to kill no mater what you do. OH, there may be a time period where you think you have won the dog over, but then
there WILL BE that bad day on the farm when the dog attacks once again.

Puppies can be trained to stay away from your flock and this usually works for the life of the dog. Some dogs just do not care about the birds and
they just leave them along. My dog, a Corgi was NEVER trained to avoid my birds, but she has never had an issue with them, she will not even run the
Guineas.

Not all dogs are killers, but once you wintness the carnage and the suffering of the birds that ARE killed, you need to remove the dog, the birds are keep
them LOCKED up forever. Keeping a dog on a chain is INhumane, but letting one run the neighborhood allows people like me to shoot them.

I give a dog ONE chance on my property. If they leave my birds alone they are reprieved. If they kill my birds, they suffer the same fate.

A dog will KILL, KILL some more and KILL until they can no longer KILL anymore. I have witness the carnage of a bunch of birds killed by a dog.
It is not a pretty site and the birds suffer tremendously. It is INhumane to let a dog kill your flock. do not fool yourself here.

G.G.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
If the dead chicken thingy doesn't work, you could try letting one hen out in the yard and training your dog to view it as your property. Work with him extensively and be consistent....just in case one of your hens should get out again.

I trained my younger dog on chickens by disciplining any interest in the chickens with an alpha roll and even held one of the hens to his throat when he was in submission.

He is now 3 going on 4 years old and never one incident all these years, and dogs and chickens free range at all times. The other day we looked out the window and saw him with all the meat chicks gathered around him as he was lying in the grass. He had one between his paws licking it!

 

[Dogfish]

Build a secure coop and run.

Train your dog.

Finally, don't trust your dog. Cedar (yellow lab) is 8 months, and the chickens are 4 months old, so they've been raised together, but once Cedar is introduced to game birds this summer, all bets are off. Getting him to learn when to grab, and not grab, will be a challenge. Pheasant and quail chicks arrive this weekend, so that is when our challenge begins.

 

[Mahonri]

I know of a number of neighborhoods where there are folks that would probably love to wok your dog.

No more dead chickens.

 

[Frannabelle]

I must be very lucky. I have 13 bantams and 2 rescued retrievers that I've had for 2 years and one just under a year. These dogs just seemed to know that the chickens are off limits. Maybe they don't want to push their luck. My girl rescue will curl a lip if the chickens get close to her but then she'll get up and move away from them. It's a very peaceful yard, they're all out their free ranging and laying on the deck together. My sisters' dogs are the same, they just seem to know the chickens are off limits. And 2 of those dogs are Brittanys that are active hunting dogs!
Now my Uncle's beagle, that's a different story......