I Just Lost my ENTIRE flock:(****

[kizanne]

I very sorry for your lost chickens. I love my dogs but one is a hunt dog with bird dog blood and I worry about her everyday. Today she earned her keep detecting, alerting us to and killing a possum right next to the coop. But I know one day that same dog may make me sad. I put up chain link with hardware cloth at the bottom going up the chain a foot and out on the ground a foot to discourage digging. So far is has worked but don't know for how long.

 

[mstrrlm]

Muzzle the dogs anytime they are outside no teeth less likely a kill. Mine killed 1 and muzzled her no more problems

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

Sorry for your loss

I think it would be very hard to break your dogs from killing chickens since they seem to have a very high prey drive.

I once have a German Shepherd that killed some of my chickens. I tried the dead chicken around the neck deal.After a few days he smelled so bad I had to take it off. He still killed chickens.

 

[wolftracks]

OK it might be my life long dislike for Labs, but I do think that's your instigator. Just a hunch.

The ideas about reinforcing you have here.

My GSD is 8 months and I haven't trained her as I have any other dog I've ever owned. Had her given to me at a bad time after my husband died and my mind has been shot, so I had to do some quick training. She played to rough with a pullet and broke it's neck. I have a 115lb Cane Corso that just lays by her bowl and watches the birds eat her food. The pup? Dingy as heck.

Nothing works better than a lot of "sit stays" and "down stays" and "leave it's" when you run into bad behavior. Since you don't know which one did it, you'll have to work with all of them. Oh and another things I use is "head down!" once they are laying down and even act like they're going to move I give them the "head down" command and they know I'm serious.

Work with those commands as often as you can, till they don't flinch and then one at a time, on leash, take them when you check the birds. They need to either sit and wait or lay down and wait. They look at the birds "leave it" they nose the fence "leave it" and you'll know when you need that "head down" command. I think "leave it" is one of the best things you could ever teach them. Oh maybe Quiet or enough might be, but still. And teach it to them a lot. Anything or anywhere you don't want them to bother something and make them "leave it."

I don't think my pup killed on purpose, but the birds caught her interest more afterwards. I don't leave them unattended, well not her and my Corso for only a minute or two if I have too. Don't want to take a chance although she's so good with other animals, but she's heavy enough to step on one and kill it, so I watch.

Try the training. They should work up to at least 20 minutes sometimes without budging before you release them. Do it for a minute ir 2 and then work your way up. Also taking them while you tend to the birds will also teach them that the birds are supposed to be guarded and not eatten.

 

[Momaha]

I am so sorry for your loss.

 

[sheila3935]

I know this isnt possible for everyone, but I have 4 dogs that I dont trust around my chickens so I sectioned off 2 areas and fenced them away from each other with 6 ft chainlink fence and on the other side of that fence is 6 ft privacy fence so the dogs cant see the chickens. We have had chickens for almost 2 years and they havent got any. Im sorry that happened it makes it even worse when its another pet doing the killing. Remember it just in their nature. Whenthe chickens run and make noise it makes the dogs go crazy. My dogs were here first so they were not raised around chickens so that makes a difference.

 

[Ole rooster]

Someone that has bird dogs straighten me out here. These dogs are trained and have the instict to retrieve birds. They are to have a soft mouth so as not to crush the birds. They are basically gentle with the birds. So with that in mind why do they turn into bone crunching killers. I don't understand. They are doing something that is just not natural for them.

Can you explain it for me?

 

[Firefighter Chick]

perhaps you can get a solar backup for your electric fence.

 

[galanie]

So sad for your loss! I think there should be a warning label on Chicken wire that says something to the effect that Chicken Wire only keeps chickens IN, not predators OUT.

 

[bobbi-j]

Quote:
They don't all turn into bone crunching killers. My lab is 8 years old. He's from champion hunting bloodlines. He hunts pheasants and ducks. He also runs free with my chickens and has NEVER been a problem. He's my flock protector. He also breaks up squabbles between the hens, and checks them out when they squawk for other reasons. The lab we had before this one was also good with birds. One day he came from the little slough that's behind our barn carrying a live blue-winged teal. I took the bird out of his mouth, examined it and found no injuries. Honestly, the bird was in his mouth, just looking around as the dog carried it up to me. I released the bird, unharmed. About 10 minutes later he came back from the same area holding his mouth funny and with grass hanging out of it. I held my hand out, told him to "drop it" and he deposited two unbroken eggs in my hand! On the other hand, we had a lab puppy "retrieve" every chicken I had in one day. We had let the chickens out (about 8 weeks old, the pup wasn't a year yet) ended up having to leave, were gone longer than expected and I came home to find all 12 of my birds dead on the back step with a very proud puppy next to them. Needless to say, the pup hadn't been trained to leave them alone. Anyway, I don't think they become "bone crunching killers" so much as, "catch, carry and play with until it's dead" killers. That's what I've seen with some of our labs in the past. They would catch them, carry them around till they were dead and catch another. First time that happened, I put a fence up. The dog we had at the time figured out that he could run around said fence and the chickens would panic and fly over the fence so he could jump up and catch them in midair. (Much more fun than playing frisbee!) That's when I learned that chickens would fly and I needed to put a top on my pen...

OP, the only thing I can say is, training, training, and more training for your dogs. Until you feel they're trained, keep that fence hot. Some dogs may never lose that desire to kill chickens. I will say, though, that labs are trainable. I don't know about the other two breeds you have. It definitely helps if you can train them when they're puppies. I hope you can find a solution that works for you, your dogs and your birds.