If you have a dog.....

Two german shepherds. They have been trained since puppyhood to leave the chickens alone, but we don't take any chances. The dogs live inside the yard, the chickens outside of it.
 
but the puppy is nutty!!! she chases the chickens, so she cant be left unattended.
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Oh, the younger generation...​
 
Black lab mix 8 yo is OK but my 3yo mini pin would probably chew a chicken neck.Neither I would leave alone with the hens.Wouldn.t mind if they ate the hawk.
 
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Oh, the younger generation...

yeah younger generation!
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she will learn tho,,,,,,i hate being the dog police outside!!!!
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I have a Toy Yorkie, the chickens follow him all over the yard. He'll sit down to rest near them when they're free ranging, he'll even bark if he sees a large bird flying overhead, which alerts the chickens.
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Hey Shellybean40, we had a border collie/chow mix too. She's gone now but given a chance would have gotten one of our hens for sure. When the hens were smaller and she was senile and almost blind, I looked out my back window to see her chasing them around the yard. Thankfully she never caught one!

We also have a Bichon mix and a Coton de Tulear, neither of which bother the hens. Cody the bichon mix will actually stop running when he comes near them so he doesn't scare them. He carefully walks by them, then starts running again. So cute!!!


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Three Jack Russells (6, 2, and 1). The recently adopted 1 yr old (who has the attention span of a gnat which is making it very hard to work on training) was given to me because it killed 2 chickens at his last rescuer's house. Their chickens free-range with their dogs; mine are pastured separately. All the dogs ignore the chickens and sunbathe together (on opposite sides of the fence). The only time the dogs pay any attention to them is if they get pecked. The chickens are utterly unconcerned about the dogs. The chickens and dogs have accidentally mixed a few times (one or the other following me in or out of a gate) but there were no accidents or attempts since I was right there and the dogs understand "leave it". My turkey hen flies in and out of the various enclosures and wanders around with the dogs. She outweighs all of them so maybe that's why they ignore her. I've had good luck so far but, understanding the nature of the breed, I would NEVER leave them together unsupervised.
 
We have a Border Collie, PJ, now 5 months old and she was raised with the chickens. She'll soon learn to "herd" the chickens into the coop at night. We also have a 1 year-old Yellow Lab, Tico, a 1 year-old Rhodisian Ridgeback, Holly, and a 10 year-old Cairn Terrier, Ariel. PJ already "herds" soccer balls, baseballs, footballs, kids, the other dogs, etc, etc.

Holly (100+ pounds of muscle and bone) is the protector and could shred a coyote with one bite. Unfortunately, she also loves to chase chickens and guineas. Tico (75 pounds of muscle and goofyness) is a true retriever, unintentionally killing two birds that wandered into his territory. Like a good bird-dog, he brought them directly to me!

The only predator we have are hawks. One was even bold enough to land in a tree directly above the coop. I had to fling sticks at it to get rid of it. Once PJ is a little older/bigger, she'll camp in the chicken run and will be able to handle predatory birds.

Coyotes, raccoons, feral cats, whatever...nothing gets close to our fences. Holly and Tico are far too intimidating to predators, but they are gentle giants with all of the kids.
 
German Shorthair Pointer. Sadie Mae. She spends all day pointing my chickens in the yard as they freerange lol. I really need to get a photo of it. Best thing is predators won't come near them with her there.


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