Introducing Dogs to chickens with success?

[HippieAtHeart]

I have a 6 year old Australian Cattle dog (ACD) named Rusty and a 6 year old Boston Terrier named Pip. I had my son last June and since then have been a stay at home Mom. This summer is the first summer of starting our goal of living off our acre more, and part of that is getting chickens for eggs. We fenced in half an acre for the dogs and now are being gifted a chicken coop and 7/8 chicken with a very nice rooster. We are going to let them “free range” within the fenced in area and lock them up at night as we know there are predators around. My ACD has killed cats before and both of them have attacked a groundhog together on two occasions. I am trying to prepare for when we get the chicken and am not sure how the dogs will be as when we open the door they go barreling out to look if something is in the yard.
Does anyone have experience with a herding dog who didn’t grow up with chickens not attacking them? I’m not so much worried about our Boston Terrier mix as she is kind of a fraidy cat, but our ACD is far from it. Any thoughts/stories/experiences are appreciated.

 

[neo71665]

We had an ACD growing up with chickens and she didn't bother them. She was also raised around them. They are smart dogs and I'm sure if you keep an eye on him and teach him he can be trained pretty easily.

 

[HippieAtHeart]

We had an ACD growing up with chickens and she didn't bother them. She was also raised around them. They are smart dogs and I'm sure if you keep an eye on him and teach him he can be trained pretty easily.

Thank you. He is incredibly intelligent and I think we can train him to leave them alone. I am just expecting maybe one casualty that way if it happens I won’t be so upset and if not it will be a pleasant surprise. I’m pretty sure the reason he attacked the cats is because my husband would point them out to him and say attack which I would get so upset with him about. To no surprise my husband finally stopped doing it when he had to bury the neighbors cat...

 

[HippieAtHeart]

I have a 6 year old Australian Cattle dog (ACD) named Rusty and a 6 year old Boston Terrier named Pip. I had my son last June and since then have been a stay at home Mom. This summer is the first summer of starting our goal of living off our acre more, and part of that is getting chickens for eggs. We fenced in half an acre for the dogs and now are being gifted a chicken coop and 7/8 chicken with a very nice rooster. We are going to let them “free range” within the fenced in area and lock them up at night as we know there are predators around. My ACD has killed cats before and both of them have attacked a groundhog together on two occasions. I am trying to prepare for when we get the chicken and am not sure how the dogs will be as when we open the door they go barreling out to look if something is in the yard.
Does anyone have experience with a herding dog who didn’t grow up with chickens not attacking them? I’m not so much worried about our Boston Terrier mix as she is kind of a fraidy cat, but our ACD is far from it. Any thoughts/stories/experiences are appreciated.

I also want to know how I might go about introducing them to the chickens? Do I bring them out on a leash first or do I have them on the other side of the fence?

 

[neo71665]

I would prolly put a chicken in a cage and let him sniff it. If he starts acting aggressive then discipline him. If he is leash trained then have him on a leash.

 

[mowin]

Even if the dogs seem fine with the birds while you're around, don't leave them out with the birds while you're gone.
Quite a few members on here have realized their dogs were not as friendly towards the chickens as they thought.

 

[aart]

Hopefully your dogs are already trained to 'leave it' and other basic obedience.
Start with the dogs on a leash for sure.
It'll probably be along trial and error scenario.
Best of cLuck!

 

[HippieAtHeart]

I would prolly put a chicken in a cage and let him sniff it. If he starts acting aggressive then discipline him. If he is leash trained then have him on a leash.

Thank you for this suggestion by the way, we will probably do this to start

 

[centrarchid]

Make certain dogs leash trained before you start.

They being adult dogs will help some. First get coop setup and do not free-range immediately. Then introduce chickens to dogs slowly through coop with one dog at a time. I would have dog on leash at first. Do this for a couple days. If dogs causing no issue at that point, then release one to explore coop issue and be prepared to step in if dog gets out of line. Again do dogs one at a time. If all good still, then allow a dog to interact with released chickens, also with dogs one at a time. I would also test both dogs together with chickens confined. There is more to this that you will have to adopt based on your situation.

When only one dog, have other penned well away, ideally in kennel or even house.

I would strive for having chicken coop inside the fenced in dog area so dogs can protect coop at night. Some predators that no a dogs boundaries will go after chickens in plain sight of dogs.

 

[FluffyFeathers97]

Just a reminder, dogs are predators and will always be predators. No matter how well you train them, they can always slip up. As mowin said, don't leave them alone with them or expect them to be perfect. Can't fault them for instincts!