Keeping Chickens Free Range

[Tikkijane]

The dogs being out there 24/7 does keep them wary of landing in that area where the dogs can reach them but it helps to have dogs that watch for hawks and also other things in place.  I wrote an article on free ranging a few years back about things to consider:  https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/bees-key-points-to-successful-and-safe-free-ranging 

I hope that helps a bit. 



THIS(see below)...good advice from islandgirl82...it's the best place to start.  Establishing yourself as the leader of your whole property and all things on it really helps.  Leash walks with him walking beside or behind you...never in front...can help in that training.  Controlling where they be, when they can eat, basic obedience, etc. all count and are effective when wanting to get control over him when he's in an excited state.  It also helps to learn the warning signs that happen BEFORE he escalates into the level of excitement that causes him to chase.  GSDs are normally a highly intelligent and very intuitive breed, so they can be trained pretty efficiently if you have the right information. 

With my latest pup, he came at 2 mo. of age and was only confined away from the chickens for the first week until I had a chance to work with him a little on getting his attention, getting it established who is in control here and working one on one with a chicken(took only one lesson lasting all of 2 min. with that).  It all went very fast from there, as he was a calm and intelligent pup...his obedience training and training on the birds after that first week were done simultaneously after that....you can't very well correct him for unwanted behavior around the free range flock unless he is actually out there living with them on a daily basis.  I think the biggest mistake I see with people are keeping their young dogs penned near the chickens but they are unable to come in contact with them....this leaves a pup out there getting excited when the chickens run, squawk, fight, mate, etc. and no one to correct him. 

The worst thing you can do if he starts chasing the chickens is to run, shout, get frantic or overly excited...this just makes his excitement worse, as he takes his cue from you.  Don't make a sound until you can get right up on him, walking calmly, snag him as he runs by or whatever it takes to get his attention, then use your obedience training....make him lie down.  Correct him every time he looks at the chickens as he is lying there.  It doesn't have to be a loud or rough sounding correction, just choose a sound or word that is firm and abrupt while also doing a physical touch that gets his attention...I usually use a poke in the side of the neck or flank, doesn't have to be hard, just firm enough to snap him out of his current mindset.   Then follow through by getting a chicken, taking it near to his face...if he looks at it, gets excited in any way, give the correction.  Pretty soon he should be looking anywhere but at that chicken, no matter how much it flaps or squawks. 

My neighbors brought a young GSD to my house one evening and she immediately started chasing the chickens as they went in the coop at dusk.  The neighbors started yelling and trying to catch her, but I told them to let her go....then I used the exact method described above on her.  It took all of seconds for her to change her mind about chasing my chickens.  You know what?  That dog went on to chase and kill chickens at the neighbor's house, was allowed to roam all over this holler, including right past my free ranging flock...she never once looked at them.   Months later I visited their home and as soon as she saw who was visiting she stopped barking and laid down as I continued to walk up the driveway.  She remembered me and seemed to have some level of respect from that one incident. 

Did the same maneuver to my sister's Lab as he was chasing her flock and they were yelling frantically.... and he remembered too.  Unfortunately, people think you are being mean if you expect a dog to behave, but the dogs seem to really need that authority and guidance in their lives and seem to respond to it very favorably. 




Tikki!!!!!      How is the best thing to ever happen to FF doing these days?     Raising kittens and chicks, apparently.  Good move! 


I think you are going to love how very sweet GPs are...they just really, really want to be loved.  Earn his/her respect and you have a loyal and good dog for a good many years.  I love the breed and haven't met one yet that I didn't like.  My sister used to raise them back in the day when folks had never really heard of them...she used to spin their undercoat into yarn and knit clothing from them. 


That's exactly why I wanted a more aggressive to dogs kind of dog...Jake has always been far too friendly to passing dogs, but my GP mix female never let one in the yard without a very vicious confrontation.  When she would start to fight, Jake would chime in, but he never initiated it.  I needed another one like her so I wouldn't have to kill my neighbor's dogs....he let them run loose, even though he was warned that all the folks around take a dim view on it and may shoot his dogs.   Turns out his GSD would come past the property but wouldn't come into the yard at all, nor anywhere my flock free ranging on the perimeter.  She killed most of his own chickens but she didn't want anything to do with mine. 

The kittens in the tank are 3 years old now, lol. But, we did add 4 more kittens {my oldest daughter has 1 kitten with her other cat, who got lonely when she moved into the little house accross the yard} about 2 weeks ago. Added more ducks this year, amd chickens, of course. Next year, prolly more guineas unless I can hatch out some keets this summer.

 

[islandgirl82]

Quote:

I can't entirely agree. ALL dogs need training. Both my newfie and my westie are/were rescue dogs. The newfie was a 9 month old pup when he joined my family and was full grown before we got we first chicks and ducklings. Yes, he immediately took on the 'nanny' role with them but he was fully trained before my first flock and bevy and given that I was pregnant when I adopted him, he already knew what being around babies means. My westie on the other hand was 8.5 yeasr old who came from a severely neglectful home and was so under-socialized and completely untrained (his first experience running off leash in the grass was when he came home with me which was just the tip of the iceberg) that much of our training was like dealing with a puppy and much of that training was done with the help of my newfie who showed him who's friend and who's foe and when to react or be still. Both dogs have/had dealt with their fair share of predators and vermin. My newfie even chased off a crow who had one of my hens pinned to the ground a year of so ago (who would have thought??) I didn't get either dog for the sake of looking after my flock but they both took on the job and quite naturally and proudly.

I do agree that genetics come into play immensely on both the good and the undesirable traits and I accept that there are dogs out there who are and will never be trustworthy around prey animals but sometimes that perfect gem can come from the most unexpected of places. We as humans, guides and guardians just have to put in the time, effort and consistency for them to shine.

 

[lazy gardener]

For those of you thinking about shock collars, becareful how you use them. You can ruin a good dog with them.


That said I love mine, even though I do not even know where they are in my mess at the moment.

Use them sparingly. I have had one for my older dog for 10 years. I do not think I have zapped her more than a couple times. They have a buzzer on them, the buzzer is all you need after the first shock of their life, normally. The buzzer makes them pause and think. Dogs are like kids they simply do what instinct tells them to and that is eat, poop and play.

I put the collar on and the dog stops long enough to think. I call them the "electronic brain".

They are the stick side of a two prong approach to dog training, praise and reward are the carrot side. It takes both.

SO if you get one be real careful what the dog is doing when you zap it, if it is doing something other than the behavior you want to end, it will not do that again. MAKE SURE IT IS DOING BAD. do not use it if even a half second has passed from the bad activity. ONLY IN THE ACT!

I never "yell" or give a command if I plan to use the zapper, unless the dog is actively not obeying the command. If the dog is chasing chickens and you ell stop, and the dog pauses for a split second, and you zap, you have confused the dog. If I was going to stop a dog from chasing chickens I would say nothing just zap when the chasing starts.



Now if I could only catch them eating an egg so I could zap them with it, but they do that on the sly, as they know I do not allow it....


Oh well, that's why God allowed Amazon to make muzzles for them.....

Ralph, I agree with everything you've said. I don't take the issue lightly. I need to ask a LOT of questions before investing the money this way. In the mean time, I have taken her out to the chicken area with me on her cable. It's difficult to work with her, b/c she is so head strong, and so easily can slip out of her collar, even with it nice and tight. She has broken 3 collars, and I now have a deep friction burn around one ankle from her wrapping her steel cable around it. I think that the only thing that will turn her into a safe dog, will be the electronic fence (without the buried wire) with a transmitter. She is a runner, and a chaser, and very head strong about listening to verbal command. She does hate the water, so even a squirt gun is an effective deterrent. I use one when she gets overly rambunctious with the cat.

 

[spurrer]

Try to find a no kill shelter. I got a beautiful flame point siamese that was fixed, had all her shots and was very healthy for $60.00. She is an older cat but that was what I wanted. She is an indoor cat so she doesn't bother anything. Never climbs up on the table or other places she is not supposed to go. They had several nice dogs also. She sometimes ships her dogs but she is very careful who she ships to. I am sure there should be no kill shelters in all the states.

 

[vpatt]

I found a newly hatched chick this morning. It was out of the nest and i thought it was a dead mouse at first! I was able to put it back with mama, so we will see how it goes. Probably not a future free ranger as these are banties. But I'm excited to have chicks finally this year so i hope all goes well with them.

 

[OrganicFarmWife]

I found a newly hatched chick this morning. It was out of the nest and i thought it was a dead mouse at first! I was able to put it back with mama, so we will see how it goes. Probably not a future free ranger as these are banties. But I'm excited to have chicks finally this year so i hope all goes well with them.

Good luck!

 

[Donna R Raybon]

This dog needs a good basic obedience foundation and you need some hands on help. Yes, it costs money, but there is going to be a train wreck if you don't.

I would also check to see that you are not feeding too 'hot ' a dog food which is adding fuel to an already hyper dog. Do you have ability to give this dog the excercise it needs to run off all that energy?

Experience is for me the best teacher, I got real tired real fast of doctoring mangled birds and picking up dead bodies. There are enough chicken predators 'out there' without having one as a pet.

And, some dogs have a genetic propensity to give chase. This is referred to as 'eye' and there ain't no getting rid of it. This is why seeing eye dog trainees must pass the 'cat' test when they begin traning. These dogs have had a year in foster home and have basic obedience skills. They are lined up, given command to sit, by handler and then evaluated as a cat walks up and down the line about twenty feet away. Any showing more than a very mild passing interest are dq'd from further training as guide dog.

I feel for you and have been right where you are. In my 58 years I have had to put down more than one dog that proved deadly to livestock. Good luck.

 

[vpatt]

This dog needs a good basic obedience foundation and you need some hands on help. Yes, it costs money, but there is going to be a train wreck if you don't.

I would also check to see that you are not feeding too 'hot ' a dog food which is adding fuel to an already hyper dog. Do you have ability to give this dog the excercise it needs to run off all that energy?

Experience is for me the best teacher, I got real tired real fast of doctoring mangled birds and picking up dead bodies. There are enough chicken predators 'out there' without having one as a pet.

And, some dogs have a genetic propensity to give chase. This is referred to as 'eye' and there ain't no getting rid of it. This is why seeing eye dog trainees must pass the 'cat' test when they begin traning. These dogs have had a year in foster home and have basic obedience skills. They are lined up, given command to sit, by handler and then evaluated as a cat walks up and down the line about twenty feet away. Any showing more than a very mild passing interest are dq'd from further training as guide dog.

I feel for you and have been right where you are. In my 58 years I have had to put down more than one dog that proved deadly to livestock. Good luck.

Are you talking about my Devil Dog? Sorry, i lost track of the conversation. He has lots of room to run....our 7 acres and 30,000 acres behind us. He really does need training and when i go in a bit to check out the neutering i am going to check out training. I have tried different foods since he has been here and i dont really see a difference in his behavior. He definitely gets worse when i lose it. So i have been trying to maintain my self, lol. I dont have much money to invest on training...especially if i am going to find out that he cant stay. But i am not giving up yet.

Chick update: still see one little peeper.....i think it is the same one, but not sure as he looks all dry and spiffed up now. And still peeping. Hope to see more soon.

I meant to say the dog is a Lab and can you recommend a specific dog food that wont encourage the crazies?

 

[duluthralphie]

Are you talking about my Devil Dog? Sorry, i lost track of the conversation. He has lots of room to run....our 7 acres and 30,000 acres behind us. He really does need training and when i go in a bit to check out the neutering i am going to check out training. I have tried different foods since he has been here and i dont really see a difference in his behavior. He definitely gets worse when i lose it. So i have been trying to maintain my self, lol. I dont have much money to invest on training...especially if i am going to find out that he cant stay. But i am not giving up yet.

Chick update: still see one little peeper.....i think it is the same one, but not sure as he looks all dry and spiffed up now. And still peeping. Hope to see more soon.

I meant to say the dog is a Lab and can you recommend a specific dog food that wont encourage the crazies?

If the lab is under 2 craziness is going to happen. However, even at that age you can get them to behave some.

At 2 a lab (in my experience seems to just become a mature well behaved dog. Other than egg eating here.

The good thing is Labs are easy to train with food. They are such garbage hounds they will scale a wall, ride bike for 10 miles and swim 5 more for a piece of cheap dog food.


When training use the treat of the least "value" possible to the dog, Something "high" value will get them too excited when they are learning.

 

[vpatt]

Ralphie, my lab i had several years ago seemed to be very laid back from a pup......or either me being 20 years younger makes me remember it differently.

What do you mean by high value? Does more protein cause rude behavior? And which food do you recommend. I have tried Pedigree, Iams puupy food and Old Roy. Probably no one recommends Old Roy.......i dont really know how it compares.

I see two chicks now, cuteness all over the place.