my dog just killed nearly all my birds...

[farmerwnb]

I am sorry for your loss. Lossing your birds and the dog is definately a lose lose situation. I have lost many birds to my dogs (my fault though). I had to install an electric fence arroud the birds place. The dogs do fine with the birds when I am out there with them.
I just realized that I have yet to lose a Banty to them. They seem to leave them alone. The banty roo is loud and alert. He actually has kicked every other full sized roos butt. The main thing I see different is the chickens that got killed were sampling from my dogs bowls. Most of the time if we free range the girls we tie up the dogs and put the dog food away so there is no sampling from other party.

 

[tellynpeep]

You have my sympathies, too. It is absolutely the worst when your own dog does the deed. My dog, with a visiting dog-friend, killed my little polish pullet last week. I don't think she ever would have done it by herself (she has always been fine with all the birds) but apparently they thought this baby was a tug-of-war toy. Poor thing....

 

[Cuttlefishherder]

It seems to be common for dogs to kill chickens, we had a chicken killer, she killed 4 out of our first 6 chickens. We kept her but then she started a big fight with out other dog and mauled her bad. Then we got rid of her. I think its just a primal instinct because she just tore one up and moved on to the next.

I'm so sorry about your loss and I hope things go well with the rest of your chickens.

 

[chickerdoodle]

I am so sorry about your loss of your chickens. Its heartbreaking when we care for our pets.

Secuono said:

I don't understand dogs that kill chickens. It's senseless. My dog killed them, tore holes in some and moved on. It makes no sense at all! No interest to eat them, or play, just plain cold murder...

Dogs will kill really easy prey if its there to save for later--chickens are really easy if right in front of you. Its instinctive and a survival technique that many mammalian predators have. On occasion a dog will do it out of boredom as they need more stimulation and the chickens are just too temping. The dog will do this unless taught otherwise which is the responsibility of their owner. Some dogs prey drive instinct is so strong they are best to not have around domestic livestock--others learn to redirect that drive to protect livestock and herd them.

I worried about having chickens with my Belgian Malinois as we adopted her from the Air Force. She was a Military Working Dog which are specifically chosen for their very high prey drive. She was taught to "bring down" the bad guy and explosive detection. Knowing her need for a job I started training her before we got our chicks-- she learned to touch items with her nose. Once we got the chicks we raised them in our family room and I had her do this to the chicks while I held her collar. I trained her keep to her mouth closed or she wouldn't get to touch them. She wanted to touch them soooo badly she was easy to train. I used lots of praise and played with her after she touched all the chicks (she loves to tug and play ball) as this reinforced her being "good."

Now Cherokee will "touch them" when they accidentally go where they aren't supposed too. The chickens have no fear of our dog (they were raised with her touching them a few times every day and thought it was normal) and therefore don't run away. I still do not let them all out alone--the girls are always within a movable fence which our dog respects. Cherokee also takes her job of protecting our birds very seriously--an added benefit!​

 

[Wisher1000]

I am sorry for your loss(es.) I came home to bury 6 of my babies in one day... my dogs... never even looked at them before that day. I had to remind myself that dogs are predators and birds are prey ... even if I have made them all pets. I told my boys when we first brought the chickens home, "Chickens are prey, things eat chickens, possums, raccoons, hawks, dogs - even our own will eat them - heck, WE eat chickens. Don't be surprised when it happens." When it did happen, they were not surprised and were not as upset as I was. Now the birds range by day and the dogs are out at night. It has worked so far.

 

[secuono]

I have been trying to train her to leave them be, but as soon as you do not look or are not there, she looses it. When I realized she had gotten free, I ran around the house and yelled out her name. She came flying back, but when I saw where she was coming from, I was furious. She's been locked up in her crate ever since. This will make my life harder in the mornings to let the dogs potty and me getting ready for work....
My 'good dog', lol, he gets a little stressed and whiny when I am near them, but listens. Like he wants to shoo them away from me. I can leave him alone with them, he doesn't like things touching him, he always makes a face of distraught and trots off. He sleeps in the front yard when he is out, never bothers them, unless I am out near the birds. He also circles them once when I let him out, then comes back to potty or w/e. I started bringing him in the house when I go to the birds, they are also not afraid of him, so they might not of been afraid of the little dog. Though I am sure she charged them, she is very very fast, they had no chance...

She is tied by a metal dog cable, to a tree, far on the other side of the yard, no view of the coop from where she is. If I had shaved her fur where her harness goes and sewed the harness to the right tightness, she might of not gotten out...

 

[secuono]

More bad news, the Silkie with an eye missing is Sassie, and I think she will loose her other eye. She also seems to have an odd injury on the roof of her mouth. She tries to sit and sleeps, the others are all alert and trying to eat/drink. Queenie, the white Silkie, has 2 bite marks, on the back of her head/neck and one under her eye. She's a little wobbly. The 3rd Silkie, Foxie, seems to have gotten away unscathed. She was hiding in a corner with another Jap right behind her.
There are now 5 or 6 Japs in the coop.
I found a single egg in the last nest just now, was in the center of it, sticking up. I have no idea if it was laid just now, or in the morning before all of this. Either way, I placed it in the bator.

On a lighter note, one of my Silkie chicks is roosting on the mini roost in their brooder, too cute.

 

[team edward]

ok i would not feed the chickens to the good dog. it will give her a taste of chicken blood, and she will start the whole chicken murdering habit

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
This is not true.


My dogs are fed raw - chicken, ducks and geese - they will eat any part given - feathered or not. They watch while I process. The dogs also hunt and eat wild rabbits.


My dogs are perfect with the LIVE chickens/ducks/geese and are left out with them to help protect the birds. The only danger to the birds, from the dogs is getting stepped on.

 

[secuono]

The good dog is a boy and he sniffed it and walked off. I wonder if I should freeze it first?
Ugh, I cut off their heads, feet wouldn't come off. It was gross and I might have nightmares about decapitated birds tonight...
It was so much work for...the smallest amount of breast meat you will ever see...
I did one bird and was so tired. So much bone and inner organs...I don't think it's worth the effort...
Should it be this hard??

My dobie, the good dog, eats raw chicken, steak, etc, once a week. It's very different from a fresh warm kill. Kind of like how we can eat chicken nuggets or cheeseburgers and not run after a field of cows and chickens and eat them...lol. Little resemblance or smell.