MY dog killed two of my chickens. :'(

[CJJenkins]

Some dogs, such as hunting dog breeds are just gonna kill chickens, it is their instinct. Some dogs can be taught to leave them alone. I have heelers, always have always will. They herd,kids, other dogs, cats, chickens.... unfortunately chickens tend to flop, flap run and make noise, what a wonderful toy! Often a dog's intention is not to hurt the 'toy' but just to play with it. My chicks are 4 weeks old, we just put them out in the tractor and my dog had never seen a chicken before. I always say "Curiosity killed the cow dog" they are instinctively curious. So waiting and hoping that her interest in the chickens is pure curiosity, other wise heelers are very trainable and I know that she will be fine when she learns that the chickens are her 'herd' to guard. We also have a Great Pyrenees he is totally disinterested in the chicks, except to walk around the tractor a few times a day, that is his job.
If we find that Gin can't be trusted with the chickens we will just have to be sure they stay separate. Our property is fenced in sections so we can fence the dogs in an area where the chickens are not free ranging. Most scenarios are workable, just need some tweeking!

 

[hunter109]

around my house we kill every animal that bothers our goats and chickens shoot everyone of them

 

[antrimfarm]

I absolutely WILL NOT "shoot" our FAMILY DOG. She's been part of our family for over 5 years. She is loved and adored by the children. She is friendly and sweet. It is just as CJJenkins said. She thought the chickens were "toys" in my opinion. We are not a real "farm" we live in a neighborhood, and the dog is an indoor/outdoor dog, so as I said she is very much a part of our family.

 

[leonphelps]

get a nice big rooster, the dog will learn to stay away.

 

[antrimfarm]

I would, but we aren't technically "allowed" to have chickens where we are, but the unwritten rule is as long as you don't have a rooster, you can have chickens.

 

[MomsGoneMild]

I am new to chickens. I have two dogs. One is rediculously prey driven. The other one, just doesn't like anything smaller than him including other tiny dogs.

I have a deal I made with MYSELF. I can't make a deal with dogs, or the chickens. Ultimately, I am responsible for all of their lives. The deal is, that if the dogs EVER get to the chickens, I find the remaining survivors a good home, and I NEVER get another chicken until these dogs have lived their natural full long lives. Our chickens are hobby/pets though.

I am aboslutely positive that if my livelihood depended on my chickens, I would shoot to kill and/or simply choose not to have dogs. No matter how you slice it, the owner is repsonsible. No pussy-footing around the subject.

In this case, sense you are asking, I surely would not allow myself to purchase four more lives to throw into this mix. Tough I know, but we ARE talking about living, breathing, souls here.

I am so sorry that you and your family is going through this. So so sorry. : (

xoxo Annmarie

 

[antrimfarm]

The problem that allowed the chickens to be able to escape has been resolved. They are now contained in a "dog kennel" with chicken wire wrapped around the bottom. They cannot get out. We haven't had any problems with the dog since this incident. We also have been letting the dog out the front door to go outside and since the back yard is fenced, there are two fences between our dog and the chickens. She is also not outside unattended any longer.

I replaced the chickens because we fixed the fencing problem. There is no longer a danger to the chickens at this point, in my opinion. Although, we lost one to a hawk we believe, which is out of our control other than putting netting over their run and locking them up inside the coop at night.

They ARE living breathing souls. That is why I only purchased the chickens once the problem was resolved. Also, the only reason we lost the two chickens is because they got out, and I (being inexperienced in having chickens and dogs together) mistakenly assumed that since the dog was good around the chickens when we were supervising, that she would leave them alone if she happened upon them by herself. Unfortunately, I paid for my mistake with two chicks I raised from a day old and was very fond of.

At this point, we are continuing to be watchful and careful. We may end up giving the dog away due to an allergy in the family, but until that decision is made I feel confident that the chickens are safe from the dog. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Buckhunter76]

around my house we kill every animal that bothers our goats and chickens shoot everyone of them

Hell man your makin us sound like a bunch of rednecks, lol, But we are

 

[Davaroo]

Something every s0-called redneck learns is that everything wants to kill your chickens - they are the original "country buffet."
There is no time for niceties or 'touchy feely' solutions when the fanged ones are clawing at the hen house door.
You deal with them finally once and for all - and your chickens survive.

 

[Mskayladog]

I absolutely WILL NOT "shoot" our FAMILY DOG. She's been part of our family for over 5 years. She is loved and adored by the children. She is friendly and sweet. It is just as CJJenkins said. She thought the chickens were "toys" in my opinion. We are not a real "farm" we live in a neighborhood, and the dog is an indoor/outdoor dog, so as I said she is very much a part of our family. 

I would not kill my dogs either, my dogs protect my grandkids, they protect me there is NO doubt if someone was going to hurt a family member my dogs would rip the throut out of the person trying to hurt us. Yet my youngest grandchild can climb all over the dogs and the dogs worship the ground all the kids walk on.
My dogs are big house dogs and I know if my chickens get out my female dog would play with it to the death. I would blame me like you blame yourself but no way would I harm one of my dogs.
I'm fortunate that I have a large fenced in area for the dogs and away from them a large fenced covered area for my chickens.