My increadably bad luck and bad dogs....

[greathorse]

Many of us when we built our first pens did not give enough credit to predators for their ability to get through fencing. I lost about that many to neighbor dogs that tore a door off my coop. I knew the door needed reinforcing but was going to do it "next weekend".

A dog can be your best freind in terms of saving your chickens from predators or your worst enemy as you have discovered. I have a nice Aussie which is fairly you and I had no idea how she would be. I started by taking her with me to the chicken coop and going inside with her on the leash. Later I woul allow her to go with me on very good voice command, she now guards her chickens with her life.

If you want both your dogs and chickens you will need to build an iron clad fence and that depends a lot on the dog. My daughter and her husband have a dog that can eat through chain link, he has done it several times. Needless to say he is not allowed on the place ever for any reason.

I am looking for a second dog to watch over my breeders, but will make sure I get the right breed as well as the right training.

Good luck and it has happened to many of us. I remeber that sick feeling

 

[BFeathered]

So sorry for your loss, and the rapid learning of a very hard lesson. Been there, done that, have the T-shirt (read my tag line). All the suggestions so far are what I will be doing with my new coop and run. I'll be using a chainlink 5' fence with hardware cloth reinforcement inside, and 3 hotwires around the outside. I'm going to try a solar charger to save some money, but if it doesn't work, let the electric meter spin! My dogs have been getting reinforcement training on the "leave it" command, and they'll be getting it with "live bait" come spring. If their noses get zapped and they think "Wow, those chickens have some serious power!" that's just fine by me. Love my dogs, but they're in for a rude awakening when I get my chickens back!

 

[Jay13]

Quote:
I know its a bit off topic but my experience with solar chargers has been pretty lousy. Spent $150 on one and the zapper went out on it after 3 months, luckily the manufacturer has a 1 year warranty on them. After going through 2 solar chargers, we opted for the plug in model and haven't looked back.

Jay