Need Good Ol' Chicken Dog

[NDMama]

I am not sure that you can trust finding a dog, especially a young one, to watch your chickens unless you have one that has established having no prey drive and has already been exposed to them. It's risky. I free range y chickens and I have actually had to chase foxes watching and even saved one of my girls just as the fox tore out all her tail feathers as she ran away. I have 2 dogs who are often with my chickens, but I don't think I would leave them unattended for long as I just don't want to risk it. What seems to have worked for us is having 2 small sheep and/or our mini donkey grazing with them. Just having them out and about with the chickens seems to deter the foxes and the hawks to some degree. I have heard people say regular donkeys or geese will be protective and chase off predators. I do keep an eye out for the chickens wandering away into the brush and woods around the property but they are well trained (with treats) to come when called. Free ranging just has some inherent risk.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

I am not sure that you can trust finding a dog, especially a young one, to watch your chickens unless you have one that has established having no prey drive and has already been exposed to them. It's risky. I free range y chickens and I have actually had to chase foxes watching and even saved one of my girls just as the fox tore out all her tail feathers as she ran away. I have 2 dogs who are often with my chickens, but I don't think I would leave them unattended for long as I just don't want to risk it. What seems to have worked for us is having 2 small sheep and/or our mini donkey grazing with them. Just having them out and about with the chickens seems to deter the foxes and the hawks to some degree. I have heard people say regular donkeys or geese will be protective and chase off predators. I do keep an eye out for the chickens wandering away into the brush and woods around the property but they are well trained (with treats) to come when called. Free ranging just has some inherent risk.

NDMama you're a genius!

Why didn't I think of this earlier? The OP doesn't need a LGD she needs some kind of other protector. Geese, donkeys and llamas are all great choices. I have only used geese but can say they are very good at their job! They deter hawks and will even chase foxes away (saw it with my own eyes!)

 

[Bugaha Scott]

Dingo, my red heeler, tending his herd.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Heelers have such a distinctive look to them. You could never mistake one for another breed.

 

[Mutt Farm]

I've been enjoying reading this thread. Good looking dog! Love the breed. Really popular with horse folks here in Ca. Trained many for folks. Brilliant protective dogs. In general, better get to get one at 4-5 wks and start training rather than trust a rescue. My friend's heeler just wiped out all of his fancy pullets. He was fine with the birds until he wasn't. I guess you never know...

 

[NDMama]

My experience too. I had a three dogs that all seemed to be fine with my few hens for almost 2 yrs until, one day,our spinone wasn't. Didn't eat them, just killed them and retrieved them to us as a bird dog would. I guess they were close enough to game birds for that day.

 

[fruity7]

We have 2 dogs, almost two years old. They were very young when we bought them, and the chooks arrived when the pups were about 6 months old. The dogs and chooks all free range and so far they haven't killed any. They are 1/4 Husky 1/4 German Shep 1/2 Border Collie. I think they are chook safe mainly because their parents were also farm dogs so they are bred to be around livestock. A pound rescue dog is perhaps more of a gamble as the parentage is often unknown. We introduced them under close supervision and have never tolerated any prey drive displays from them. They do get a hungry look when the chooks are flapping and squawking though. The girl dog recently caught a ground nesting bird- brought her to my son and laid her at his feet unharmed. She flew away. We took the pups into the coop a lot for the first few months, but made it clear the area of off bounds without us.

Our chooks don't seem to need protecting from our dogs, but the Jack Russell from the farm next door has picked off 4 bantams so far this year. It walks around happily with the big Isa Browns and Australorp roo, but the little Pekins/Cochins didn't fare so well. Our dogs don't chase it off, so I don't think they are an active deterrent to hunters. Their presence has reduced the number of goannas coming close to the chook yard though and they probably keep the wild dogs away. But for hawks and snakes they aren't really a deterrent.

If OP wants a dog for reasons other than to guard the flock, it's worth getting a farm bred dog and training it well. But as for an animal brought in solely to protect chooks, I would go with the advise of other posters and choose a different animal.

 

[Mutt Farm]

I've been just reading along with this post. I've enjoyed it and the different perspectives. 6 pages later, NDMama mentioned a donkey. This I can comment on! In Inland So Cal, we have wild burros, and lots of folks have donkeys. Land owners hire sheep herds for weed abatement for fire control. The herders use the GP dog, Anatolian Shep and donkeys to protect the herds. Not uncommon for a burro to injure or kill an errant Pit Bull or other menace, run off a coyote or bobcat. Lots of farmers use donkeys. They make great guard dogs! I rescued a wild bottle baby, her mother was hit by car. She loved us, the dogs, goat, whatever. Nothing got past her!

 

[bcolclough]

Our darling Rufus came from breed rescue as a Giant Schnauzer. Never fit the breed attitude of a Giant! Instead it turns out, that sweet animal was a Bouvier des Flandres. Soon after adopting this sweet boy he was following the breed disposition of hunter and gatherer. He was huge...150 pounds and loved to lick the chickens. We successfully taught him to gather the chickens out of our garden and into the chicken coop. He would do this all the time and irritated the chickens wanting to eat all our lettuce but it worked well. The breed doesn't shed, lived a long healthy sixteen years with dysplasia occurring over the last two years of his life. I really have never known a sweeter disposition! Several rounds of baby chicks recognized Rufus as Mom and crawled all over and under him. He would lay still somehow understanding he could crush them instantly if he moved. Quite cool!

 

[HeritageGoose13]

I have heard nothing but good things about Bouvier des Flandres.