Nine year old black lab....will he try and eat the chickens?

[Roosterboy]

The most obvious answer would be yes, him being a bird-dog. BUT he is getting a bit lazy and the only thing he ever chases are the occasional squirrels. Also, i have had people tell me that their dogs chase everything except chickens. So would he try and kill them. Let me clarify, i would keep them in a predator proof run and coop but i would want him to try and get in it 24-7.


One more thing, i have a ten pound small mixed breed dog. I don't think she'd pose much of a threat but i'm just gonna throw that out there to catch any concerns.

 

[max101]

Even if the dog dont kill the chooks, dogs are known to chase chooks to death. I never allow my dogs near the chicken unless I am with them.

 

[Chickie Mamma]

My 10 year old black lab killed 2 chicks last year. He didn't eat them like my Husky did with the other 2 that got loose, but I wouldn't trust it.

 

[CityChook]

I think it all depends on the dog and the level of training and submission.

I have a 3 y/o ding dong lab and she is completely dependable with the chickens. Granted, I don't leave them in the yard alone all day long, because I don't want to tempt fate, but we are all outside together for full days on Saturdays (doing yard work) and she doesn't even glance their way. I think that when the chooks were small (and brooding in our house) the dog got it through her very thick skull that these were MINE and there would be H#LL to pay for messing with them.

That's just my experience.

 

[Shared Acres]

We got chickens last year and we have a 9-year-old lab. She used to chase ducks but immediately stopped when we yelled at her.

Our cochins are out all day long and our lab has full reign to go in and out of the house. She could care less about the chickens, she would prefer they not touch her actually, lol. She rather likes to eat their food though.

I saw her sniffing one of the Cochins yesterday but other then that she doesn't care about them.

But each dog is different.

 

[Young MacDonald]

My 8 year-old lab has killed two chicks. One she broke the neck at 5 weeks. Another, she bit the head off at 3 weeks.

But she leaves the older pullets alone. She seems to be interested only in them until about 8 weeks and then doesn't care so much. The ones that are 14+ weeks can walk next to her and she shows no interest, but we can't let her outside when the little ones are in the yard.

 

[Mahonri]

Tonight when I let the 8 week olds out, they walked right up to Lilly and she let them peck her on the nose. It's like she loves them.

 

[blessedchickenmama7]

I have a 6 year old yellow lab. They'd be lunch for her if she could get to 'em. And she's been run off from more than one of the neighbors for chicken chasing when she was a puppy. She stays home now. But we keep our chicks out of her reach. She has definitely not outgrown it, even though she's slowed down a lot.

 

[rainbowgardens]

My 8 year old obese and arthritic blond lab managed to catch and kill one of my hens. Her tie-out line had rusted through and she got loose.
The poor thing would just lay around and not move all day, but she must have gotten really excited to be able to catch my poor chicken.
Don't ever underestimate what a dog can do.

 

[City Gardener]

When I was a kid our fat old black lab, which we adopted when he was 9, killed a chicken, a cat and a rabbit. Not our cat, chicken, or rabbit (although we had all of those), unfortunately. He'd sneak off our property and go raiding our neighbors' property.

Labs are sweet to people but I wouldn't trust them around poultry.

My shepherd-pit bull mix is so sweet to our chickens, but I still wouldn't let her near them with me there.