Okay, I'm fairly new here. Certainly new to raising chickens, and need some advice on what to do with a dog that has turned aggressive, towards the little birds.
We've been free ranging our chickens, and had been monitoring them, pretty closely, for the past week, or so. They were doing well. I even started letting the fully feathered pullets out, to do the same, yesterday. Our two little dogs (toy poodle and mini schnauzer) seemed fairly aggressive towards the smaller ones, when they were in the cages. But once they were allowed to free range, the girls left them alone. After monitoring the behavior, for a few days, pretty closely, we believed we could trust the dogs, with the chickens. Especially because the chickens were out, mostly only when the big dogs were out, and they (the big dogs. A Catahoula and an old beagle) have been totally indifferent towards the chickens, even when they weren't aware that they were being watched.
Today, was to be the last test. Let all of the fully feathered chickens, out, to free range, but keep the littler, more aggressive dogs, inside the house, as Buddy (Catahoula)and Max (beagle), had shown ZERO INCLINATION, towards them. The chickens were even getting pretty comfortable around them. I watched them pretty closely, most of the morning, and well into the afternoon. No aggression, at all. The chickens even were trusting of them, and would walk right past.
So, I sat down to watch some recorded TV shows. Not even halfway through the second one, I saw Buddy, running, with something black, in his mouth. It looked like a bird. I yelled at him, and went to put some sandals on, to go outside. Before I could get out, Lulu was already out there, and found what appeared to be all of our little chickens, laying scattered around, dead, and disemboweled. As it turned out, our 4 month old Polish, and a 4 month old Frizzle, had not yet, been gotten.
Max, the beagle, is too old, slow, and lazy, to have done any killing. And, he's been in close contact with them, showing no aggression, at all. But, he knows a free meal, when he finds it. Buddy, on the other hand, gave a short chase after one, the first day they were let out, but after being scolded, he never showed another iota, of aggression towards them. He's also been quite pleasantly disinterested. But, he's fast, and fleet of foot. And, he's shown some aggression, however minute, in the past. It's not difficult to figure out, who did what.
So, both boys are under house arrest, right now, with dead birds tied to them, and them, tied to the chicken coop.
In the end, we lost 9, two month old pullets, one black Frizzle, about 4 months old, and two gold laced Polish pullets, about 3 months old, and a three month old Bronze Turkey, who was very loving and trusting.
I am both sad, and ****** off right now.
Is there a sure fire way to fix this? The birds are partly here, for the dogs' benefit, as we have a serious tick issue. And they get to eat some of the eggs, when we feed them to the dogs.
How to I handle this? This morning, the dogs seem to have consumed the chickens I tied to them, as I had been told would help to train them.
We've been free ranging our chickens, and had been monitoring them, pretty closely, for the past week, or so. They were doing well. I even started letting the fully feathered pullets out, to do the same, yesterday. Our two little dogs (toy poodle and mini schnauzer) seemed fairly aggressive towards the smaller ones, when they were in the cages. But once they were allowed to free range, the girls left them alone. After monitoring the behavior, for a few days, pretty closely, we believed we could trust the dogs, with the chickens. Especially because the chickens were out, mostly only when the big dogs were out, and they (the big dogs. A Catahoula and an old beagle) have been totally indifferent towards the chickens, even when they weren't aware that they were being watched.
Today, was to be the last test. Let all of the fully feathered chickens, out, to free range, but keep the littler, more aggressive dogs, inside the house, as Buddy (Catahoula)and Max (beagle), had shown ZERO INCLINATION, towards them. The chickens were even getting pretty comfortable around them. I watched them pretty closely, most of the morning, and well into the afternoon. No aggression, at all. The chickens even were trusting of them, and would walk right past.
So, I sat down to watch some recorded TV shows. Not even halfway through the second one, I saw Buddy, running, with something black, in his mouth. It looked like a bird. I yelled at him, and went to put some sandals on, to go outside. Before I could get out, Lulu was already out there, and found what appeared to be all of our little chickens, laying scattered around, dead, and disemboweled. As it turned out, our 4 month old Polish, and a 4 month old Frizzle, had not yet, been gotten.
Max, the beagle, is too old, slow, and lazy, to have done any killing. And, he's been in close contact with them, showing no aggression, at all. But, he knows a free meal, when he finds it. Buddy, on the other hand, gave a short chase after one, the first day they were let out, but after being scolded, he never showed another iota, of aggression towards them. He's also been quite pleasantly disinterested. But, he's fast, and fleet of foot. And, he's shown some aggression, however minute, in the past. It's not difficult to figure out, who did what.
So, both boys are under house arrest, right now, with dead birds tied to them, and them, tied to the chicken coop.
In the end, we lost 9, two month old pullets, one black Frizzle, about 4 months old, and two gold laced Polish pullets, about 3 months old, and a three month old Bronze Turkey, who was very loving and trusting.
I am both sad, and ****** off right now.
Is there a sure fire way to fix this? The birds are partly here, for the dogs' benefit, as we have a serious tick issue. And they get to eat some of the eggs, when we feed them to the dogs.
How to I handle this? This morning, the dogs seem to have consumed the chickens I tied to them, as I had been told would help to train them.
