Testing My Dogs with the Flock

[ChocolateMouse]

My husky behaves the same way, but don't take it for granted. She would still eat them if they started to run. Of course, she's also killed several chickens before. The point is, don't do it until you are sure.

 

[FlockQueen]

I have 5 dogs. Four amstaff pit bulls and one blue heeler. My test occurred similarly to yours. My chickens decided their quarter acre run wasn't large enough and flew over the fence to free range while i was inside. This has been going on now for several months. So far the worst problem ogre had is the dogs starting to chase after them and then losing interest..but the chases were pretty half hearted. Lately one of my hens has been chasing the dogs now chicks are another story...I've had to reprimand my male amstaff for gently carrying chicks in his mouth and trying to lick them. so far no hawk attacks though but we mainly have ospreys here and they would prefer fish.

 

[dedonx]

My sister-in-law had raised our first chicks, so we didn't inherit them until they were a little older. One day we came home to white feathers everywhere and the remnants of of what used to be one of our birds. The egg door hadn't been shut all the way and one of the birds decided to venture outside the run. Ever since then I have been so scared for the remainder of my flock with my terrier mix and mini aussie. Flash forward to last spring. We decided to add some new birds to our flock and got a dozen birds to raise half to give back to my sister-in-law. They were safe and secure in the garage until my children decided to show the chicks to our neighbors and didn't latch the coop. My dogs jumped the baby gate and killed 11 of the 12 birds. I came home to a couple of dead chicks on my garage floor, but never found any of the others. The following day, we heard the faintest chirping way back behind my storage rack. The lone survivor, later named Hope is my favorite bird in my flock. As you can imagine, I don't trust my dogs with the birds, but recently I decided to give it a try under my close supervision. The Aussie doesn't care about the birds AT ALL. Literally pays no attention to them. The terrier however, is all in their business. She is good with them but I would never trust her without me being there. If the birds get spooked she gets excited. So the birds get to move about on the weekends, only when we are home.

 

[ChickenRelatedUserName]

From a year ago. The chickens bother the dog, not the other way around.

 

[Grits&Eggs]

The dogs I have had have always been good, i think because they are in the house for several months chirping and interacting and of course being handled by the family...but my cats were a different story, no matter how much I handled them the cats would still pounce and rush them when I wasn't looking. I tried putting one of the chicks on the couch with me and pulled the cat into my lap and whap, the claws came out and the chick ended up on the ground....never again.

 

[jmillersan]

Thank you for your response! I'm not sure if she will guard against a hawk, I'm just thinking if the dogs are out in the yard, maybe it will be less likely to swoop in with them out. She is a standard poodle and I have a golden doodle . My doodle was out with them for an hour one time and I didn't know it. So this is the second time she's been out with them. They are good about coming to me.

I feel the same way- a dog in the yard makes a hawk attack less likely. We did have a hawk land once with our former great
Pyrenees in the yard tho! But generally speaking anything like that is a deterrent

 

[Hewey Home]

One of my Australian Shepherd's thinks his job is the chicken guard all day. He will not come in the house until they are locked up at night, goes out of morning with me to let them out. When the 2 D'anders are out he seems to know they are so small they need extra protection and follows them constantly. My other Aussie will not give them the time of day and only wants outside to go to bathroom. My cats are afraid of my chickens and rabbits both!!

 

[AGardenParty]

So...after 2 years of only letting my chickens free range when the dogs are inside, y... poodle hanging out within 10 feet of them.
She hangs out by their run all the time so after 2 years they know each other, but for you people that have dogs that are out with your hens, how did you safely know it was ok. This opens up a new level of safety against hawk attacks if I can let them out together, so I'd love to if we can.

It looks like you have plenty of answers, I had Sandy the Golden something mix. Sweetest dog. My cats tolerated her she always wanted to play. she would bound out at the chickens and make 'em disperse, but never ever any harm. Don't know if I was even too worried. they are both gone now. I have baby Nigerians, and don't let them out unsupervised as at <3 wks they are smaller than many of my chickens. Possibly cause I raised them from 3days old (the chickens) in the house and she was just aware?

Otoh my step father brought 2 chickens home we had in a pen in the back yard 40+ years ago and out house dog wasn't properly introduced and brought one of them to the door step "pointing" over it. Guess it just depends on instinct, temperament, introduction etc. I wouldn't worry to much with a 'oodle dog. LOL. these 10 dogs make great LGD's Im more for keeping my Dogs inside so they would be a useless addition. https://morningchores.com/farm-dogs/

HTH
--Leslie

 

[Vanessarae]

We have 3 dogs and they all get on with the chickens. We did the same thing let them see eachother through the fence and eventually they acclimate.
However depending on your dogs be careful with food! If your feeding the girls scraps or treats some dogs get a bit nippy with the chickens.

 

[amazondoc2]

Yeah, you've gotten lots of responses already, but of course I'm gonna stick my two cents in anyway.

My answer: there are plenty of dogs that you can trust with your chickens **under supervision**, but not too many dogs that you can trust when you're not around. But it depends on the situation and the chickens involved.

Intro: I've always had bunches of dogs, and I've kept chickens for 11 years. The dogs have been mostly dobermans for something like 20 years.

I used to have a rott-dobe mix who would literally eat through wire -- and not just "chicken wire", but welded wire mesh too -- in order to get to chickens and kill them. He killed some of my favorite tame birds one day -- chewed into a completely fenced pen and killed them all. While he was alive, I had to put chain link around that pen to keep him out of it.

I also used to have a doberman who couldn't care less about chickens or goats or ducks or geese. I was happy to let him run loose with any of them -- they just weren't his thing.

I've also had plenty of dobes who I would trust when I was there -- I've even had loose house chickens with a pack of dobermans lying around.

And I've had plenty of dobes that I would trust when I was around, who have been happy to kill anything that moves when I'm not there.

I've also always kept chicks in brooders in the house, and except for the early years (when I had that rott mix and a pit) I've never had problems with the dogs trying to get into the brooders.

I have four dogs right now -- two old dobermans, one lab mix, one Anatolian shepherd. The dobes spend most of their time outside (their choice -- they used to live mostly inside until they decided otherwise), the Anatolian is outside 100%, and the lab goes in and out with me because I can't keep her inside the fence otherwise. Last spring, six of my Brabanters escaped their pen and I couldn't catch them. Three disappeared, but the other three formed their own little flock and roamed around the property all summer. They were too smart for the one old dobe who likes to kill birds (and he has slowed down too much with age to catch them), they chased off the neighborhood cat who got too interested, and they had enough shelter to avoid any predators who might get past the dogs at night. In the fall they finally flocked themselves into a corner where I could catch them, and they are now safely back in their pen with the others.

So the real answer is -- it all depends!