Let me suggest a more effective technique for communicating with your dog that chickens are off limits. First, get a clicker from a pet store. It costs a dollar, it is an item that makes a loud click when you press it. Then get a high value treat for your dog, something irresistable, like bacon or freeze dried liver (expensive, but can be broken into tiny bits and dogs love it). Then, work with your dog on leash within sight and sound of the pen of chickens. At no point yell or dominate the dog. Use firm assertive tone of voice for commands, happy voice for praise. The goal is to communicate your desire for her behavior, which is:"Don't look at, go after, bother chickens" to your dog. Right now the dog knows that dead chickens makes you angry at her, that's it. So, what you do is get your husband at first (right now she won't react well around you for this training to be effective until she has a session with someone who hasn't disciplined her in the chicken area. Later you can do this same training, after she "gets the idea".)
Have your husband train her on lead. At the very second the dog does what you want, shove a treat in its mouth. (Click and treat at the same time, at the VERY second the dog does right, and also say something verbal like "Yes!" as you click and treat. Later the click and treat will be replaced with your verbal praise. It is incredibly important that the click, verbal reenforcement and the treat are delivered to the dog at the second the approved behavior happens. If you are even a second too long giving the reward, the dog will be confused as to what you approve of. Your dog will think, is it me looking at her or me eating the treat she likes? Or is it when I looked over there? Dogs live in the moment, so your training awards must be immediate, especially when the dog is just learning new concepts. Don't be slow and reward the dog for the wrong behavior, reward the dog the second it does right.
Put the dog in a sit . Take the treat in front of your dogs nose, and raise it upwards towards your eyes saying "watch me!" as soon as the treat gets to your eye level (Don't say watch me at the start of this, say it when the treat is at your eye level), if the dog's gaze gets to your eyes at that point, (your eyes meet) say "yes!" and treat and click, very fast/immediately. Practice this until she becomes perfect at it, it won't take long.
After this, when the dog is becoming distracted or focusing on something else (like chickens) you can say "watch me!" to get the dog focused on you. The principals of clicker training can be used to teach the dog just about anything, sit,down, heels,stay, etc. If your dog does not know those commands already, use the clicker technique to teach them to her. You can't expect the dog to learn complicated stuff (like stay away from the chickens) if you don't have the foundation skills in place. I suggest that if you can you either buy or rent (from a library) a DVD on clicker training or enroll in a basic obedience course. It is a fantastic way to work with your dog and develop communication between the 2 of you.
Here is a great site that gives you a basic introduction on how this training works:
http://www.dogsindia.com/clicker_training_for_dogs.htm
