Most chicken owners have a dog or two in addition to their flock. Some keep and train their dogs as livestock guardians or flock watchers, while others find they can't trust their dogs with their birds. Keeping these two species together can be done very successfully though. I would like to hear from all you dog and chicken owners what advice you have and what your experiences were when it comes to keeping dogs and chickens together, or at least in harmony. Specifically:
- How do you/did you train your dog(s) not to kill or mess with your chickens?
- What is the best/most effective way to deal with/retrain a dog that killed birds already? (No cruel or inappropriate suggestions, please… Let's keep this thread friendly and informative)
- Tell me about livestock guardian dogs (LGD's)
- Are some dog breeds more or less prone to be a problem around the flock?
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Oh boy, do i have stories! I have 2 very beautiful kuvasz ladies and they do a wonderful job! Just tonight, an up-and-coming roo was being a bully. The ladies were out, and he went after one of my young bantam dark cornish cockerels. Hearing the distress cries, both ladies jumped to attention and raced over to where the problem was occuring... Now, my youngster is still a pup (20 months) and still prone to chase, but i stayed silent and just watched to see what she/they would do... The ladies just took up positions slightly to either side of the bully, about 10' away: more than enough to intimidate him! The young cockerel was relieved, and ran one direction whilst the bully ran the other. The ladies followed the victim, and at one point i thought Arya, my puppy, would give chase - but she just took an aggressive pose as she watched the little bird rejoin his group. I was SO proud to see Arya finally "get it"! Athena, on the other hand, has quit chasing 99.9999999% of the time since she turned 2 earlier this year.
Have my dogs killed chickens? YES. Athena was raised at home, alone, with only the birds from 11 weeks until i retired from my job when she was about 6 months, spending about 11-12 hours a day by herself in one pen, birds adjacent in the other. She was lonely and very bored. The birds were good at flying out of their enclosures, and at 5 months so was athena (except she climbed, not flew). One day i came home from work and found a RIR pullet dead and being munched on by Athena. This happened a few times, actually. Each time i would take the bird, express my disappointment and walk away, then denying my pup of further positive attention until she showed remorse.
However, during this time i was also constantly hatching and brooding chicks. I didn't know much about LGDs, other than that you're supposed to toss them in with their stock as puppies and leave them to it. I involved Athena with the hatching and brooding process as much as possible - i allowed her to take "dirty" (ones coated in membrane) chicks straight from the incubator and clean them up on the couch prior to putting them under the heatlamp in the brooder. I also allowed her - under my supervision - to remove babies from the brooder for bathing, even when it was unnecessary... i just wanted her to develop a "motherly" connection to the chickens.
Chicken-chasing was an issue. Despite my efforts, Athena liked to chase when they ran. She would haul her catch under a bush or tree for a thorough bathing. However, adult chickens don't take kindly to this and they fight. When they fight against all those pointy teeth, they die. I really don't think Athena understood what was happening. I could see it in her face, actually - she really didn't get it. So, now i had to train Athena that it's NOT okay to grab chickens, which is the opposite to what she learned whenever i hatched chicks. Conundrum!!!
Persistence in training calmed that, and at 10 months we acquired 8-week-old Arya (named after the game of thrones character - and quite aptly so!). Arya came mid-winter, when chickens were locked up permanently due to snow. The first time the chickens were let loose, arya - at about 9 or 10 weeks - promptly herded them back into the coop! She started zig-zagging wide, gradually narrowing her zig-zag until all the chickens were back in! (And the kuvasz is not known as a herder, fyi, even though i have read that they did perform that job alongside protection in their history.)
Arya's herding progressed into chasing just when we were getting athena off the chasing. This did not work well, for the most part. If a chicken was loose when it wasn't supposed to be, the two pups would corner it from opposite directions; the "gentle" and "drop the baby" commands came in handy here! Albeit, if anyone knows LGDs, commands only go as far as what they believe to be the correct action! But, no losses here - i would commend the girls on a job well done, take the baby and toss it back into the run.
Before i continue, the experinced farmer who got Athena's twin sister taught me this: if your pup is doing something wrong, act like mama dog by pinning it to the ground by the nape while saying a firm "no!" However, as much as this works wonders, it only works if you can catch the pup in time for this to be effective. x1 for Athena, x2 for Arya - kuvasz are FAST! Even at 10 weeks!!!
This story/lecture is not yet finished, i will continue it hopefully this evening. Timevl to put quail to bed
Luckily haven't had to deal with anything bigger than that coming into our yard!
