What breed of dog should we get?

[Little Farm Girl]

as i've told many chicken keepers, NEVER GET DOGS AS GUARD ANIMALS!! they will kill your flock when you're not looking. no matter the breed, no matter the size, no matter the training. they all have the predatory urge to kill small animals, including chickens. for protection, use geese or emus. they are certainly less expensive to hatch from eggs than dogs, and if you let a broody hen raise them, they will grow up bonded to that flock, willing to risk their lives to protect it. a stinking mutt will only pretend to love the flock in return for treats and food, and will kill your chickens without hesitation once it stops receiving treats. geese and emus are the way to go. many online hatchereys carry goslings, and you can find emu eggs usually under 60 us dollars on eBay.

Wow, thank you so so much for suggesting this. We have immediately started reading as much as we can about emu and geese. Thank you so so much for giving us a solution, not just a problem. Lol. Thanks again!

 

[Little Farm Girl]

Thanks all, we aren't getting a dog. We have found a solution.

 

[Little Farm Girl]

Also, just so that every body knows, the donkey is fine, lol. We've got a plan for him too

 

[centrarchid]

I think you are not doing a lot of thinking as you get ready to go down a road you will regret. If you resort to guardian animal, how are you going to keep in on property? I have kept dogs without fencing and I think you have similar abilities, but that approach will not work well with emus and the like.

Take time to show pictures of landscape from two angles, eye level and satellite. Thus far I am not confident in your assessment that fencing will not be doable.

 

[123RedBeard]

From my limited understanding ... farmers get donkey's to protect their flocks, as they don't like canines ... so I'm told (read) ... maybe your mini's have that trait bred out of it?

Of course if your donkey is off wandering in the road ... it can't stop the foxes from getting into the chickens ...

 

[Mybackyardpeepers]

I have a guard protective breed and would never trust her alone with my feathered babies even though she has never shown harmful behavior in front of us with them.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Plese understand that, like other farm animals, emu and geese are not instinctively smart about cars and traffic. And, like other farm animals, they won't have a clue about what it is you expect of them.

 

[ColtHandorf]

I'm just going to say that in multiple threads individuals have advised to actually fix the problem with the security of your coops and breeding pens. I understand that you have a lot, and they are scattered about. I do not understand why you keep looking for extraneous solutions when if you simply took the time to do what has been advised without the addition of a LGD (or even worse, geese or emus) you'd be able to solve your problem without creating more.

Here is a reply to one of your earlier threads that you didn't even respond to. You just turned around and asked about breeds for LGDs:

"Coyotes have also been known to climb chain link fences. If it were me looking for advice I would post photos of the area you're keeping the birds in to give us a better picture of what is actually happening. You haven't really given people much to work with in the way of information.

I grew up in East Texas on 113 acres and there are a variety of predators that could be preying on your flock; coyotes, foxes, bobcats, wild dogs, snakes, rats, hawks, owls, raccoons, and even wild hogs can all prey on them.

You need to look at keeping the birds safe at night. Fifteen years ago when I lived in Palestine and worked for a hobby farm between myself and them I looked after nearly 2000 birds. All the fencing was five foot welded wire held by t-posts. Breeding pens were placed strategically so that fencing was shared between pens. Houses were built like the one seen here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nearly-done.1292803/

I modified it slightly, but the point is that the birds were locked up in those houses over night and let out in the morning to be in their runs during the day. In the evening various breed pens were turned out to enjoy free-ranging for a couple of hours before bed.

I had three dogs at my home growing up but still occasionally lost birds. My father didn't support my hobby enough to ensure that the birds had the best housing/caging. At least losses were small though. The hobby farm didn't have a dog roaming the property and their losses were practically non existent. There were occasional problems with snakes eating eggs. And a large boar raccoon once killed multiple turkey poults before we determined where he was living and eliminated him.

But my point is you need to streamline everything. Don't have pens scattered about and avoid placing them under fruiting trees such as persimmons, which raccoons and coyotes both enjoy. Build them all in a row, or two rows back to back to utilize the same wire and build the pens less expensively. I will see if I can find some more photos of the older set-ups to give you a better idea of what can be done.

Ultimately providing housing for the birds that they can sleep safely in overnight, like the one linked above is going to be one of the best things you can do. If you can't provide a safe home for the remaining birds you have you'll find yourself out of the chicken business altogether."

It is obvious you are going to do what you want to do, whether or not people tell you things to the contrary. I do not understand why you continue to ask for help and then not take the help offered you. If you want to keep the chickens and your other livestock you're going to need to put in the work to keep them safe. The addition of other animals that are not properly contained is going to compound your problems, not alleviate them.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm just going to say that in multiple threads individuals have advised to actually fix the problem with the security of your coops and breeding pens. I understand that you have a lot, and they are scattered about. I do not understand why you keep looking for extraneous solutions when if you simply took the time to do what has been advised without the addition of a LGD (or even worse, geese or emus).

Here is a reply to one of your earlier threads that you didn't even respond to. You just turned around and asked about breeds for LGDs:

"Coyotes have also been known to climb chain link fences. If it were me looking for advice I would post photos of the area you're keeping the birds in to give us a better picture of what is actually happening. You haven't really given people much to work with in the way of information.

I grew up in East Texas on 113 acres and there are a variety of predators that could be preying on your flock; coyotes, foxes, bobcats, wild dogs, snakes, rats, hawks, owls, raccoons, and even wild hogs can all prey on them.

You need to look at keeping the birds safe at night. Fifteen years ago when I lived in Palestine and worked for a hobby farm between myself and them I looked after nearly 2000 birds. All the fencing was five foot welded wire held by t-posts. Breeding pens were placed strategically so that fencing was shared between pens. Houses were built like the one seen here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nearly-done.1292803/

I modified it slightly, but the point is that the birds were locked up in those houses over night and let out in the morning to be in their runs during the day. In the evening various breed pens were turned out to enjoy free-ranging for a couple of hours before bed.

I had three dogs at my home growing up but still occasionally lost birds. My father didn't support my hobby enough to ensure that the birds had the best housing/caging. At least losses were small though. The hobby farm didn't have a dog roaming the property and their losses were practically non existent. There were occasional problems with snakes eating eggs. And a large boar raccoon once killed multiple turkey poults before we determined where he was living and eliminated him.

But my point is you need to streamline everything. Don't have pens scattered about and avoid placing them under fruiting trees such as persimmons, which raccoons and coyotes both enjoy. Build them all in a row, or two rows back to back to utilize the same wire and build the pens less expensively. I will see if I can find some more photos of the older set-ups to give you a better idea of what can be done.

Ultimately providing housing for the birds that they can sleep safely in overnight, like the one linked above is going to be one of the best things you can do. If you can't provide a safe home for the remaining birds you have you'll find yourself out of the chicken business altogether."

It is obvious you are going to do what you want to do, whether or not people tell you things to the contrary. I do not understand why you continue to ask for help and then not take the help offered you. If you want to keep the chickens and your other livestock you're going to need to put in the work to keep them safe. The addition of other animals that are not properly contained is going to compound your problems, not alleviate them.

 

[Henry&Friends]

Getting more animals will attract more animals, what you need is some fencing.

Bonus points if you get electric fencing