Whats the best type of "Watch Dog" for your flock?

[Christina.Rich]

Hi Everyone,

I had a fox attack this past Sunday. Absolutely heartbreaking. I was out during the day with them as they were free ranging, and went inside for about 30 minutes around 6pm to do some laundry only to find that was just enough time for a fox or two to run rapid on my baby girls. Lost 8 of them... my yard still has feathers scattered everywhere. For those who have had this happen or something similar, I feel your pain. I wouldn't wish that experience on my worst enemy, seriously.

Unfortunately it was a VERY hard lesson learned, and going forward I now will be extra cautious. Also will be contacting a trapping company soon, it seems like there may be a den nearby and if they can get trapped in relocated, it might make me feel a little bit better.

I will be getting some more birds within the next few weeks to fill my heart again, but I am considering getting either a large rooster, or some guinea hens to help for the future. Does anyone have one or the other and has found that they have helped with keeping your flock more "safe"? I've done some research and have gotten mixed reviews on what helps or if they help.

Is it true that a rooster will do whatever they can to defend his girls?

Are guinea hens able to be housed with chickens? Are they helpful with alerting? Are they as annoying as everyone says they are? lol

If it were up to me I would get a legitimate watchdog, but unfortunately that's not an option for our household right now.

Any advice you can give me will help me a TON.

Thank you!

 

[RWise]

Guinea hens will make a lot of noise is all, POTRACK! We kept ours with the chickens, until they moved to the larger wild flock. The rooster accepted them too, and did his thing.
Some roosters will give their life (rare) others will try to hide the girls someplace safe (what my older guy does), another may only sound an alert.
For me it's not a fox (rare for an attack to be a wild animal) and the dogs/cats next door. I feel your pain, the cat got every single chick last year, there is no cat there now.

 

[Christina.Rich]

@Ridgerunner-


I'm sure that it was a fox because my Fiancé was the one who saw it first hand. Granted, it could have been a coyote with a red tint? To be fair, at the time they were attacked they were back by their coop because it was starting to get dark out, and the fox very well may have taken one at a time and I didn't notice because I thought that they were just going into their coop. Also, 5 of the birds were just 3 months old. They were smaller and stayed together, so the fox may have been able to take more than one at a time. The fox den is definitely close, may even be way back in our backyard. I already contacted a trapping company, so we will see.

At this point, the chickens wont be able to free range unless I'm outside. Period. However, we have a larger property and even if I'm outside, things can still happen. We might end up just getting a larger dog in the near future (I have a French bulldog now...he doesn't do much in the "protecting" department) If we get a large dog, he/she will be outside with us and be able to keep an eye out in a situation where we aren't near them or aren't paying 100% attention to the birds.

Thank you for your advice! You have been super helpful.

 

[ashlierami]

To bad you are unable to get an actual watchdog. A great Pyrenees would be the one. My big guy unfortunately died a few years back but he was fantastic. We used to have alot of coyotes that would come around at night and once he got old enough to defend our land we never had a coyote attack again. In my experience guineas just produce noise which would alert you to an issue but it won't send off anything. A good rooster is great but finding one that defends his girls that way is hard. I currently have one that fought for his favorite hen against an eagle that nests nearby. She was taken but he tried his best.

 

[ribomilgotafarm]

I'm actually torn between my chicks and my daughter's pups. My chicks predators are sadly part of our family. And they to make it a habit to play cat and mouse almost everyday. I can't bear locking up those chubby lil pups cos they really cry real tears.... And no matter how my husband fixes the chicks free range zone, they still manage to get out of the fences/net and just attract those napping pups.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I'm actually torn between my chicks and my daughter's pups. My chicks predators are sadly part of our family. And they to make it a habit to play cat and mouse almost everyday. I can't bear locking up those chubby lil pups cos they really cry real tears.... And no matter how my husband fixes the chicks free range zone, they still manage to get out of the fences/net and just attract those napping pups.

To be cruelly accurate, the best chicken guard dog to have is any dog that will rush in, nab the predator and then shake and worry the person of the predator until the good Lord calls the poor thing home, hopefully to live with the saints in glory. Any other type of dog is only a poor imitation of a chicken guard dog.

Don't give up on your daughter's pups, they may turn into amazing varmint killers with just a little work from you and your family. Once you stamp the idea on their little K9 brains that the chickens are privileged members of their pact the dogs may surprise you with the ferocity of their protection. I once kept two registered Red Bone Coon Hounds and few fury chicken thefts had the courage or moxie to try for a chicken dinner as long as Big Mack & Little Mack were on the job.

 

[MINDANAO DAVE]

Guinea hens will definitely alert you to any intruder. Some people complain about everything. I am getting some Guineas this Saturday. We had some before. You should have about 6 of them. They will also keep Snakes and rat and mice away and eat every bug they find. However the fox might take a Guinea hen rather than a chicken. But no doubt they will alert you of any intruder man or beast. Those fox will be back in a day or two. Be ready. Good Luck

 

[Ridgerunner]

How sure are you that it was a fox? My experiences with a fox is that they sneak in, ambush one chicken, and are running away with it before the rooster has time to react. I trust others on here that say foxes have killed multiple chickens but your attack sounds more like coyotes or dogs to me. I agree with the trapping but sometimes it makes a difference what critter you are going after. When I lost 8 in a similar situation it was two big dogs. When I lost 5 it was one dog. Still, it could be foxes.

I pretty much agree with the others that a rooster will not do you much, if any, good against a fox, coyote, or dog. In both my big attacks and a few little ones the rooster was not harmed in any way. When I've seen the flock identify a threat mine tend to lead them to safety instead of covering their retreat.

A good dog can help. That means you need to train the dog to recognize what it is protecting and you leave it out there 24/7, day and night, regardless of weather. A guard dog does you no good if it is in the house staying warm.

 

[Geena]

How sure are you that it was a fox? My experiences with a fox is that they sneak in, ambush one chicken, and are running away with it before the rooster has time to react. I trust others on here that say foxes have killed multiple chickens but your attack sounds more like coyotes or dogs to me. I agree with the trapping but sometimes it makes a difference what critter you are going after. When I lost 8 in a similar situation it was two big dogs. When I lost 5 it was one dog. Still, it could be foxes.

I pretty much agree with the others that a rooster will not do you much, if any, good against a fox, coyote, or dog. In both my big attacks and a few little ones the rooster was not harmed in any way. When I've seen the flock identify a threat mine tend to lead them to safety instead of covering their retreat.

A good dog can help. That means you need to train the dog to recognize what it is protecting and you leave it out there 24/7, day and night, regardless of weather. A guard dog does you no good if it is in the house staying warm.

This time of year when the foxes are feeding their kits they will take as many chickens as they can. A few years ago I had a vixen and her kits take 22 fourteen week old chicks and a 2 year old rooster from another flock that apparently went over to try and protect the chicks. I saw the foxes just as they were making off with the last of them. As with the OP I had just gone into the house for a little while. It was the middle of the afternoon. Darn foxes must have been waiting and watching until the coast was clear.

 

[Rein Quest]

I just did a quick google search and got this in regard to a dog.

https://m.wikihow.com/Train-a-Dog-to-Protect-Chickens?amp=1