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

[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.

 

[Christina.Rich]

People say that Guineas will alert to literally everything...a falling leaf, wind, me, etc. If you raise them from chicks and they know who myself and fiancé are, do you know if they will be less to alert to the "simple" things such as me, wind, leaves, etc?

Besides having them as "alert" animals, what other purposes do people keep Guineas for?

As for the fox, he certainly did come back. The very next morning actually. Luckily our coop is like Fort Knox and nothing can get inside when they are locked in. Key is keeping them locked in if I'm not outside watching. However I would hope that by possibly having guineas and if I'm in the garage or something, I could hear and alert and know that something is wrong. Thoughts?

 

[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.

 

[Ducksandchickens]

I know a lot of people like Anatolian shepherds

 

[Starwise]

We have a 2yr old German Shepherd and a almost 4month old GSD puppy. Also, older male miniature Pincher and about 4yr female minpin. Together these 3 have kept our yard pretty void of predators, even with our 2.5 acres being in the middle of the Pacific Northwest woods. They bark off any critters coming nearby and I swear they go nuts even when a mouse farts on the neighbors lot.
Minpin's are natural ratters and were very fond of getting a taste of the chicks when we got them. Minding that, we knew not to leave them alone with any access to the chicks. Now that the chickens are older, both know to give them a berth of space or they will get pecked on.
GSD's curiously peeked into the brooder and that's all they did. Didn't have to do anything for the older girl to know these birds are part of the "allowed" creatures and they shouldn't be harmed. The puppy now thinks it's the most fun to dash after a chicken roaming free on the yard and make it run for few seconds. I'm not discouraging her too much of that behavior, she is not trying to snap at them or try to pounce to actually catch any. And I think the chickens let her do that, they could have easily stood ground and pecked her snout like they did to the minpins.
I am not going to train any of them to "herd" the chickens, they keep watchful eye around the yard on their own and bark warnings when a leaf falls down the wrong way. If we are not actively outside, we put the chickens inside their run safely behind hardware cloth. With that I think we can prevent most mishaps, it's worked so far. But I have no illusions, forest being so close it won't take much for something to dash out and go for an easy dinner.
I'm mostly curious of our Fay. She is Egyptian Faiyumi and what I've been reading, they are very alert, quick and will alarm the flock. At just 12 weeks, she's constantly looking around and very curious. Our Sicilian Buttercup turned out to be a roo and we're keeping him for now. Don't know what to expect of him, will be interesting what his role will be.

 

[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.

 

[rum3002576]

I have 2 hound dogs that are bred to hunt bobcats and fox rite by my coop. Also have guineas.