Which dog breed is best to protect chickens?

[cindydj]

Ruth your dog is wonderful!

I got a pyr about three months ago after several of my chickens have been killed. I have lost more chickens in the month than the entire time we have lived here.....

Anyway my LGD is about 6 mos old and she is great. I have her with our show goats right now and she loves them but she is trying to play way to hard with them. She has LOTS of energy.....when she is out for her exercise she will chase the chickens if they run from her....at this point I am not sure what to do....I alway yell and she will stop. I am not sure if she would kill them or not. If they stop running she is fine she seems to love the chase. When I got her she was in a pen with chickens....I am just not sure what to do. She love to come up to the house and stay in our yard and be with us...everyone keeps telling we need to spend some time with her but not to bring her into the yard to stay...at this point I am confused and not sure what to do....

I do have chicks in the hosue maybe I will bring her in with them.....

 

[suebee]

Julie, I don't think any dog could protect against a hawk attack, as they fly in and out fast, but my Golden Retrievers are the BEST chicken watchdogs. They did require training but they want to please you. My Golden will lay in the yard with the chickens walking over her paws, but if she sees a squirrel the chase is on! When there is a hawk around, I've trained her to run around the yard while I loudly say "shhhhhhhhhhhh" to scare it away. If you have children and chickens then the Golden Retriever would be a great choice.

 

[Mountain Man Jim]

Hey Cindydj,

In my estimation, you have about a year before your Pyr comes into her own and starts to guard the animals, rather than chase them. So, hang in there, it will be worth it. Hey, has she “found” her bark yet; It’s really “fun” when the puppy starts to bark and bark and bark.

Our Pyr, Fluffy, is 2.5 years old now and she’s great at keeping the birds safe. But, it was quite a difficult period when she was a pup. She loved to chase the birds, especially the geese. She did end up critically injuring one of the girls. We are not sure how, but I have reason to believe she “loved” the chicken to death. A little like Lenny from “Mice and Men”. I once found her with a chicken cornered as she licked the bird until the poor thing was soaked. So, your Pyrs time with the chickens should be supervised.

One thing you can try with your Pyr is to place a “drag” on her. A drag is a piece of wood that dangles from the dog’s collar. When the dog runs her legs hit the wood and limit how fast she can run. Drags are used with LGDs in order to discourage them from chasing livestock, running away from the flock and from escaping by jumping or digging under the fence. I made one for Fluffy from a piece of fire wood which a drilled a hole through. I used a chain and carbineer to attach it to her collar. It helped to minimize running, jumping up on the fence and slowed her down enough so the chickens could get away. For a couple of months, Fluffy wore the drag when she was with the birds. It helped us get through the puppy stage. Now, the drag is back to being fire wood.

I’m not sure what your arrangement is on your farm, but I have a thought for you in regard to keeping the dog with you. Unless you have a flock of sheep that travels the hillside, your dog probably doesn’t need to be as independent as a true LGD. Our birds are free ranged on a 1 acre fenced yard around the house, so Fluffy is treated like any other dog, except she is outside all day in the yard. Chickens are the only livestock we have. She comes in a night, but she sleeps with the chickens in an oversized coop. I think sleeping with the chickens was helpful when she was a puppy. Now, she’s with the birds due to the barking and to be company for another puppy we are socializing with the birds.

As long as you socialize her with all of the farm animals, she will adopt then as part of the territory and will guard them with the rest of the farm. I would suggest good fencing to keep the Pyr on the farm. As the saying goods, “A Pyr of the leash is …. GONE.”. Just saw that happen at a dog park yesterday, wow once free a Pyr can really move …

Good Luck,

Jim

 

[exbatteryhens]

Beautiful German Shepherd !

I also have one, a 2.5 year old male who I hope will protect the hens when I get them, he is really good with our rabbits even though his prey drive is quite high with wild birds, fingers crossed!

 

[packrat]

Hi, folks I am new to the forum. I have been reading this thread with great interest. I see some of you like muts for farm dogs so I thought some one might be interested in some of my pups. They are 1/2 coon hound ,1/4 border collie, and 1/4 australasian shepard . They are free to good homes. any one interested can see them at this link


http://www.freewebs.com/crosslkennels/otherdogs.htm

 

[skatcatla]

Hi packrat, welcome!

Your pups are adorable, I hope you find good homes for all of them!

This is in NO way a flame, but I do hope you'll consider having your sweet momma spayed now. The last thing the world needs is more mixed-breed puppies...

 

[packrat]

Skatcatla, Not a problem. I am not the one that had her bred. I was given her and the pups ( I only wanted one pup but had to take them all to get him ). Once the pups are gone I will decide if I will keep the female or place her with someone ( I already have a couple of offers to take her). Anyway thanks for looking.
Packrat

 

[ruth]

Hi Exbatteryhens - what a great looking GSD. You can just see the intelligence in his eyes. He looks as if he's saying "what do you want me to do?" When you get your baby chicks make sure you hold them and let him smell them and lick them if necessary - all the while talking very calmly to him and petting the chicks till he gets the idea. Took Rex about 10 minutes but those first 5 he was really wired and excited but he quickly caught on just from my tone of voice and me cuddling the chick and then letting him smell my scent on the chick. I just kept saying "don't eat the baby chick, love the baby chick" "don't bark" "sit", all very quietly. These dogs are very intelligent and they can tell more from your demeanor and tone of voice and body posture than what you say. After about 10 minutes Rex plopped down by the box and I knew he understood that he was to "guard". For the next two weeks he wouldn't leave the room except to go out to pee and run back in. Each time he would stick his head in the box and sniff each one and you could just see him counting them "1,2,3,4....yep, all there" then he would lay down again. When we got the second and third batches of babies he already knew what to do.

 

[skatcatla]

Quote:
You're a good person, Packrat, to take in that whole family and take the responsibility of finding them homes. They are so cute I'm sure you will have no trouble!

 

[The Noogies]

My neighbor's German Shepard came into our yard yesterday and killed a hen and our bad *** rooster. The dog's owner also has chickens, which the dog has attacked and killed. The dog was super friendly and calm and nice to humans, but killed our chickens with no hesitation.