Leema Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I think it's a matter of knowing your dogs and what would get to them. My dogs have shown only vague interest in caged birds, and that's when the birds have moved or rattled something in their cage. They will chase flying birds in the backyard, but I think the visual stimuli would be more of a lure than any smell. (My dogs would kill rats in a cage and pursue them from smell alone, but birds not so much.) I guess it depends on your dog. My next puppy will hopefully be raised with chooks, and hopefully in 10 years time all my puppies will be! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Her Majesty Dogmad Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Might also depend on your dogs and their prey drive level. I've had dogs returned because they've become obsessed with a caged bird and will not stop trying to get at it, even when it was put in another room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozzie Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 My terriers will go after wild birds, mice, lizards and butterflies. Yet they happily co-exist with the chooks. Particularly Columbus when it's feed time, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poodle Mum Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Austen - she will give up.....especially when I go out there and tell her to SHUT UP . Its not too bad......its just that single Ruff.......Rufff.....every 2mins, with her silly poodle nose pressed on the wire. It is not every day, but random.... Worse at the moment as the girls have 3 five weeks old babies clucking around with them!!! so the old dogs interest is way up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everythings Shiny Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I do not let me dogs near my ducks or geese as two of them have murdered my feathered children before 6 years on (after getting them) and they still bark at them whenever they walk around the yard they are in. My ducks and geese get free roam of our top acre paddock and get locked up in a smaller yard of a night, or when the dogs are let out for a run. That would drive me spare. It does drive us nutters, but I use hushers and bark collars on them. It's only two of the three dogs that bark, the one who doesn't bark is the biggest killer of them all. Rini just barks for the sake of barking to annoy the crap out of me lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsD Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Ours dogs & chooks don't mix. Well we try not to let them mix because if they do it always ends up dogs 1 - chooks nil. Sadly we are down to 2 now (our old hen & our rooster), between the dogs & the fox we've lost all of the rest . With the dogs it is always the chooks coming into the houseyard where the dogs are that is the problem, if we let the dogs out they just ignore them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rozzie Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Wonder why my lot are odd? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jesomil Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I have always had my dogs living with the chooks with no problems at all. I certainly have to teach them at the beginning what is acceptable but after that there are no probs. I have never had a chook killed and the dogs keep the foxes away as we live near the bush so lots of foxes. I usually only have working breeds so maybe that helps although I did have an Afghan living with my Silkies years ago. I think that only worked because the Silkies were so placid that they never ran around or flapped and sat when approached so no good for chasing. Probably would have been a different story if they were more flighty.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 We have chickens. Unfortunately we've lost two to our dog. She hasn't actually killed any, but has played with them, to the extent that they've not been in good enough shape to recover. Now they just happily co-exist. The number of times I've come home to find my dog and three chickens welcoming me at the back gate increases every day. No, we do not usually leave them unsupervised together, but the chickens are wiley creatures, and keep inventing new ways to get out of their pen. Yesterday one of the kids left the back door open, and I walked into my bedroom to find one had nested on my bed . Annie now gives them a bit of a bump when they've come inside as if to tell them off, but the one we hand-raised thinks it's a dog anyway, and just pecks her back. It sleeps in the kennel whenever it gets a chance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMAK Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 If the chooks are going to stay in a caged pen you won't have to worry about them being killed. Your dogs should figure out it's not possible and stop once they can't get to them. Train them to ignore the chooks or correct them when barking. When i go to the property with my two dogs they ignore the free running chooks but won't leave the bird cages alone we also have pet rats at first one dog would stalk the rats and sit there dribbling watching them run i would take the rats out of the cage and nothing didn't try to attempt to kill or bite i think they would probably be more intregued then anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogfan Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Abbey used to go mad at ours, she'd bark non-stop, but now all she does is sniff around the coop (which is fenced). The cat on the other hand... I agree, it does depend on the dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZEPING Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Had a dutch shepherd extreamly high amount of prey drive but i think is the dog respects you you really shouldnt have a problem had mutiple chicken free running in the backyard while dog was out will put video up is anyone wants to see?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halfthewords Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 We have free range chicken at the agistment my sister keeps her horse at; we always take the dogs. I have an extremely prey driven staffy/terrier who also used to 'stalk' the cockatiels at home. They can be trained out of it. We have two Min Pins (vermin hunters) and they both pretend the chickens don't exist. The Bichon is taking a bit more time!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbs Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 When our border collie was young he would try and have a go at any living creature that wasn't dog or human. He hunted and killed rats, mice, birds, and tried to get lizards, cats etc. He mellowed greatly in his old age, to the point where when we got chooks, the dog and 3 chooks were often found sharing the dog's dinner from his bowl at the same time! He didn't mind one bit. Sadly neither dog nor chooks are still with us, and there is NO WAY I'd trust any of the dogs we have now near a chook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaz Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 When I got my first chickens the dogs were driven wild with excitement. I just knew that somewhere along the line an accident was going to happen particularly as my great dane spent much of the day with paws up on top of the hen house trying to shake the damn thing apart. So essentially I told the dogs the chickens were 'MINE!" and as they have to respect anything tht is 'MINE', we are one big happy family, so much so that chickens will try to steal food from the dogs bowls when they are eating and the dogs just turn and bark at them to chase them off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimzy Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 I agree... probably depends on the dog. Ours dont mind the chooks at all. Our chooks run loose in the yard all day with the dogs and there has never been any problem. Well........... Bubba Bundy did lift his leg on one so I guess that one is his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dianed Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 My experience in the past has been to never trust a dog with chooks if they are both new to each other. Over the years only 2 out of 7 dogs I have owned have shown no interest in chasing or stalking chooks. I too am in the process of getting a new chook pen built (hopefully it will be ready next week) and I will have to watch my young dog a she is very prey driven. My older girl is one who never showed any interest in going after chooks. Its just another hurdle, same as when I got new kittens last year! I need my dog to keep watch as we have foxes around . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IngeK Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Our dogs and cats just wander through the back yard together without any problems we often get questions from visitors how it is possible they all get a long When we just had the chooks we had them locked up for a couple of months and the dogs found that a lot more interesting...read..running in front of the chookpen barking. Now when they are free there is no problem at all anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austen Posted January 5, 2011 Author Share Posted January 5, 2011 Our dogs and cats just wander through the back yard together without any problems we often get questions from visitors how it is possible they all get a long When we just had the chooks we had them locked up for a couple of months and the dogs found that a lot more interesting...read..running in front of the chookpen barking. Now when they are free there is no problem at all anymore. Oh dear - did this barking go on for a long time? The only part that the dogs will be able to see is the front door of the chicken pen - was even thinking of putting up a piece of material or something so that the dogs couldn't see the ckickens. At the moment, would just not be comfortable tempting fate. Don't think our dogs are really interested in killing - just want to play and get over excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IngeK Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 No Austen, didnt go on for long and it was mainly when I was in there feeding the chooks. Then a firm "no" was enough to make him stop. Just see how you go your dog might not have a problem at all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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