rosefarm Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 I've had chickens for about 6 years now, I used to free range them, for around 4 years, then the foxes found us and I had to put a stop to that. We built a large coop and I would try and let them range for an hour before dusk once in a while. I had a hope that one day Lily could be trusted around chickens, and tried to aquaint them, but she had so much prey drive, I didn't have much hope. She's already killed at least 1 squirrel and if you can believe 3 raccoons when we let her out in the morning. (Thank God she wasn't hurt in that instance) So my thought was, well, I don't think she'll be able to be trusted because she's such a hunter, I still tried the conditioning though. I would sit with her on leash while I let them out, she would be in "down mode". Well this morning the chickens revolted and escaped so they are free ranging for the day. I decided well, let's see how she does. They were walking around her on all sides and she was relaxed and layed down on her own. I took her off the leash, she obeyed everything and stayed calm and passive. I took a chicken and let her smell it and placed it on the ground in front of her and it walked off, nothing. Right now she is in her favorite shady spot, while the chickens run about I don't trust her without supervision yet, but this means that my chickens might have a ranging future, if Lily can be trusted because she has driven the predators away. Wow, just wow. What a great dog! --Denise Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruger's Dad Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 That's a pretty neat story. Training dogs is similar to raising kids. Children need supervision and training as well. Sounds like you have a great plan. Once Lily learns the chickens are just part of the group you may have a dog that will protect them as well. Ruger is very territorial. That may be why Lily went after the raccoons. I will bet you won't have to worry about foxes or other dogs getting into the chickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bo Peep Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Usher's been chasing squirrels since he's been here - never caught one. I thought they were uncatchable. wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silhouettestable Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 Sounds promising. If she can see you working around the chickens and you have her by your side or on leash a lot with you hopefully she will view them as livestock, not wildlife. All 6 of my dogs go into my coop with me twice daily when I'm doing chores. I start taking them in with me when they're puppies and teach them to "leave it" if they act too interested in the chickens. If I go out later in the evening to collect eggs and close the outer door the place is just crawling with mice and the dogs tear in to catch the mice, darting every which way but they ignore the chickens. Right now my coop is divided into 3 sections. Half is for the laying hens and the other half has a temporary divider splitting it in half again for my meat chickens and my turkeys. The dogs wander in and out through them all when I'm feeding and watering without incident. I also have a couple of peacocks but I don't let the dogs in with them unless they're up on their roost. The peacocks tend to move pretty slowly but will fly straight up in the air if startled, which I think might make the dogs want to jump and catch. Plus, with the long feather trains the dogs would probably end up walking on them and pulling feathers out. The dogs do help me to put the peacocks inside for the night though. I can tell them to "send them in" and they'll race around the outside of the pen and encourage the peacocks to go inside so I can shut their door. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClickMeBC Posted August 4, 2007 Report Share Posted August 4, 2007 I understand your worries perfectly. I'm glad it's working out for all of you - including Lily and the chickens, of course. We introduced chickens a couple months ago, and while Quynn, my Border collie, is perfectly fine around them, I have two Italian greyhounds. As I'm sure you know, they are sighthounds and as such are very tempted to chase anything and everything that moves. I was sure they'd go after the chickens. Like you, I was pleasantly surprised. I was pleased to find out that, while they are always looking to chase the chickens, they are better trained then I thought and will respond to my voice commands when I ask them to leave the birds alone. Phew! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthfieldNick Posted August 5, 2007 Report Share Posted August 5, 2007 Yeah, they can learn to live with chickens. Lu, my mutt dog, ignores them except to occasionally run through the flock to make them fly up & cluck loudly. Nick, the BC, has become a great help with the banty hens who lay everywhere- he's become an expert at flushing the hens off of nests! Our egg yield has doubled since he figured out how to find hidden hens. He will, however, leave a hen alone if told to- we do let the occasionaly hen hatch a some chicks (we have a few who will set, then hatch chicks, and promptly loose track of them...). The ducks are an entirely different story. They act more like sheep (they flock & will come to me), but Nick helps put them away at night on the days when I let them roam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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