Will chickens love my dogs?

[Kassaundra]

I have 3 dogs, a lab/rot mix who I could completely trust w/ the chickens (but I don't), a mixed breed birdish dog not sure what she is a mix of who if given a chance would play and chase them only causing them injury by accident, then I have a doxie who has and would continue to kill chickens w/ the intent of killing them. We had to do fencing to seperate them, we now have an area of the yard fenced off just for the dogs (closest to the house) then the far back yard is for the garden/chickens. We never had any problems w/ the chickens "freaking" out about the dogs, we just couldn't trust the dogs not to breach the fence so we have a double fence now it has worked great we haven't lost a chicken from the dogs since we put the second fence up, if you don't have the space for that I would encourage a hot line around your chicken run to deter the dogs from digging or trying to breach the fence.

 

[thistlebloom]

All good advice . I especially second Kassaundras tip about a hot wire. It's a great "passive" trainer. No need for hollering and chasing,
the dog teaches itself that whatever is on the other side of that wire is not worth the sting.

...... and if you have a warped sense of humor it can even be entertaining to watch their first lessons.....

 

[hoodat]

Chickens aren't too smart. Often a dog will leave them alone till he gets tired of getting pecked on the head, then good bye chicken.

 

[cityfarmer]

Welcome fellow Colorado Springs resident. We have chickens as well. Be careful with the dogs and follow the advice given here. You might also try the sister site BYC. Lots of good info there.

 

[gardendufus]

Once again thank you all so much. I am content now with my dog/future chix relationships. Cityfarmer so nice to see another C/S resident. Now I know of you and wifezilla.

And by the way, with all the time I'm spending here and also on BYC, how am I supposed to actually get my coop built? +

I've now designed the exterior 4 walls (only took 3 days for that) now if only I could figure out the best places to put things. Been spending way too long at BYC getting caught up in all the threads.

He He He, at least there's no real rush.

 

[cityfarmer]

We are still tinkering with our 2nd coop that we built. I am beginning to think that it will never be truly "built".