Bird Dogs & domestic chickens

[Montucky]

Fenced yard you are going to have dead chickens. Let the chickens roam on the 5 acres.

I have a bird dog and chickens. He knows better and won't touch them when we are home. He's killed a couple when we are gone for a full day. We just lock them in the coop when gone.

Sent from my moto g power (2021) using Tapatalk

I picture this exact situation happening in my scenario, but deep down I hope I could try to coax my pointer in a different direction

 

[Montucky]

i just don’t want to change the drive for birds that my dogs have……I’m feeling decent I can make it work with my dogs,………but

 

[Austink47]

My dog brought me a dead chicken in bed one morning only bird that dog ever retrieved.

 

[Holocene]

I've got a story about chickens and bird dogs.

First of all, I have the sweetest little family bird dog who is also absolutely hell on birds. She's a Boykin spaniel. My 2-year old son terrorizes her and thank the lord she just puts up with it and loves on everyone and everything that isn't a game bird. Perfect house pet and just a force in the hunting woods.

A few years ago I went to visit a private landowner to negotiate a deal to get turkey hunting access. I drove over four hours to meet this guy at his place out in the country. He had some goats, sheep, chickens. Typical hobby farm setup. I had my dog kenneled in the car and it had been a long trip so I was anxious to let her air out a little bit. This guy starts to talk about duck hunting and wanting to teach his sons and needing some mentorship. We flirted around with a deal in which I would take them duck hunting a few times to show them the ropes in exchange for turkey hunting access at his property. Fair enough.

In my eagerness to ink a deal and show my credibility as a duck dog Jedi master, I thought it would be a good idea to show him my pup. Show off. Brag on her a little. So I asked the landowner if I could let the dog run around with us. He asked straight up: she won't go after chickens will she? I told him "No, she has been around chickens before and expressed no interest." This was true. So the guy says okay and we get the dog out and she hangs around us. I'm having to hack on her pretty good to keep her close. He's getting nervous, but I'm calm. I'm thinking I've got this under control, my dog's never chased chickens before, that I'm a great dog master and trainer.

Know this. Your thoughts are not your reality.

We are in a barn. My pup disappears underneath a tractor and starts acting funny, you might say birdy. I'm still convinced she's not a chicken getter, so do nothing. She's underneath this tractor for a while. 10 seconds? 5 seconds? It was 5 long seconds. All of a sudden a chicken explodes from underneath the tractor and my dog in fast pursuit. The landowner screams "Not the chickens!!" and then louder "NOT THAAAAT CHICKEN!!"

I'm speechless, sprinting after the chicken and dog, and wondering "Oh crap, what's so special about that chicken?" But before I know it the special chicken is in my dog's mouth and the dog is just trying to swallow it whole. I can hear the crunching. I say "LEAVE IT" and rescue the poor chicken from her mouth and it does this weird flying limp off to another part of the farm and underneath another barn. There are feathers in the air and blood on the ground. The landowner is frantic.

He goes on to explain that this is his wife's absolutely favorite chicken which she rescued from their small town during a parade earlier that year. That this wife would surely die if this chicken were to die. What are the odds that people have special chickens?

We spent the next 45 minutes trying to coax this special chicken from under an outbuilding. It's under there somewhere, and we have no idea whether the chicken is dead or just hiding in terror.

I'm deeply embarassed of course. I'm apologizing over and over and offering to buy a new chicken or pay whatever is needed. Eventually, we parted ways -- me just mortified -- and I never heard from this landowner again.

I pray for your chickens.

 

[bigeyedfish]

I have a GSP that I wouldn't trust around anything with a pulse. That's a bit of an exaggeration. He is good with people, but this dog has killed possums, skunks, chickens, squirrels, rabbits, and who knows what else. He's getting old, but is still a hell of an athlete. It's amazing to watch him hunt, but he absolutely sucks as a farm dog. We got our first chickens when he was around 2 years old. He's 10 now and still an ass.

Our Great Pyrenees will hang out with the chickens all day long with zero issues. At the moment we have about 50 meat birds and 30 laying hens. Ours don't free range often due to an abundance of predators, but when they are out free, the Great Pyrenees is mingling with them the whole time.

 

[Buzby]

I have a 6yo Draht. When he’s out, he freely roams our yard and the neighbors. They recently got 25 chickens. I thought it would be a terrible situation. I brought him over on lead, introduced him to them. When he moved towards them, I told him “no”. Did this a few times. Let him off lead, e collar on. He walked around a bit mostly avoiding them. He turned towards one, I gave him a light stim. He’s been fine ever since. Has not paid any attention to them.

 

[KurtR]

I've got a story about chickens and bird dogs.

First of all, I have the sweetest little family bird dog who is also absolutely hell on birds. She's a Boykin spaniel. My 2-year old son terrorizes her and thank the lord she just puts up with it and loves on everyone and everything that isn't a game bird. Perfect house pet and just a force in the hunting woods.

A few years ago I went to visit a private landowner to negotiate a deal to get turkey hunting access. I drove over four hours to meet this guy at his place out in the country. He had some goats, sheep, chickens. Typical hobby farm setup. I had my dog kenneled in the car and it had been a long trip so I was anxious to let her air out a little bit. This guy starts to talk about duck hunting and wanting to teach his sons and needing some mentorship. We flirted around with a deal in which I would take them duck hunting a few times to show them the ropes in exchange for turkey hunting access at his property. Fair enough.

In my eagerness to ink a deal and show my credibility as a duck dog Jedi master, I thought it would be a good idea to show him my pup. Show off. Brag on her a little. So I asked the landowner if I could let the dog run around with us. He asked straight up: she won't go after chickens will she? I told him "No, she has been around chickens before and expressed no interest." This was true. So the guy says okay and we get the dog out and she hangs around us. I'm having to hack on her pretty good to keep her close. He's getting nervous, but I'm calm. I'm thinking I've got this under control, my dog's never chased chickens before, that I'm a great dog master and trainer.

Know this. Your thoughts are not your reality.

We are in a barn. My pup disappears underneath a tractor and starts acting funny, you might say birdy. I'm still convinced she's not a chicken getter, so do nothing. She's underneath this tractor for a while. 10 seconds? 5 seconds? It was 5 long seconds. All of a sudden a chicken explodes from underneath the tractor and my dog in fast pursuit. The landowner screams "Not the chickens!!" and then louder "NOT THAAAAT CHICKEN!!"

I'm speechless, sprinting after the chicken and dog, and wondering "Oh crap, what's so special about that chicken?" But before I know it the special chicken is in my dog's mouth and the dog is just trying to swallow it whole. I can hear the crunching. I say "LEAVE IT" and rescue the poor chicken from her mouth and it does this weird flying limp off to another part of the farm and underneath another barn. There are feathers in the air and blood on the ground. The landowner is frantic.

He goes on to explain that this is his wife's absolutely favorite chicken which she rescued from their small town during a parade earlier that year. That this wife would surely die if this chicken were to die. What are the odds that people have special chickens?

We spent the next 45 minutes trying to coax this special chicken from under an outbuilding. It's under there somewhere, and we have no idea whether the chicken is dead or just hiding in terror.

I'm deeply embarassed of course. I'm apologizing over and over and offering to buy a new chicken or pay whatever is needed. Eventually, we parted ways -- me just mortified -- and I never heard from this landowner again.

I pray for your chickens.

Haha dogs doing dog things. Mine never paid no attention to cats before till this morning and two were in our dumpster and i had to run him down a block away where he had the cats treed . Of course my wife had to rub it in trained dog hugh she said.

 

[30338]

I'm pretty sure what my drahts would do in a yard full of chickens.

 

[WCB]

Hard to say...My dad had 2 springers and a pet racoon. Got chickens and had zero issues. The dogs didn't even pay attention to them once introduced and the racoon would chase them around a little but never harmed one. Funny thing is his one Springer was above average sized and any coon it saw it would chase down and kill in about 10 seconds. Absolutely no contest. That dog and his pet racoon played non stop and even slept together on a dog bed.

Absolutely no loss in bird drive from his two dogs.

On the other hand by inlaws dogs smoke their chickens any chance they could get.

 

[Forest_Ghost]

I have to keep my GWP away from the chickens at all times lol, I tried a few times but it just didn't work.

 

[Montucky]

I've got a story about chickens and bird dogs.

First of all, I have the sweetest little family bird dog who is also absolutely hell on birds. She's a Boykin spaniel. My 2-year old son terrorizes her and thank the lord she just puts up with it and loves on everyone and everything that isn't a game bird. Perfect house pet and just a force in the hunting woods.

A few years ago I went to visit a private landowner to negotiate a deal to get turkey hunting access. I drove over four hours to meet this guy at his place out in the country. He had some goats, sheep, chickens. Typical hobby farm setup. I had my dog kenneled in the car and it had been a long trip so I was anxious to let her air out a little bit. This guy starts to talk about duck hunting and wanting to teach his sons and needing some mentorship. We flirted around with a deal in which I would take them duck hunting a few times to show them the ropes in exchange for turkey hunting access at his property. Fair enough.

In my eagerness to ink a deal and show my credibility as a duck dog Jedi master, I thought it would be a good idea to show him my pup. Show off. Brag on her a little. So I asked the landowner if I could let the dog run around with us. He asked straight up: she won't go after chickens will she? I told him "No, she has been around chickens before and expressed no interest." This was true. So the guy says okay and we get the dog out and she hangs around us. I'm having to hack on her pretty good to keep her close. He's getting nervous, but I'm calm. I'm thinking I've got this under control, my dog's never chased chickens before, that I'm a great dog master and trainer.

Know this. Your thoughts are not your reality.

We are in a barn. My pup disappears underneath a tractor and starts acting funny, you might say birdy. I'm still convinced she's not a chicken getter, so do nothing. She's underneath this tractor for a while. 10 seconds? 5 seconds? It was 5 long seconds. All of a sudden a chicken explodes from underneath the tractor and my dog in fast pursuit. The landowner screams "Not the chickens!!" and then louder "NOT THAAAAT CHICKEN!!"

I'm speechless, sprinting after the chicken and dog, and wondering "Oh crap, what's so special about that chicken?" But before I know it the special chicken is in my dog's mouth and the dog is just trying to swallow it whole. I can hear the crunching. I say "LEAVE IT" and rescue the poor chicken from her mouth and it does this weird flying limp off to another part of the farm and underneath another barn. There are feathers in the air and blood on the ground. The landowner is frantic.

He goes on to explain that this is his wife's absolutely favorite chicken which she rescued from their small town during a parade earlier that year. That this wife would surely die if this chicken were to die. What are the odds that people have special chickens?

We spent the next 45 minutes trying to coax this special chicken from under an outbuilding. It's under there somewhere, and we have no idea whether the chicken is dead or just hiding in terror.

I'm deeply embarassed of course. I'm apologizing over and over and offering to buy a new chicken or pay whatever is needed. Eventually, we parted ways -- me just mortified -- and I never heard from this landowner again.

I pray for your chickens.

This story is so well told, humorous but not funny at the same time…..LoL

 

[Sturgeon]

Just in case, keep some chicken recipes handy. Just saying.

When I was a kid, my dog ate my chicken. There was nothing left but a pile of feathers.

 

[SWOHTR]

I have an 8 y/o Springer and 2 y/o Lab. I can only imagine what those two would do to chickens.

 

[MTPipeliner]

Two of my neighbors had chickens, and I have a lab that I hunt upland and waterfowl with. When their chickens would manage to hop the fence into my backyard it was a massacre.

The last one that got in there was nothing left but a single feather. Dog had a bloated belly and bad gas that evening so I put her in a crate in the garage for the night- next morning was the grossest smelling thing I’ve ever experienced, not sure which end it came out of but she and the crate were both covered in foul smelling chicken fluids.

The one neighbor had them fenced in and another had a free range situation going on, once my dog figured out there were slow chickens and ducks wandering around she would sneak over there every chance she had. Ended up having to do a buried wire fence to keep her from going over there.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

In my experience it takes a firm dog owner that isn’t afraid to put fear of god in their dog if they act aggressive towards chickens. I’ve had 3 pointers, GWH, and Drahts. They all learn really fast not to F with with the free ranging chickens we’ve had for a decade and still be great bird dogs. Shock collars work well. You can’t baby working dogs or they’ll never respect you as the alpha you’re suppose to be. Once they learn the lesson then give all the love in the world though of course!

 

[bigeyedfish]

In my experience it takes a firm dog owner that isn’t afraid to put fear of god in their dog if they act aggressive towards chickens. I’ve had 3 pointers, GWH, and Drahts. They all learn really fast not to F with with the free ranging chickens we’ve had for a decade and still be great bird dogs. Shock collars work well. You can’t baby working dogs or they’ll never respect you as the alpha you’re suppose to be. Once they learn the lesson then give all the love in the world though of course!

I agree with you. The hard part with chickens is timing. The correction needs to happen immediately, so there is no confusion around the action and punishment. That's really hard to manage when you're also trying to keep the rest of the chickens from getting killed.

 

[Dakota Dude]

I have an 11 year old GSP and have always had about 7 or so chickens in a coup. The coup is on the front/side yard and the dog stays in the fully fenced back yard. She doesn't attack them anymore, but it took some getting used to. At first, she would always harrass them when they were out of their coop. If they jumped up to roost or sit on the fence, she would pick one or two of them off. It only took a few and she learned her lesson. She doesn't bother them at all anymore and they can all be roaming around without any issues.

 

[TX_Diver]

My lab used to chase them but eventually it became normal. Last one she ate was a 2 day old chick that walked up to her while she was napping and practically jumped in her mouth.

8 years ago there's no way I would have let her off leash around them but as she became better trained it became a non issue and she has free rein around all of our animals (chickens, sheep, ducks, etc.)

It was a slow process though and not much progress was made until her obedience was solidified. Our border collie on the other hand is not allowed near the chickens unsupervised!

 

[tuffcity]

The birds fear no fox when the big dog is on overwatch.

The female just doing bird dog stuff. Never goes beyond the stalk.

We've never had an issue with the GSP's and chickens.

 

[Just.Norris]

My wife & I are planning on getting our own chickens this spring & having a sustainable flock of 10 birds on our small spread of 5 acres. I already have the coop on site with a few modifications to made & an enclosed 20ft run to be installed. Our entire backyard is fenced in & is ideal for the chickens to free range & decimate bugs & hoppers etc….My only fear is my 2 bird dogs also occupy the fenced yard. Interested in thoughts & experience from the group on how to introduce upland dogs to domestic chickens, is it possible to achieve the goal of perfect harmony in the backyard?…

Possible end result: 10 chickens a Vizlsa & Springer live in backyard in harmony….or……a complete opposite situation happens when I’m not home & those 2 clowns decide to carry out destructive behaviors

Let me know what works for you guys in your experiences with Bird Dogs & Yard Birds…?

I have a drahthaar and he does not play nice with our chickens, multiple times when I’ve cleaned our pen out and the chickens are roaming the yard, someone let’s the dog out and here I am running around trying to get the dog to drop one out of his mouth. Luckily so far he has a really soft mouth so he hasn’t hurt any, but they may have lost a few tail feathers.