# Chicken killer



## tnsteader82 (Sep 5, 2021)

We have a one year old Rottweiler who is amazing with our small kids and an overall wonderful dog, however she is learning how to interact with farm animals. We are building a farm in TN so she’s is just now getting exposure to livestock. 

She went nuts when we brought pigs in but now she seems to have lost some interest in them. Same for cows. 

Brought in 12 hens and a rooster last week and she’s going berserk. They stay in large coop because she has killed two. Any suggestions for getting her to adjust and guard them vs killing?


----------



## Chief50 (10 mo ago)

tnsteader82 said:


> We have a one year old Rottweiler who is amazing with our small kids and an overall wonderful dog, however she is learning how to interact with farm animals. We are building a farm in TN so she’s is just now getting exposure to livestock.
> 
> She went nuts when we brought pigs in but now she seems to have lost some interest in them. Same for cows.
> 
> Brought in 12 hens and a rooster last week and she’s going berserk. They stay in large coop because she has killed two. Any suggestions for getting her to adjust and guard them vs killing?


The only difference is she finally found something that she could kill.


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

My mom beat her Lab with a dead (or so she thought at the time) chicken that it had attacked. I don't recommend that solution.

The best I could suggest would be to walk her by their pen, on a leash or harness, daily until she stops reacting. But chickens are stupid, flighty things and they make neat noises when a dog pounces on them. You may never be able to trust that dog to freely interact with your birds.


----------



## RJ2019 (Aug 27, 2019)

I just went through this with my Rottweiler. Interestingly, he normally ignores my chickens and even when one got out of the coop once he didn't go after it.
Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, I brought a beautiful little pullet home. Somehow, the next morning she was out of the coop and my dog had killed her. I beat him with the bird then tied it around his neck for awhile. Made it absolutely clear to him that the behavior was not acceptable. 

Rotties are a high caliber dog. And being nice about things sometimes doesn't work with them, my experience has been that you really have to be blunt with letting them know what is and is not acceptable. Their skulls are thick in more than one way😆


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Sorry about the little pullet. If something is going to get a bird, it always gets the favorite.


----------



## RJ2019 (Aug 27, 2019)

Danaus29 said:


> Sorry about the little pullet. If something is going to get a bird, it always gets the favorite.


These things happen! She was definitely a favorite, we had formed a bond at my work and I was able to purchase her. She liked to ride around on my shoulder and stuff. The blessing is that the kids and I didn't have much time to get overly attached to her before the dog got her.


----------



## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

Danaus29 said:


> My mom beat her Lab with a dead (or so she thought at the time) chicken that it had attacked. I don't recommend that solution.
> 
> The best I could suggest would be to walk her by their pen, on a leash or harness, daily until she stops reacting. But chickens are stupid, flighty things and they make neat noises when a dog pounces on them. You may never be able to trust that dog to freely interact with your birds.


a former employer did something similar with his Rottweiler beat it with the dead chicken then wired it to the collar and made it wear it while chained to a tree till it started to be RIPE
now I am not saying right or wrong , it was a few decades ago a couple decades before that he was a professional dog trainer.

I am not aware of that dog ever attacking another chicken so it did apparently work.

probably send you to prison for that in 2022 for a long time.
while letting your baby momma murdering cell mate out for good behavior after 90 days

the thing about Pits and Rottweiler is that no bad behavior can be accepted , everything they do after 6 months old they do with a charge of (metaphorical)TNT strapped to them. the bigger and stronger the larger that charge.
no matter the behavior , the best Pit or Rott has the destructive energy well beyond most household breeds. the strength do grave bodily harm or kill an adult human.

the phrase often heard is there are no bad dogs only bad owners , well I don't fully prescribe to that. however it is in many was true , a good owner would never trust that kind of destructive force beyond their control and especially would not take any chances with it around things and people they valued.

back to the Metaphoric TNT , TNT was the more stable and forgiving explosive, it doesn't mean you would ride around with a case of it in your truck any time you didn't need to be hauling it. it means you would store it in a magazine where the blast would be directed up , in a very stable environment and keep it away from heat , flame , eclectic and anything else that could set it off.

dealing with powerful dogs is the same thing , no bad behavior can be accepted , special storage and handling must be taken.
people get in trouble when they treat these dogs like floppsy the dust mop Shih Tzu that a 8 year old by could punt across the yard if it miss behaved and attacked.
frankly Floppsy is often ill behaved because so much bad behavior is tolerated but since they hardly pack a fire crackers energy they are much less risk.

this dog has shown you that it goes "berserk" so you have a charge of TNT that can go berserk , wise storage is probably the best option. a strong kennel for the dog and it gets to come out under supervision it is more work for you , but I at least wouldn't let it out of your sight and pen it up any time you can't be there to control it or stop it.


----------



## Chief50 (10 mo ago)

It wasn't that long ago that pit bulls were not seen very much. The people who had them knew what they could do and were prepared for it. In the mid 1970s PETA decided that a pit bull could be treated just like other dogs and they would not act like pit bulls. Seems like everyone wanted one. Pit bull attacks on other animals became common. Pit bull attacks against people started popping up. Now pit bulls are as common as birds. They have been crossed with just about every other breed of dogs. This increased the number of attacks. There is still not a lot of pit bulls around but there is a lot of pit bull crossbreeds. These are actually more dangerous than real pit bulls.


----------



## Forcast (Apr 15, 2014)

We had some lady in our area wanting people to donate give her free laying hens because her wolfdog killed all hers. Really people if you think a dog can be trusted with birds you dont need birds or the dog for that matter. If you think beating a dog with a dead bird is the answer you dont need any animal. Posting suggestions like should get you kicked off this site.


----------



## Alice In TX/MO (May 10, 2002)

This is a homesteading site, which implies that older/historic/traditional methods may be suggested.

The method of beating the offending dog with a dead chicken and tying the carcass to the dog's collar are very very traditional methods of stopping a dog from chasing the chickens.

The chicken is already dead, and the dog isn't physically wounded in the process.


----------



## altair (Jul 23, 2011)

Tether and work a lot with her. Also accept some breeds/dogs have higher prey drives.


----------



## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

I had a wolfdog that killed one of my chickens. Just one - that's all it took. I reinforced my chicken house and run until it looked like Ft. Knox.


----------



## tnsteader82 (Sep 5, 2021)

RJ2019 said:


> I just went through this with my Rottweiler. Interestingly, he normally ignores my chickens and even when one got out of the coop once he didn't go after it.
> Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, I brought a beautiful little pullet home. Somehow, the next morning she was out of the coop and my dog had killed her. I beat him with the bird then tied it around his neck for awhile. Made it absolutely clear to him that the behavior was not acceptable.
> 
> Rotties are a high caliber dog. And being nice about things sometimes doesn't work with them, my experience has been that you really have to be blunt with letting them know what is and is not acceptable. Their skulls are thick in more than one way


Top tier advice.


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I said I don't recommend beating a dog with a dead chicken. It was what Mom was taught way before there were animal cruelty laws. Labs are funny about birds, they think they need to fetch loose birds for you. It turned out her chicken wasn't dead, the dog was just retrieving it. But he never looked at another chicken again.


----------



## tnsteader82 (Sep 5, 2021)

Forcast said:


> We had some lady in our area wanting people to donate give her free laying hens because her wolfdog killed all hers. Really people if you think a dog can be trusted with birds you dont need birds or the dog for that matter. If you think beating a dog with a dead bird is the answer you dont need any animal. Posting suggestions like should get you kicked off this site.


A lot of dogs do great with birds.


----------



## Hiro (Feb 14, 2016)

You aren't going to hurt a dog physically by beating them with a dead chicken and making a lot of noise. It has worked with all three instances that I have experienced. Though the middle one had a unique solution and just went down the road and got their chickens. That dog ended up in some fancy city eating the rescuer's couch. 

The farm boss here is as sweet as they come. We had a new dog that showed up and didn't leave that ate shoes. It only did that to my shoes once. It still did it to other residents' shoes until the farm boss had enough and did what I did. 

Anyway, I don't advocate animal abuse in any form. But, a dead chicken really isn't a very effective blunt instrument to hurt anything. It is also a better fate for the dog staying in the country than being relegated to living in an apartment in a city and having couch cushions as a diet, imho.


----------



## Digitalis (Aug 20, 2021)

The dog owner needs to responsibly introduce the dog to livestock and teach it how to behave. Same as with introducing them to children or cats. Just turning them loose is irresponsible, and it's a lot easier to teach good behavior if you don't let them develop bad habits in the first place.

What I've done is keep chickens in the pens and take the dogs out on leashes, outside the pen, and make them behave. No aggressive/predatory/play behavior at all tolerated. Once they get the idea do the same without leashes, then let the chickens out with the dogs on leashes, then let the mix under close supervision for short periods. You just have to take the time and teach them.


----------



## Max Overhead (Feb 22, 2021)

My problem is kind of a reverse. My neighbor's dog (pit mix, what else) lives his life on a chain in their yard. My dumb hens are free range and keep trying to get to his dog food. This has ended it all for at least three of them. Freedom is dangerous, especially if you aren't that smart.


----------



## tnsteader82 (Sep 5, 2021)

Digitalis said:


> The dog owner needs to responsibly introduce the dog to livestock and teach it how to behave. Same as with introducing them to children or cats. Just turning them loose is irresponsible, and it's a lot easier to teach good behavior if you don't let them develop bad habits in the first place.
> 
> What I've done is keep chickens in the pens and take the dogs out on leashes, outside the pen, and make them behave. No aggressive/predatory/play behavior at all tolerated. Once they get the idea do the same without leashes, then let the chickens out with the dogs on leashes, then let the mix under close supervision for short periods. You just have to take the time and teach them.


Good advice, thank you


----------



## oldasrocks (Oct 27, 2006)

RJ2019 said:


> I just went through this with my Rottweiler. Interestingly, he normally ignores my chickens and even when one got out of the coop once he didn't go after it.
> Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago, I brought a beautiful little pullet home. Somehow, the next morning she was out of the coop and my dog had killed her. I beat him with the bird then tied it around his neck for awhile. Made it absolutely clear to him that the behavior was not acceptable.
> 
> Rotties are a high caliber dog. And being nice about things sometimes doesn't work with them, my experience has been that you really have to be blunt with letting them know what is and is not acceptable. Their skulls are thick in more than one way😆


I had a German Shepherd that would kill and eat the guineas. Didn't work to tie it on his neck as that was just meals on wheels for him. so soaked a killed bird in hot pepper water. After he tasted that he never killed another bird. He would chase them for sport but stop short of grabbing one.


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Some dogs are smarter than others.


----------



## RJ2019 (Aug 27, 2019)

oldasrocks said:


> I had a German Shepherd that would kill and eat the guineas. Didn't work to tie it on his neck as that was just meals on wheels for him. so soaked a killed bird in hot pepper water. After he tasted that he never killed another bird. He would chase them for sport but stop short of grabbing one.


 Brilliant!!🤩


----------



## Kelly Craig (Oct 10, 2021)

Your SOLUTION needs clarification. 

Many of us grew up on farms and ranches. We didn't have a pet whisperer who knew everything about animals [because the Net says he does, and law suit for injuries caused by one of the whisperer's dogs aside].

More than one otherwise good farm dog got put down because it harassed or killed stock belonging to owner or a neighbor. Farmers and ranchers don't have time to spend even an hour a day in the middle of planting, harvest, calving, butchering and so on. Of course, the alternative might be to take the approach indicated to involve a 2x4 and a mule (attention).

It may not be perfect, but the other option, often, is dead. That the dog is even alive may be a big deal. More than one farmer or rancher has ended an entire liter, rather than having to deal with a large pack of dogs running around. Or, maybe, worse, the neighbors having to deal with the pack. It sucks, but so do many things in life city kids/ farm kids don't understand.


By the way, do you work for Facebook or Twitter?




Forcast said:


> [R]eally people if you think a dog can be trusted with birds you dont need birds or the dog for that matter. If you think beating a dog with a dead bird is the answer you dont need any animal. Posting suggestions like should get you kicked off this site.


----------



## flboisseau (Apr 27, 2017)

My wife has chickens and we had two dogs that since have passed. 

The first was a primitive mixed breed name Katie and the second was an Entlebucher Mountain dog named Karli (Entlebuchers are one of the 4 Swiss Mountain dogs, and the smallest at 45-65lbs and are used as a farm dog to herd cattle). Katie was the chicken killer, but she was not typical. She killed not for sport, but to have a chicken dinner. She would get one chicken, usually a neighbor's when she got out, take it into the woods, pluck it and eat what she wanted and we assume that she would bury the rest. Then she would clean up her face and paws. No evidence was left for anyone to find. 

Karli did chase a chicken once when Katie went after and caught one of ours. But mommy broke a stick on a concrete pad, and she got the message that mommy was not happy and she wanted to make mommy happy (a typical trait from what I understand of the breed). Never went after a chicken again, and may have kept Katie from them also, but we have no evidence of that. 

What we know that did break her from going after our chickens, but not necessarily the neighbor's, were 5 Silky Roosters that we ended up with for a while. They did not run but instead stood up to her and she got the message. Mommy's chickens were not worth the effort, if she wanted a chicken dinner she had to get out the fence (chain link fence with an e-fence along the bottom to stop jumping over) and go next door.

My wife is the dog training expert (not really, but is compared to me), and she could go into pages on how to use clicker training, treats, and other positive measures that would help with this. She did some of it with Katie, but she has medical issues that kept her from working with the dog as much as was needed or that she wanted.


----------



## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

oldasrocks said:


> I had a German Shepherd that would kill and eat the guineas. Didn't work to tie it on his neck as that was just meals on wheels for him. so soaked a killed bird in hot pepper water. After he tasted that he never killed another bird. He would chase them for sport but stop short of grabbing one.


Heck, I'm with the dog: Death to those nasty, noisy, obnoxious guinea fowl!


----------



## Pony (Jan 6, 2003)

Danaus29 said:


> Some dogs are smarter than others.


Some dogs are smarter than humans. Most of mine are smarter than I.


----------



## 67drake (May 6, 2020)

Not the same breed or situation, but I had a new lab years ago that chewed up my $125 work shoes. He was only a couple months old. After giving him a few wacks in the ass with them, I tied them to his collar for the day. He never did it again.


----------



## Chief50 (10 mo ago)

Came home yesterday to see my dog laying out on the middle of the pasture. Saw a chicken setting about ten feet in front of him. He is still a pup and likes to see a chicken run. Never has caught one. I thought he had finally decided to catch one. I went over to get the hen. When I got near the hen I saw she had a bunch of babies. I caught her and caught up the chicks to put in a pen. When I got through with that the pup was still out near where he had been laying. Went back and found one little chick that I hadn't seen when I caught the others. Took the chick to the hen and the pup was satisfied.


----------



## Kelly Craig (Oct 10, 2021)

SNORT



Pony said:


> Heck, I'm with the dog: Death to those nasty, noisy, obnoxious guinea fowl!


----------



## JRHill02 (Jun 20, 2020)

Kelly Craig said:


> SNORT


We still have a half dozen guineas but have to keep them in their half of the coop. They were killing chickens at one point - not fighting/pecking but one guinea would chase and run a chicken until it died from stress. As if the Catahoulas didn't already know what was going on the guineas would signal them that there was something needing attention. The guineas taught the dogs to watch for ravens. We only got the guineas originally to clean up ticks and other such stuff but when they are gone that's it. And because the guineas chased chickens the dogs began to chase any bird. Dang. So everything needed to be in a coop after that. Frankly, ditching free range was a blessing.

BTW, after a late spring hatch and a bunch of new guinea chicks we knew we had to thin things out. If the meat tastes as much off as the eggs we had no interest. Anyway, the wife and I laughed and laughed at an idea to screw with the turkey poachers: I loaded over a dozen of them into a few critter cages and drove off deep into the woods and set them loose. They ran and flew off into the canyon. We expected to hear stories about noisy, crazy Frankenstein turkeys. But the joke was on us. Two days later and from several miles away they all came back here.

Guineas are definitely guard critters. Their head is so ugly only a mother could look at them. But I would rather deal with them than people in the grocery store trip.


----------



## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

My dad would wrap the dead chicken with fine wire, and attach it to the electric fence. Then leave it out for the dog to find. This works, and you only have to do it once per dog. After this, one of the hens hatched her chicks in the dog house.


----------



## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

JRHill02 said:


> BTW, after a late spring hatch and a bunch of new guinea chicks we knew we had to thin things out. If the meat tastes as much off as the eggs we had no interest. Anyway, the wife and I laughed and laughed at an idea to screw with the turkey poachers: I loaded over a dozen of them into a few critter cages and drove off deep into the woods and set them loose. They ran and flew off into the canyon. We expected to hear stories about noisy, crazy Frankenstein turkeys. But the joke was on us. Two days later and from several miles away they all came back here.


ROTFL! Most people can't keep their guineas home but your came back!


----------



## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

Chief50 said:


> Came home yesterday to see my dog laying out on the middle of the pasture. Saw a chicken setting about ten feet in front of him. He is still a pup and likes to see a chicken run. Never has caught one. I thought he had finally decided to catch one. I went over to get the hen. When I got near the hen I saw she had a bunch of babies. I caught her and caught up the chicks to put in a pen. When I got through with that the pup was still out near where he had been laying. Went back and found one little chick that I hadn't seen when I caught the others. Took the chick to the hen and the pup was satisfied.


That's a keeper.


----------



## Settler (3 mo ago)

I have never been able to stop a dog from killing chickens once they have started.


----------



## JRHill02 (Jun 20, 2020)

Not always. Some times there needs to be a referee. I have a cool MP4 but its too big. I'd love to share it.... 60.4 Mb


----------



## Orchardsmith (5 mo ago)

Apply a shock collar and set it to STUN. Leave the collar on after demonstrating how it works. Walk the dog toward the birds and demonstrate how it works again. Problem solved. You're welcome.


----------

