# Bird Dogs and Chickens



## fishingdan (Jan 7, 2010)

Hi so I am still looking into a few different dogs and don't have one yet, but we are also thinking about getting some chickens. My question is this, If you have chickens in your back yard will that affect the birdyness of a bird dog? Will the dog harass the chickens, or will it get so used to birds that it stops being interested in the birds? Do any of you have a bird dog and chickens? how have you done it. I would choose a dog over chickens, but I am just wondering how to do both.

Thanks


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## twinkielk15 (Jan 17, 2011)

In my experience dogs seem to know the difference between the chickens and the game birds. Harassment just depends on the dog. I've seen some that couldn't care less and others that killed the birds. Afraid I really don't have any tips on how to execute such a situation.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

My bird dog would kill the chickens- maybe if he was raised as a pup with it might be different but he was raised with a cat- lets the cat clean his ears and sleep on him- he's killed 3 feral cats in the pasture this year.


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## Greenhead_Slayer (Oct 16, 2007)

I've got chickens that "free range" in my backyard with my lab. She leaves them alone. If you get some introduce them with the dog on the leash and if the dog lunges for the birds correct the dog. Do this on a regular basis, then introduce the e-collar (if your dog is collar conditioned) and correct with the e-collar. Pretty soon your dog will realize it. My dog isn't bothered by them at all anymore and will leave them be.
I've learned to make sure you also call them "chickens" and not "birds". If you use a word your dog recognizes as a hunting term you will run into issues. Don't intermix hunting lingo in a non-hunting situation, especially with a live bird you don't want to get harassed. Make sure you have your coop somewhere the dog can't get to the eggs. Learned that one the hard way.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

Prey drive is very different with different breeds of dogs-


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## APD (Nov 16, 2008)

Greenhead_Slayer said:


> I've got chickens that "free range" in my backyard with my lab. She leaves them alone. If you get some introduce them with the dog on the leash and if the dog lunges for the birds correct the dog. Do this on a regular basis, then introduce the e-collar (if your dog is collar conditioned) and correct with the e-collar. Pretty soon your dog will realize it. My dog isn't bothered by them at all anymore and will leave them be.
> I've learned to make sure you also call them "chickens" and not "birds". If you use a word your dog recognizes as a hunting term you will run into issues. Don't intermix hunting lingo in a non-hunting situation, especially with a live bird you don't want to get harassed. Make sure you have your coop somewhere the dog can't get to the eggs. Learned that one the hard way.


X2

i have 3 labs (one birdy pet, one duck dog and one service dog) and have had trouble along the way but you can teach them the difference. i used a similar approach as above.

the birds free ranged with the labs until they ate too much grass and then i had to separate them. initial losses were 4 chicks to the pet, 2 full grown chickens to the service dog and no losses to the duck dog. my duck dog helped teach the others.


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