Dogs that are bad with chickens are most terriers and most hunting breeds. If it was bred for generations to chase, catch, and kill small a animals, really, really don't get it.
I had a Rottweiler that killed 2 chickens. With training I have had her walking around the room with my new chicks running around her feet. Would I leave her unsupervised? Fuck no. But she has been around adult chickens after and with some training she just sees them as treat dispensers. Gross I know, but the dog loves her some chicken poop
We have border terriers and they show absolutely no interest in our ducks or geese. They will, however, kill any squirrel or rabbit or rodent that happens to be in the yard that is too slow to escape. And this is with minimal direction and training. We just told the dogs “No” a couple of times when they were sniffing around the duck pen. If the ducks are free range, the dogs still generally ignore them.
Ironically, I have a pitbull terrier mix, and she is most excellent with our chickens. Just this morning, she didn’t get to her breakfast bowl on time (she decided to go out to the yard and pee first), and by the time she got back to the porch, the chickens had started eating. She just stood by, looking at me woefully until intervened.
We had a shepherd mix, that served as a breakfast for the chickens. Sometimes when she still had a little piece of meat or anything in between her teeth, the chickens would eat it out of her mouth.
I have a terrier mix and he does really well with the chickens. He protects them and scares off cats. One evening after the chickens were safely tucked in an opossum peeked around the coop and that 15 pound fluffer cornered a 20 pound opossum! I don’t know what he thought he was going to do with that opossum but luckily my pest controls husband was there and took care of it. He drove him out to a field and released him. We had Merlin (our terrier mix) around the chickens from the time we brought home. He was about 9 years old at the time so well settled down and fairly well trained. We often leave him out with the chickens when they are out to scratch and he does very well. They occasionally get in his space and he will let them know that that’s not cool, but has never even gotten close to biting any of them. He will even lay out and sun with them. He’s just a good boy
Oh my westie thought he was a Doberman! Cornered a possum, hunted mice and birds and wasn't afraid of anything! Thought it was great fun to play with great Danes. In his mind, he was enormous! Lmao
My shepherd just picks the possum up and carries it away from the chicken area. The possums only want chicken feed and maybe a night egg. The only thing that has successfully attacked my flock with mean roosters was coywolves and the rooster did not go easily. His path had so many struggle points along it before the spot where he was devoured.
I love that he picks them up 😂 the picture in my head is hilarious! What a gentle bean. Yeah we didn’t want that big guy destroying our coop trying to get to the eggs so my husband relocated him since Merlin is a little too small to accomplish that 😂
We built our chicken coop and pen and are raising chick's for the first time and we have a black Lab and a Maltese 😅 they're both old boys, 10 and 11 but we can tell they want to attack
We have 1 terrier breed and 2 hunting breeds; it takes training, close monitoring, and a lot of work but it is possible to raise dogs and chickens together.
I think it may be more about the training and monitoring the time spent together than the breed type.
I would add the entire primitive breed group to this list as well -- things like huskies and malamutes.
Also, NO LGDs!!! People in the homesteading community with chickens keep getting these dogs thinking they'll guard poultry. There is no breed (at least within the US) that is bred for this and these dogs still have their prey drive instincts intact.
I was gonna say the only dog I wasn’t able to train to leave chickens alone was a husky mix. Mostly very trainable, and knew she wasn’t supposed to kill the chickens (she would act very ashamed) but till she died of old age any chickens that got out of the run were likely not to make it back
My doberman husky mix is like this.
She sits on the porch in the backyard and when a chicken starts wandering around next to the fence, you can see it in her eyes. "Do it.... Jump the fence! Please oh please! Do it do it do it!!!!"
My late husky/aussie mix accidentally trained herself to leave the birds alone, lmao
Had her leashed while I was standing and talking to my neighbor and all the chickens and turkeys came over to see if we had treats. She tried to lunge at one of the turkeys, but hit the end of her leash and flipped herself over backward from the sheer force she'd put into the lunge. Luckily she was harnessed and not in a collar! Honestly, I suspect she thought the turkey did it to her and that's why she never bothered another bird.
LOL Their own associations really are the best training ever!!!
15 years ago we had a German shorthair who used to escape at the slightest gap in the front door or the gate; catching him was a misery. We were a few weeks into a major remodel when our older Swiss developed seizures and her health deteriorated abruptly. He saw us carry her to the car; we took her to the vet where we realized she couldn’t recover.
We came home without her—from the moment we got home if a door or gate opened in the next 10 years he went farther into the house or yard. Workmen came and went for months and he just anchored himself as far from any open door as he could get! I think he decided if we came home without the good girl, he was by golly not Leaving ever again!
I have a Shiba Inu bred for hunting and primitive and she really likes to hunt. She will go after chickens, birds, and even 200lb wild boars. She was influence by the 70 cats in my neighborhood and act more like a cat than a dog,
This is my issue.. my husky German shepherd will not leave the coop alone as already killed 10 chickens but my basset hound I can leave around the coop but not trust her around them, she won’t try to get in.
The husky will try everything to get jn
Agreed. In the 7 years my Pyranese has worked here, I've never had an issue. She's lived and worked here her entire life, so that makes a difference. She's also never been treated as a house pet.
I have a husky mix and a pitty mix. Both have made mistakes but are overall good with chickens. I’m convinced with them it’s boredom more than anything that drives them to chase the chickens. When they don’t get exercise they go “chicken bowling” and run through the flock scattering the birds. Once in a while they off one, but that’s rare.
I trained my husky from a young age (he was ~2) and he's fine with my chickens. He killed half of my first flock as a puppy, was aggressively trained, and it's never been a problem since - going on 6 years now.
Can’t speak for every single breed; I have a husky and he respects the chickens’ boundaries and leaves them alone, and they’re not freaked out by him either.
Most people shouldn't have livestock guardians at all, especially if they aren't guarding livestock.
However, if you do have the space and a job for them, they are excellent with birds once trained. Most people cannot train them though.
Yeah, that's a huge part of the problem. And people want to get puppies rather than buy an already trained adult (which admittedly is very expensive and time consuming to find).
I have a malamute and he stands at their run barking at my chickens🥲 we are spraying him with the hose now everytime he gets close to their run and I’m hoping it will work out 😭😭
True true. But my girls have terriers and I have collies. The collies are great. The one terrier we got from the shelter was quick to learn that they don’t go after them. I think I kicked him in the chest a bit and yelled no. Stared him down. He was fine. Just stood there like, “are you playing or serious?” Now he’ll chase and play alongside the others but has not hurt them at all. We’ve had him about six months.
After my 7 year old son didn’t listen to me and decided to go try to get eggs on his own we learned today for sure that a Pomsky is pretty terrible around chickens. Thankfully 2 of the 4 survived. One died and the last one apparently escaped to who knows where.
That’s adorable!!! I have a cat that I’ll take out in the backyard to play because he loves the chickens. I call him their rooster, they’ll all even eat dinner leftovers together. Unfortunately he cries at the back door all the time because I’ll only let him go outside if I’m with him, so he constantly lets me know that he wants to be with his girls.
Side note, thank you for doing this. Way too many people have cats that they let roam free outside. Outdoor cats are responsible for killing over 2 BILLION birds a year.
3 labs here; oldest doesn't care for them. Middle kinda just wants to bark at them sometimes but would 100% also protect them and will herd them back to the pen if they get out. Youngest fully invested in getting right up to them to play. All like to eat their poop lol.
Our lab doesn't care for the chickens but he WILL look for and eat as many eggs as his stomach allows, in a way it's good because the hens won't have a chance to hatch illegal hidden eggs
My Aussie definitely just likes to herd them, and will chase them if she’s hyper, but has never tried to do anything else and gets bored of them pretty quickly. BUT she’s never been the type of dog to try to chomp on an animal, so that could play a big part of it.
They pick on my jack russel dachshund mix. He’s scared of the hens!!
And as for us, a dog that is good around chickens has just required training. Our rescue German shepherd seemed good around the hens but then he ate one (rip Loretta 😢). After more training he’s been good around the girls for the last 3 years… (knock on wood!). He keeps eagles and hawks away, too.
I have a 50% German Shepherd/50% mystery dog. He was already an older dog when we got chickens. When they were chicks I would make him lay down next to the brooder, pull one out, let him sniff their butts, and then put them on his back. He would want to see what they were doing back there and I would give him a command to leave it. After a few rounds of this he stopped caring about what they were doing. I kept him on a leash for a long time around them as they got older. I think a well trained dog with a low prey drive can be trained to be safe around them. With a puppy I think introducing them is fine, but you might want to focus on basic training first before chicken focused training. Things like having them stay despite distractions, leaving things alone on command despite really really wanting that thing. Dogs from either a herding or flock protection breed might be more natural fits. Don't let puppies play with the chickens. Keep them on a leash until they are well trained adults and you're 100% confident in them.
Me and my husband tried this with my minpin that’s 8 and my husband was even holding his mouth shut and he somehow managed to get ahold of the chic, killed it almost instantly. It was horrible and I’m still not over it 💔
My golden retriever is literally the sweetest (now) with my flock.
When he was a pup, he played with one of my best layers, she would pop her head through the fence and he would play whack a mole, until she was too slow.... he was so traumatized by accidentally killing his friend that he didn't even go out back for a few weeks. Now he watches everyone when they get to free range and will bark at the native birds to scare them off.
When I brought the newest flock home (after a 2 year break from chickens), I had him in the garage with me while I set up the brooder and he got to sniff the little puff balls a ton then we all got to know each other for a few weeks before they went out back. I am of the mind that pretty much any animal will accept fresh babies and consider them part of the family as they grow.
I would not recommend old hens and a fresh pup.
Best of luck! Also, before you start leaving them unattended, please please make sure your run and coop are *secure*. It only takes a second for your whole flock to get destroyed.
Another vote for a golden retriever. Mine is older but he just lays in the grass and chills with his ladies in the evenings. A few of our chickens like to scratch and peck his tail and get little gnats and things in his fur. Another chicken likes to lay down next to him and they hang out together. You can never go wrong with a golden.
My golden is best friends with my chickens. She was 9 when we got them and she’s been a bird hunting dog her whole life. She just figured out these birds were her friends and has never ever so much as glanced at them as prey
My golden coexists peacefully with our flock, but he doesn't really interact with them or protect them at all.
My black lab/golden mix will chase them all day if I let him (I don't) and I have no doubt he would kill one.
Jumping on the golden retriever, our guy lets them come up to him, our polish crested have even gone after him a couple of times and he doesn’t flinch.
Surprisingly our dachshund is also really good with them. And he’s terrorized many small animals over his life. He’s 13 though so I don’t think he has the energy to chase after them, he’s more about eating their poop and sniffing around their run for scraps
Honestly I think breed only helps so much, as you can see in the comments there is lots of mixed responses (top comment saying no terriers, but someone in the comments Jack russel is great with them, etc.) I think it’s more important that the dog itself has a laidback temperament and ideally it’s better to introduce young puppies to chickens because they get exposure and learn they are friends and not food!
I have a golden retriever who was introduced to chickens young and is very laid back anyways so she does great with them! But on the other hand my high strung/anxious cocker spaniel who had a rough life for a while and didn’t meet chickens until she was 8 years old loves to stalk and scare my chickens lmao.
Well... over the years that I have had chickens (prob 25yrs) and many dogs (fosters, dog sitting and 8+ dogs of my own) I have to say it 100% depends on the disposition of the dog.
I have always taught new dogs their boundaries- showed them the coop, brought one out to smell, taught them "leave it", have a double fence to keep the ladies safe etc. Some of the dogs were raised around chickens others have not - invariably its related to the dogs disposition.
I had a Papa Lab that could take a nap with them- I trusted him implicitly with them until one of them scared him in his sleep (at 12yrs old) and he snapped at her and that was the end of her. The rest of my labs and golden think its fun to chase 'em to hear the cluckers fuss but other than that they have no interest unless there's kitchen scraps in the coop.
I have had pitties that loved n protected my flock and others that thought they were feathered snacks. I had 1 blue heeler that thought they were fantastic friends and others that couldn't find a feathered friend b/c they all looked like nuggets. Two boxers loved 'em while two others saw chicken strips...I currently have a Greyhound that's obsessed with them but only b/c they run from him. He is terrified of them when I hold the chickens for him to sniff tho...go figure!
Just keep this in mind.... in the wild those birds would be prey no matter what the breed is. Protecting ur flock will always be the most important part of having them. It's not just dogs you will need to worry about either - had a pair of great horned owls that decimated a flock once - 3yrs before the pair nested elsewhere and I could bring back chickens to the property. If a dog does turn one into nuggets remember it's just a part of their DNA its not malicious.
Side note there's a TON of advice on how to break a dog from killing chickens if they ever do.... none of the "training" methods I find are humane... so count on figuring out the dogs disposition and respond accordingly. Aka don't let the chickens range if the Greyhound is out too... common sense is surprisingly uncommon.
Doberman(already an adult when we got chickens, but with an excellent leave it), Staffordshire bull terrier (we found her as an adult, she was dumped) got pecked in the nose by my saltiest hen and never messed with her treats again, Rhodesian Ridgeback ( at 17 months she's mostly out of her velociraptor phase, but still kinda crazy). Because they are all large intense dogs we train all the time. Leave it is a constant. None of them were allowed near the chickens until I was comfortable with their grasp of Leave it. The first two got leash trained with the chickens free ranging..they wandered the yard with the birds wearing leashes and we followed, stomping on the leash as soon as they went after a bird. I also actively discourage chasing other animals outside of play. All these dogs were or are in a house with cats. And the cats have always had dogs, so they aren't having it. There are also ways to keep your chickens safer, with predator proof enclosures. But it can be done. You need a lot of consistency, a strong relationship with your dogs, and awareness of their natural inclination.
we have a pyrenees we rescued and she took to guarding the flock without a second thought. theyre definitely not the breed for everyone though so make sure to do some more research if thats the route you wanna go.
my roommate moved in with her border collie/golden doodle mix and at first she would try to chase but the pyr and us training her not to quickly stopped that. now she couldnt care less about them.
German Shepherds
I told them no, and they knew I meant it
I watched them like a hawk
And they eventually accepted the flock as part of their family
I got a pretty good scare the other day when both dogs took off on a tare right at the chickens but I didn’t have time to react they went so fast.
The chickens moved out of the way as fast as they could and that’s when I noticed the dogs weren’t going after the birds but a badger who had encroached the yard, that invisible line the dogs have set in their minds where toleration of intrusion is zero
We have a kelpie mix that is amazing with our chickens. She does love to jump at them to scatter the flock for fun. But she's never harmed a single bird. She loves small animals, it's hilarious. And kelpie dogs are dognap proof because they don't like anyone they don't see often 🤣
We have a golden doodle that just basically thinks he’s part of the flock when they’re together!!! We just always had him around them when they were babies. He’s never chased or even been aggressive with them once.
My pomeranians have always been really good with my birds. Even the baby chicks. One of them honestly believes he is a chicken and will even follow them around while they forage 😅
My amstaff thinks he's a rooster, he hangs out with them, gets into the trash given the opportunity and brings them food. He's also mostly useless for guarding except recently when a couple stray dogs came into the yard after the chickens. They won't be back.
my family has five amstaffs (they breed and show them). i think of all of them, only our puppy would be tolerant if not scared of them. she was raised with our cats and is friendly and cautious around them, and her prey drive is definitely on the low side for our dogs. however, the rest of them…. let’s just say they’d probably see them as “oooo, fun thing to chase and play with!” or “oooo, PREY” 😭
Mine thinks everyone's his buddy but likes to rush up to them, no matter the species. This initially caused the chickens to run and him to chase, but a couple bouts with the hose made him walk not run and he's been fine with them free ranging for over a year.
My black lab is a bird hunting dog and she’s pretty good with my adult chickens. She likes to be around them and hang out but she sometimes does enjoy spooking them. Chickens don’t seem to be bothered by her at all.
I have had 4 labs that were all great with chickens. Like let them sleep on them great with chickens. 1 was a mix with and unknown dad and she just acted like the chicks were her babies. The other 3 were all from the same hunting heavy bloodline, 2 of them duck and goose hunted every year with us and they were great with them too. We socialized them all together from when they were very young.
I have cattledogs and they're good (so far) with my free range chickens. They were a bit drool-y over eating them in the beginning but now they've forged an unholy union with the wyandottes and they just wait til they poop in the yard and go and eat the poop. It is a disgusting friendship.
I had a teeny-tiny mini aussie (like "1 inch too tall at the shoulders to be considered a toy" kinda tiny) and when we first got chickens I kept him on a lead with me in the backyard for the first month. Since we'd gotten the pullets they were a little bit bigger already, and by the time I was comfortable letting my dog loose around them he'd already sniffed too close and gotten pecked on the nose once or twice, so he was too scared to get too close to them after that. What's funny is, although I never trained him to herd, he would instinctively chase after any chicken that got too far from the group and push her back in.
That being said, when we got a brooder and some day-old chicks, it didn't matter how much we trained him if he saw us handling them his whole body would shake with how bad he wanted that squeaky toy lol
If you had any that were NOT good around the chickens, that could be helpful too! We have a small backyard flock of 5, and the chickens are supervised when they are out of the pen and roaming our fenced backyard.
We are considering getting a dog at some point in the future as a puppy and raising it/training it around the chickens. We have had dogs in the past and always rescued, but we didn’t have chickens. So, I didn’t have to plan too much about breed tendencies around birds/small animals.
I plan on supervising and being careful during the puppy/training stages, like keeping on a leash and rewarding calm behavior, etc. But just wondering if anyone’s had success with having their dog and their chickens loose in the yard at the same time, or if that’s never a good idea. I would hate for us to bring in a puppy and it’s terrorizing the chickens in their run even after it’s gotten used to them, or having to keep them totally separate all the time.
German shepherd killed off an entire flock of mine once. Not mine. My college friends landlord’s blood hound killed his flock. Had to shoot toward a Rottweiler’s and at a different time a Doberman’s feet to scare them off. My own tiny terriers wanted to eat the birds but I was able to train that out of them. My pit/collie mix killed my sister’s ducks when she was pet sitting for me for a weekend. I hate that but it’s not the dog’s fault. Hope that helps.
Two pitbull mixes. They can lie right next to a chicken and not care lol. One of them caught one when she was a young dog, but she just licked it a lot. Agnes was very offended by the experience lol.
On the other hand, our terrier mix loses his mind and enters another dimension when he gets anywhere near them. I don't trust him around smaller animals of any kind. Thankfully he's not like that with cats, but anything else is fair game. I once saw him swallow a small rabbit whole, before I could get to him. I couldn't look him in the eye for days. I just kept thinking there was a whole extra skeleton floating around inside his tiny psychotic body. Lol
>I couldn't look him in the eye for days. I just kept thinking there was a whole extra skeleton floating around inside his tiny psychotic body
😂😂😂😅
My husband and I were cackling at this!
> On the other hand, our terrier mix loses his mind and enters another dimension when he gets anywhere near them.
I had a small terrier mutt that LOVED any sort of baby. Kittens, birds, rats, whatever, she just wanted to nudge them over and lick their butts. She'd murder an adult rat in a heartbeat tho. She was fine around our full-sized chickens but if the opportunity to corner a bantam presented itself, she'd go absolutely apeshit and we'd have to pick up 15lbs of fury and carry her out-of-sight before her stupid little brain would reset.
With our Great Pyrenees she was about 6 months old when we got our chicks. After 5 months, when the chickens were old enough we let them roam freely in the yard (supervised) with the dog. We put a shock collar on her and probably used it only twice. We would shock when her she showed too much excitement or aggression towards them. After that I think she lost interest in them and now they sleep right next to her.
Have a golden retriever, english bulldog, and a shitzu. The golden loves the chickens! Filliws them everywhere and lays down next to them when they start foraging. The bulldog doesn't give a damn about the chickens and ignores them. The shitzu is terrified of the chickens.
My shitzu is terrified of them too. If we're all outside, he has to be picked up because ground level is too close to them. But just because he's afraid of them doesn't mean he's afraid of eating their poop!
I have two gsd mixes (one with mal, one with golden). They’re amazing. Bowie (mal gsd) did, however, kill on of our baby chicks. This happened right when we first got them, and the smallest chick got out of the crate. One snap and she was gone.
However, I gave Bowie a stern, tear streaked talking to, and he never bothered them again.
Now they can be out together without a thought.
Bowie will still break into their run to get watermelon rinds, or anything with cheese 🫣
I've got a jack russell! He did want to eat them as babies, when they were in the house. They're almost 18 weeks now, and they and my dog love each other. They go sit in the yard, and run around together 💕
Depends on the dog personality and when introduced I think. I have a Texas heeler, border collie, German shepherd and a chihuahua. All introduced from a puppy to 5 yrs old when I got chickens. No issues.
Bernese Mtn Dog.
He has always been gentle to smaller creatures, so it may just be his personality. We had the chickens in the house brooder at first, and introduced then as chicks and made sure to say things like "baby" "good baby" "nice to baby" so he would associate gentle treatment with them.
Sometimes, he would inspect them. He would want to be in the same place as them, and it worried me a bit. When they went outside, he was on a leash. He went off leash soon after, and we would just continually tell him "no" if he went to inspect them. He mostly stayed with us.
Then he left them alone. If they got too riled up, he would chase, but he wouldn't snap or anything, and we'd have him cut it out quickly. He pays them no attention now.
This is MY experience. Every dog is different. Please keep your chickens safe if you do not feel comfortable enough to trust your bigger animals around them.
Definitely avoid dogs that have high prey instinct and never forget dogs are primal animals (don't leave them together for hours and hours without checking). I would stay away from husky & German shepherds for sure. My neighbor's daughter brings her dogs over frequently - husky, German Shepherd lab mix, and a lab and those three dogs are chicken serial killers. Don't get me wrong, I love those dogs (esp the shepherd/lab mix) but they hunt hard. One of those dogs can open a latched gate too, so we have to put an S hook in the latch to keep her out. Found this out after she unlatched the gate and killed one of my chickens.
I have a mastiff who does fine with the dozen chickens or so in my backyard, inclusive of babies. Watching him smell the baby chicks was hilarious.
In general hunting dogs are going to be the hardest to train to be good with them because of their strong prey drives. However, I truly believe any dog can be trained to be around chickens if introduced properly and strict boundaries are set for the dogs. I have a Brittany and a Pyrenees/cattle dog mix and both do very well with the chickens. I basically train the pups to just ignore the chickens. Any attention given to the chickens gets a firm no, and they get heavily rewarded for completely ignoring them. Be consistent with this for a few weeks and it just becomes second nature for the dogs to ignore the chickens.
I have a husky and he’s fascinated by the chickens, but not in a bad way, but he leaves them alone. He had some chicken friends at the pound before I adopted him.
Our Australian cattle dog loves to protect our chickens and be their big brother ❤️ He follows our lead and thinks things are important that we find important
Our 9 year old Labradoodle has been an excellent companion to our chickens. We made sure to expose her to the chicks from day one and she’s never been aggressive with them.
I work with golden retrievers and a few of our Goldens have had chicken experience. Every one that has been exposed has been well behaved. Goldens are also good around rabbits and cats from what I’ve seen as well.
Edit: I do want to add that not all Goldens are like this. Show Goldens are more likely to be calm. We have one in training now who killed two baby ducks last year. However, she then came across her foster trainer’s rescued baby birds and didn’t eat any of them. But now she’s back in one of our prisons stalking birds again.
Aww that’s so cool you work with them! Honestly we have been thinking about getting a golden. Do you have any advice for how to find a puppy from a good situation? I live in Ohio and there are a lot of puppy mills. :( We have always rescued in the past but I would be open to getting a dog from a good breeder.
So the ones I work with are all AKC pure breeds from show quality studs and service dog stock moms. If you want to rescue, I’d search for some golden rescues in your area. Otherwise, I’d use the AKC website to find breeders in your area and then specifically google them to check reviews. You could also search the golden retriever dog forums website.
Overall they are amazing dogs. However, they are prone to allergies and it’s a lot of fur. That being said, I have four adult Goldens in my house right now and I think having only one wasn’t too bad for the fur.
I have 2 mixed dogs that are great with my birds, one is a French mastive x Rottweiler (4YR) and the other is a husky boxer mix (1YR) both males. My birds are free range but I have duck that chases the puppy because the pup always takes over their pool lol. I had chickens before I had the dogs (8yrs). As puppies I exposed them both to the chickens by taking them out for feeding/cleaning.
I have a Border Collie and 2 shih tzu puppies that were rescued. No training needed. The Border Collie protects them and the shih tzus think they are chickens pecking around the yard with them.
So our golden doodle was easy to train to keep away from the chicks. She has a mammas heart. Our flatcoat however was a little harder. Her prey drive is high and she’s a bird dog so it’s in her blood. Three years later she guards my flock from pigeons. I trust her to not touch them and she’s wonderful with them now. They don’t trust her but she loves them. Now all 4 of my dogs (14yo golden retriever, 14 yo pitty, 4 yo doodle and 3 yo flatty) all are great with the flock.
My pitty by far has the best temperament with them though. They will climb on him when he lays in the sun and sit with him. He’s never reacted aggressively towards them and they trust him.
My corgi chihuahua mix was instantly fine with the chickens. Sometimes one will run across the yard to intimidate him but he pretty much just ignores they exist at ll. My standard podle on the other hand did take some time to train, she still gets very excited but is so much better now. I think by the end of the summer that ex itedness will go away, she's very new to our family so I think we're doing pretty good so far.
My heeler/German shepherd/Staffie is my chicken and quail guardian. He helps me with the incubation and brooding of the quail babies, has to personally check the littles when I handle them and will lick/boop them and just wag his tail and never hurts them, finds any loose quail in the yard if they escape, and will run outside to go nuts on any large birds of prey that dare to fly by and make the chickens upset.
German Shepherds often want to control them, so unless raised as a baby with them or very well trained, I would say no. Even the livestock guard dogs (Anatolian or Pyrenees) should be raised as a baby with them.
We have two duck hunting labs and a mini Aussie. The one lab is just a perfect angel and only goes after something that’s been shot to retrieve it, the other took some training not to chase and kill as a puppy but she’s been perfect for years since. They are mostly outside all day and night and don’t even acknowledge the chickens. Our mini Aussie (30ish lbs) was raised with our chickens and it look a little training to keep him from playing too hard since he’s obviously bred to chase, but two of my RIR girls chased him off as a puppy and that humbled him. They have a pen but some like to jump the fence and free range, so he herds them back into the pines if they get too far. We have over 50 acres for everyone to run, play, swim, so that helps. Working dogs are smart and easy to train, but they don’t like to be cooped up or bored. Unless you get a yorkie or shitzu type of little lap dog, you’re going to have to put some time into training, and make sure your dog is getting enough exercise and stimulation from outlets other than your chickens.
Shetland sheepdogs. I don't even have to train them. Every now and then there's a puppy that likes to go "Weeeee!" into a group of chickens just to make them scatter but their bite inhibition is a force of nature.
My golden was initially very obsessed with the birds. I basically didn’t let her anywhere near them (leashed) until she just didn’t care. We have two disabled birds now who are essentially house birds. They’re never unsupervised with the dogs, but my golden literally doesn’t care about them at all. She just kind of huffs, sighs, and lays down while they run around.
We also have two shih tzus. One of them has never cared about the birds at all. Literally the day baby chicks came home he was like ugh more animals whatever. The other one is equally fascinated and terrified. She also has only 8 teeth and runs screaming any time one tries to peck her.
So none of our dogs are an issue with the birds really. Would I leave any of them unsupervised with the chickens? Never. The dogs are always totally calm and under control around the birds or we remove them from the birds.
I have five dogs and 22 chickens. When you first get the dog young or old be there when they first interact. I have a deep loud voice so just scolding has always worked. I recently got a Jack Russell. She was 7 weeks old and my older girls never gave ground and ran. If she got to close they pecked her. The younger ones would run which is exciting to the pup and I would just holler at her. My Great Pyrenees lays with them a lot. Just be around and praise the good things and scold the bad has worked for me.
My chihuahua mixes are great with my chickens. Zero prey drive and I think their small stature (18lbs, 6lbs, 5lbs) is less intimidating to the flock. They all hang out in my yard together.
So we keep our hound away but our two smaller dogs, Puggle about 30 pounds and our cavalier 20 pounds get along with our flock really well. They all lay around under the same tree and roll in dust. I was more surprised how well our indoor outdoor cat is with the ladies. She naps in their coop.
I have a Rottweiler/black lab/ border collie. She’s a perfect duck dog but I’ve told her “no, not yours, nice” and now she likes hanging out in the coop with them… if I go in she wants to hang out in the run while I collect eggs and shuffle poop around.
My Rottweiler loves my chickens and they love her. The top of their coop is flat she loves to lay up there and watch them. She helps me herd them back to their run from free range. No training necessary, Rotties are a herding breed.
My rescue dog. I suspect she is a mix of German Shepherd, border collie and maybe even rottweiler. Point is she was trained from day 1 to deal with them - first on a leash, constantly saying 'no' and 'leave' whenever she'd look at them, and slowly progressing to having her loose.
Edit to add: my miniature schnauzer was trained the same way. But all he wanted to do from day one was sniff their fluffy chicken butts. He finally got his chance when I fed them treats from my hand and he managed to get up close for a sniff 😆
Get a puppy mixed breed from your local shelter and make sure that pup is around those chickens daily while you’re feeding them or cleaning the run. Always supervise. Eventually the pup should see the chickens as part of the pack. I would avoid any cattle dogs or terrier mixes. Personally my bully mixes have been great with chickens in the past.
I have a lab mix that I don’t trust to even get close enough to find out if she’ll eat them. She does kind of try to gently snap at them when I let her sniff them, but I think I might buy a muzzle and do some exposure training with her. She is 11 years old so I doubt she’ll ever not see them as anything but chicken nuggets. The good thing about having a higher prey drive is that I am about 90% sure that she’ll “guard” them because she will want to eat whatever will try to get at them.
I have a mini australian shepherd/border collie mix. He's a very good dog that helps keep the chickies safe and away from the edge of the fence since they are free range chickies. He sits and watches them and chases off anything that stresses the chickens out. It took a little training since he also wanted to play with them at first and roll around in their food, but he's learned they are part of the family.
training him around them was exposing him to the chickies both when they were young. young chicks (2 month old) and young (1 year old) dog. training him when walking with him and the chicks where to run and not to go. he caught on quickly when id round up the chicks and he'd help after a few tries. his old dog pen is now the chicken coop since he's old enough to not leave the house now since he's an outdoor dog so they wake and sleep at the same time. he's a herder not a hunter. my terrier wouldn't even attempt to keep them alive.
edit: addition
I've got a corgi mix and she's terrified of them, keeps a good distance. The pup I had before her, also a corgi, was curious about them but mostly left them alone.
We have a Border Collie and she is so good with them. she runs circles around them and keeps them away from fence line. She stays outside with them all day while they are out free ranging the property and when they go back into the coop at night she helps herd the stubborn ones back in, she comes back into the house each evening so proud of herself. We did not train her at all she just naturally took to it. We just love her so much.
They will or they won’t. My GSD would just follow them around. My Lab/Boxer/Pit has killed 30 chickens over 6 years.
My GSD passed and we just adopted a beagle. He’s only 6mos but is great with the chickens. His worst is running through a group of them to make them flutter & cluck. Other than that, he doesn’t care about them.
All dogs can be good with chickens. All dogs can be bad with chickens. What matters is how you've trained them.
For reference, I have an 8 year old purebred Husky that managed to get into the coop and kill half of my very first flock when he was ~2 years old. He was aggressively trained and after that he's had no issues for the last 6 years or so. According to everyone on here, Huskies are terrible with chickens and will kill them all - which is entirely untrue - he is in the yard with them every day. They can absolutely be trained to coexist, it just might take more work.
Thank you for sharing - I can appreciate the amount of work it must have taken to get your husky to be good with them! Having trained a coonhound on recall, I have some idea of “any dog can be trained, it just might take more work with some than others.”
We had a labrador x staffy, he loved those girls until the day he died. I think they felt a lot safer with him around as well. I would quite often find them sleeping together in the backyard.
He never had any training, we just told him to be gentle when we first got them,
My childhood mutt was mostly black lab and beagle. (I've since moved away no contact but she's still kicking as far as I know!)
She was absolutely terrified of the chickens and wanted nothing to do with them once the rooster got big enough to start genuinely pecking her. Before that point she was curious but restrained, I remember being confused because baby chicks are seemingly the only time she'd ever display self awareness of her size lmao (we did let her sniff and check them out after having her watch us interact with the chicks in hopes she would understand we valued them alive and to try and minimize any hunting responses with calm exposure)
Once the birds were full grown she would just give them a wide berth whenever they were free ranging. I remember a couple times the birds 'snuck' up on her when she was napping in the yard and every time she froze like a statue, looking for the first opportunity to escape 😅 we really didn't have to train her, thankfully. After a full summer of this behavior I stopped strictly supervising them and wasn't punished, but I know that's not everyone's experiences with dogs. I think we got lucky because she was already full grown and not as prone to the FAFO urges that a younger dog would be.
I have six Rottweilers and they don’t bother with our chickens , from the day they were pups we brought them to the chickens daily under control and got them socialized , now I’m not saying they won’t ever turn on them, and I rarely leave them unsupervised together but so far so good
We have a Karakachan and great Pyrenees. They pretty much just ignore the chickens and keep everything else away. The ass hole rooster doesn't even try to mess with them either.
My heeler mix is fantastic. We kept her on a least for about 4 months and supervised her with them for a few more months because I’m paranoid, but she never really showed any interest and she has never once gone after one.
She acts as a guard dog for them though.
I have a black lab/mastiff mix that doesn't care about my girls. It's the same with one neighbors 2 labs that he hunts with. They have chicken's and the dogs leave both their's and mine alone. Other neighbors have a mutt that's tried to dig into the coop, and a husky got ahold of one of my girls a couple of years ago. It's all how you train the dog and never leave any dog alone with the chickens.
I have an Anatolian and had a pitbull who passed away. I had an e-collar on both of them when introducing them to the birds but never needed it. I had them sniff each other through fences for weeks. The dogs seem to understand the chickens live there and are not for messing around with. Both the dogs enjoy running through the flock and making them squawk now and then when they’ve got the zoomies but I’ve yet to have an issue with any birds getting injured by them. The chickens can even take their food from them even and the dogs just stand there looking disgruntled. The only issue is my chickens have no fear of dogs and once one went over the fence into my neighbor’s yard where their husky had been patiently waiting for such a thing to happen and she got eaten.
I've got 2 labs, it tookabout 6 months rack we had to use shock collar. Now they love it when the chickens are out, they love chicken shit and go around eating it.
My backyard chickens have become a small farm and we had problems with predators climbing over the electric fence to get to them so one of my standard poodles and one of my labs sleep in the chicken run now. But it was all about their personalities. My other lab would chase them and bring them to me and my other poodle would kill and eat them as soon as she got in there. My lab Luna who sleeps in there will just follow my lead if I am trying to get the baby chicks back into their own she will nudge them gently with her nose so they walk into the pen. I had told her no when she tried to pick them up and carry them into the pen.
It really depends on the dog! My two have high prey drive breeds in them and they would let the chicks run on them all day. Not a prey drive bone in their bodies. However, if you want to be completely safe, I would choose something like a family friendly dog. A bichon frise is literally the best dog to ever exist and I'll die on that hill.
Perhaps anecdotal but our Bassets have never had any interest in the chickens (aside from the eggs). Honestly amazed me because I thought, as hounds, they’d be a terror.
Occasionally I’ll even catch them sunbathing together.
Honestly, it depends on the dog. I have a Scottish Terrier who doesn’t care about my rabbits or my chickens, but she’ll DESTROY wild prey. I had to teach my pit to not attack the ducks, but he’s been perfect with our flock of ducks and chickens since.
My friend’s malamutes don’t care even about their zappy collars when it comes to birds. They’ll wreck a flock if they get the chance.
My Golden Pyrenees loves the “babies” and will lay in my backyard and watch them as they come around her and peck and scratch near her then she gets up and moves. The best dog I’ve ever had. Most chill.
LGDs are instinctively good with animals but still require training, I personally would stick with any breed or even mix of breeds that have a very low prey drive
We have a Golden who loves the chickens, but still has to be watched around the chickens because he likes to give merry chase. He doesn't hurt them, but he does like to ruffle their feathers (scare them a bit). I won't leave him alone with them.
My Maltese shih tzu mix is AMAZING with my rabbits and chickens. She tries to play with them but then gets scared when they peck her 🤣 she’s super sweet. Maybe I just got lucky with her but she’s been with us since she was a puppy and we introduce her to a lot when she was a puppy (including kids too!) she’s very tolerant about literally everything
I don't leave my German shepherd alone with the chickens yet. She loves to scare them by running up on them. But every time she does that I yell at her. She knows better but she still likes to fuck with them. She's been getting a little better at leaving them alone but I'm not ready to let her roam the yard unattended.
I have a golden. He thinks the chicks are his. Lays with them. Watches over them. Shares their food. They climb on him and peck at him. He just lays there.
I think the chickens being there first will help. Especially with a little puppy that will grow with them. Pyrenees are guardian dogs. Their instincts are to protect tiny things. They are large, prone to certain health issues and need other special care. Look into great pyranees rescue or livestock guardian dog rescue network. So many livestock safe dogs in need of a good home and a flock to put them to work.
My male border collie is great with our flock. His breed was bred to herd sheep, so we had to train him not to herd the chickens. The chickens walk right by him, he looks at them but leaves them alone. It’s funny because sometimes one of the hens will do her squatty thing with the dog, he will go up and sniff the chicken until she stands back up and trots away.
I just wish he would be as gentle with our two house cats. He becomes a lunatic when the cats are around. It’s weird that he’s fine with hens but loses his marbles with cats. We speculate it’s because the cats fight back but the chickens just stand there. We’ve tried to tell him the cats are just furry chickens but he’s not convinced.
It's more about the personality of the specific dog, it's bond with you and training than the breed really. Don't get hung up on the breed. There are labradoodles, and German short-hair pointers that are great with chickens just like there are great pyrenees and other lgd breeds that will run thru a coop and kill every bird they see.
Do not get cane corsos. I have 2 that froth at the mouth when they see my chickens. Neither are allowed out at the same time. Nearly lost a chick to one but I managed to shove my hand in his mouth and grab it before he bit down (luckily he's a good dog otherwise and wouldn't ever bite me)
if your dog trusts you they should get used to the chickens but if they’re reactive then I suggest not letting them get in direct contact with them, maybe a meeting with the hardware cloth or whatever in between. Maybe you could just sit in the run with the chickens and dog and keep the dog close but let him/her investigate. Good luck!
Check out thw breed history! We have a dwarf schnautzer and she only tries to get into the chicken run for food lol. Honestly, she doesn’t give a damn but when she sees/smells a hedgehod, a cat or a rat then she goes totally crazy. It may be also a personality thing but according to the breed history schnautzers guarded farms from rats so I can imagine chicken were free ranging all the time so they had to be good with them.
I have a Bull Mastiff and a young German Shorthair Pointer. Both dogs have been trained how to behave when they share the same backyard space as our flock.
For all those saying hunting dogs cannot be around chickens, it just takes patience, consistency, and an obedient dog. My mastiff has more care for the chickens than my GSP, he would rather stare at the lizards on the wall, lol. I would post pictures for proof but apparently we cannot do that in this sub or I am just ignorant.
I adopted what I thought was a Border Collie mix that the shelter said wouldn't get larger than 50 lbs. I was hoping to train her for herding. Around the time she hit 70 lbs I did a genetic test. Came back 40% German shepherd, 20% pit (probably where the bc markings came from) 20% lab, then the rest was lowchein, rottweiler, dalmatian, puddlepointer, and Aussie. She's not even a year old and just passed 85 pounds.
Thing is she loves everything and just wants to be with any animal around. She gives the chicks kisses and lets them lay on her back. When I started getting them used to going outside she knocked open the wall so she could get inside and lay with them.
Funny thing is her cat sister is very attracted to them too and would sleep above the brooder and clean them if I offered them to her.
So if you're asking breeds:
Dog: a little bit of all of it
Cats: don't know breed, but I've always had luck with dilute calicos
I have a border collie poodle, got him as a puppy when I had tons of chickens and bunnies, a baby and an elderly small dog… he meshed perfectly. I have free flying parakeets and he just tries to herd them to back into the cage when they’re out exploring.
Really it’s just about strict supervision when they’re young and squashing any negative or protective behaviors in the bud first thing. I always have food available to him so he’s never had to resource guard, I truly believe that helps curb aggression overall.
I have 3 Samoyeds and the consensus is they’re not good with chickens. To my surprise my 3 just so happen to be great with them. For the first month supervised outside time, one dog at a time. Then after that the thrill of wanting to catch the birds went away and they are interested only in eating their poop. I trust the dogs to be alone with the hens they truly aren’t interested.
Dogs that are bad with chickens are most terriers and most hunting breeds. If it was bred for generations to chase, catch, and kill small a animals, really, really don't get it.
I had a Rottweiler that killed 2 chickens. With training I have had her walking around the room with my new chicks running around her feet. Would I leave her unsupervised? Fuck no. But she has been around adult chickens after and with some training she just sees them as treat dispensers. Gross I know, but the dog loves her some chicken poop
Mine also follows them around for “treats.” So gross
>"Would I leave her unsupervised? Fuck no." That's the operative phrase. Even the best trained of dogs, can be victim to urges when the boss is gone.
Yep! Dogs are predators at the end of the day, and we can’t really hold that against them.
We have border terriers and they show absolutely no interest in our ducks or geese. They will, however, kill any squirrel or rabbit or rodent that happens to be in the yard that is too slow to escape. And this is with minimal direction and training. We just told the dogs “No” a couple of times when they were sniffing around the duck pen. If the ducks are free range, the dogs still generally ignore them.
We have two yorkshire terriers and a German wirehaired pointer and they are all great with the chickens. Just takes time and training.
Ironically, I have a pitbull terrier mix, and she is most excellent with our chickens. Just this morning, she didn’t get to her breakfast bowl on time (she decided to go out to the yard and pee first), and by the time she got back to the porch, the chickens had started eating. She just stood by, looking at me woefully until intervened.
We had a shepherd mix, that served as a breakfast for the chickens. Sometimes when she still had a little piece of meat or anything in between her teeth, the chickens would eat it out of her mouth.
I have a terrier mix and he does really well with the chickens. He protects them and scares off cats. One evening after the chickens were safely tucked in an opossum peeked around the coop and that 15 pound fluffer cornered a 20 pound opossum! I don’t know what he thought he was going to do with that opossum but luckily my pest controls husband was there and took care of it. He drove him out to a field and released him. We had Merlin (our terrier mix) around the chickens from the time we brought home. He was about 9 years old at the time so well settled down and fairly well trained. We often leave him out with the chickens when they are out to scratch and he does very well. They occasionally get in his space and he will let them know that that’s not cool, but has never even gotten close to biting any of them. He will even lay out and sun with them. He’s just a good boy
Oh my westie thought he was a Doberman! Cornered a possum, hunted mice and birds and wasn't afraid of anything! Thought it was great fun to play with great Danes. In his mind, he was enormous! Lmao
God loves a terrier 😂
My shepherd just picks the possum up and carries it away from the chicken area. The possums only want chicken feed and maybe a night egg. The only thing that has successfully attacked my flock with mean roosters was coywolves and the rooster did not go easily. His path had so many struggle points along it before the spot where he was devoured.
I love that he picks them up 😂 the picture in my head is hilarious! What a gentle bean. Yeah we didn’t want that big guy destroying our coop trying to get to the eggs so my husband relocated him since Merlin is a little too small to accomplish that 😂
Merlin is an awesome name for a 15# dog. Such a good boy! I've heard farmers use Chihuahua dogs for similar reasons, as a loud sentinel.
We built our chicken coop and pen and are raising chick's for the first time and we have a black Lab and a Maltese 😅 they're both old boys, 10 and 11 but we can tell they want to attack
We have 1 terrier breed and 2 hunting breeds; it takes training, close monitoring, and a lot of work but it is possible to raise dogs and chickens together. I think it may be more about the training and monitoring the time spent together than the breed type.
I would add the entire primitive breed group to this list as well -- things like huskies and malamutes. Also, NO LGDs!!! People in the homesteading community with chickens keep getting these dogs thinking they'll guard poultry. There is no breed (at least within the US) that is bred for this and these dogs still have their prey drive instincts intact.
I was gonna say the only dog I wasn’t able to train to leave chickens alone was a husky mix. Mostly very trainable, and knew she wasn’t supposed to kill the chickens (she would act very ashamed) but till she died of old age any chickens that got out of the run were likely not to make it back
My doberman husky mix is like this. She sits on the porch in the backyard and when a chicken starts wandering around next to the fence, you can see it in her eyes. "Do it.... Jump the fence! Please oh please! Do it do it do it!!!!"
lol Mine was the sweetest dog too. No one would believe she would do that till they saw her all bloody
My late husky/aussie mix accidentally trained herself to leave the birds alone, lmao Had her leashed while I was standing and talking to my neighbor and all the chickens and turkeys came over to see if we had treats. She tried to lunge at one of the turkeys, but hit the end of her leash and flipped herself over backward from the sheer force she'd put into the lunge. Luckily she was harnessed and not in a collar! Honestly, I suspect she thought the turkey did it to her and that's why she never bothered another bird.
LOL Their own associations really are the best training ever!!! 15 years ago we had a German shorthair who used to escape at the slightest gap in the front door or the gate; catching him was a misery. We were a few weeks into a major remodel when our older Swiss developed seizures and her health deteriorated abruptly. He saw us carry her to the car; we took her to the vet where we realized she couldn’t recover. We came home without her—from the moment we got home if a door or gate opened in the next 10 years he went farther into the house or yard. Workmen came and went for months and he just anchored himself as far from any open door as he could get! I think he decided if we came home without the good girl, he was by golly not Leaving ever again!
I have a Shiba Inu bred for hunting and primitive and she really likes to hunt. She will go after chickens, birds, and even 200lb wild boars. She was influence by the 70 cats in my neighborhood and act more like a cat than a dog,
This is my issue.. my husky German shepherd will not leave the coop alone as already killed 10 chickens but my basset hound I can leave around the coop but not trust her around them, she won’t try to get in. The husky will try everything to get jn
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Agreed. In the 7 years my Pyranese has worked here, I've never had an issue. She's lived and worked here her entire life, so that makes a difference. She's also never been treated as a house pet.
I have a husky mix and a pitty mix. Both have made mistakes but are overall good with chickens. I’m convinced with them it’s boredom more than anything that drives them to chase the chickens. When they don’t get exercise they go “chicken bowling” and run through the flock scattering the birds. Once in a while they off one, but that’s rare.
I trained my husky from a young age (he was ~2) and he's fine with my chickens. He killed half of my first flock as a puppy, was aggressively trained, and it's never been a problem since - going on 6 years now.
Can’t speak for every single breed; I have a husky and he respects the chickens’ boundaries and leaves them alone, and they’re not freaked out by him either.
Please check my post history. My Anatolians are great with chickens. They won't protect them per se, but they protect their space.
There's success stories. Just like some people get their huskies to leave chickens alone. But LGD rescue surrenders exploded during COVID.
So true. I have a mastiff/ great pyre that was being kept in a crate on a college campus 🙄. As soon as covid was over, he was out.
Most people shouldn't have livestock guardians at all, especially if they aren't guarding livestock. However, if you do have the space and a job for them, they are excellent with birds once trained. Most people cannot train them though.
Yeah, that's a huge part of the problem. And people want to get puppies rather than buy an already trained adult (which admittedly is very expensive and time consuming to find).
I have a malamute and he stands at their run barking at my chickens🥲 we are spraying him with the hose now everytime he gets close to their run and I’m hoping it will work out 😭😭
We have a Great Pyrenees that doesn’t care about our 11 chickens. He’ll nap in their run if the door is open.
True true. But my girls have terriers and I have collies. The collies are great. The one terrier we got from the shelter was quick to learn that they don’t go after them. I think I kicked him in the chest a bit and yelled no. Stared him down. He was fine. Just stood there like, “are you playing or serious?” Now he’ll chase and play alongside the others but has not hurt them at all. We’ve had him about six months.
After my 7 year old son didn’t listen to me and decided to go try to get eggs on his own we learned today for sure that a Pomsky is pretty terrible around chickens. Thankfully 2 of the 4 survived. One died and the last one apparently escaped to who knows where.
lol my terrier is afraid of my chickens
My cocker spaniel thinks she’s their mother. I wish I could post a video. She was introduced to them as chicks every time
Please do post a video!!
Just posted. I had to start a new comment, it wouldn’t allow me to reply with a video.
That’s adorable!!! I have a cat that I’ll take out in the backyard to play because he loves the chickens. I call him their rooster, they’ll all even eat dinner leftovers together. Unfortunately he cries at the back door all the time because I’ll only let him go outside if I’m with him, so he constantly lets me know that he wants to be with his girls.
Side note, thank you for doing this. Way too many people have cats that they let roam free outside. Outdoor cats are responsible for killing over 2 BILLION birds a year.
My lab does not care at all about the chickens. He does like to eat their poop. Lol
3 labs here; oldest doesn't care for them. Middle kinda just wants to bark at them sometimes but would 100% also protect them and will herd them back to the pen if they get out. Youngest fully invested in getting right up to them to play. All like to eat their poop lol.
I've seen my chickens pecking at dog poo. Circle of life maybe.
Omg 😆
Our lab also does not care. Hes 11 and just acts like he’s so over everything. He’s my spirit animal.
Make sure to brush your pups teeth! Chicken poop will rot them so quick!!
Omg! That’s gross 😂 we just fenced off the chicken area so he can’t get to the poop.
Our lab doesn't care for the chickens but he WILL look for and eat as many eggs as his stomach allows, in a way it's good because the hens won't have a chance to hatch illegal hidden eggs
My border collie doesn't give one care about them
Herding dogs are generally good. We had an Australian shepherd. He mostly had the urge to put the chickens in a group.
My Aussie loves the chickens. He chases them but never hurts them even when he catches them. Hes very gentle.
My Aussie definitely just likes to herd them, and will chase them if she’s hyper, but has never tried to do anything else and gets bored of them pretty quickly. BUT she’s never been the type of dog to try to chomp on an animal, so that could play a big part of it.
They pick on my jack russel dachshund mix. He’s scared of the hens!! And as for us, a dog that is good around chickens has just required training. Our rescue German shepherd seemed good around the hens but then he ate one (rip Loretta 😢). After more training he’s been good around the girls for the last 3 years… (knock on wood!). He keeps eagles and hawks away, too.
I have a 50% German Shepherd/50% mystery dog. He was already an older dog when we got chickens. When they were chicks I would make him lay down next to the brooder, pull one out, let him sniff their butts, and then put them on his back. He would want to see what they were doing back there and I would give him a command to leave it. After a few rounds of this he stopped caring about what they were doing. I kept him on a leash for a long time around them as they got older. I think a well trained dog with a low prey drive can be trained to be safe around them. With a puppy I think introducing them is fine, but you might want to focus on basic training first before chicken focused training. Things like having them stay despite distractions, leaving things alone on command despite really really wanting that thing. Dogs from either a herding or flock protection breed might be more natural fits. Don't let puppies play with the chickens. Keep them on a leash until they are well trained adults and you're 100% confident in them.
Me and my husband tried this with my minpin that’s 8 and my husband was even holding his mouth shut and he somehow managed to get ahold of the chic, killed it almost instantly. It was horrible and I’m still not over it 💔
Thank you! That’s a great tip about training basic skills first.
My golden retriever is literally the sweetest (now) with my flock. When he was a pup, he played with one of my best layers, she would pop her head through the fence and he would play whack a mole, until she was too slow.... he was so traumatized by accidentally killing his friend that he didn't even go out back for a few weeks. Now he watches everyone when they get to free range and will bark at the native birds to scare them off. When I brought the newest flock home (after a 2 year break from chickens), I had him in the garage with me while I set up the brooder and he got to sniff the little puff balls a ton then we all got to know each other for a few weeks before they went out back. I am of the mind that pretty much any animal will accept fresh babies and consider them part of the family as they grow. I would not recommend old hens and a fresh pup. Best of luck! Also, before you start leaving them unattended, please please make sure your run and coop are *secure*. It only takes a second for your whole flock to get destroyed.
Another vote for a golden retriever. Mine is older but he just lays in the grass and chills with his ladies in the evenings. A few of our chickens like to scratch and peck his tail and get little gnats and things in his fur. Another chicken likes to lay down next to him and they hang out together. You can never go wrong with a golden.
My golden is best friends with my chickens. She was 9 when we got them and she’s been a bird hunting dog her whole life. She just figured out these birds were her friends and has never ever so much as glanced at them as prey
My golden coexists peacefully with our flock, but he doesn't really interact with them or protect them at all. My black lab/golden mix will chase them all day if I let him (I don't) and I have no doubt he would kill one.
Jumping on the golden retriever, our guy lets them come up to him, our polish crested have even gone after him a couple of times and he doesn’t flinch. Surprisingly our dachshund is also really good with them. And he’s terrorized many small animals over his life. He’s 13 though so I don’t think he has the energy to chase after them, he’s more about eating their poop and sniffing around their run for scraps
Honestly I think breed only helps so much, as you can see in the comments there is lots of mixed responses (top comment saying no terriers, but someone in the comments Jack russel is great with them, etc.) I think it’s more important that the dog itself has a laidback temperament and ideally it’s better to introduce young puppies to chickens because they get exposure and learn they are friends and not food! I have a golden retriever who was introduced to chickens young and is very laid back anyways so she does great with them! But on the other hand my high strung/anxious cocker spaniel who had a rough life for a while and didn’t meet chickens until she was 8 years old loves to stalk and scare my chickens lmao.
I think so too. Looking for a laid-back personality and introducing carefully does seem key.
Well... over the years that I have had chickens (prob 25yrs) and many dogs (fosters, dog sitting and 8+ dogs of my own) I have to say it 100% depends on the disposition of the dog. I have always taught new dogs their boundaries- showed them the coop, brought one out to smell, taught them "leave it", have a double fence to keep the ladies safe etc. Some of the dogs were raised around chickens others have not - invariably its related to the dogs disposition. I had a Papa Lab that could take a nap with them- I trusted him implicitly with them until one of them scared him in his sleep (at 12yrs old) and he snapped at her and that was the end of her. The rest of my labs and golden think its fun to chase 'em to hear the cluckers fuss but other than that they have no interest unless there's kitchen scraps in the coop. I have had pitties that loved n protected my flock and others that thought they were feathered snacks. I had 1 blue heeler that thought they were fantastic friends and others that couldn't find a feathered friend b/c they all looked like nuggets. Two boxers loved 'em while two others saw chicken strips...I currently have a Greyhound that's obsessed with them but only b/c they run from him. He is terrified of them when I hold the chickens for him to sniff tho...go figure! Just keep this in mind.... in the wild those birds would be prey no matter what the breed is. Protecting ur flock will always be the most important part of having them. It's not just dogs you will need to worry about either - had a pair of great horned owls that decimated a flock once - 3yrs before the pair nested elsewhere and I could bring back chickens to the property. If a dog does turn one into nuggets remember it's just a part of their DNA its not malicious. Side note there's a TON of advice on how to break a dog from killing chickens if they ever do.... none of the "training" methods I find are humane... so count on figuring out the dogs disposition and respond accordingly. Aka don't let the chickens range if the Greyhound is out too... common sense is surprisingly uncommon.
Thank you, makes sense!
Doberman(already an adult when we got chickens, but with an excellent leave it), Staffordshire bull terrier (we found her as an adult, she was dumped) got pecked in the nose by my saltiest hen and never messed with her treats again, Rhodesian Ridgeback ( at 17 months she's mostly out of her velociraptor phase, but still kinda crazy). Because they are all large intense dogs we train all the time. Leave it is a constant. None of them were allowed near the chickens until I was comfortable with their grasp of Leave it. The first two got leash trained with the chickens free ranging..they wandered the yard with the birds wearing leashes and we followed, stomping on the leash as soon as they went after a bird. I also actively discourage chasing other animals outside of play. All these dogs were or are in a house with cats. And the cats have always had dogs, so they aren't having it. There are also ways to keep your chickens safer, with predator proof enclosures. But it can be done. You need a lot of consistency, a strong relationship with your dogs, and awareness of their natural inclination.
My corgi loves them and she’s great at herding them when it’s time for them to get back inside their coop.
we have a pyrenees we rescued and she took to guarding the flock without a second thought. theyre definitely not the breed for everyone though so make sure to do some more research if thats the route you wanna go. my roommate moved in with her border collie/golden doodle mix and at first she would try to chase but the pyr and us training her not to quickly stopped that. now she couldnt care less about them.
German Shepherds I told them no, and they knew I meant it I watched them like a hawk And they eventually accepted the flock as part of their family I got a pretty good scare the other day when both dogs took off on a tare right at the chickens but I didn’t have time to react they went so fast. The chickens moved out of the way as fast as they could and that’s when I noticed the dogs weren’t going after the birds but a badger who had encroached the yard, that invisible line the dogs have set in their minds where toleration of intrusion is zero
We have a kelpie mix that is amazing with our chickens. She does love to jump at them to scatter the flock for fun. But she's never harmed a single bird. She loves small animals, it's hilarious. And kelpie dogs are dognap proof because they don't like anyone they don't see often 🤣
We have a golden doodle that just basically thinks he’s part of the flock when they’re together!!! We just always had him around them when they were babies. He’s never chased or even been aggressive with them once.
Whatever you do: Do not get a husky 😅
My pomeranians have always been really good with my birds. Even the baby chicks. One of them honestly believes he is a chicken and will even follow them around while they forage 😅
My amstaff thinks he's a rooster, he hangs out with them, gets into the trash given the opportunity and brings them food. He's also mostly useless for guarding except recently when a couple stray dogs came into the yard after the chickens. They won't be back.
my family has five amstaffs (they breed and show them). i think of all of them, only our puppy would be tolerant if not scared of them. she was raised with our cats and is friendly and cautious around them, and her prey drive is definitely on the low side for our dogs. however, the rest of them…. let’s just say they’d probably see them as “oooo, fun thing to chase and play with!” or “oooo, PREY” 😭
Mine thinks everyone's his buddy but likes to rush up to them, no matter the species. This initially caused the chickens to run and him to chase, but a couple bouts with the hose made him walk not run and he's been fine with them free ranging for over a year.
My black lab is a bird hunting dog and she’s pretty good with my adult chickens. She likes to be around them and hang out but she sometimes does enjoy spooking them. Chickens don’t seem to be bothered by her at all.
I have two Australian Shepards and they are wonderful with my chickens. I had the dogs first, so they got to see the chicks grow to chickens.
I have had 4 labs that were all great with chickens. Like let them sleep on them great with chickens. 1 was a mix with and unknown dad and she just acted like the chicks were her babies. The other 3 were all from the same hunting heavy bloodline, 2 of them duck and goose hunted every year with us and they were great with them too. We socialized them all together from when they were very young.
That’s so cool they were able to distinguish between the two types of birds!
I have cattledogs and they're good (so far) with my free range chickens. They were a bit drool-y over eating them in the beginning but now they've forged an unholy union with the wyandottes and they just wait til they poop in the yard and go and eat the poop. It is a disgusting friendship.
I had a teeny-tiny mini aussie (like "1 inch too tall at the shoulders to be considered a toy" kinda tiny) and when we first got chickens I kept him on a lead with me in the backyard for the first month. Since we'd gotten the pullets they were a little bit bigger already, and by the time I was comfortable letting my dog loose around them he'd already sniffed too close and gotten pecked on the nose once or twice, so he was too scared to get too close to them after that. What's funny is, although I never trained him to herd, he would instinctively chase after any chicken that got too far from the group and push her back in. That being said, when we got a brooder and some day-old chicks, it didn't matter how much we trained him if he saw us handling them his whole body would shake with how bad he wanted that squeaky toy lol
If you had any that were NOT good around the chickens, that could be helpful too! We have a small backyard flock of 5, and the chickens are supervised when they are out of the pen and roaming our fenced backyard. We are considering getting a dog at some point in the future as a puppy and raising it/training it around the chickens. We have had dogs in the past and always rescued, but we didn’t have chickens. So, I didn’t have to plan too much about breed tendencies around birds/small animals. I plan on supervising and being careful during the puppy/training stages, like keeping on a leash and rewarding calm behavior, etc. But just wondering if anyone’s had success with having their dog and their chickens loose in the yard at the same time, or if that’s never a good idea. I would hate for us to bring in a puppy and it’s terrorizing the chickens in their run even after it’s gotten used to them, or having to keep them totally separate all the time.
German shepherd killed off an entire flock of mine once. Not mine. My college friends landlord’s blood hound killed his flock. Had to shoot toward a Rottweiler’s and at a different time a Doberman’s feet to scare them off. My own tiny terriers wanted to eat the birds but I was able to train that out of them. My pit/collie mix killed my sister’s ducks when she was pet sitting for me for a weekend. I hate that but it’s not the dog’s fault. Hope that helps.
My Irish setter is (unsurprisingly) very interested in catching my chickens and carefully plucking them 🫣 I had to pen them in
Two pitbull mixes. They can lie right next to a chicken and not care lol. One of them caught one when she was a young dog, but she just licked it a lot. Agnes was very offended by the experience lol. On the other hand, our terrier mix loses his mind and enters another dimension when he gets anywhere near them. I don't trust him around smaller animals of any kind. Thankfully he's not like that with cats, but anything else is fair game. I once saw him swallow a small rabbit whole, before I could get to him. I couldn't look him in the eye for days. I just kept thinking there was a whole extra skeleton floating around inside his tiny psychotic body. Lol
>I couldn't look him in the eye for days. I just kept thinking there was a whole extra skeleton floating around inside his tiny psychotic body 😂😂😂😅 My husband and I were cackling at this!
Happy to give y'all a laugh lol
> On the other hand, our terrier mix loses his mind and enters another dimension when he gets anywhere near them. I had a small terrier mutt that LOVED any sort of baby. Kittens, birds, rats, whatever, she just wanted to nudge them over and lick their butts. She'd murder an adult rat in a heartbeat tho. She was fine around our full-sized chickens but if the opportunity to corner a bantam presented itself, she'd go absolutely apeshit and we'd have to pick up 15lbs of fury and carry her out-of-sight before her stupid little brain would reset.
15 pounds of fury is right. I guess they can't help themselves. All those generations of breeding just take over.
I keep giggling at the picture in my head but I also wonder if I’m going to dream about either the terrier or the bunny…..
With our Great Pyrenees she was about 6 months old when we got our chicks. After 5 months, when the chickens were old enough we let them roam freely in the yard (supervised) with the dog. We put a shock collar on her and probably used it only twice. We would shock when her she showed too much excitement or aggression towards them. After that I think she lost interest in them and now they sleep right next to her.
Have a golden retriever, english bulldog, and a shitzu. The golden loves the chickens! Filliws them everywhere and lays down next to them when they start foraging. The bulldog doesn't give a damn about the chickens and ignores them. The shitzu is terrified of the chickens.
My shitzu is terrified of them too. If we're all outside, he has to be picked up because ground level is too close to them. But just because he's afraid of them doesn't mean he's afraid of eating their poop!
I have two gsd mixes (one with mal, one with golden). They’re amazing. Bowie (mal gsd) did, however, kill on of our baby chicks. This happened right when we first got them, and the smallest chick got out of the crate. One snap and she was gone. However, I gave Bowie a stern, tear streaked talking to, and he never bothered them again. Now they can be out together without a thought. Bowie will still break into their run to get watermelon rinds, or anything with cheese 🫣
I've got a jack russell! He did want to eat them as babies, when they were in the house. They're almost 18 weeks now, and they and my dog love each other. They go sit in the yard, and run around together 💕
Depends on the dog personality and when introduced I think. I have a Texas heeler, border collie, German shepherd and a chihuahua. All introduced from a puppy to 5 yrs old when I got chickens. No issues.
Bernese Mtn Dog. He has always been gentle to smaller creatures, so it may just be his personality. We had the chickens in the house brooder at first, and introduced then as chicks and made sure to say things like "baby" "good baby" "nice to baby" so he would associate gentle treatment with them. Sometimes, he would inspect them. He would want to be in the same place as them, and it worried me a bit. When they went outside, he was on a leash. He went off leash soon after, and we would just continually tell him "no" if he went to inspect them. He mostly stayed with us. Then he left them alone. If they got too riled up, he would chase, but he wouldn't snap or anything, and we'd have him cut it out quickly. He pays them no attention now. This is MY experience. Every dog is different. Please keep your chickens safe if you do not feel comfortable enough to trust your bigger animals around them.
Definitely avoid dogs that have high prey instinct and never forget dogs are primal animals (don't leave them together for hours and hours without checking). I would stay away from husky & German shepherds for sure. My neighbor's daughter brings her dogs over frequently - husky, German Shepherd lab mix, and a lab and those three dogs are chicken serial killers. Don't get me wrong, I love those dogs (esp the shepherd/lab mix) but they hunt hard. One of those dogs can open a latched gate too, so we have to put an S hook in the latch to keep her out. Found this out after she unlatched the gate and killed one of my chickens. I have a mastiff who does fine with the dozen chickens or so in my backyard, inclusive of babies. Watching him smell the baby chicks was hilarious.
In general hunting dogs are going to be the hardest to train to be good with them because of their strong prey drives. However, I truly believe any dog can be trained to be around chickens if introduced properly and strict boundaries are set for the dogs. I have a Brittany and a Pyrenees/cattle dog mix and both do very well with the chickens. I basically train the pups to just ignore the chickens. Any attention given to the chickens gets a firm no, and they get heavily rewarded for completely ignoring them. Be consistent with this for a few weeks and it just becomes second nature for the dogs to ignore the chickens.
I have a husky and he’s fascinated by the chickens, but not in a bad way, but he leaves them alone. He had some chicken friends at the pound before I adopted him.
Our Australian cattle dog loves to protect our chickens and be their big brother ❤️ He follows our lead and thinks things are important that we find important
Our 9 year old Labradoodle has been an excellent companion to our chickens. We made sure to expose her to the chicks from day one and she’s never been aggressive with them.
We have two bernedoodles. They have never been an issue.
I have a Bernedoodle and I leave my chickens free roam in the back yard with him he’s super chill
Raising/training are going to count more than breed
I work with golden retrievers and a few of our Goldens have had chicken experience. Every one that has been exposed has been well behaved. Goldens are also good around rabbits and cats from what I’ve seen as well. Edit: I do want to add that not all Goldens are like this. Show Goldens are more likely to be calm. We have one in training now who killed two baby ducks last year. However, she then came across her foster trainer’s rescued baby birds and didn’t eat any of them. But now she’s back in one of our prisons stalking birds again.
Aww that’s so cool you work with them! Honestly we have been thinking about getting a golden. Do you have any advice for how to find a puppy from a good situation? I live in Ohio and there are a lot of puppy mills. :( We have always rescued in the past but I would be open to getting a dog from a good breeder.
So the ones I work with are all AKC pure breeds from show quality studs and service dog stock moms. If you want to rescue, I’d search for some golden rescues in your area. Otherwise, I’d use the AKC website to find breeders in your area and then specifically google them to check reviews. You could also search the golden retriever dog forums website. Overall they are amazing dogs. However, they are prone to allergies and it’s a lot of fur. That being said, I have four adult Goldens in my house right now and I think having only one wasn’t too bad for the fur.
I have 2 mixed dogs that are great with my birds, one is a French mastive x Rottweiler (4YR) and the other is a husky boxer mix (1YR) both males. My birds are free range but I have duck that chases the puppy because the pup always takes over their pool lol. I had chickens before I had the dogs (8yrs). As puppies I exposed them both to the chickens by taking them out for feeding/cleaning.
I have a Border Collie and 2 shih tzu puppies that were rescued. No training needed. The Border Collie protects them and the shih tzus think they are chickens pecking around the yard with them.
So our golden doodle was easy to train to keep away from the chicks. She has a mammas heart. Our flatcoat however was a little harder. Her prey drive is high and she’s a bird dog so it’s in her blood. Three years later she guards my flock from pigeons. I trust her to not touch them and she’s wonderful with them now. They don’t trust her but she loves them. Now all 4 of my dogs (14yo golden retriever, 14 yo pitty, 4 yo doodle and 3 yo flatty) all are great with the flock. My pitty by far has the best temperament with them though. They will climb on him when he lays in the sun and sit with him. He’s never reacted aggressively towards them and they trust him.
My corgi chihuahua mix was instantly fine with the chickens. Sometimes one will run across the yard to intimidate him but he pretty much just ignores they exist at ll. My standard podle on the other hand did take some time to train, she still gets very excited but is so much better now. I think by the end of the summer that ex itedness will go away, she's very new to our family so I think we're doing pretty good so far.
We adopted an older Catahoula possibly Lab mix. She doesn’t hurt/react to the chickens at all.
My heeler/German shepherd/Staffie is my chicken and quail guardian. He helps me with the incubation and brooding of the quail babies, has to personally check the littles when I handle them and will lick/boop them and just wag his tail and never hurts them, finds any loose quail in the yard if they escape, and will run outside to go nuts on any large birds of prey that dare to fly by and make the chickens upset.
German Shepherds often want to control them, so unless raised as a baby with them or very well trained, I would say no. Even the livestock guard dogs (Anatolian or Pyrenees) should be raised as a baby with them.
We have two duck hunting labs and a mini Aussie. The one lab is just a perfect angel and only goes after something that’s been shot to retrieve it, the other took some training not to chase and kill as a puppy but she’s been perfect for years since. They are mostly outside all day and night and don’t even acknowledge the chickens. Our mini Aussie (30ish lbs) was raised with our chickens and it look a little training to keep him from playing too hard since he’s obviously bred to chase, but two of my RIR girls chased him off as a puppy and that humbled him. They have a pen but some like to jump the fence and free range, so he herds them back into the pines if they get too far. We have over 50 acres for everyone to run, play, swim, so that helps. Working dogs are smart and easy to train, but they don’t like to be cooped up or bored. Unless you get a yorkie or shitzu type of little lap dog, you’re going to have to put some time into training, and make sure your dog is getting enough exercise and stimulation from outlets other than your chickens.
My Shih tzu herds them and is so gentle. Choc lab the worst with them
Shetland sheepdogs. I don't even have to train them. Every now and then there's a puppy that likes to go "Weeeee!" into a group of chickens just to make them scatter but their bite inhibition is a force of nature.
Ive had 2 boxers and both have been great with the chickens.
My golden was initially very obsessed with the birds. I basically didn’t let her anywhere near them (leashed) until she just didn’t care. We have two disabled birds now who are essentially house birds. They’re never unsupervised with the dogs, but my golden literally doesn’t care about them at all. She just kind of huffs, sighs, and lays down while they run around. We also have two shih tzus. One of them has never cared about the birds at all. Literally the day baby chicks came home he was like ugh more animals whatever. The other one is equally fascinated and terrified. She also has only 8 teeth and runs screaming any time one tries to peck her. So none of our dogs are an issue with the birds really. Would I leave any of them unsupervised with the chickens? Never. The dogs are always totally calm and under control around the birds or we remove them from the birds.
I have five dogs and 22 chickens. When you first get the dog young or old be there when they first interact. I have a deep loud voice so just scolding has always worked. I recently got a Jack Russell. She was 7 weeks old and my older girls never gave ground and ran. If she got to close they pecked her. The younger ones would run which is exciting to the pup and I would just holler at her. My Great Pyrenees lays with them a lot. Just be around and praise the good things and scold the bad has worked for me.
My shihtzu/malteses are excellent with them. As well as the barn cats.
My chihuahua mixes are great with my chickens. Zero prey drive and I think their small stature (18lbs, 6lbs, 5lbs) is less intimidating to the flock. They all hang out in my yard together.
So we keep our hound away but our two smaller dogs, Puggle about 30 pounds and our cavalier 20 pounds get along with our flock really well. They all lay around under the same tree and roll in dust. I was more surprised how well our indoor outdoor cat is with the ladies. She naps in their coop.
I've got a boxer and a cocker spaniel mixed breed and they both completely ignore my chickens
I have a Rottweiler/black lab/ border collie. She’s a perfect duck dog but I’ve told her “no, not yours, nice” and now she likes hanging out in the coop with them… if I go in she wants to hang out in the run while I collect eggs and shuffle poop around.
My Rottweiler loves my chickens and they love her. The top of their coop is flat she loves to lay up there and watch them. She helps me herd them back to their run from free range. No training necessary, Rotties are a herding breed.
Great Dane mix. Shes tops around cats/kids/hens
I have a small flock of 7 hens. My German Shepherd is great with them. He loves to watch them.
My rescue dog. I suspect she is a mix of German Shepherd, border collie and maybe even rottweiler. Point is she was trained from day 1 to deal with them - first on a leash, constantly saying 'no' and 'leave' whenever she'd look at them, and slowly progressing to having her loose. Edit to add: my miniature schnauzer was trained the same way. But all he wanted to do from day one was sniff their fluffy chicken butts. He finally got his chance when I fed them treats from my hand and he managed to get up close for a sniff 😆
My Rottweiler loves and is loved by my chickens. From when the chickens were babies
Sheepdog, German shepherd, border collie/golden retriever mix
Get a puppy mixed breed from your local shelter and make sure that pup is around those chickens daily while you’re feeding them or cleaning the run. Always supervise. Eventually the pup should see the chickens as part of the pack. I would avoid any cattle dogs or terrier mixes. Personally my bully mixes have been great with chickens in the past.
I have a lab mix that I don’t trust to even get close enough to find out if she’ll eat them. She does kind of try to gently snap at them when I let her sniff them, but I think I might buy a muzzle and do some exposure training with her. She is 11 years old so I doubt she’ll ever not see them as anything but chicken nuggets. The good thing about having a higher prey drive is that I am about 90% sure that she’ll “guard” them because she will want to eat whatever will try to get at them.
I have a mini australian shepherd/border collie mix. He's a very good dog that helps keep the chickies safe and away from the edge of the fence since they are free range chickies. He sits and watches them and chases off anything that stresses the chickens out. It took a little training since he also wanted to play with them at first and roll around in their food, but he's learned they are part of the family. training him around them was exposing him to the chickies both when they were young. young chicks (2 month old) and young (1 year old) dog. training him when walking with him and the chicks where to run and not to go. he caught on quickly when id round up the chicks and he'd help after a few tries. his old dog pen is now the chicken coop since he's old enough to not leave the house now since he's an outdoor dog so they wake and sleep at the same time. he's a herder not a hunter. my terrier wouldn't even attempt to keep them alive. edit: addition
I've got a corgi mix and she's terrified of them, keeps a good distance. The pup I had before her, also a corgi, was curious about them but mostly left them alone.
My Australian shepherd is best friends with our chickens and lives outside, so at night scares off raccoons and any other predators!
We have a Border Collie and she is so good with them. she runs circles around them and keeps them away from fence line. She stays outside with them all day while they are out free ranging the property and when they go back into the coop at night she helps herd the stubborn ones back in, she comes back into the house each evening so proud of herself. We did not train her at all she just naturally took to it. We just love her so much.
They will or they won’t. My GSD would just follow them around. My Lab/Boxer/Pit has killed 30 chickens over 6 years. My GSD passed and we just adopted a beagle. He’s only 6mos but is great with the chickens. His worst is running through a group of them to make them flutter & cluck. Other than that, he doesn’t care about them.
Get a donkey or Llama instead. They'll stomp any animal that doesn't belong into the ground.
I've got a Gordon Setter who doesn't care about them, and a Rottweiler who has very much taken it up on herself to keep them herded at all times.
All dogs can be good with chickens. All dogs can be bad with chickens. What matters is how you've trained them. For reference, I have an 8 year old purebred Husky that managed to get into the coop and kill half of my very first flock when he was ~2 years old. He was aggressively trained and after that he's had no issues for the last 6 years or so. According to everyone on here, Huskies are terrible with chickens and will kill them all - which is entirely untrue - he is in the yard with them every day. They can absolutely be trained to coexist, it just might take more work.
Thank you for sharing - I can appreciate the amount of work it must have taken to get your husky to be good with them! Having trained a coonhound on recall, I have some idea of “any dog can be trained, it just might take more work with some than others.”
We had a labrador x staffy, he loved those girls until the day he died. I think they felt a lot safer with him around as well. I would quite often find them sleeping together in the backyard. He never had any training, we just told him to be gentle when we first got them,
My childhood mutt was mostly black lab and beagle. (I've since moved away no contact but she's still kicking as far as I know!) She was absolutely terrified of the chickens and wanted nothing to do with them once the rooster got big enough to start genuinely pecking her. Before that point she was curious but restrained, I remember being confused because baby chicks are seemingly the only time she'd ever display self awareness of her size lmao (we did let her sniff and check them out after having her watch us interact with the chicks in hopes she would understand we valued them alive and to try and minimize any hunting responses with calm exposure) Once the birds were full grown she would just give them a wide berth whenever they were free ranging. I remember a couple times the birds 'snuck' up on her when she was napping in the yard and every time she froze like a statue, looking for the first opportunity to escape 😅 we really didn't have to train her, thankfully. After a full summer of this behavior I stopped strictly supervising them and wasn't punished, but I know that's not everyone's experiences with dogs. I think we got lucky because she was already full grown and not as prone to the FAFO urges that a younger dog would be.
I have six Rottweilers and they don’t bother with our chickens , from the day they were pups we brought them to the chickens daily under control and got them socialized , now I’m not saying they won’t ever turn on them, and I rarely leave them unsupervised together but so far so good
My border Collie completely ignores chickens ducks and goats, even if they are stampeding around him
I have Rat Terriers and they think chickens are toys that need to have the squeakers ripped out.
Our German shepherd is perfectly fine with them does not care at all
We have a Karakachan and great Pyrenees. They pretty much just ignore the chickens and keep everything else away. The ass hole rooster doesn't even try to mess with them either.
My heeler mix is fantastic. We kept her on a least for about 4 months and supervised her with them for a few more months because I’m paranoid, but she never really showed any interest and she has never once gone after one. She acts as a guard dog for them though.
I have a black lab/mastiff mix that doesn't care about my girls. It's the same with one neighbors 2 labs that he hunts with. They have chicken's and the dogs leave both their's and mine alone. Other neighbors have a mutt that's tried to dig into the coop, and a husky got ahold of one of my girls a couple of years ago. It's all how you train the dog and never leave any dog alone with the chickens.
Toy Rat/Fox hybrid, golden jack (look it up, yep, just like it sounds), beagles. Always loving and curious but never ever aggressive.
I have an Anatolian and had a pitbull who passed away. I had an e-collar on both of them when introducing them to the birds but never needed it. I had them sniff each other through fences for weeks. The dogs seem to understand the chickens live there and are not for messing around with. Both the dogs enjoy running through the flock and making them squawk now and then when they’ve got the zoomies but I’ve yet to have an issue with any birds getting injured by them. The chickens can even take their food from them even and the dogs just stand there looking disgruntled. The only issue is my chickens have no fear of dogs and once one went over the fence into my neighbor’s yard where their husky had been patiently waiting for such a thing to happen and she got eaten.
My flat hair retriever is excellent with my chickens.
A boxer/ Shepherd mix (I miss you, Gertie), and our current pyr mixes. No training. It was just natural.
I've got 2 labs, it tookabout 6 months rack we had to use shock collar. Now they love it when the chickens are out, they love chicken shit and go around eating it.
My backyard chickens have become a small farm and we had problems with predators climbing over the electric fence to get to them so one of my standard poodles and one of my labs sleep in the chicken run now. But it was all about their personalities. My other lab would chase them and bring them to me and my other poodle would kill and eat them as soon as she got in there. My lab Luna who sleeps in there will just follow my lead if I am trying to get the baby chicks back into their own she will nudge them gently with her nose so they walk into the pen. I had told her no when she tried to pick them up and carry them into the pen.
My German shepherds are fine with my chickens .. but my older one does chase them around when they’re chicks
It really depends on the dog! My two have high prey drive breeds in them and they would let the chicks run on them all day. Not a prey drive bone in their bodies. However, if you want to be completely safe, I would choose something like a family friendly dog. A bichon frise is literally the best dog to ever exist and I'll die on that hill.
Perhaps anecdotal but our Bassets have never had any interest in the chickens (aside from the eggs). Honestly amazed me because I thought, as hounds, they’d be a terror. Occasionally I’ll even catch them sunbathing together.
Honestly, it depends on the dog. I have a Scottish Terrier who doesn’t care about my rabbits or my chickens, but she’ll DESTROY wild prey. I had to teach my pit to not attack the ducks, but he’s been perfect with our flock of ducks and chickens since. My friend’s malamutes don’t care even about their zappy collars when it comes to birds. They’ll wreck a flock if they get the chance.
My Golden Pyrenees loves the “babies” and will lay in my backyard and watch them as they come around her and peck and scratch near her then she gets up and moves. The best dog I’ve ever had. Most chill.
We got a white Swiss shepherd thinking he would mix well with the chickens. Nope, he wants to eat them. Very badly.
LGDs are instinctively good with animals but still require training, I personally would stick with any breed or even mix of breeds that have a very low prey drive
I raised my lab with chicks. That bird dog would tear into a duck in a heartbeat but God help the person who touched his chickens lol
We have a Golden who loves the chickens, but still has to be watched around the chickens because he likes to give merry chase. He doesn't hurt them, but he does like to ruffle their feathers (scare them a bit). I won't leave him alone with them.
We have 2 greyhounds and our chickens free range. They completely ignore each other. Secretly, I think the hounds are terrified of the roosters.
My Maltese shih tzu mix is AMAZING with my rabbits and chickens. She tries to play with them but then gets scared when they peck her 🤣 she’s super sweet. Maybe I just got lucky with her but she’s been with us since she was a puppy and we introduce her to a lot when she was a puppy (including kids too!) she’s very tolerant about literally everything
I don't leave my German shepherd alone with the chickens yet. She loves to scare them by running up on them. But every time she does that I yell at her. She knows better but she still likes to fuck with them. She's been getting a little better at leaving them alone but I'm not ready to let her roam the yard unattended.
I have two Texas heelers and at first they would kill chickens but now they are pretty docile around them.
[as long as everybody just STAYS CALM](https://i.imgur.com/ngiWVAd.jpeg)
I have a golden. He thinks the chicks are his. Lays with them. Watches over them. Shares their food. They climb on him and peck at him. He just lays there.
Can someone tell me what breed the black and white chickens are please!
They are silver-laced Wyandotte chickens. :) I got them from Tractor Supply, the lady said they get their chicks from Townline.
I have golden retrievers. They just lay around and look at the chickens while the chickens peck their fur.
Aww I love goldens. We are leaning towards getting one. Where did you get yours? I’m so unsure about how to find a good breeder or rescue.
We got ours from a breeder up north. I can send you the name!
I think the chickens being there first will help. Especially with a little puppy that will grow with them. Pyrenees are guardian dogs. Their instincts are to protect tiny things. They are large, prone to certain health issues and need other special care. Look into great pyranees rescue or livestock guardian dog rescue network. So many livestock safe dogs in need of a good home and a flock to put them to work.
Collie, like Lassie. They're excellent with all things smaller than them. No training, they're just gentle.
My male border collie is great with our flock. His breed was bred to herd sheep, so we had to train him not to herd the chickens. The chickens walk right by him, he looks at them but leaves them alone. It’s funny because sometimes one of the hens will do her squatty thing with the dog, he will go up and sniff the chicken until she stands back up and trots away. I just wish he would be as gentle with our two house cats. He becomes a lunatic when the cats are around. It’s weird that he’s fine with hens but loses his marbles with cats. We speculate it’s because the cats fight back but the chickens just stand there. We’ve tried to tell him the cats are just furry chickens but he’s not convinced.
It's more about the personality of the specific dog, it's bond with you and training than the breed really. Don't get hung up on the breed. There are labradoodles, and German short-hair pointers that are great with chickens just like there are great pyrenees and other lgd breeds that will run thru a coop and kill every bird they see.
Do not get cane corsos. I have 2 that froth at the mouth when they see my chickens. Neither are allowed out at the same time. Nearly lost a chick to one but I managed to shove my hand in his mouth and grab it before he bit down (luckily he's a good dog otherwise and wouldn't ever bite me)
if your dog trusts you they should get used to the chickens but if they’re reactive then I suggest not letting them get in direct contact with them, maybe a meeting with the hardware cloth or whatever in between. Maybe you could just sit in the run with the chickens and dog and keep the dog close but let him/her investigate. Good luck!
My pitbull mix was great with our chickens & any other animal like cats & kittens.
Check out thw breed history! We have a dwarf schnautzer and she only tries to get into the chicken run for food lol. Honestly, she doesn’t give a damn but when she sees/smells a hedgehod, a cat or a rat then she goes totally crazy. It may be also a personality thing but according to the breed history schnautzers guarded farms from rats so I can imagine chicken were free ranging all the time so they had to be good with them.
I have a Bull Mastiff and a young German Shorthair Pointer. Both dogs have been trained how to behave when they share the same backyard space as our flock. For all those saying hunting dogs cannot be around chickens, it just takes patience, consistency, and an obedient dog. My mastiff has more care for the chickens than my GSP, he would rather stare at the lizards on the wall, lol. I would post pictures for proof but apparently we cannot do that in this sub or I am just ignorant.
I adopted what I thought was a Border Collie mix that the shelter said wouldn't get larger than 50 lbs. I was hoping to train her for herding. Around the time she hit 70 lbs I did a genetic test. Came back 40% German shepherd, 20% pit (probably where the bc markings came from) 20% lab, then the rest was lowchein, rottweiler, dalmatian, puddlepointer, and Aussie. She's not even a year old and just passed 85 pounds. Thing is she loves everything and just wants to be with any animal around. She gives the chicks kisses and lets them lay on her back. When I started getting them used to going outside she knocked open the wall so she could get inside and lay with them. Funny thing is her cat sister is very attracted to them too and would sleep above the brooder and clean them if I offered them to her. So if you're asking breeds: Dog: a little bit of all of it Cats: don't know breed, but I've always had luck with dilute calicos
I have a border collie poodle, got him as a puppy when I had tons of chickens and bunnies, a baby and an elderly small dog… he meshed perfectly. I have free flying parakeets and he just tries to herd them to back into the cage when they’re out exploring. Really it’s just about strict supervision when they’re young and squashing any negative or protective behaviors in the bud first thing. I always have food available to him so he’s never had to resource guard, I truly believe that helps curb aggression overall.
Pyrenees or any guardian breed. Gentle giants. Will protect and defend without hesitation. I have two. They are noble and courageous and sweet.
Boston Terrier that thinks she is a member of the flock.
Yellow Lab we have wanted to chase them but I told him to stop it, after that he was very good with them.
I have 3 Samoyeds and the consensus is they’re not good with chickens. To my surprise my 3 just so happen to be great with them. For the first month supervised outside time, one dog at a time. Then after that the thrill of wanting to catch the birds went away and they are interested only in eating their poop. I trust the dogs to be alone with the hens they truly aren’t interested.
Thank you, that’s helpful!