worried about cat and dog with chickens

[angelat]

hi all

well, house is up, lovely fence in place, nearly ready for chickens. have been looking forward to this for so long but am now suddenly nervous in case it is a disaster with cat and dog! any tips????? thanx

[Snadger]

hi all

well, house is up, lovely fence in place, nearly ready for chickens. have been looking forward to this for so long but am now suddenly nervous in case it is a disaster with cat and dog! any tips????? thanx

I think it's a case of desensitising dog in particular by keeping him/her on lead for a while until they get used to each other. Really depends on the dog and cats demeanor?

[MaureenHall]

If the chickens feel threatened by either cats or dogs, they'll flare their neck feathers, stand up as tall as they can and flap their wings. My lot did this to my cat when I first got them and they now get on really well together - even though the cat is really good at catching mice, birds etc. They did the same to my friend's dog and that was enough to put him off too. Sometimes a peck on the dog's nose from a chicken is enough to put them off

[di]

I've had no experience with dogs but when we had the bantams I used to worry about the cats that came into the garden.That is until I saw them do pretty much what Maureen just said & totally terrify the cats away!!

[Nige69]

Depends on the breed of dog - my parson russell is more interested in sniffing out any rats than the birds, though i have seen hens go for him when he got too close whereas my cocker spaniel has to be kept out due to her natural instinct to hunt birds - i have no experience with cats - they dont visit our garden due to the dogs thankfully!

[Noodle]

My dog lunges at teh chickens, which is really annoying so has to be kept on a lead or in the house. The hens just run away, so he doesn't get taught a lesson, maybe I should borrow a cockerel to put him in his place!!

[Hilary B]

Most dogs are more likely to 'go for' something that runs away. If you can arrange so that the dog CAN'T get at the chickens, but IS very close (tethered to outside of run, or in a travelling crate IN the run?) and put something the chooks REALLY like close to the dog, do it for several days, and they will start ignoring him. It may even become mutual. I still wouldn't let him loose unsupervised anywhere near a chicken (or even supervised unless pretty sure he would 'down' on command ANYWHERE. My previous dog would, this one usually does, for me....).

[Becca]

My cats watch the chooks like they're telly when they're in the run, but if the hens are free-ranging my cats won't even come in the garden! My neighbours cats do pop in from time to time, but the hens are so used to cats that they just ignore them which seems to knock any chase and kill instincts on the head and leaves the cats rather confused I think.. no experience with dog tho, but i wouldn't worry about cats unless your chickens are very young? mine are hard as nails ex-batts so it takes more than a cat to worry them...

[digthatchick]

Oh, how I agree with Becca! My cat loves garden TV (chook house channel) that's until they are let loose at 8.30 am then it's !@@** WHAT ARE THEY!! dash to the house and stay until safety reigns at 7pm. As for dog (Shih Tzu) she prefers snoozing in the hen house with her mates - 2 Speckeldy's 2 Bluebelles and 2 Black Rocks!!? Ahhhhhhh

[JackieAt]

we have had our chooks for a year now and also have 2 cats... the chooks are definately boss despite the cats being bigger... they all keep a cautious distance and one cat even has an escape route 'around' the garden so as not to go near them.
I think dogs would be different especially bigger dogs as they do like to chase..good luck

[chicken slave]

I have 3 dogs and 6 chooks (only 8 weeks old) they are in the coop (that is the hens) and have a secure run. My eldest dog a x breed would have everyone of them for breakfast so he is kept away. The German Shepherd likes to come into the veg patch where the chooks are and watch them and the young boarder collie has no interest what so ever and obsesses over his toy whilst in the garden. I have put a fence around my veg patch to stop the GS lying on the veg, but this seems to work well as a deterent to the dogs, eventhough my old dog could jump it very easily. It also allows me to let the chooks out of the run when the dogs are in the house and I know they will not be on my flower beds or wandering down the lane to take in the scenery. This works well for me as they eat bugs and insects of the ground and visit me in the greenhouse from time to time. In the spring I am going to use mesh over my young plants so the chooks don't mistake them for lunch and can still wander safe from the dogs. I did introduce all dogs to them whilst on a lead to judge there reaction and as you can see they are all different, so you will just have to wait and see, but put the necessary barriers till harmony is struck......Good Luck