[Carolf]

I thought I was having a 'should have gone to specsavers' moment this morning when I went out the back door to see Penelope come bounding towards me on the path - which, incidentally is on the WRONG side of her flipping fence !!!   

There was me on the back step with the 3 dogs standing next to me all looking at this chicken wondering 'what the heck?!?'

Eddie (one of the JRT's) made a dash for her, I told him Leave it and he did, next Charlie (the other JRT) went up to her and had a good sniff but Kyle (Westie) just stood at the back door with his face saying 'No way am I going to chase a chicken hmmpppphhh'. 

All's well that ends well, I picked Penny up, popped her back over the fence.  She then promptly went into the nesting box and started her egg laying so she obviously wasn't traumatised by her little escapade.  She had managed to dig around in the stones making a merry mess and lucky for her she was smart enough to stay away from the veggie garden - this time 

I need to get dogs and chickens together without a fence in between them so they become more accustomed to one another so watch this space 

[joyfull]

Our Ollie used to chase the chickens - not to kill them (discovered that when one went into the crouching mating position and Ollie looked terrified then  ) but to annoy me as she always did it when she knew I was watching (if I watched out of site she completely ignored them). However as she is such a big clumsy thing I was always worried she would fall on them.  She now just flops down near them and also lets them in the house to eat her biscuits.

[LittleRedHen]

Please be very careful letting your dogs near your chickens.  Dogs are predators by nature and you may be tempting fate.  The most docile dog can kill a chicken in a blink of an eye.  I almost lost one of my hens to a neighbour's visitor's little terrier.  Sweetest little dog in the world, never saw a chicken before, and went after her like his instincts told him to.  It took three adults to pull that little dog off of her and save her.  I'm not sure what your rationale is in mixing the two, but please be very careful! 

[Carolf]

Fear not LittleRedHen, I will be most vigilant if we decide to let them 'mix' .  The only reason I am thinking of letting them be on the same side of the fence as it were, is because Penny has decided to start (yesterday) hopping up onto the fence and jumping down on the other side.  I figured if the dogs were used to them running about it wouldn't be a problem if she got out again.  I WON'T let them roam around unattended of course  The last thing I want is feathers flying and bared teeth.
I suspect the long lead and one dog at a time approach will be the best.  Failing that I'll tie lead weights to Pennys legs 

I will keep you posted on the outcome 

[ANHBUC]

Our daughters young yorkshire terrier liked chase playing our hens but as soon as they faced up to him flapping their wings he would run a mile.  We would never let him in the garden on his own with them though.  Our neighbour told us she used to have a small plot with over 50 hens and her dog was so well behaved with them even when left alone.  The dog had been with the hens for a couple of years then she returned from shopping one day to find utter carnage, nearly all the hens dead or injured and the dog exhausted with feathers and blood around its mouth.   

[Carolf]

Ouch ANHBUC I definitely will not (intentionally) let the dogs near the chickens unattended - more so after reading your story.  I just worry for Penny who obviously thinks the grass is greener on the other side 

[Carolf]

Hubby and I had a long chat last night about letting the dogs and chickens mix.  I showed him the posts made here and after much thought we have both come to the conclusion that there is no point in tempting fate.
So the chickens will stay in the designated chicken area and the dogs can have the rest of the garden. 

I will keep an eye on both chooks and make sure they both stick to their own area.

Thanks again for the advice and comments.   

[Sue33]

we found that our springer spaniel was jealous of the girls so when we put them together we always make a bigger fuss of our dog and ignored the chooks 

[themagicaltoad1]

We have 2 dogs. They've always chased birds, rabbits etc so when we first had chickens there was no way we could let them mix.  Our JRT is very terratorial and used to being top dog. After a few weeks of curiosity through the fence we kept the dogs on a short lead and let them sniff the girls and vice versa. Over a period of time and some stern words, the dogs learnt that they couldn't touch, (and hens have a nasty peck!). Now they have a mutual respect for each other and free range happily in the garden together. In fact it's safer for the hens when the dogs are in the garden as there have been foxes seen in both my neighbours gardens and there's no way the dogs would let a fox in. The only time there's a bit of aggro is when the hens try to steal the dog's food from their bowls, they are "seen off" but never harmed.

[shetan]

it all depends on your dog.

its not always bad to mix the two. my dog ignores them. i am always around when the hens are out but i know now that i can pop in doors to grab some sweetcorn or a jacket without worrying that the pupster will think to help himself to an amuse bouche(?) before dinner. he usually sits under his bush and naps.

my sister's dog however (or draft excluder's litter mate) has a very high prey drive and could never be left. i have to shoo him away even when i'm outside observing.

i made gradual introductions. lots of treats and fussing when he ignored them and now they are pack members and duly respected. he also knows they come above him in the hierachy because they are fed before him in the morning and he sees me doing this.

if you have a hyper/high prey drive dog then best not to risk it. if you have a laid back poochie then slow introductions could be possible.

[Carolf]

Penny was back up on the flipping gate/fence again this afternoon and I nearly had a heart attack because there was Charlie right underneath her wagging his tail looking at her expectantly 

I don't think that any of my dogs want to actually attack the chickens - they seem very interested to the point they stick their noses in the fence right next to the chooks.  Charlie (JRT) just wants to play, he gets so excited when they come up to the fence and he goes down on his front paws with his tail wagging madly.  Eddie (JRT), well I don't think he can be bothered one way or t'other and Kyle (Westie) likes to run up to the fence with tail wagging - playing tag. 

I suspect I am going to have to introduce them one at a time on a lead so they get more used to each other, and hopefully that will, in the end, prevent any problems if Penny decides to hop over to the 'wrong' side of the fence.  They will ultimately be kept apart by said fence - best safe than sorry.

When we go out the dogs are kept indoors so there will never be a case of going out and coming back to mayhem 

[ANHBUC]

Better safe than sorry.  What might start out as play could end up in disaster.  Dogs play bite with each other but I don't think it would take much to kill a hen unintentionally.

[Carolf]

I agree ANHBUC.  My 3 are still pups and they play pretty rough with one another (and me if I let them). 
I am hoping they will just lose interest - yeah like that is going to happen  but in the meantime I keep a beady eye on all of them 

[ANHBUC]

Oh to be a puppy with not a care in the world and loving owners.