My Dog Is Collecting Eggs For Me!

[OffSpring]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am currently in the process of training my dog (a black lab) to collect my eggs for me!

My chickens free range completely and although I know a few of their favourite nesting areas, I know that I am leaving quite a few (I have approximately 50 hens and bring in between 20 and 30 eggs a day).

And I thought to myself, why spend all this time collecting eggs, when I can train my dog to collect them for me!!

There are obviously a few things which he needed to know first before I started to train this...

He needed to know how to track and sniff for items from a scent. I have been getting him to search for people, animals, food items and toys for quite a while now and he excels in this area!

He also needs to return to you on command and drop on command. Again he does this already with toys, but he usually eats any edible items on discovery, which has been the hardest part to train out!

The most difficult task is getting him to not eat or crack the egg, but to pick it up gently and drop it gently. This is the ongoing part of the training and has yet to be perfected, but the good news is I haven't wasted any eggs in the process of the training. I used one of my eggs for him to get the scent and all the other eggs he has returned are ones that he has found.

I then use the water in a glass method to check for freshness of the eggs...

Has anyone else done this successfully?

 

[thewarriorchild]

That would be so cool...if only my Golden Puppy had not just swallowed a broken turkey egg I tossed out of the coop to remove later and then ate a whole egg that I left in his reach... eewwww!!!

 

[Guitartists]

Well, based on what I know of dogs, if any breed COULD do it, it would be a lab

They can be trained to have a very gentle mouth. Good luck with that..... I wonder, if you do succeed, if you will also end up with wild bird eggs.. LOL You might get some surprises

 

[Skyesrocket]

That's a neat idea! My rat terriers would carry the egg around until they "accidently" broke it and then eat it. I had a couple for a while that would rush back to the barn everyday to go on an egg hunt...then run off and hide with the egg until they were able to break it open to eat it.
I solved that problem by putting the nesting boxes up high enough so they couldn't reach them. It has been so long now that they don't even bother looking for any.
I can see where training your dog to collect eggs would be a big help to you!

 

[kees]

What a great idea!

 

[SoccerMomof7]

I have a german shepard but I can't even seem to teach him that chickens aren't food. The ones running in my year anyways.

 

[suenrob]

What exactly is the water in a glass method???????????????

 

[Guitartists]

You can check the freshness of your eggs....

If they float then the air cell has gotten too large and they are not fresh enough to eat.. if they sink then they are good.

 

[Chickending]

My dog may not collect eggs but he is great at sticking his nose in the nest and getting rid of broody hens who want to peck my hands.....He goes right in there sticks his nose under the hens and nudges her right off the eggs so I can collect them. What a great chicken dog I have....he even helps me herd them up at night if they are out free ranging. One of the rare dogs who isnt interested in eating chicken.