Can my dog scare my chickens to death?

[Wolf89]

I have never had chickens before and I am trying to get a few in the near future. Anyway, I don't have a lot of land, and I have two dogs that I am worried that they might scare the chicken to death, by constantly barking and such. The chickens would be in an enclosed run, of course. What do you guys think? Thanks

 

[Cadence A Waller]

I have dogs and they like to bark and jump at the chickens and it doesn’t seem to bother them. The chickens just jump back and then ignore them. I think the dogs just like to scare the chickens for the fun of it.

 

[azygous]

The dogs will only upset the chickens if they charge the run fence, snarling and acting like they want to eat the chickens. While it's possible for a chicken to die from fear and shock, it's more likely the stress will take its toll in poor egg laying, conflicts among the flock, and compromised immune systems due to chronic stress.

However, if the dogs are kept away from the run and not permitted to behave in a predatory manner, and all they do is bark, the chicken will learn to tune out the noise.

In short, noise is not a problem for chickens. Predators and predatory behavior is a huge problem, and dogs are predators whether or not they lick you and love you to bits.

 

[DobieLover]

I have never had chickens before and I am trying to get a few in the near future. Anyway, I don't have a lot of land, and I have two dogs that I am worried that they might scare the chicken to death, by constantly barking and such. The chickens would be in an enclosed run, of course. What do you guys think? Thanks

The barking won't bother them. Charging at the run will stress them. I would work with each dog individually on a leash and teach them to ignore the chickens.
I have 3 dogs. Any one of them would gleefully rip to my chickens to shreds. I keep my flock confined to a 1/4 acre electro-netted pen. I let the two dogs that are allowed off leash to charge the pen. Each did it once and only once. They now know what those "chickens" are capable of and steer clear of them.

 

[azygous]

I have dogs and they like to bark and jump at the chickens and it doesn’t seem to bother them. The chickens just jump back and then ignore them. I think the dogs just like to scare the chickens for the fun of it.

It would be a good idea to elaborate on your post. How long your dogs and chickens have been co-existing, what breed and how large are the dogs, whether you made a point of introducing the dogs to the chickens and establishing boundaries as far as "play" so that the chickens would not be threatened.

You don't want to give others the false sense of security that just because your dogs haven't harmed your chickens that it's safe for all dogs to run loose with chickens and not to expect anything bad to happen.

But I think our OP is pretty much just concerned with the barking and perhaps the sight of the dogs outside the run scaring the chickens.

 

[Kessel23]

Chickens will very quickly get used to the site and sound of dogs. I have 12 GSD on the property and 3 kennels are right next to my coop. Make sure your dogs are not charging the birds and spooking them, they will play it like a game because they like the reaction of the birds and they want to catch them. Dogs are easily trained, if a problem arises if can be fixed if you know what you are doing.

 

[HuskerHens18]

I have had a massive wolfdog break into the run and kill multiple chickens, and none died of fear. My own guard dogs bark and snarl all night long at local coyote packs(not to mention they howl all night!) And none have died of fear.

That does not mean, however, its unheard of. It's just very rare. Your chances of that happening are slim. If your dogs are barking AT the chickens and trying to get them, then your slim chance may increase a bit.
Stress is a different thing, if they're constantly stressed from being scared, their immune systems dont work as well and they can become ill.

My chickens love my dogs, honestly. So just barking is totally fine if you ask me.

 

[llombardo]

My dogs got used to the chickens and vice versa. They have learned that each belong. The dogs picked up early on that other creatures are not allowed near creatures and keep oppossuns and raccoons out. The dogs and chickens are never together, that I don't trust. Mainly because dogs will be dogs and I'm almist afraid the rooster might Attack and cause an issue


Here is one of my GSDs and the rooster watching each other. If I leave this one out while I'm in the house she lays right near them.

 

[RenoHuskerDu]

Our heelers found out when they were puppies that

a) chickens hurt their neck (via training collar)
b) roosters hurt their nose (pecked them pretty hard)
c) chickens aren't really all that much fun

So now they just look at each other. Sometimes the heelers will scatter them for fun, but only if they are already running to something else.
I suggest that you work with your dogs using a training collar. Once they kill a chicken, it's usually too late to change the dog's behavior.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Chickens that are too stressed can stop laying. If they get frantic enough they can hurt themselves and others by flinging themselves about in the run and trample each other. You might want to train your dogs. Or perhaps put a fence around the run so they cannot come right up against the fence of the run. Like a 3’ barrier.