Help, our Border Collie is killing Chickens, is there hope or off to a new chickenless home?

[kmadams]

Newer to the chicken world and I could use a little help. We have a Border Collie who is a little over a year old, and has been caught killing chickens. We have lost three total. With the first one, the circumstances were a mystery. We found her in the hay field the next morning, so we were not exactly sure wheat happened to her(although my husband always suspected our dog, so we decided he would need to be constantly supervised). The second victim was our rooster. Again we were not sure what happened to him, other then our BC chased all the chicken out of the immediate yard. The hens quickly came back, as well as the dog. That evening, when the rooster still hadn't returned, we set out to search. All we found were a couple different piles of feathers. But still at this point, we have no indication that our dog did more then chase them. The third incident was another hen. My son was following him outside. He started harassing they younger chickens, who were in an enclosure. When my son hollered at him, he said the dog bounced across the lawn, poked his head in the dog house (which is actually used by our free range chickens, rather then the dogs) pulled out a hen, and in about two seconds had snapped her neck and dropped her. Of course he did get in big trouble this time, and ended up hiding in the cow pastures the rest of the evening. I only have 3 free range hns left at this point, but soon my others will be one enough to free range. I need to know if there is any hope for this guy, or if he needs a new home. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. He is not our only dog, we have 4 total. All herding dogs, including another Border Collie, but he is the only one we have issues with.

 

[junebuggena]

You might want to try training him with a E-collar to correct him and snap him out of that predatory state. It can be extremely effective when trying to manage behavior from a distance.
Or you can keep your dog in a fenced in part of the yard where he can't get to the birds.

 

[cavemanrich]

Seems like that may be a very hard habit to break.. He is not killing and eating like a predator., Just killing cause he thinks he needs to guard the property . If your other dogs are friendly to your chickens , You may need to find a new home for this one. Your other option is to keep your chickens isolated in a run away from the dogs access.

WISHING YOU BEST AND

 

[IdahoPrepper]

Easily cured if the owner has the stomach for it. Some here do not like what works and want to hear an easier softer way.
The way the farmers do it here is to tape or tie or somehow bind the dead bird to the dogs neck. I think they use duct tape. Leave the dog and the dead bird outside untill the bird rots off and falls away. The smell is not good trust me. The dog will hate it to no end. He will never touch another bird as long as he lives.

 

[Mutt Farm]

As a certified professional dog trainer CPDT-KSA, to manage prey drive of existing dogs toward your new flock, you have options. Pen the chickens in a run or behind electric fencing. The drive will still be there. Pen the chicken killing dog. The drive will still be there. I'm a positive reinforcement clicker train and treat trainer when appropriate. That won't work for your chicken killing pup. Skilled use of a remote training collar seems appropriate here. It must be planned and carefully executed to achieve the desired result, which is "if you so much as look at a chicken you will painfully regret it. It's a harsh, last resort method. Your timing must be absolutely perfect. If you have the option to re-home the pup you might consider that option instead. I wish you and your lil chicken eater the best result.

 

[IdahoPrepper]

As a certified professional dog trainer CPDT-KSA, to manage prey drive of existing dogs toward your new flock, you have options. Pen the chickens in a run or behind electric fencing. The drive will still be there. Pen the chicken killing dog. The drive will still be there. I'm a positive reinforcement clicker train and treat trainer when appropriate. That won't work for your chicken killing pup. Skilled use of a remote training collar seems appropriate here. It must be planned and carefully executed to achieve the desired result, which is "if you so much as look at a chicken you will painfully regret it. It's a harsh, last resort method. Your timing must be absolutely perfect. If you have the option to re-home the pup you might consider that option instead. I wish you and your lil chicken eater the best result.

As a bird dog trainer I can tell you that dog will become "collar wise" and know when he does not have those two lumps sticking into his throat he can get away with any bad behavior. I have seen it happen over and over. Not just with dogs I have trained either. That dog is a herding dog and wants to herd those chickens as a sport and a way to become NOT BORED. He needs to run off leash every day and you need to change his mind about what to "herd" and what sport he likes. I could train that dog in 1 week.

 

[kmadams]

Thanks for your replies. I had heard of tieing the chicken on them until it rots off, and am desperate enough I would try that, if I had a place to keep him outside. Since the hens have claimed the dog house, I would need to first relocate them. May need to build them their own house. The youngsters are in the chicken house, and not yet big enough I don't think to combine with my Americanas, as they tend to bully some. I have used an ecollar for hunting dogs in the past, so that was my first thought. I actually went out and bought one. Since I only planned on using it in the immediate yard, I did not go all out like I did and buy one of the best models, like I had in the past. I opted for the cheaper, shorter range with the batteries that you have to buy and replace. Unfortunately the color was defective and not all the buttons worked so we promptly returned it the next day. But while he was out with the collar on, and for many days after, when I was out with him, he paid no attention to the chickens. The last two incidents were when he slipped away from my husband, while he was busy brushing his Heeler, and while out with our son. He chased the chickens out of sight when out with my husband, but the incident with our son, he completely ignored him yelling, grabbed and killed a chicken, then trotted off on his merry way. I think the problem we may have with him is that he is a Border Collie and he's too smart for his own good. I think he has already learned who he can manage to slip away from, and to make sure to pretend to not notice the chickens when I'm around. So it's going to make it hard to correct him, when he won't make any attempts around me. After school starts back up, and I'm back to work again, I'm going to buy a good welded wire dog kennel. We had a chain link, but that won't hold him, he manages to find ways out. He may end up having to be kept in the kennel and collared when out. I hate to have to pen my chickens because I enjoy them running the yard as much as they do I think. Plus they are doing a great job keeping the bug population down. Up until he started having the issues with the chickens he was running off leash everyday, whenever we were home. Now he gets to run for a couple hours in the morning before we let the chickens out, then is kenneled or leashes outside until I put chickens up for the evening. Strange thing is though, the chickens have always been more jumpy around him. Before any of the incidents, we would be out in the yard, the other dogs around, and you could tell the instant he returned to the yard from running the fields just by the reaction from the chickens. It was like they senced a predator had landed and they were preparing to flea if necessary. It seems like they have always seen him as a threat, but not the other dogs. They have actually even chased our heeler before. Its strange because he is the most submissive dog in every other scenario. We have actually used him, and my female Border Collie to temperament test rescue dogs, because he is always submissive, and she is nonreactive, so you can concentrate solely on the reactions of the third dog. I honestly didn't think he was really capable of this. I was more concerned that he would try to play with them and hurt them, but the fact that he has taken to killing them so quickly did surprise me.

 

[junebuggena]

What might work, is hiding in a spot where you can see the action and still be in range of the collar, but the dog can't see you. When he starts getting interested in the chickens, you push the button to correct him. That way, he learns that chickens are off limits, even when nobody is near by.

 

[centrarchid]

He is a BC. Spend time out with him around and among the chickens. Direct his attentions towards something else and reprimand when he orients on or chases birds. I am not a trainer but I have a lot of experience with chickens and dogs specifically and BC's seem to be very responsive to training. Prey drive for me is 100% good as channels well into protecting birds.

 

[dekel18042]

Easily cured if the owner has the stomach for it. Some here do not like what works and want to hear an easier softer way.
The way the farmers do it here is to tape or tie or somehow bind the dead bird to the dogs neck. I think they use duct tape. Leave the dog and the dead bird outside untill the bird rots off and falls away. The smell is not good trust me. The dog will hate it to no end. He will never touch another bird as long as he lives.

Tying a dead chicken around a dog's neck MAY work, or it may NOT. Only ever had to try it once on a Siberian husky and it failed miserably. Nothing worked, our training or the training of professional trainer Sometimes a dog is just plain hard wired, although usually a border collie isn't one of those. However they do herd from prey drive.
Our chickens are allowed to free range when people or dogs are out to watch them. Our older dog, an English shepherd understands guarding them is his job. Getting some on the job training is our three month old sheltie pup who stayed right with the older dog and watched The chickens know and aren't afraid of our dogs although we have had the puppy for only three weeks, but already he is learning to move them back to their pens if we want to put them away before they put themselves away for the evening. In this picture he felt three bantam hens had gotten too far away and was bringing them back towards their coop and my husband on his own. (He was being encouraged but he was doing the work himself. ) He's small. He weighed 7.7 lbs today at the vet's. We're having fun working him.
I do think most border collies can be trained to leave poultry alone, and I think an e-collar would probably be the way to go.