Mountain Feist Dog and chickens

[Fluffnpuff]

A friend offered to give me a mountain feist and before i accepted I wanted to get input from someone who has both chickens and a feist. I know mountain feists would not be a top choice to get along with poultry, but personal experiences would be beneficial.

Are they the type of dog that will always shred chickens or are they hit and miss?

 

[centrarchid]

Even if it is a proven chicken killer you can change its habits with training. Sometimes training the trainer to do so is more difficult. The small Feist is excellent against raccoons, foxes and other small varmints, My brother used one to patrol area hens reared chicks in and where roosters were tied off. Same dog was very good for hunting squirrels.

 

[Fluffnpuff]

The small Feist is excellent against raccoons, foxes and other small varmints, My brother used one to patrol area hens reared chicks in and where roosters were tied off. Same dog was very good for hunting squirrels.

I've read similar things which is why it interested me. My neck of the woods is full of varmints that need to be thinned. I'd be a happy camper if i woke up one morning to find a dead raccoon that tried to break into the coop the previous night.


My friend, while not having chickens, does say it kill snakes and mice fairly regularly.


Did your brother have to train it or did the dog naturally leave chickens alone?

 

[centrarchid]

He had to train all the dogs he had. Most were hounds. Some he did not invest so much in were kept in pens but over time seemed to loose interest in chickens. My brother and our parents likely could not tell you how we trained the dogs. I put a more concerted effort in with my German Pointers and they are now better than most of hounds ever were.

 

[jayhines91]

I actually just got one today. We realized how expensive all the right materials would be to at best keep the foxes at bay. So we found a mountain feist pure bred (no papers so who knows) that we were able to get. He’s super hyper but friendly. He’s used to being with chickens and ducks free ranging with no issues. In fact that’s what he was doing when we pulled up to get him. He’s only 7 months, so plenty of opportunity to train him hopefully. Anyway sorry for adding to a dead thread, but wanted to share this.

 

[StinkyAcres]

I actually just got one today. We realized how expensive all the right materials would be to at best keep the foxes at bay. So we found a mountain feist pure bred (no papers so who knows) that we were able to get. He’s super hyper but friendly. He’s used to being with chickens and ducks free ranging with no issues. In fact that’s what he was doing when we pulled up to get him. He’s only 7 months, so plenty of opportunity to train him hopefully. Anyway sorry for adding to a dead thread, but wanted to share this.

Cool! I'd love to see some photos. We came across the Mountain Feist "breed" when we were trying to find dogs that look like our mutt.