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gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 10:48 am
by sjmike
Anyone have any experience with jointly raising a gsp pup to hunt and backyard chickens ? I am going to be able to fence off the chicken coop. Any suggestions on how to keep the chickens safe while not inhibiting the dog from developing it's instincts would be helpful. Or am I embarking on a giant contradiction ?

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2017 11:50 am
by GrayGhost
I was in your same position and did it the last few summers as well. We did have one chicken killed when she got out, but other than that it has been fine, in fact last her my Weim got into the chicken run and couldn't get back out and I found her taking a nap in there with the chickens roosting on her. I think as long as you have it fenced off you should be fine, and just teach your pup not to mess with them and give correction when they do.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 8:54 am
by reba
One of my dogs (Reba) is a ACD. When she was a pup she got one of my wife's very young chickens. Reba found me sitting in my travel trailer getting ready for our first bird hunting trip of the season. She dropped the very dead chicken at my feet. I told her she was a very, very good dog. Soooo she went and got another. Again I told her she was even a better good doggie. Reba turned out to be the best flushing a retrieving dog west of the Mississippi. She loves crippled chukar. :D

I have always praised my dogs for getting chickens that were dumb enough to tempt them. Of course I could yell and beat them for just being dogs. We don't have chickens any more :D

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 10:34 am
by greg jacobs
Never had chickens, but the neighbors did. One of my shorthair girls got in their chicken coop. Killed every chicken. Then she couldn't figure out how to get out. That was a little aukward of a conversation. Tried to pay for the chickens but they didn't let me. They never got anymore chickens.
My son has chicken in a coup. His neighbor has free ranging. He has found a few dead chickens in his yard. The neighbors seem to understand.
I've heard of pups raised around chickens that leave them alone.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 1:31 pm
by DougB
If your neighbor catches your dog killing his livestock, the neighbor can kill the dog. It happens.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 2:28 pm
by greg jacobs
Good thing they are friends

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 2:00 am
by bustingcover
Fence off the chickens and run some heat through it. My gwp leaves all of the livestock alone including the chickens, turkeys and couple peacock. He will also get away from the quail pen when told. Dogs are smart and are quick to learn the difference from home and hunting. Being a pup makes it easier I can not stand a chicken killer.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 7:59 am
by MNTonester
Reba, great story

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 12:50 pm
by CDN_Cocker
I don't trust mine around the chickens so they are never out at the same time. I'm sure if I had the chickens first I could've taught him to leave them alone but I spent a lot of time teaching him to love birds and bring them to me before we had chickens that it's not fair to expect him to leave them alone.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2017 2:52 pm
by polmaise
sjmike wrote:Anyone have any experience with jointly raising a gsp pup to hunt and backyard chickens ? I am going to be able to fence off the chicken coop. Any suggestions on how to keep the chickens safe while not inhibiting the dog from developing it's instincts would be helpful. Or am I embarking on a giant contradiction ?
Depends if you want the dog to point the chickens or just chase them. Either way ,with a pup no matter the breed ,if the chickens run the pup will chase.
So I suppose it is a giant contradiction. ?
.....
You could of course train the pup somewhere else and leave the chickens to free range. Or You could take the Farm Yard rule that livestock are just that! ..The Shepherd with a Collie doesn't have the dog herding the sheep in the yard. That would be silly .

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2017 6:15 am
by CDN_Cocker
Another thing to consider if you're looking to keep your chickens alive is that even if they're fenced and the dog just chases them the stress will kill some of them. It really doesn't make much sense - you're stressing out your chickens and going to intentionally train your dog to be neurotically obsessed with them. I think you'll find afterwards that you regret that decision.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 2:29 pm
by mountaindogs
Some of my dogs do okay and some move mountains to get to the chickens. We have the chickens in a chicken fortress now. Double fenced and hot-wired outside of that.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 2:30 pm
by mountaindogs
CDN_Cocker wrote:Another thing to consider if you're looking to keep your chickens alive is that even if they're fenced and the dog just chases them the stress will kill some of them.
This is true as well. I bought privacy screening for the chicken fence and hot wired outside that. Helped quite a bit.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 3:26 pm
by polmaise
So what did the fore fathers who had hunting dogs and chickens do ?
No omelettes :lol:

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 4:08 pm
by Sharon
They shot their dogs in the rump with pellets. :)

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 5:18 pm
by polmaise
Sharon wrote:They shot their dogs in the rump with pellets. :)
Most probably had better chickens than dogs ..and liked eggs in the morning :lol:

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Mon Mar 27, 2017 12:46 pm
by sjmike
thanks for the comments guys. I think I am going to get the dog, train the dog to chase birds for a year and then get the chickens next year. My concern was balancing developing the dog's instinct for birds as it grows from a pup and not having it eat the chickens. I imagine that if I get the dog fully acclimatized and enthusiastic for birds and then get the chickens after the dog has grown, discouraging the dog from bothering the chickens won't diminish the dog's desire to hunt.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2017 10:42 pm
by bustingcover
sjmike wrote:thanks for the comments guys. I think I am going to get the dog, train the dog to chase birds for a year and then get the chickens next year. My concern was balancing developing the dog's instinct for birds as it grows from a pup and not having it eat the chickens. I imagine that if I get the dog fully acclimatized and enthusiastic for birds and then get the chickens after the dog has grown, discouraging the dog from bothering the chickens won't diminish the dog's desire to hunt.
I highly recommend bringing them up together makes things a whole lot easier. If the dog has any sort of drive it'll be difficult to ruin him by stopping him from chasing chickens. That'd be like a dog not wanting to run outside because you taught him its not okay to run inside. All birds aren't game, dogs very quickly pick up on whats okay to hunt and whats not okay to hunt. (some don't and are just black hearted sobs lol).

Good luck with the pup.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 4:59 am
by gonehuntin'
Just say NO. it's part of dog training.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 5:29 am
by cjhills
My dogs train on pigeons in the field including occasionally retrieving one, but totally ignore the same pigeons in the yard. All farm dogs learn to ignore free range farm birds or their life expectancy goes down fast..........................Cj

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 10:48 pm
by CDN_Cocker
bustingcover wrote:
sjmike wrote:thanks for the comments guys. I think I am going to get the dog, train the dog to chase birds for a year and then get the chickens next year. My concern was balancing developing the dog's instinct for birds as it grows from a pup and not having it eat the chickens. I imagine that if I get the dog fully acclimatized and enthusiastic for birds and then get the chickens after the dog has grown, discouraging the dog from bothering the chickens won't diminish the dog's desire to hunt.
I highly recommend bringing them up together makes things a whole lot easier. If the dog has any sort of drive it'll be difficult to ruin him by stopping him from chasing chickens. That'd be like a dog not wanting to run outside because you taught him its not okay to run inside. All birds aren't game, dogs very quickly pick up on whats okay to hunt and whats not okay to hunt. (some don't and are just black hearted sobs lol).

Good luck with the pup.
This is what I was getting at. Easier to raise a pup to respect the chickens than to train it for a year or 2 that birds are the ultimate reward and then expect them to leave chickens alone. You won't hurt the dog's drive by teaching it early on to leave the chickens alone just as its not acceptable to pester cats or kids

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2017 12:45 pm
by polmaise
CDN_Cocker wrote: Easier to raise a pup to respect the chickens than to train it for a year or 2 that birds are the ultimate reward and then expect them to leave chickens alone. You won't hurt the dog's drive by teaching it early on to leave the chickens alone just as its not acceptable to pester cats or kids
Not in my 45 years experience . It helps if in them 2 years the dog understands No . :wink:

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Sat Apr 08, 2017 5:33 pm
by KCKLH
Hope you have better luck than we did lol. 8 meat roosters, 2 ducks, 4 rabbits, and countless pen pheasant later we just gave up. Stuck to goats and cattle after that.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 3:19 pm
by CDN_Cocker
Any dog that you get that driven for birds after 2 years that will just turn it off because you say "no" isn't worth feeding. I maintain its easier to raise them with them.

Re: gsp pup and backyard chickens

Posted: Mon Apr 10, 2017 4:13 pm
by polmaise
Then You have your years of youth as your advantage and the amount of dogs you have had regarding this