How to raise Backyard Chickens: Re: [CHICKENS-101] Marlene--Livestock Guard Dogs

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Re: [CHICKENS-101] Marlene--Livestock Guard Dogs

My Border collies are not good around poultry. Herding is a prey drive and their drive is just too strong to ignore any feathered creatures. My old 14.5 yr old BC still chases the Guineas, although it is obvious she isn't really trying to catch them. My Aussie is still pup and cannot be trusted with poultry and may never be totally trustworthy around them BUT he is awesome at herding the goats out of the yard.
Laura

On Jul 24, 2013 9:47 PM, "slatehouse@earthlink.net" <slatehouse@earthlink.net> wrote:

Peggy,

>I agree with you for the most part although I have a pit bull pyranee cross that is an awesome farm dog.

many mixes can make great farm dogs, but they often cannot be left to live with the stock. Of course there can always be exceptions either way, but I have seen too many mixes do great, sometimes for 2 or 3 years, then one day, their chase instinct awakens and they end up killing the animals they used to protect. This does not normally happen with breeds that are considered livestock guardian breeds

> Popular also are Ausies and border collies. known for herding but also excellent guardians.

yes, there are some "farm collies" that can work out well, but due to their size they can work well as a deterrent, but if it comes down to a fight with a larger predator they are too small to have a chance. Btw. I do not recommend having only one LGD if larger predators or packs of predators especially stray dogs are a problem. LGDs working alone do get killed if they are outnumbered like that. And anybody living in areas where wolves are a problem really needs to have a good working pack of LGDs to deal with those.

if anybody wants to learn more about LGDs, we have a great group called LGD-L and the info to join is here www.lgd.org

Marlene