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Your SOLUTION needs clarification.

Many of us grew up on farms and ranches. We didn't have a pet whisperer who knew everything about animals [because the Net says he does, and law suit for injuries caused by one of the whisperer's dogs aside].

More than one otherwise good farm dog got put down because it harassed or killed stock belonging to owner or a neighbor. Farmers and ranchers don't have time to spend even an hour a day in the middle of planting, harvest, calving, butchering and so on. Of course, the alternative might be to take the approach indicated to involve a 2x4 and a mule (attention).

It may not be perfect, but the other option, often, is dead. That the dog is even alive may be a big deal. More than one farmer or rancher has ended an entire liter, rather than having to deal with a large pack of dogs running around. Or, maybe, worse, the neighbors having to deal with the pack. It sucks, but so do many things in life city kids/ farm kids don't understand.


By the way, do you work for Facebook or Twitter?


[R]eally people if you think a dog can be trusted with birds you dont need birds or the dog for that matter. If you think beating a dog with a dead bird is the answer you dont need any animal. Posting suggestions like should get you kicked off this site.
 

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My wife has chickens and we had two dogs that since have passed.

The first was a primitive mixed breed name Katie and the second was an Entlebucher Mountain dog named Karli (Entlebuchers are one of the 4 Swiss Mountain dogs, and the smallest at 45-65lbs and are used as a farm dog to herd cattle). Katie was the chicken killer, but she was not typical. She killed not for sport, but to have a chicken dinner. She would get one chicken, usually a neighbor's when she got out, take it into the woods, pluck it and eat what she wanted and we assume that she would bury the rest. Then she would clean up her face and paws. No evidence was left for anyone to find.

Karli did chase a chicken once when Katie went after and caught one of ours. But mommy broke a stick on a concrete pad, and she got the message that mommy was not happy and she wanted to make mommy happy (a typical trait from what I understand of the breed). Never went after a chicken again, and may have kept Katie from them also, but we have no evidence of that.

What we know that did break her from going after our chickens, but not necessarily the neighbor's, were 5 Silky Roosters that we ended up with for a while. They did not run but instead stood up to her and she got the message. Mommy's chickens were not worth the effort, if she wanted a chicken dinner she had to get out the fence (chain link fence with an e-fence along the bottom to stop jumping over) and go next door.

My wife is the dog training expert (not really, but is compared to me), and she could go into pages on how to use clicker training, treats, and other positive measures that would help with this. She did some of it with Katie, but she has medical issues that kept her from working with the dog as much as was needed or that she wanted.
 

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I had a German Shepherd that would kill and eat the guineas. Didn't work to tie it on his neck as that was just meals on wheels for him. so soaked a killed bird in hot pepper water. After he tasted that he never killed another bird. He would chase them for sport but stop short of grabbing one.
Heck, I'm with the dog: Death to those nasty, noisy, obnoxious guinea fowl! ;)
 

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Came home yesterday to see my dog laying out on the middle of the pasture. Saw a chicken setting about ten feet in front of him. He is still a pup and likes to see a chicken run. Never has caught one. I thought he had finally decided to catch one. I went over to get the hen. When I got near the hen I saw she had a bunch of babies. I caught her and caught up the chicks to put in a pen. When I got through with that the pup was still out near where he had been laying. Went back and found one little chick that I hadn't seen when I caught the others. Took the chick to the hen and the pup was satisfied.
 

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We still have a half dozen guineas but have to keep them in their half of the coop. They were killing chickens at one point - not fighting/pecking but one guinea would chase and run a chicken until it died from stress. As if the Catahoulas didn't already know what was going on the guineas would signal them that there was something needing attention. The guineas taught the dogs to watch for ravens. We only got the guineas originally to clean up ticks and other such stuff but when they are gone that's it. And because the guineas chased chickens the dogs began to chase any bird. Dang. So everything needed to be in a coop after that. Frankly, ditching free range was a blessing.

BTW, after a late spring hatch and a bunch of new guinea chicks we knew we had to thin things out. If the meat tastes as much off as the eggs we had no interest. Anyway, the wife and I laughed and laughed at an idea to screw with the turkey poachers: I loaded over a dozen of them into a few critter cages and drove off deep into the woods and set them loose. They ran and flew off into the canyon. We expected to hear stories about noisy, crazy Frankenstein turkeys. But the joke was on us. Two days later and from several miles away they all came back here.

Guineas are definitely guard critters. Their head is so ugly only a mother could look at them. But I would rather deal with them than people in the grocery store trip.
 

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My dad would wrap the dead chicken with fine wire, and attach it to the electric fence. Then leave it out for the dog to find. This works, and you only have to do it once per dog. After this, one of the hens hatched her chicks in the dog house.
 

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BTW, after a late spring hatch and a bunch of new guinea chicks we knew we had to thin things out. If the meat tastes as much off as the eggs we had no interest. Anyway, the wife and I laughed and laughed at an idea to screw with the turkey poachers: I loaded over a dozen of them into a few critter cages and drove off deep into the woods and set them loose. They ran and flew off into the canyon. We expected to hear stories about noisy, crazy Frankenstein turkeys. But the joke was on us. Two days later and from several miles away they all came back here.
ROTFL! Most people can't keep their guineas home but your came back!
 

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Came home yesterday to see my dog laying out on the middle of the pasture. Saw a chicken setting about ten feet in front of him. He is still a pup and likes to see a chicken run. Never has caught one. I thought he had finally decided to catch one. I went over to get the hen. When I got near the hen I saw she had a bunch of babies. I caught her and caught up the chicks to put in a pen. When I got through with that the pup was still out near where he had been laying. Went back and found one little chick that I hadn't seen when I caught the others. Took the chick to the hen and the pup was satisfied.
That's a keeper.
 

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Apply a shock collar and set it to STUN. Leave the collar on after demonstrating how it works. Walk the dog toward the birds and demonstrate how it works again. Problem solved. You're welcome.
 
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