Will a dog protect chickens?

[Rdh1223]

We recently had our first batch of pullets killed by a raccoon during the day, which put quite the damper on mothers day. Wife and kids still arent quite over the loss. That raccoon is no longer going to be an issue but I have new chicks coming from mcmurray this week which gives me about a month to try to prevent this happening again. I've already built an apron for the coop (it was going to be a tractor, so no apron last time) but was wondering if leaving our dog outside would deter predators?. I don't have a fence so he would be on a run, not sure if the coons, coyotes, fox would be able to figure out that the dog really can't actually attack them. I thought of building a boom on top of the A- frame coop that would allow him to circle the coop without getting hung up (like the hose at the diy carwash) but haven't puzzled out the engineering and I'm not sure he wouldn't tunnel in and kill the chickens, dont know if a dog would tunnel under 2 foot of apron or not. He paid no mind to the first flock we had but who knows. Australian cattle dog, prob not purebred. Supposedly came from a farm in Texas, so maybe learned to live with chickens. Plus he's a "working" dog who if I can teach him his job maybe he will like it? He herds my kids occasionally when they run around chasing each other. Any input, thoughts, suggestions are appreciated. Sry for the long post.

 

[AGeese]

I personally would never leave a dog on a run. My Jack Russell clothes lined himself going after a squirrel. After that I stopped using leads unless I absolutely had to.

The other thing is coyotes are smart, and determined. They may even attack your dog so another reason imho not to keep him tethered.

I would put up a temporary fence where they can all be together.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

We recently had our first batch of pullets killed by a raccoon during the day, which put quite the damper on mothers day.

Sorry for your loss.

Consider electrified poultry netting.

 

[jwsmith1959]

There are livestock guardian dogs that can be trained to guard poultry and waterfowl. I have no idea how expensive they are though.

Good luck and all the best.