Best Animal to Protect Chickens: Guard Against Predators Now Jenny Graham, February 13, 2024February 13, 2024 Backyard chickens are prey to many different predators. It may have you wondering, what is the best animal to protect chickens? Let’s explore the different animals so you can keep your feathered friends safe. Best Animal to Protect Chickens When it comes to the best animal to protect chickens from potential predators, you’ve got choices. It really may depend on what your farm can take on. At the Top of the List of Best Animal to Protect Chickens are: Livestock Guardian Dogs Roosters Geese Male Turkeys Guinea Fowl Donkeys Alpacas Llamas The Best Animal to Protect Chickens May be a Livestock Guardian Dog Livestock guardian dogs are the go to these days when trying to decide what the best animal to protect chickens is. From experience, I can tell you that they take training to make into a good live stock guardian dog. They also need to come from good working stock. 6 Essential Traits of a Good Livestock Guardian Dog For the best protection from predators, livestock guardian dogs need to form strong bonds with farm animals. You will find that they are loyal but independent dogs. They are very alert with good natural instincts. They are courageous and persistent when faced with a perceived threat. Training a Livestock Guardian Dog to Protect Chickens The first step is to be sure the pup came from working parents and had exposure to livestock from day one. Once your pup is 8-16 weeks, they can be put in a pen with some gentle live stock, or in the chicken run, for some supervised time of bonding. Be sure to supervise and address any unwanted behavior. Eventually you can work your way up to the pup spending the majority of it’s time in the pen with livestock. Slowly introduce more livestock and a larger area to cover. Teach the pup a few good commands and give praise when they are staying and not straying from their live stock. Pay close attention to feeding time and your feeding set up to be sure that the livestock doesn’t get into the dog’s food. The dog should be fed with the livestock and not at the house. The Best Livestock Guardian Dog for Chickens In my opinion, the best dog breeds to protect chickens are the Great Pyrenees, Anatolian Shepherds, and Kangals. These natural guard dogs, when trained, are amazing protectors form potential predators. They may be your best defense when it comes to predator deterrent. Best Animal to Protect Chickens Other Than LGD Breeds While some backyard chicken keepers may choose a livestock guardian dog to protect chickens, you may find that it’s not the right choice for your flock or small farm. Let’s look at other types of poultry that are more aggressive to provide predator protection. Roosters to Protect Chickens At a minimum, keep a rooster or two with your hens if they are allowed in your area. Roosters are often pretty protective over their hens and will often go to battle for them with smaller predators. Different Poultry to Protect Chickens While roosters can be a beneficial animal to protect chickens, other types of poultry can be a little more intimidating and protective. Geese are good guard animals and an effective way to protect your chicken flock. They are incredibly noisy and have no problem giving quick chase to small predators. Geese are great at flapping their wings, causing all kinds of loud noises and commotion. They rank high on the scale of the best animal to protect chickens. Getting a Tom, or male turkey may also do the trick in protecting your backyard chickens. Tom’s are well known for their strutting and can be pretty intimidating when needed. Be warned though, you’ll have to be sure to show them that you are the boss or they may become the boss of you. Trust me on this one. Also ranking high on the scale of the best animal to protect chickens are another breed of poultry that many backyard chicken keepers turn to, the guinea fowl. These chattering birds can make quite the noise with an alarm call to warn the chicken flock of potential aerial predators or birds of prey. They are excellent being aware of the presence of predators and will give warning of an incoming hawk attack from the red-tailed hawk or spotting bald eagles as they search for free range chickens. Protect Chickens With Other Livestock Protecting chickens and smaller livestock, like sheep, with livestock is also a popular choice. At the top of the list of the best animal to protect chickens and livestock are donkeys. Many small farms bring donkeys onto the farm as a livestock guardian animal. A donkey’s natural prey drive is something to be reckoned with. They are an excellent choice to run off your large predators, giving you peace of mind from stray dogs, mountain lions, and even black bears. Some farms even use alpacas or llamas effective livestock guardians. Most Common Predators for Chickens? Snakes Coyote, Bobcats, Foxes, and Mountain Lions Minks, Weasels, Badgers, and Wolverines Hawks and Owls Rats and Opossums Skunks and Raccoons Black Bears Domestic Dogs & Stray Dogs Signs That Your Backyard Chickens Were Attacked Tracks Left by Predators Skunk Scent Broken or Missing Eggs Blood in Various Areas of the Coop or Run Feathers Strewn About Wounds on Surviving Birds Dead Birds How to Know What Predator you Have and Predator Behavior Different predators will have different behaviors. Knowing the clues will help you determine what predator you have and how to deal with your predator problem. Predators like bobcat, coyote, and fox will often take the whole chicken, leaving you with trails of feathers and missing birds. If you are only missing baby chicks or eggs, you can look to the rats, snakes, and crows as the culprit. When things are made a real mess of and you are left with only parts of chickens, you may have a stray dog, raccoon, or opossum to worry about. Predators often attack at night but will also attack during the day if they are hungry enough. Security cameras, a secure coop, and making a decision on the best animal to protect chickens are both a good idea. What to Do if Your Flock is Attacked When your chicken flock is attacked, you’ll need to act quickly to save any injured hens. Unfortunately, you’ll also need to be prepared to put down any hens that have been injured and won’t make it, sparing them the suffering. When owning chickens or other livestock, it’s smart to be prepared with basic first aide supplies to treat injuries. Wash Your Hands Washing your hands before treating any injuries will ensure that you do not introduce any further bacteria to their wounds. Be sure to follow up with a good hand washing as well, so you aren’t taking on any unwanted bacteria yourself. Stop the Bleeding The first thing you’ll want to access is bleeding. You can apply pressure to any wounds that are actively bleeding with clean gauze. Additionally, you may consider using a blood stop powder as well. Clean & Treat the Wounds Be sure to clean any wounds that your chickens received during the attack by flushing them with sterile water first. Once the debris is cleaned out of the wound you can treat it with betadine diluted with sterile saline or with Blu-Kote antiseptic spray. I have found that chickens heal amazingly well when using Blu-Kote. It also does a great job of disguising wounds so the other chickens in the flock aren’t drawn to peck on the wounds. Isolate Any Injured Chickens From the Flock Once the wounds have been treated and cleaned, keep any injured chickens isolated form the chicken flock to avoid them being singled out and pecked on. Additionally, provide them with fresh water and a little feed in a safe, quiet environment until they are well enough to re-join the flock. Contact Your Vet If Needed When owning chickens or livestock it’s important to have a vet that you can call in case of emergencies. If you are ever in doubt of how to provide care for your animals or livestock don’t hesitate to call a vet. What Aerial Predators Will Attack Chickens? When it comes to aerial predators that attack chickens, be on the lookout for red-tailed hawks and owls. They are both notorious for swooping down into a flock of chickens to carry them away. How to Stop Potential Predators of Backyard Chickens I once knew a clever, old timer who had to get creative in protecting his flock of chickens. After several predator attacks he ended up putting a radio out by his chicken coop to play the National Public Radio channel all night long. The sound of human voices and interaction was enough to stop the predator attack on his flock of chickens. How to Catch Backyard Chicken Predators Catching those backyard chicken predators can be tricky. Methods of catching them will vary depending on what your predator is. Before you trap anything be sure to know your local laws on trapping any animal. How to Prevent Attacks on Your Backyard Chickens and Keep Them Out of the Coop The first line of defense in protecting your chickens should be keeping them in a safe place, like a secure chicken coop. Don’t let chicken wire fool you. It is not sturdy enough to keep potential predators from breaking into your coop. Using hardware cloth is a much better option. To make that even more secure, be sure to not only staple the hardware cloth to the frame but also sandwich the hardware cloth between two boards so it’s not easily pushed in. Furthermore, bury hardware cloth into the ground around the perimeter of your coop to prevent predators from digging into your coop. Additional ways to secure your backyard chickens is by providing a roosting bar that is plenty high to keep the chickens up off the ground so they can avoid being attacked in the middle of the night. Installing a netting of electric fence or electric wire fences around your chicken coop can also help. Many farmers use an electric fence to deter larger predators. I personally keep my meat chickens in a metal chicken coop. It’s not predator proof so I keep one of my Anatolian Shepherd Dogs with them. So, What is the Best Animal to Protect Chickens? As you can see you have many options when it comes to the best animal to protect chickens. The decision really comes down to your preferences and what your small farm can accommodate for predator deterrent. You may choose livestock guardian dogs or donkeys for predator protection. Or using smaller animals like more aggressive poultry, such as geese or guinea fowl, to protect your chicken paddock may be a better fit. Either way, be sure to protect your feathered friends. You may also enjoy reading: Raising Broilers & The Best Age to Butcher Chickens Happy Homesteading & Chicken Keeping, Jenny @ The Grahamstead Family Farm Jenny and her family have been homesteading for over 20 years. They are currently farming on their 10 acre Florida farm, that they built from the ground up, 8 years ago, growing 100% of their meat and a lot of their vegetables. From their small herd of Aberdeen Angus Cattle, Pastured Poultry, Sheep, and seasonal pigs, they are able to raise enough meat for the family while selling extra to the community. All the while, striving to butcher at home, as much as possible, and use the bits and pieces of their harvest by preserving food, making bone broth, and (Jenny’s favorite) tanning all kinds of hides! Chickens Homesteading Livestock