Dogs and Chickens: Backyard Buddies?

In-house trainer & multi-species guardian Carole, shares her insight into 'can dogs and chickens live together' and maybe even become friends!

If you're wondering whether chickens and dogs can live together peacefully, the short answer is yes - dogs and chickens can coexist. Whether you already have a dog and are planning to add chickens to your backyard, or you’re a hen keeper considering bringing a puppy home, it's essential to understand how to introduce them safely. While it is possible for dogs and chickens to live side by side, successful cohabitation depends on training, supervision, and the individual temperament of your animals.

Adding a chicken to your dog home

Firstly, let's look at adding some hens to your garden when you already have a dog - as this can be a little harder than introducing a puppy to an established group of chickens. It's all about preparation well before the birds arrive. Most people start with pullets, which are hens aged between about 12 -16 weeks. This is just before the time they start laying at about 20 weeks.

It's important to get your garden ready for your new arrivals - the area in which they will live, their run and coop. Let your dog see what you are doing, allow them to sniff around and investigate so that they become accustomed to the new items in your garden.

Once your hens arrive, give them a few days to settle in before trying to make any introductions. They'll need some quiet time to get used to their new living space before you see what the dog and chicks think of each other. Every dog is an individual - and if you have an especially calm, relaxed dog they may well take it all in their stride. Breed specifics can also play a big part in whether your dog will take longer to adjust, if at all. Breeds with chase instincts may never take to life with chickens. It's important to note that just because your friend's dog ignores their chickens, it doesn't mean yours will.

Chickens are naturally anxious - and who can blame them, when even as pets they can be predated by foxes, hawks and, yes, dogs?  A sudden fright can get them scattering in various directions creating much frenzy in their pen or garden.

To begin with walk your dog calmly on lead along the perimeter of the pen, leaving a good bit of distance between you and the chickens. Walk slowly, speak calmly, and reward your dog for any focus they give you or calm responses to seeing the chickens. If you get too close to start with, your dog may find it too difficult to take in your new housemates easily - so move as far away as your space permits and gradually move closer. This may take many sessions - and that's ok! Just remember to keep these initial interactions between dog and chickens short. If your dog or the hens appear stressed at any point, end the session and try again another day.

Once your dog is calmly walking beside the pen and the hens appear relaxed too, you could try building up to holding a hen whilst sitting down. Have someone else hold your dog's lead and, again, reward calm behaviour.

If you are intending to free range your hens, once your dog is calm around them, walk him around on a leash whilst they are out, praise and reward calmness. Although hens will easily scatter with fright, they are also the most inquisitive of animals and will no doubt follow you around. If your dog shows signs of tension - growling, barking, or stiffening up - walk away. If you're stuck and feel like you need some support to work through your dog's reaction to your new hens, please reach out for help from our in-house behaviour team. 

When your dog and chickens can happily and safely cohabit, there are treats they can share. Many dogs like fruit such as blueberries or little bits of cheese (just as a special treat!) -  and, guess what, so do chickens! Of course, being sensible, the first few times you scatter food - keep your dog on a lead and only ever allow this supervised. Feed your dog slowly to the mouth to begin with and then on the ground. If you have help, one person could hand feed the hens, if the hens allow, whilst you feed your dog, otherwise scatter food for them at a safe distance.

If you are actually hatching chicks, you can introduce your dog safely when you are handling the chicks whilst you are rearing them indoors. That way your chicks will grow up knowing your dog and by the time they are in their pen your dog will have had many weeks to get used to them.

One point here though - if you will be keeping your poultry in a suburban garden, beware of the attraction of hatching chicks yourself. There is every chance of hatching a high percentage of cockerels. You can’t keep them so what do you do? The breeder is not likely to take them back, so beware. Like dogs and cats, there was a resurgence of backyard chicken keepers during lockdown and people thought how cute for the kids to see them hatch. Sadly it wasn’t only dogs and cats that were subsequently abandoned. If you are permitted to keep a cockerel, the ratio is one per about ten hens and beware, they are very protective of their flock and can therefore be aggressive to anything they consider to be a usurper or predator - including you and your dog!

Introducing your new puppy to your hens

You may already keep chickens and are welcoming a puppy into your family. This was our scenario: we had kept a small flock of up to 5 hens for ten years before our Labradoodle pup Baffi arrived almost six years ago. Puppies are impressionable, inquisitive and adaptable - so with good teaching, this is much easier.

The same initial teaching applies to puppies, but it is usually easier to bring a puppy up alongside your hens. Baffi was smaller than the hens, so they were more confident around him to start. However we had some problems entirely out of our control that really upended our great start and are worth looking at.

Baffi came to us in September, just at the start of a very wet and miserable autumn. So, just as he was spending supervised time off lead with them we hit a period when he barely saw them. The  bad weather was exasperated by several weeks of a UK-wide housing order for chickens because of Avian Flu. It was almost March before he really saw them again, by which time he was a boisterous 8 month old puppy. Firstly, he was now much bigger than them - but also, as a dog triggered by movement, he found them highly stimulating.

We started the teaching over again, but it took a long time to get to where we are today. He doesn’t bother them in their run, in fact he will lie down at the side of the fence. At 5 years old, Baffi is now calm with our girls: he comes with me to get them up every morning whatever the weather (his choice). They get a certain amount of free range time during the warmer months and we have one who is a bit of a 'Houdini' and has escaped the run several times whilst Baffi was in the garden, but he hasn’t given chase despite the commotion! However, I would never leave him with them unsupervised and I think this is generally a wise precaution for anyone to take. I know you may picture dogs and chickens living harmoniously on a farm, but it is an entirely different scenario to your small, enclosed garden.

Avian Flu and other diseases - what are the risks?

Generally it is safe for your dog, after some teaching, to exist happily and healthily alongside your hens supervised, but there are a few other considerations:

For the past few years we have continued to be subjected to 'flock-downs' over the winter months (in 2021/22 it was almost 6 months). Be aware that Avian Bird Flu is a major worldwide concern and isn't likely to be going away, so it seems very much like our winters for the foreseeable future will mean housing orders for our chickens.

Avian Flu is a disease of birds, but last year the RSPCA issued a warning for dog owners walking their dogs. This was especially relevant to spaces containing flocks of wildfowl - such as lakes and beaches. The warning was to be extra vigilant to reduce any potential (but very low) risk to dogs, should they eat faeces or pick up dead birds. Avian flu has been found in seals and foxes. Another major reason for keeping your dogs and poultry separate during high risk Avian Flu periods, is that our dogs enjoy roaming over fields, through puddles and streams - thus, they can easily spread disease on their coats or paws to your chickens. It is important to always adhere to good bio security standards around poultry, but even more so during housing orders. For example, never wear shoes in your poultry run that you would wear outside your garden.

What are other potential diseases to consider? Poultry can transmit diseases such as Salmonella & there could be worms in their droppings. This is the main reason I prefer to keep Baffi and the hens separately and clean up the garden if they have been free ranging. Put your hens' food away at night or keep in a rodent proof feeder. It isn't the chickens that attract rodents, it's availability of food.

Other diseases such as Giardia, it is possible to pick up from eating faeces. Coccidiosis is far less common in transition to dogs, but again not unheard of, if a dog were to eat infected droppings.  Parvovirus is breed specific, so whilst it’s not impossible to spread, it’s rare - again simply be careful not to let your dog eat poultry droppings. It might be worthwhile your puppy having had either their vaccinations or nosodes before introducing them to be safe.

Please don’t let this talk of diseases put you off, in 16 years of chickens we've never had any problems - just make sure your chicken housing is clean - free from damp and draught - and you should have happy, healthy birds.

Hens and dogs may not seem the most compatible teaming but chickens make super garden additions. They are fun and calming to watch. Plus, with proper introductions over time, and careful supervision, your hens and dogs can live happily and safely side by side for you to enjoy.