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| Author | Topic: English setters and chickens |
| Ben |
posted 3/16/07 12:04 AM
My girlfriend and I are considering getting an english setter to join our family along with our cocker spaniel but are unsure whether it would be a suitable breed as we keep free range chickens on our land (not penned in). Does anybody have experience of english setters around chickens or other birds? |
| jan |
posted 3/17/07 9:27 PM
Hi Ben,If you are able to train your spaniel to live with chickens then a Working Setter should not be a problem. It's when they have little experience with chickens the temptation can be .... overwhelming, especially for chickens. |
| Frances |
posted 6/20/07 8:39 AM
I wonder if Ben got his setter. I wouldnt think he would have too much trouble training a setter to live in harmony with chickens. A month or two ago I heard my setter barking in the garden and when I went down to see what her problem was she was sitting int he middle of the lawn with a bluetit chick sitting in front of her and she was clearly barking to get me to do something about the chick. She is a typical setter and will just sit and bark when, as my husband puts it, "she wants it other". She doesnt always know what "other" she wants or should apply but she doesnt like things as they are at that time and she wants a human to change it. |
| Annette |
posted 3/3/08 3:27 PM
Bit late, but... I had 4 ES (3 show and 1 working) plus 3 hens free to wander about the garden. Absolutely no problem (hens are beneath contempt) apart from one show ES who would occasionally leap on a hen to sniff under its wing and its vent .. the hen would stay still and the minute the dog's attention wander, would scuttle off. The only other thing is that the hens would occasionally lay around the garden, which meant a bumper harvest for the dog lucky enough to discover the eggs! |
| Helen |
posted 5/17/08 6:09 PM
also a bit late so you may have found out for yourself by now (!) but our 19 month old setter behaves impecably around our free ranging girls. He hates it if one is apart from the group and does insist on hearding them though! Hope your story worked out well |
| Cathy Crowley |
posted 11/4/09 10:03 AM
Ihave an english setter cross , who has lots of characteristics of a setter. We live in a gereek village and the chickens run free, we have found our dog is interested and curious but no more. On occasions she stuck her head in a bush senting and been shocked when up pops a chicken. |
| Shirley |
posted 11/13/09 3:17 PM
Hi - we have 3 english setters and 1 cocker spaniel at the moment - we have had up to 5 english at a time and we have free range chickens, rabbits and quinea pigs. We also have 4 cats and have never had a problem with them all getting on. Good luck - they are a fantastic kind breed - I am sure you will have no problem if you introduce them all sensibly. Shirley |
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