From suburbs to cities, over the last decade, backyard and urban farming has become increasingly popular with families. Whether you enjoy your “small farm” as a simple, stress-relieving hobby or a way to put healthy food on the table – or both – you’ve probably considered getting chickens to add to your menagerie. After all, chickens not only provide an ongoing source of protein (eggs) and, for some farmers, meat, they’re also fun backyard companions. Kids especially love raising chickens and getting to see them grow.

But – wait a second! Before you take new animals into your fold, you’ll want to consider how this will affect your other animals. If you’re a beagle owner you already know that they are both adorable and incredibly stubborn. While getting beagles to accept and get along with your chickens might be a bit challenging, it is not at all impossible.

How to Get Your Beagle to Get Along With Chickens

As I’ve mentioned in our other article about beagles getting along with birds, the biggest hurdle for your pup is getting them to hold back their natural hunting instincts around any types of new pets.

To do this, you are going to have to make introductions and allow the animals to get to know each other. The key is to take it slowly and be patient with both your chickens and your beagle. After all, this is totally new territory for them.

• Introduce your beagle to your chickens

First of all, make your introductions. The ideal way to do this is to allow your beagle to see the chickens without having direct access to them. Put your birds in their coop or in a fenced in area and take your beagle out on a leash to see them. As long as your beagle cannot get to them, allow them to get as close as they like and investigate. You might also consider placing their kennel next to the coop and allowing the animals to inspect each other from there.

Your beagle will have to get used to the sights and smells of chickens and their environment. And, as beagles are hunting dogs – and very vocal ones – their first instinct is probably going to be a lot of barking, growling, and howling. As long as it doesn’t get out of hand, this is fine. You don’t want to allow the beagle to vocalize to the point of making the chickens anxious though. Praise your beagle and give them lots of love as they check out their new feathered friends.

Once you have done this several times, and your dog seems a little less excitable at seeing the chickens, you can try to introduce them from a distance (with no barrier between them) with your beagle on a leash. You want to make sure that the environment is totally controlled and that you would be able to quickly correct your dog, or remove him, if he begins to get aggressive. Remember that your beagle has to fight his natural instincts to regard your chickens as prey. Again, continue to offer your beagle praise as you let him walk around the yard and check out the chickens from afar. If your dog tries to run to the chickens you should correct him, and pull him back. If he approaches slowly, allow him to continue working his way towards them.

• Facilitate time together

After your dog has demonstrated the ability to be around chickens calmly while on a leash, the next step would be to allow your beagle to be in the same area as your chickens in an enclosed area (such as a backyard or a barn) with your supervision.

You will need to stay nearby to correct your beagle if they get aggressive or overly vocal. They will naturally want to run and play with, or chase, the chickens. Again, as long as your chickens do not seem terrified and your dog is having fun and not being overly aggressive, a little bit of this is fine.

If your dog nips or growls at a chicken you should correct them immediately. They need to know that this is not acceptable behavior. Offer lots of positive reinforcement – treats, love and “good boys” for appropriate behavior. You might also want to give your dog a favorite snack or toy after you bring them back in from visiting the chickens, so that they begin to think of visiting with them as a positive experience.

• Test the relationship

Once you feel very confident about your dog’s ability to be around the chickens unsupervised, it’s time to test that theory. You will want to still be nearby where you can supervise and jump in if you are needed, but leave the animals on their own in a large, enclosed space such as your backyard. They will be naturally curious and want to check each other out and that is fine, as long as everyone is getting along.

The best way to get chickens and beagles acclimated to each other as quickly as possible, is to introduce them when they are young. Animals who grow up around each other will form a natural bond and feel protective towards one another.

Eventually, your beagle may even grow protective of your chickens and can help you keep them safe. Beagles are fully capable of having guard dog tendencies, and can be an extra line of defense for your coop.

Risks of Introducing Beagles to Chickens

Now for the bad news about raising chickens and beagles together – and that is, no matter what you do, there is no way that having these kinds of animals together will ever be considered to be one hundred percent safe. You should definitely supervise them together whenever you can or at least check in on the animals from time to time to make sure that everything is going okay. Of course, some beagles will acclimate more quickly and some are gentler than others. In any case, it is important to understand that there is no foolproof way to make this relationship absolutely free of risk.

Dogs have been known to hurt pet chickens, sometimes because they think of them as prey and couldn’t overcome their natural instinct to hunt. But the flip side of that is both dogs and chickens can hurt each other if they get into it. Even innocent play behaviors can result in unfortunate injuries.

You should also remember that chickens are sensitive to stress and that such stress can take a toll on their health. Again, take your cues from the animals and make your beagle back up if you feel like they are scaring the birds. In some cases, more skittish beagles may even be the ones who are afraid of the chickens, and you’ll have to make sure they don’t get too stressed out either.

Lastly, as we mentioned previously, you need to take your time and be patient with the introduction process. Introducing these animals too quickly will cause stress on both sides and you are more likely to have an unpleasant incident when your animals are stressed out.

How to Keep Your Beagles and Chickens Separated

If you have tried all of the above, and neither animal seems particularly pleased with hanging out together, it might be time to acknowledge that a little distance is in order. That’s perfectly okay. It’s not so difficult to simply keep your chickens in the coop when the dog is outside.

But what if your beagle wants to chase and terrorize them around the yard and they are not getting out enough? You may need to come up with alternate plans! Keeping your beagle inside while your chickens are out is one option if they aren’t loose all day long. You can also place your dog in a crate or pen while your chickens are outside.

But the number one thing that you can do to keep your chickens safe from all potential predators – including your beagle – is to purchase or build a very secure coop for your chickens to sleep in and to go in any time that there is no one around to keep an eye on them. A secure coop has a door that closes and latches safely or locks, with some kind of barrier to prevent animals from burrowing or digging under to get inside. This can be as simple as walls that are placed partially underground or putting your coop on top of a base or blocks. Some owners also choose to surround their coop with a dug-in “wall” of concrete blocks.

Final Thoughts

It’s totally possible to own both chickens and dogs, but you as the owner have to understand and mitigate the risks. While there are beagles and chickens that happily get along, and even become friends, that isn’t always the case. A slow introduction gives you the best chances for getting your animals to be friendly to one another, but if that doesn’t happen the way you think it will, you need to have a plan in place to keep the animals separate for the safety of both.

Be sure to give all of your animals lots of love and attention when they are doing well around each other to reinforce their good behavior. If your dog associates good things with their new feathered friends, they are much more likely to continue to exhibit positive behaviors around them.