How To Keep Chickens Out Of Dog Food

Have you ever asked yourself how to keep chickens out of dog food? Here at Secret Life of Homesteaders, we understand the importance of keeping all animals on property happy and healthy, without hurting the budget.

This is why when our chickens started eating all of our livestock guardian dog’s food, we knew we had to find a solution.

While we’re not against some animals sharing their food with other animals on property, giving the chickens all-you-can-eat access to the LGD food was definitely a recipe for disaster – for the birds, for the dog, and for our pocketbooks.

Read on to see how we solved this (extremely frustrating) problem!

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Why Keep Chickens Out Of Dog Food?

Chickens and dogs are both beloved members of the house, but that doesn’t mean they can share everything- including food.

Chickens should not eat dog food for a variety of reasons.

Our top three reasons for keeping the chickens out of the dog food are:

• Cost
• Nutrition
• Food Aggression

 

Cost

First, dog food is expensive! Even before the crazy inflation and rising prices, a good 40lb bag of dog food cost right around $50. On the other hand, a 40lb bag of chicken food cost less than $20, usually closer to $15.

You definitely don’t want to sink that kind of money into your bird feed.

Nutrition

Dog food is specifically designed, well, for dogs! Chickens and dogs have very different nutritional needs and when a chicken eats exclusively dog food, its health will start to decline.

When our free range chickens began eating too much dog food, our deep orange egg yolks turned to a sickly yellow – even paler than storebought eggs. This was the first sign that something was off nutritionally and we needed to investigate.

Food Aggression

When you employ an LGD (livestock guardian dog), you are putting the lives of every animal on your homestead into the paws of a canine. While most LGDs do a great job of keeping their furry (and feathered) charges safe, they certainly cannot do this when hungry!

It is extremely important to keep your LGD full and happy. This gives him the strength he needs to keep working hard, even through harsh conditions. The bad news is when your birds are competing with your dog for that food, you are creating a recipe for disaster.

When your dog is hungry and feels like he has to fight to defend his food, even the best behaved dog has the possibility of experiencing food aggression. You don’t want to have to put your dog in the position of defending his livelihood (his food) from his beloved charges.

For these reasons and more, it is best to keep chickens out of the dog food bowl.

Can Chickens Eat Dog Food?

The short answer is yes, technically chickens can eat dog food. But for the reasons mentioned above, you don’t really want your birds eating your dog’s food, especially long-term.

Dog food will lack the nutritional quality that laying hens and other backyard birds need. Dog food is designed for, well, dogs! Canines!

 

As a quick example, dog food will have a lot more protein than a chicken needs. Dog food is also lacking in calcium that chickens so desperately need.

While your chickens might enjoy your canine’s food, and a little bit here and there won’t be a huge problem, for the most part, you want to discourage your birds from eating your dog’s food.

Our Struggles With Keeping The Birds Out Of The Dog Food

When we discovered our chickens were eating all our dog’s food, we had a heck of a time trying to solve this problem. It seemed like everything we tried backfired!

We tried raising the dog food container. This resulted in either A: the dog food container being unstable and falling over and B: the dog (still a young pup) not being tall enough to reach where the chickens could not.

We also had the problem of the chickens being able to push open the dog food flap (we use a gravity feeder that holds a 40lb bag of dog food so the dog has a steady supply).

Seriously, we spent nearly a month trying to find a solution that was effective for both the birds and the dog. But I am happy to say we finally solved this problem!

How To Keep Chickens Out Of Dog Food

The best way to keep chickens out of dog food is, well, to keep them away from the bowl!

That might sound a bit silly, but it’s really the best solution. If your chickens can’t get to the food, they can’t eat it. Problem solved!

 

Here are a few ways you can keep your dog food safe from your birds.

Solution 1 – Strength

Dogs are significantly stronger than chickens. For this reason, we figured if the amount of pressure needed to open the dog food flap was more than a chicken could handle, but less than a dog could handle, we’d be just fine!

We drilled some screws into the bottom and sides of our dog food container and attached a few little springs (that we just picked up at Tractor Supply). This solved the issue of the birds not being able to open the flap. Unfortunately, our dog (still a pup) couldn’t open it either!

We ended up compromising by removing one spring and leaving the other one attached this made it difficult (though not impossible) for the birds to open the flap. This meant we needed an additional approach.

Solution 2 – Height

We have a pretty good-sized LGD. Even at 4 months old, he was significantly taller than our chickens. So we merely needed to raise the dog food to where the birds could not reach it but the dog could.

This ended up proving to be more difficult than we first thought. Height introduced the problem of stability. We get some pretty intense winds here in Oklahoma and we didn’t want the dog food container falling over (either due to winds or children).

Additionally, we also had the problem of the birds all hovering under the dog while he ate (which was very irritating for him) and/or perching on top of his head while he ate (again, very irritating) so they could fly in the door or pick up any scraps he dropped while eating.

We needed another solution.

Solution 3 – Protection

I began thinking of a way to guard the food against the birds. Then it occurred to me – water! Chickens hate water. So we got ourselves a kiddie pool, stuck the dog food container on some bricks, and put it in the center of the pool.

This way when the birds tried to fly inside the dog food or perch on top of the dog, they’d fall into the water. This also prevented them from just hanging out under the dog while he ate. And our LGD certainly does not mind standing in the water while he’s eating.

So with one spring, a dog food container bungee-corded to a stack of cinder blocks, and the entire setup stuck inside a kiddie pool, we finally had ourselves a chicken-proof dog food set up!

How To Keep Ducks Out Of Dog Food

It’s common knowledge that ducks like water a lot more than chickens. So how would this moat keep the ducks out of the dog food?

Well, it doesn’t. The good news is our ducks don’t have any interest in our dog food so, for now anyways, this is a problem we don’t need to deal with.

Hopefully it stays that way.

The good news is, the dog will continue to grow and we can raise our dog food container even more or even reintroduce that second spring if we really needed to deter the ducks.

 

Now we are back to a happy and healthy homestead!