What breed would you suggest?? Questions

K9 & Ziva (father & daughter) 2 of my JRT's are children treatment dogs & love being around children,
I also know JRT's can live with children & babies as one of my hooligans lives with a family member who now as a 6 year old daughter, at the time Ruby went to live there, the daughter was only 1 year old & Ruby was 11 months old.
But after saying JRT's can live with children I wouldn't trust my Evil One (Dottie) with any child under 12 year old, (Dottie is Ruby's & Ziva's sister)
It all depends on the dogs temperament, its a sad fact that some dogs just don't like young children at all.

Labrador/Springers/Cockers adorable as they are, in fact are all Gun dogs (game dogs) & were specially bred to retrieve/ flush out game birds, I would be very wary in having any type of gun dog that was bred to retrieve/flush out game birds if your thinking of having chickens running about.

WHY !!!! Gun dogs are bred to retrieve and flush LIVE birds they are not bred to KILL birds.

I know plenty of people who have gun dogs and livestock, chickens , ducks, and so on, they have not had any issue to worry over their dogs killing their birds.

I have one friend who has 6 gun dogs, and free roaming chickens, the dogs have never killed any of them.

Gundogs retrieve dead birds, and flush live birds. They don't kill birds usually. With that being said, it's all down to the individual dog. If you raise a puppy around chickens, chances are he will never kill them. He will usually treat them as family. Same with cats etc.

BUT a dog doesn't have to have the intention of killing to be an annoyance to the birds. I saw a Chihuahua that simply liked to chase them around. He was too small to even really hurt them, but he drove them nuts by constantly chasing them and scaring them.

Same as how indoor dogs often chase indoor cats, but have no intentions of hurting them. It's no way for the cat or chickens to have to live, so I can kinda see the point. If he enjoys a chase, it's bad too.

Cockers and Springers flush rather than chase game. Retrievers should remain quiet and steady in the line till sent to retrieve - safety first. A gundog needs to have a soft mouth, so as not to damage the flesh, and any injured 'runners' are retrieved alive for the shooter to despatch.

My friend had chickens, which were going missing one by one. She thought she'd found the culprit when she caught her labrador walking around with feathers sticking out of its mouth, but it turned out the border terrier was doing the killing.

My Chihuahua chases the birds in the garden - some of the pigeons and ducks (we live by a river) are so slow taking off my heart is in my mouth sometimes, but they always manage to get away - just! The ducks will happily waddle around a couple of feet away from the other two. Bogie the spaniel has no interest in any kind of birds other than pheasants.

I would agree if anything I would be more worried about terriers killing , as that's what's in their DNA .

I don't think it was recorded at all, maybe at most as a dog bite, but the breed wasn't ever asked.

Makes you wonder where they get those breed figures from doesn't it?
Hope your hand is getting better now.

Yep, although I wouldn't question that there are probably more bites from Labs with them being so numerous, so it does make sense.

Hand is healing up really well thanks, and Guilty is off to be spayed so am hoping the reduced hormones will help them all settle, although I'll remain vigilant with any food scraps

Another who would suggest a rough or smooth collie, I have them! They are quite aloof with strangers but fiercely loyal to their family, which works well if you don't want a dog falling all over visitors. Great watch dogs, and guard dogs (the lassie persona isn't all that accurate!), can be a bit stubborn when young but generally easy to train, and a dream to live with. They like the sound of their own voices though, but generally they're good with anything and everything. Ours have put up with all shapes and sizes of creatures, they like everything barring cows!

Gundogs should be steady around any game, they're not supposed to randomly chase them

I don't keep chickens myself but my neighbours on both sides have chickens as well as turkeys, geese and guinea fowl that sometimes do "walkabouts" on my land. Apart from a mild curiosity, mainly due I think to the noise they make, neither my Pei nor my Schnauzer show any inclination to chase or catch them. As far as they're concerned poultry and pheasant, along with cows, sheep, horses, deer and goats are just a part of the normal scenery.