Has anyone's staffy killed chickens before?

Hello, I'm not sure of anyone can help me, but I'm trying to work out how to train my 3 & a 1/2 year old female staffy from killing chickens. It's not her fault, the first time they were roaming around the backyard, the second time the nephews let the dogs in and the third time (which happened tonight at my MIL's house) the gate wasn't even attached to the fence and was knocked over. I understand it's their natural instinct, but everyone's now saying once they have the taste of blood they'll kill again. She's fine with other dogs, she is a little scared of kids but not the older ones. I got her at 12 weeks from a breeder and she was very timid and shy. I don't think she was socialized with humans while she was growing up. She still is a bit
Timid and shy. I just want to find out if anyone else has had this problem and if it's their normal instinct? They're saying she's ruined now. But I wouldn't dare put her down just because of this
Oh and I'm also expecting in May and am worried how she will be with the baby. We also have a male 4 year old staffy, but his nature is completely different to our girls.TIA

staffy are terriers :(i think most dog will try or have kill another animal at some point in their life, if it's an rats, birds, cats, squirrels or other wild life, these thing happen

Cant really advise as have no experience of this. Why don't you pop along and say hi here, sure someone will be along shortly who can help.   
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

Sorry, as said above it is an instinct - perhaps strong "leave" or "no" to get attention could help, but I know if my two are on the chase their ears tend to switch off!!!

Mrs M wrote:but everyone's now saying once they have the taste of blood they'll kill again.

Well you can tell them they are speaking absolute rubbish, it was prey drive that lead to the first killing and it was prey drive that will drive them to it after that. Some dogs have it to a higher degree than others and its one of the hardest things to overcome being one of the basic instincts.
Humans shaped breeds of dogs for variouse tasks using the prey drive model of which can be broken down into 5 basic sections. 1/ the search 2/the eye stalk 3/ the chase 4/ bite hold 5 /bite kill. example, for a good gun dog (soft mouth) the main elements of the prey model you breed for are 1,3 and 4 for a working terrier its more like 2,3 and 5.
All dogs still retain 1 through 5 but with varying scales of each particular drive. for instance by throwing a ball for your dog you are satisfying one of the most prevelent drive in all dogs, 3 the chase.
My boy has a high scale on all elements and has to be leaded at all times or I'll have fridge full of deer    I've been there a few times too and its never nice seeing your dog kill something. You just have to understand whats going on in his head and try to avoid situations where anything like that can happen.
The worst thing though is that people often misunderstand prey drive and mistake it for agression which it isnt at all. They are two seperate things entirely, even though my boy will yelp and bark like something demented to get to a fox, squirrel or deer he ignores most dogs or play bows them and greets every person like the best friend he hasnt met yet. in fact he is the only dog in the park that will insist of fussing ALL the other owners we meet up with.

my two have killed squirrels and rabbits before, but we take the animals home and they are then eaten by the boys.

My two are very very good hunters, especially chance who has a huge prey drive, and does kill the animal cleanly, so i'm happy for them to especially myxy rabbits, which IMO is cruel to just leave them to starve to death anyway.

All I can add is to echo whats already been said, dogs have prey drive (some more than others) but its totally different from aggression towards other dogs of people. You may always have to keep a close eye to avoid more dead chickens but there is absolutely no reason to fear this leading to any form of aggression   

Great commonsense from Nathan.

You'll just have to keep your dog on a lead Mrs M if there are free-range chickens around. Same as you would if they were sheep.

I can't let my Kuchar off of a nice long lead (because of his excitability and total deafness to recall when under the influence of it), but he will chase squirrels and even try to climb up a tree to get to them!

Ella, ref myxy rabbits. I used to work on a site that had loads of them, and I would catch them (quite easy cos the poor things are blind) and take them to my vet to be put down. They would be a doddle for a dog to catch. Can I ask you if you are happy for a dog to eat what is basically a diseased animal? This is the reason why I never eat rabbit myself.

yes i'm very happy for my dogs to eat myxy rabbits, the disease only affects rabbits, an cannot be transferred to either you or your dog, so there is no issue what so ever, and the rabbit is out of it's misery

There was a dead one on our walk yesterday, and daisy had been sniffing round it before I noticed. I crossed my mind about it not being safe and then I remembered it only affects rabbits!

My main problem is that he will chase deer. Deer will cross roads without a thought and so will marley. 2nd he has phenomenal endurance so would prob be in the next county in the flash of an eye.. and my big worry is stags, protective of the herd with lots of spicky crap sticking out of there head...as tough as he is I dont think he is a match for a infuriated stag in a corner...they are vets bills I could do without. So he stays on lead end of. And to end it all I dont think wildlife should have to put up with it although vermin like squirrels or rabbits are fair game and need controling some of the bigger prey are best left to the professionals.

Lily and Lola got through the fence and attacked the neighbours chickens on 2 occasions luckily they only tore some feathers out. I think it is down to nature and prey drive. It cost me £450 for a stronger fence!   

My collie is lethal to anything small and furry i.e rats,squirrels,rabbits and cats but is totally non aggressive to any dog of any size including rat size Chihuahua's and is a complete softy with any age human so I would not worry about yours transferring its kfc skills towards dogs and humans