framing fowl -daily living

[Farmfresh]

I even had to buy eggs last week! It is just THAT time of the year. My three hennies usually keep us in eggs and to spare, but while they are in hard molt there are no eggs to be had.

I guess it is a good thing that I was actually shocked by the price of store bought eggs. At $1.59 a dozen for large "prison cage"eggs, it seems like highway robbery. It just means that I buy eggs so seldom I don't keep up on the prices.

 

[framing fowl]

Well, it seems eggs are the least of my worries right now. I don't know what it is with everyone having dog problems but put me on the list. My heart is so heavy this morning...

Our dogs have full access to our crawl space under the house. Friday when I got home, I found out that Cedric (the rooster I want to keep) had wandered under into the crawl space. Who knows what happened but Julie decided that she wanted chicken dinner. Thank goodness DH was Johnny on the Spot and put both dogs in the house and retrieved Cedric. He was traumatized and missing some feathers but seemingly okay.

When I went out to lock them up, he wasn't on the roost and was all hunched up so I brought him in the house. Still couldn't find much wrong with him other than a little bit of blood on his back where the feathers had been ripped out but no punctures. Yesterday he ate a little and drank normally and this morning his appetite is back so I think he'll be okay.

Well, shortly after I had done chores this morning, I heard a noise and looked out to see Julie was attacking Stewie. I raced out there but I was too late to save him. So I've got a chicken eating dog to retrain, or I'm going to have to separate the chickens and the dogs which will be a huge undertaking. I guess the dogs are going to be in the house for a couple of days while I figure out what to do, meanwhile, I've already reserved a copy of the monks of new skete books at the library to see if there is additional info I can glean to help with Julie.

 

[framing fowl]

Well, after having time to think at work today and discussing with DH, we've moved up freezer camp to next Monday. We reevaluated the "why" on having chickens. We originally wanted a few hens for eggs, and the project quickly spiralled out of control. So to rein it in again we've decided to process all of the roosters and not keep any so I'm not tempted to hatch our own eggs. Then when Millicent, the broody is done raising this hatch, we will process her as well (again so I'm not tempted) The remaining hens will be able to be confined this winter in the space that we currently have as we retrain Julie.

Raising our own meat will happen but we can do the necessary research and put together a workable plan between Christmas and New Year (We're both off for a week and a half!!!)

 

[TanksHill]

Sorry to hear about your chickens. My dog is so unpredictable around the birds. Some days he just sits amongst them and watches them peck around. Last week he chased my roo around for about ten minutes. Never caught the poor guy but my rooster was all stressed out at the end of it.

I have heard that it's the chase that excites them. If the chickens aren't running the dog is not interested. Who knows. Good luck with it.

gina

 

[FarmerDenise]

Our dog went after the chickens as a pup. She just wanted to play with them, pull off the fluff and get the squaeker out as she does with all her toys. I was able to train her to leave them alone. She now helps protect the chickens and they even get to eat from her food bowl.
I think part of her learning that the chickens are "family" is that I brought the ones she injured in the house to recuperate. I also used a spray bottle filled with water and squirted her with it, when she got too close to the chickens. This was under well controlled conditions and it only took me about 2-3 weeks to train her.

Good luck wiht your dog and chicken adventure and

 

[FarmerChick]

honestly chickens are on "everything's list to eat"

easy prey

if you wanted just a few hens for eggs....then make yourself a dog proof henhouse for just a few hens.

any wandering chickens are usually just a target for "anything" wanting to eat them. Just the way of life for a chicken!

 

[Beekissed]

I have one dog that didn't need trained and a pup that had never been around chickens. We trained him in one afternoon and it still amuses me that, almost three years later, I can walk out in my back yard and say, "MY chickens!" and he will slink off like he stole somethin'!

I hope Julie retrains well for you....are you going to use any particular method?

 

[big brown horse]

Love your method Bee and I may steal it! "MY chickens!!" I can totally see you doing that too, heck I would cower if you said that to me!

 

[Beekissed]

I think what evoked that much fear was the fact that the training session included me dominating him, while holding a chicken at his throat! He's been sort of freaked out ever since.......

Probably has nightmares that feature a giant rooster bearing him down to the ground while crowing, "MY chickens!"....

 

[Farmfresh]

When I was a kid my family used to raise German Shepherd puppies. We had a sure fire one time chicken training method. When the puppies were big enough to get around pretty well, but still at the toddling stage, each pup had a visit with my standard game rooster. He was big, he would flap and flog and peck and shreik. We would put one pup at a time in with him supervised for about two or three minutes.

Chickens are horrible, huge, mean, dangerous creatures and you should NEVER bother them! Was what the puppy learned in that time. AND they NEVER forgot the lesson, no matter how big they got.