Chickens: June 2008 Archives

Several people have asked how the dogs and chickens are getting along, and the news is very very good.

A few weeks ago, Goldie had a bout of Kennel Cough, which is basically a dog chest infection. She was very under the weather and spent one afternoon outside with me in the garden, while the chickens were out and about. They all did very well together, and after that, dogs and chickens seemed to reach a certain detente. In part because the dogs realized that chickens produce chicken poop out of their butts, and chicken poop is much better than feathers.

So we get a lot of this:

OK, it's gross. But it's also much less worrying than the dog lunging at the chickens as if to kill them all the time.

Also, the chickens are larger and more able to defend themselves (including the occasional peck on the nose), so the dogs are less inclined to get too close to the pointy end of things.

Last night a predator of some sort got into the chicken yard and ate Debbie. It's my fault for leaving the door to the hutch open: I got complacent about the danger and was leaving the door open so the girls could be out in their yard as soon as they woke up in the morning. Something saw that as an opportunity to get some nice, fresh spring chicken.

So now they are locked up for the night, and with any luck we will not have any more losses. It's a real bummer to go out and see only three little faces in the yard, though.