Kayleegator Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 I've got a hankering for a few hens, to add to my urban homestead. I'd most likely keep them penned all the time. I'm sure Kaylee would find them VERY interesting. How can I make this work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepandakom Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Penning them is a good idea. My barnyard is a long way from my house and I occasionally find chickens up near the house. My dogs seem very interested in them when they're on the pasture side of the fence, but haven't bothered the chickens when they have crossed into the yard. This morning actually, I had a hen in the yard. The dogs ignored her and did their own thing. I am planning to get electric net fencing to better control where the chickens go. Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 My chickens free range with a safe house to roost in at night. Chicks are kept in small enclosures that can be moved around the yard until they are big enough to be recognized as chickens (and therefore NOT prey) by the dogs and cats. I do seem to lose some to hawks, but have taught the dogs to leave them alone. If they're penned, you ought not to have a problem, but you might want to consider making something like a "chicken tractor" (Google it for all sorts of plans) so that you can move the pen around your property and let the chickens spread their own brand of fertilizer as they go (and catch all sorts of bugs). Using such a set up will also save you having to clean out the pen on a regular basis (though any attached house will have to be cleaned out regularly). For example, I have a pen attached to the house they roost in, but they are not confined to the pen. If they were confined then I'd need to rake it out regularly so that they weren't living in their own poo. Emily, My former neighbor tried keeping her Delawares behind electronet (poultry net). Once they were able to fly they simply went over it. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms.DaisyDuke Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 I don't have any experience with BC's and chickens, but I am sure you can make it work. We had a lab that was perfectly fine with ours and a catahoula that was good with them and my grannies rabbits (not pets ). Our chickens were couped most of the time with a large fenced area attached (there were just too many of them), but the turkeys and geese we let roam free and the dogs never bothered them. Once they "get" it that they are not prey they should be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixie_Girl Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 I aquired a murderous rooster and two hens from my spare mechanic some time ago. I converted the horse stalls into their pen. After they were here a few weeks, they were allowed to free range. They go everywhere, including around the fenced yard where the dogs are. Because I have an attack rooster, I refuse to go outside the fence without at least Jackson, sometimes Skip too, and my training stick! Hence, I, unlike DH and grandkids, have never been attacked! Jackson works the chickens some, but really finds them quite boring, or else he is afraid of the damn rooster too! As long as he keeps them occupied while I go look for eggs, (one hen lays in the pen, the other lays where ever she happens to be!), I am happy! When the dogs are in the yard, and they have a doggie door so it is quite often and with out me, they ignore the chickens. Holly will sometimes run to the fence barking, but the chickens know she can't get out so they ignore her, and once Holly gets her bark in, she goes about her business. I think if I were to let Holly loose from the yard she would chase the chickens, don't know what else she may do. But, they pretty much have no interrest in them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rebecca, Irena Farm Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Linda, sounds like you and Emily need to get together. You have a chicken who is a killer, and she has a sheep that is a chicken killer! I have no illusions about poultry and my dogs. I've got exactly one dog who doesn't think poultry is KFC on legs. I'm growing out some baby ducks right now and they will start out in a Fort Knox yard until they are ready to go to the pond. We've made enough mistakes to know what is truly dog secure, and what isn't (helpful hint, chicken wire alone truly isn't - hog panels backed with hardware cloth, set on real posts, are a much better choice). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixie_Girl Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 LOL Becca! That would be quite interresting~~~~~~A sheep vs. rooster fight! Hey, intertainment for the get-together! Okay, okay. Probly couldn't catch the dang thing anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepandakom Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 LOL Becca! That would be quite interresting~~~~~~A sheep vs. rooster fight! Hey, intertainment for the get-together! Okay, okay. Probly couldn't catch the dang thing anyway! The day Becca came to my house, I had a ewe kill one of my hens. The hen thought she would lay her egg in the stall I had the ewe and her day old lamb jugged in. The ewe didn't think that was a very good idea. I found the hen dead in the corner of the stall and the lamb sleeping on her egg. Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dixie_Girl Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 Emily, I am very sorry you lost a hen, but I couldn't help but laugh at that story! I guess the lamb thought the egg was it's prize! I don't know what the ewe would do with that murderous rooster though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ItsADogsLyfe Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 I aquired a murderous rooster and two hens from my spare mechanic some time ago. I'd be careful around a mean rooster. I still have a scar on my leg from a rooster attacking me and puncturing my leg with his spur. He even tore a hole in my pants. He lived about 30 seconds after that incident. I wouldn't keep mean roosters after that even if they were nice looking. I raised all kinds of poultry at one time. The meanest I ever had though was a little bantam cochin hen that absolutely hated my toy poodle. She didn't pay any attention to any of the other dogs, but if that poodle came near she would go after him. Guess he was more her size. My dogs were fine around my chickens, but I never left dogs loose if the chickens were out. Seth was a great chicken herding dog. He decided when he was very young and I had no sheep for him to work, that it was his job to keep the chickens in their pen. If they started coming out into the yard he'd go herd them back in. He was great at finding the rogue that would hide when he rounded them all up and put them away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoxgloveBC Posted April 18, 2008 Report Share Posted April 18, 2008 Penning would be a good idea, but naturally they are not always going to stay penned in because they are..well..chickens.. and chickens ALWAYS seem to get loose! I think it would be fine as long as you have a very strong and very quick "Leave it!" I know my trainer has a lot of chickens and one odd day one of her BCs decided she was going to go after one, one chicken is still alive today due to a great "Leave it!" Foxy has been fine with the neighbors free ranging chickens except when I had accidentally said go get em (to something else) and she went wildly chasing after the chickens... my bad..i learned not to ever say that again Other than that, she has been fine around them, but I tend to keep her Chuck It in front of her face when we are at my parents Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClickMeBC Posted April 20, 2008 Report Share Posted April 20, 2008 Our chickens free-range and roost in the coop at night. We are in the process of penning them up, but for reasons other than the dogs' interest in them(we're trying to establish some vegetable and other gardens; the chickens would have them destroyed before anything has sprouted); Quynn, being a border collie, will herd them obsessively until told to "leave it", but never moves to injure, and when called off will ignore them utterly. My two IGs, despite their being sighthounds, rarely show any interest, either, which surprised me when the birds were first introduced. I doubt you'll have too much of a problem unless your dog is highly reactive. If my sighthounds aren't tempted to chase them, then I don't see why a herding breed would be unable to adjust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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