How about you just leaving your chickens alone?

[Folly's place]

Joe, so sorry, Mary

 

[newhamplover]

That is a great old pic.

 

[aart]

Why are you guys so soft on the dogs but callous when it comes to the chickens. A lot of people, currently and even more when you take in account history, eat dogs. Standards are a bit double especially when the majority of visitors on this site are taken into consideration.

The guy ran over his own dog dude, how would you feel??

 

[centrarchid]

The guy ran over his own dog dude, how would you feel??

The same way a person with similar relationship with chicken would feel.

 

[jak2002003]

I was just about to start a thread about this!

Since I let my chickens live a natural 100 percent free range life they are really healthy, reproducing like crazy.. I have a population explosion now!

I have lost no birds for about a year since they live 'wild'. I had about 10 birds and now I have lost count.. but easily over 50... all ages and sexes.

When I kept the birds in the coop.. I had roosters fighting, hens attacking chicks, bad hatch rates, lots of fowl pox and other diseases. It seemed to go from one disease to the next with my flock.. and cost me a lot for medication. I got through so much feed too. The coop was big, well ventilated and dry.. I kept is clean and dusted for mites etc... it was hard work.

I lost many birds to predators when they were in the coop.. The chickens were trapped in the coop and run when a mongoose or dog would break in.. and they were easy to catch and kill with no chance to escape.

I was going to give up keeping them after several months of diseases and predator attacks, 2 costly coop rebuilds and the heartache of nursing sick birds which usually died.

One night I got home late after dark and the coop door had blown shut so the birds could not get inside.

I shone the torch around and spotted them high up in the mango trees.

Ever since that day they live 24 / 7 outside the coop.. and since then I have not had any disease with them.. only one cut its eye.. and that healed with no treatment. None of the roosters (must have about 10 now) are fighting.. the hens are all in perfect feather condition and there are big swarms of different sized chicks running about everywhere.

My feed bill has reduced to next to nothing.. they find most of their own food on my land.. which is a big fruit orchard. I have no coop, feeders or nestboxes to clean out... the chickens drink from the lake.. and I throw feed on the concrete area near the old coop. They nest in their own secret places.. usually under bushes.. sometimes up in the trees in old bird nest.. and even in old flowerpots.

They are really alert to predators.. doing all their natural alarm calls and behaviours.. and I have not lost a single one.. even a tiny chick!

There is plenty of cover for them..dense thorny bushes, log piles, and scrap wood and 'junk'. They have about 100 trees to choose to roost in.. but they always use the same one. The go right up into the top most branches. I am always surprised how very young chickck can scrabble and hop their way up.. I have seen them climbing vertical tree trunks.. grabbing hold of the rough bark with their feet.

Now I have so many of them.. I can afford to loose a few to a snake or mongoose.. and dogs have no chance to catch them now.

I am lucky to live in a hot climate... I would not do this in a place with ice and snow in the winter.

Now I am going to have to decided how to stop them breeding... have to go nest hunting this week!

 

[BBQJOE]

I find this thread interesting, considering I have chickens that were bred in places that the chicken was potentially a family member and village treasure, with close human interaction, and the dogs were just animals that scratched around in the scrap pile to be served for dinner as needed. Imagine a chicken at the table, the village champion, being hand fed a tidbit of dog meat.The only difference is culture. I will say that birds from this genetic background certainly act the part, being much more interactive and social than the regular table birds with an often abrasive demeanor.

I just may be coming back to this post.

 

[varidgerunner]

When both are treated and raised kindly, the chicken will always want to be with other chickens, most dogs will choose the company of humans over their own kind. Dogs are the only species that will take a humans advice as far as where something is as well as will ask for help from humans. I love both species but a chicken is going to look after itself, my dogs will look after me.

You must not have experienced quite all of the types of chickens out there. I have birds that very much prefer my company to that of other chickens, and can learn very well, things like come here, get in the pen. Granted, you will never experience this with birds not selected for close human contact and relationships with a specific handler.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You must not have experienced quite all of the types of chickens out there. I have birds that very much prefer my company to that of other chickens, and can learn very well, things like come here, get in the pen. Granted, you will never experience this with birds not selected for close human contact and relationships with a specific handler.

And you apparently haven't had the same with a dog, especially if you can talk about eating them. I don't eat my chickens nor my dogs, both get to be all they can be.

 

[limited25]

Why are you guys so soft on the dogs but callous when it comes to the chickens. A lot of people, currently and even more when you take in account history, eat dogs. Standards are a bit double especially when the majority of visitors on this site are taken into consideration.

The same way a person with similar relationship with chicken would feel.

Centrarchid, I'm sorry you did not get the condolences you needed when "something" happened to your flock. It appears to me that you have animosity toward certain people here who did not understand the pain you were feeling. You just admitted you understand how Joe feels losing his dog, but wanted to get even with people who did not sympathize with you.

I'm sorry Centrachid that you lost your chickens that you loved. I'm sorry that you feel hurt and now feel like you need to hurt back. I hope you can come to terms with it, and feel like you have friends again.

 

[centrarchid]

Centrarchid, I'm sorry you did not get the condolences you needed when "something" happened to your flock.  It appears to me that you have animosity toward certain people here who did not understand the pain you were feeling.  You just admitted you understand how Joe feels losing his dog, but wanted to get even with people who did not sympathize with you.  

I'm sorry Centrachid that you lost your chickens that you loved.  I'm sorry that you feel hurt and now feel like you need to hurt back.  I hope you can come to terms with it, and feel like you have friends again.

No. That is not the issue.

I keep dogs and chickens. Dogs are all working pets. Most of the chickens are regarded as consumable although some are working pets by any measure that are treated such that living at least a decade is not out of the question. The pet chickens are very well cared for but not loved to death through incompetence the OP alluded to.


The effectively ganging up on the "pet" keepers of chickens as done early in the thread does not sit well.