So upset with myself!

[3LilBirds]

I had the first most horrible experience with my chickens and hopefully the last. I had the chickens outside under the top of a rabbit cage with a heavy piece of wood on top. I thought it would be nice to sit outside and watch the babies catch bugs and take dirt baths. Which is something we've been doing everyday for the last week. 5 of them are about 6 weeks and 1 is 4 weeks. I thought I'd get up and get a drink from the kitchen. I was about 15 feet from the chicks. The backyard where the chicks were is right outside the kitchen. The kitchen has a big sliding glass door so I can see out. I took my eyes off of them for a few seconds getting a drink and snack out of the fridge when I hear my two small dogs making a weird noise. There is my Chihuahua mix, Zangar tipping over the cage after knocking off the wood. I yell for him to stop! Penny my Shih Tzu is crouched in a hunt position just waiting. Tweety the 4 week old ran right into Penny's mouth. Then Zang grabbed Mumble. Penny let go when I yelled drop and Tweety still able to move flew right over to me. I scooped her up and then I had to grab Zang by the neck because he wouldn't let go of Mumble. It was all so quick. Thankfully I got Mumble from him. Both seem to be ok. They are eating and drinking. I'm so mad at myself that I didn't even think my dogs would do that! Seriously, what was I thinking, I nearly got my chickens killed! I think I cried for half hour after all was done. It's never a nice thing when you realize that you can't trust your dogs. They haven't tried anything until today. Thanks for letting my get that out. I don't have any friends talk to out here, so I just needed to get that off my chest. All of this made me realize how much I love my little chicks.

 

[Wolftalk]

That was a close call! And no, DOGS ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED!!!!

 

[3LilBirds]

Trust me I will never trust my dogs ever again.

 

[Life is Good!]

What's the difference between a kitten and a chick? The kitten has claws and can defend herself (somewhat) from a dog. A chick only has a beak - and that's no match to that mouthful of canines!

Glad your chicks were NOT harmed. But no - dogs are NOT to be trusted around chicks, unless specificaly bred to do so. My Border Collie, while never seen a chicken nor a sheep in her adult life, wouldn't EVER go near mine. Not when there was a tennis ball around! My lab, sniffs the chickens EVERY time he goes out to pee. He and our rooster have an 'understanding' - only because the rooster is nearly 1/3 of the dog's weight! Big rooster is a good thing! But let me tell you - EVERY time they're both outside, it's a 'discussion' between the fences. That's why I put the fences up. Just as a good fence creates good neighbors - so too with your dogs.

 

[v.cyr]

That was a close call! And no, DOGS ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED!!!!

depends on the dog...my parent's one shepherd(the small female) is the only one of the 4 dogs on my family's farm that I worry about( she has an overly developed hunting instinct... if it is small and runs away, she will chase and kill it...she killed a pair of campbell/swede mix ducks we had a few years back... one more strike and my parents will have to put her down, so we are very very watchful about her when she is out)... the other three(another shepherd, a hound mix and a collie mix) I would trust around my birds, and have had to on a couple of occasions that the chickens have gotten out before I got home... the big male shepherd is the self designated protector of every animal or person on the farm... when they get out, he keeps them from wandering off and keeps the other dogs away until I get home... me and my GF's collie mix just ignores everything about the chickens(except eggs... if she can manage to sneek into the coop, she is an egg stealer, but she leaves the birds themselve be)... the hound mix we were worried about, since hounds tend to have small animal issues, but he is almost as protective as the big shepherd, just with a shorter attention span... he does however, imeadiatly attack and kill any rats, weasels, or other vermin he sees or can sniff out... he is a lot smarter than we usually give him credit for...

 

[Wolftalk]

depends on the dog...my parent's one shepherd(the small female) is the only one of the 4 dogs on my family's farm that I worry about( she has an overly developed hunting instinct... if it is small and runs away, she will chase and kill it...she killed a pair of campbell/swede mix ducks we had a few years back... one more strike and my parents will have to put her down, so we are very very watchful about her when she is out)... the other three(another shepherd, a hound mix and a collie mix) I would trust around my birds, and have had to on a couple of occasions that the chickens have gotten out before I got home... the big male shepherd is the self designated protector of every animal or person on the farm... when they get out, he keeps them from wandering off and keeps the other dogs away until I get home... me and my GF's collie mix just ignores everything about the chickens(except eggs... if she can manage to sneek into the coop, she is an egg stealer, but she leaves the birds themselve be)... the hound mix we were worried about, since hounds tend to have small animal issues, but he is almost as protective as the big shepherd, just with a shorter attention span... he does however, imeadiatly attack and kill any rats, weasels, or other vermin he sees or can sniff out... he is a lot smarter than we usually give him credit for...

Yes I know it does depend on the dog, but I dont trust my dog with them, but as long as he keeps up the good behavior of Not killing my or anyone elses birds he is to be tolarated ....Heres a list of all the things my GS cross dog has killed: 1 Duck, 3 chickens, 1 Bantam Chicken, 2 Guinnnea Hens. + gophers and other rodents...

And right now, he is outside, in no way restrained, next to my free ranging flock, ASLEEP!

 

[Fluffballs]

Oh how scary!

I hope the ladies are OK! Hopefully the dogs will learn a lesson and never do that again!

 

[JiJis hens]

So happy there ok. I know I have little hunters who smack there lips when they see my chicks.