Things You Wish You Would Have Known?

[Coop de Grass]

Quote:
They are wonderful!

 

[annabelle08]

Amen to the prefab coop not worth the money or able to withstand and weather.

 

[chickenlindz]

Amen to the prefab coop not worth the money or able to withstand and weather. 

So agree! We bought an outside dog house for $200 to use for ducks and my husband spent probably another $200 to add more wood, additional stain, sealed and painted the roof, added a door, etc... I think it'll now last more than a week outside!

 

[5Sons Coop]

We found a better way to train our chickens. The trick is to make them think it's the environment or karmic justice disciplining them, not you.

Tie something scary but relatively harmless (a stick with plastic bags tied to it comes to mind) on the far end of the porch and run the rope in through a window or door that you can easily see out of but they can't necessarily see into. Then when you see the unwanted behavior (say, being on the patio) yank the string hard, dragging a suddenly moving, large loud object across the porch at terrifying speed! The chickens will freak and scatter. It DOES have to be scary enough to seem like a legitimate threat, and no being gunshy about pulling. If they think they can fake you out be staring the stick down, they need to learn that means getting hit with a stick covered in plastic bags (which should honestly be reasonably harmless). Otherwise your patio is theirs again.

Make it easy to reset by making it a two string system with the other string looped around something at the far end of the porch.

We did something similar to get two sets of new birds in a movable pen to stop fighting. It works well. If we heard the birds squabble we yanked a rope that caused a stick to hit the outside wall of the movable pen. It never touched a bird but it sure did shake the whole pen and spook them. They stopped fighting almost immediately.

I carry a plastic leaf rake until new chicks realize the door is always in the same place. But if I need to get the chickens in quick this works the best.

she is my chicken herder. She knows...

Let's put the ladies to bed (runs to door like Dr. Kevorkian is dropping off a bag of squirrels ).
Push (it is ok to chase the chickens).
Go (looks at me to see where I am pointing) kind of a work in progress.
Around (runs around outside of coop and run like a nut, chickens run inside in fear.)
Tighten it up. (While going around she slows down and pushes the naughty chickens holding tight to run and coop.)
Nail it (pushes chicken with her nose).
Naughty chicken (if one gets out of line she nose bumps it).
DOOR! (Paws stop at the threshold on a dime).

She will do most of these slow and slower everytime I tell her until I say push. She is very easy and careful with young birds.
Punishment for the chickens, if I catch them in the garage or in the one poop free lawn is to meet the dog. I hold the chicken like a football and pet the dog. The dog really doesn't pay any attention to a chicken when I hold it, but the chicken poops a few extra times and is the first in the next night when me and the dog come out the door and say time for bed ladies. She is just a mutt from the pound, but it is so fun to actually have a smart dog for once.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Looks like she is a border collie mix... The perfect mutt for the job!

 

[Coop de Grass]

I carry a plastic leaf rake until new chicks realize the door is always in the same place. But if I need to get the chickens in quick this works the best.



she is my chicken herder. She knows...

Let's put the ladies to bed (runs to door like Dr. Kevorkian is dropping off a bag of squirrels ).
Push (it is ok to chase the chickens).
Go (looks at me to see where I am pointing) kind of a work in progress.
Around (runs around outside of coop and run like a nut, chickens run inside in fear.)
Tighten it up. (While going around she slows down and pushes the naughty chickens holding tight to run and coop.)
Nail it (pushes chicken with her nose).
Naughty chicken (if one gets out of line she nose bumps it).
DOOR! (Paws stop at the threshold on a dime).

She will do most of these slow and slower everytime I tell her until I say push. She is very easy and careful with young birds.
Punishment for the chickens, if I catch them in the garage or in the one poop free lawn is to meet the dog. I hold the chicken like a football and pet the dog. The dog really doesn't pay any attention to a chicken when I hold it, but the chicken poops a few extra times and is the first in the next night when me and the dog come out the door and say time for bed ladies. She is just a mutt from the pound, but it is so fun to actually have a smart dog for once.

Wow! How did you train her?

 

[5Sons Coop]

Wow! How did you train her? 

It is really all her. I just try to remember to use the same commands and use as many as possible to keep her sharp.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I carry a plastic leaf rake until new chicks realize the door is always in the same place. But if I need to get the chickens in quick this works the best.



she is my chicken herder. She knows...

Let's put the ladies to bed (runs to door like Dr. Kevorkian is dropping off a bag of squirrels ).
Push (it is ok to chase the chickens).
Go (looks at me to see where I am pointing) kind of a work in progress.
Around (runs around outside of coop and run like a nut, chickens run inside in fear.)
Tighten it up. (While going around she slows down and pushes the naughty chickens holding tight to run and coop.)
Nail it (pushes chicken with her nose).
Naughty chicken (if one gets out of line she nose bumps it).
DOOR! (Paws stop at the threshold on a dime).

She will do most of these slow and slower everytime I tell her until I say push. She is very easy and careful with young birds.
Punishment for the chickens, if I catch them in the garage or in the one poop free lawn is to meet the dog. I hold the chicken like a football and pet the dog. The dog really doesn't pay any attention to a chicken when I hold it, but the chicken poops a few extra times and is the first in the next night when me and the dog come out the door and say time for bed ladies. She is just a mutt from the pound, but it is so fun to actually have a smart dog for once.

Pound pups are the best! Not all are created equal, but my best dogs have come from the shelter. Thank you for adopting! I have 1 smart dog, and it's a lot of fun to work with her. Her obedience is another story altogether though.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

We were just talking about that last night... I found a potato chip under the kitchen table. Our little dog, Gromit, went to doggie heaven in November. He was 16. He sure did keep the floor clean, and the squirrels and bunnies out of our yard. Now they are having a field day - sorry for the pun! Our 17 year old car, Bella Rose, went kitty heaven last week. We are down to one cat and 12 chooks, and 12 chicks under 3 weeks... The cat, Pixel, is looking very depressed.

I am very sorry for your losses.

I knew I couldn't live without the joy of a dog to greet me every day. It wasn't planned, but 1 month later an abandoned dog at the park adopted me. I cried hard when I was falling in love with her because I felt like I was betraying my boy, Sonny. But I know that wasn't true. At the time he was my best friend, helping me recover from SEVERE depression (I also got treated at that time). The loss was tremendous. Time does not heal all wounds, but it does let the pain fade a little.

There are tons of cats and dogs for adoption at shelters if you are considering getting Pixel a friend. Sounds like you are blessed to have animals that live a long time, it must be a loving home!

Hang in there, best wishes.
~Alyssa

 

[lazy gardener]

Pound pups are the best! Not all are created equal, but my best dogs have come from the shelter. Thank you for adopting! I have 1 smart dog, and it's a lot of fun to work with her. Her obedience is another story altogether though.

Ditto, that. I got my pup in Feb. She's very smart, However, she's stubborn, and she's got too much of a predator instinct in her. She's finally getting better around the cat, but chickens... not so much. I've been working too many hours, and had other issues going on that have limited my work with her. Hoping that the summer will slow down a bit so I can start spending more time with her and chickens.