- Apr 11, 2011
- 41
- 25
- 97
So my dog has always been fine with my chickens...She likes to hide under their coop and watch what they are doing..I looked out the kitchen window one day and she had one by the tail feathers and was shaking the crap out of it. I ran outside screaming and she let go of it and hid under the coop. I thought for sure the chicken was dead. I picked her up and she seemed quite shocked. She just layed there and looked around. I searched her over and found just a small pin hole scratch on her leg which was scabbed over with dry blood in seconds. I held her for a few minutes to make sure she was okay and then put her back in the coop. She was fine. After that, the dog was not allowed outside while the chickens were out...well the kids were outside playing and my 2 year old comes in the house and doesnt shut the door so out runs the dog to the chickens and gets another one. I ran out right after her and it was like I wasnt even there. She ignored me and grabbed another by the tail feathers..She didnt hurt this one, just scared it. It seems as though shes trying to play with them, not hurt them. She is a lab/pointer mix so it seems that if she wanted to hurt them she would. I think she just gets excited about their wings flapping (she is only 6 months old). SOOO my brother was here over the weekend with his huge lab and my nephew didnt know any better and let the chickens out of their coop with ALL 3 dogs out (we were in the back yard at the fire pit). Well then my niece comes running in to me and says that rhody got one of the chickens and they think shes dead. I run outside to find my daughter sitting in the yard holding yet a different chicken and she looks dead. I scoop her up and realize shes not dead but seems as though she is almost dead. I check her over and realize that she lost most of her tail feathers and was soaking wet and muddy. Once I looked a little closer, I realized she was bleeding where most of her feathers got ripped out so I take her and put her with a blanket in my dog kennel. She just laid there. I thought for sure she would die. Then it started raining so we took her in my bedroom and dried her off as best we could and put her in front of the heater. She seemed to love it. I checked on her every half hour or so and she seemed like she was gonna be fine. She ended up sleeping in my room all night in the kennel until I woke up and realized she had JUST pooped and the smell was so bad I had to take her back outside haha. She lived thankfully and the rest of the birds welcomed her back after being gone for a night. We now have decided to put a lock with a key on the coop while my nephew is here since after two times of being told not to let the chickens out, he still didnt get it.