- Jan 1, 2015
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Hello Everyone I am brand new to chickens and have not had good luck so far. About 2 years ago I told my husband that I really wanted to get chickens his first reaction was no. We live in Temecula, CA and it is a planned community he thought that they would be too loud, smell and our neighbors would complain. Being as stubborn as I am I got the OK from all my neighbors (with promises of fresh eggs) and started the assault of reasoning with my husband. I gave him loads of information as to why we would benefit from the addition of chickens into our family. After a year of reasoning and at one point begging he gave in. So last spring we searched our a farm and purchased 6 little baby chicks. We also bought a small cage for them to spend the first few months in while we build a coop. We got home and although we lost one baby in the following weeks the rest were growing strong and so much fun to play with. We got our coop built in a few weeks and by the time it was done they were ready to go outside. The first few days were fine but I woke up Easter morning to find that every one of my girls were killed by our two dogs. They had somehow ripped a hole in the chicken wire fence and killed everyone. I was heart broken and I'm not ashamed to say I bawled my eye's out and at one point it could have been called wailing in agony. My amazing husband not only helped me inside but also cleaned up the mess that was my babies. After a few weeks of morning I was convinced that we would try again with some new reinforced fencing and new babies. This time We picked out 3 slightly old chickens and brought them home. I was very worried about leaving them outside so I spent the first two nights staring out the window to watch the dogs. 3 weeks went by and no issues. Just when I was getting comfortable and thinking all was going to be well the dogs strike again. This time they broke the lock and got the cleaning door open. Although I wasn't as heartbroken I still spent the day in tears. It has been almost a year and although I said I would never do it again I am thinking I would like to try chickens again in the spring. I would love any ideas or suggestions you might have to help me. And no I can't get rid of my dogs they are also members of my family.