Dogs meet chickens

[4 luv of eggs]

I knew it had to happen. They had to meet. This morning when I let the chicks in the run, my two corgis were doing their doggie thing, seeing who'd been there and rolling in unspeakable things to change their perfume. I slipped out of the run, locked the door and stood by and waited. Soon the littlest corgi, Bits had spotted them. Mina was quick to follow suit. They stood side by side with their noses stuck through the chain link. If Bits had a tail it would have been wagged off. The excitement was too much for her and she huffed and pawed the fence. Everyone ran inside except my roo, Locke. He actually came toward them. I was suprised since he's only 7 weeks old. I brought the dogs back inside since they were both running back and forth, the herding instinct too much for them.

This afternoons outing was much like this morning. Dog's memories are pretty good when it involves something that interests them. As soon as Bits approached the run, Locke went into action. He lowered his stance and charged the fence. I was quite shocked to see him do this. Soon the girls realized they were pretty safe and began coming out of the coop and getting closer to the dogs. Locke was at the ready to intercede if anything got dicey. Bits and Mina are both going to have their noses pecked if they don't soon learn chicken etiquette.

I didn't want a roo but now I don't know what to do. He's quite the character and protector. I just hope he's mute.

 

[MeerKat]

Thats why i got rid of our roosters, the noise . I like the roos personality but the crowing even at night sometimes was too much . Plus they had to stay in seperate pens, because they fought until bloody ! I don't like to see anything fight .

Our dogs guard our chic too . One is a blue tic and greyhound mix smartest dog I've ever had . others are aussy sheps and whatever jumped the fence ,wylermanier 'spelling' .

 

[MissJenny]

My chicks are in a plexi-glass brooder -- mostly so I can see them, but the side benefit is that the dogs can see them too. I'm thinking it will be a big help once the two species meet. At first the dogs were all beside themselves and excited -- even as the chicks started to grow. The chicks would jump and the dogs would jump. My dogs are 11 and 9 years old and fairly well behaved... still I was worried that they'd get too excited and hurt the chicks. But now the dogs are much calmer when passing the brooder -- not getting excitedm not pawing. If one of the chicks jumps, the dogs just raise an eyebrow.

I hope yours do real well should they come face to face sans fence!

Jenny

 

[4 luv of eggs]

Thanks Jenny, I hope so too. These were city dogs until 2 1/2 years ago. We live on a horse trail now and the first time the one saw a horse, she hurled herself at the sliding door to get in. I do worry about the inevitable meeting. Corgis are quite stubborn dogs.

I do have a home for the rooster. The only catch is that I have to take two ducklings in the trade.