Thanks to you all for the welcome! The Girls are doing well, 3 or 4 eggs daily, and they are training me on what part of my garden I need to grow behind a fence and what I can grow outside the fence. My wife was digging out some garlic the other day and gave them nightcrawlers and now they think they have a Sugar Mama!!
Hi Marty! Welcome from another Portlander (er, Clackamite, if I'm being honest). I'm envious your dogs don't mind your chickens. We have one documented chicken killing dog - an Aussie who has killed two chickens in his life (years ago, not ours). He ignores them in the coop now, but when we first put the coop up he'd dig around the edge or mouth the chicken wire. Our other dog - an Aussie/Gordon setter cross - is an unknown entity so better safe than sorry.
It took a couple of months to work with the dogs. Alot of close supervision. My Rat Terrior [ terrorist] Freddie has killed about 30 rats and a couple of squirlls and to him everything is game. When I first let the chickens out of their run I had him by my side telling him to stay and no chickens!! He stood there perfectly still exept for his right back leg quivering uncontrollably. Now he seems to know that these are Papas chickens and he can't have one. He's great now. Sadie our Golden Retriever doesn't pay them any mind unless they try to get a piece of her cookie. Balto is a young American Eskimo dog my daughter got from the Human Society [my granddog] I was most worried about, he's really quick and agile, but when I finally gave him some space he just kinda herded the girls around the yard. I still don't leave them out together for extended periods but it is nice that we all get along.