Hi there! After years of talking about it, but very little actual "planning", we have finally added some chickens to our little farm. We are very excited! It began last Saturday at a flea market when we bought what we were told were a pair of black silkies, a pair of silver silkies and a pair of buff cochins...all approximately 3-4 months old. On the way home, we stopped at our accountants farm who raises laying hens to show her our new family members. She had ordered and raised 3 Polish hens and a Polish rooster that her laying hens had always seemed to pick on, so she offered them to us. We took them too. They just turned 5 months old yesterday.
Here is my concern and please feel free to repost this on the appropriate board because I'm just not sure where it should go to get the best response... We have them in a large stall in our barn right now while we are running chicken wire onto the bull wire in the dry lot where they will be turned out hopefully this weekend. We have 5 dogs and I am scared to death that if any of these chickens were to fly out over the fence that my dogs would kill them. The chicken wire is 36" tall and the bull wire extends another 18" taller than that. I've been reading about clipping their wings but even that makes me nervous, being a new chicken mom and all. Within this enclosure, there is a 8 x 16 coop with nesting boxes and two different heights of roosts for them. Would they want to leave?
Regardless as to what breed of chickens my flea market birds are, my kids and I have gotten very attached to them in a very short time and all of us would be devastated if something were to happen to any of them. Our dogs are sweet, but I just wouldn't trust them not to hurt one since they've never been around chickens before.
Any advice, even where to repost this, would be so helpful! I look forward to meeting you all. I love BYC! There's so much here to learn!
~Shannon
Here is my concern and please feel free to repost this on the appropriate board because I'm just not sure where it should go to get the best response... We have them in a large stall in our barn right now while we are running chicken wire onto the bull wire in the dry lot where they will be turned out hopefully this weekend. We have 5 dogs and I am scared to death that if any of these chickens were to fly out over the fence that my dogs would kill them. The chicken wire is 36" tall and the bull wire extends another 18" taller than that. I've been reading about clipping their wings but even that makes me nervous, being a new chicken mom and all. Within this enclosure, there is a 8 x 16 coop with nesting boxes and two different heights of roosts for them. Would they want to leave?
Regardless as to what breed of chickens my flea market birds are, my kids and I have gotten very attached to them in a very short time and all of us would be devastated if something were to happen to any of them. Our dogs are sweet, but I just wouldn't trust them not to hurt one since they've never been around chickens before.
Any advice, even where to repost this, would be so helpful! I look forward to meeting you all. I love BYC! There's so much here to learn!
~Shannon
