I need to vent...

[kcan2]

Here's my controversial recipe for accordance of chook and K9.

This worked extremely well for me, and in the course of one afternoon, the hounds realized exactly what was expected of them.

WARNING : Do NOT try this unless you already have excellent control of your K9s, and are not in a condition, or situation to IMMEDIATELY intervene !!! Your mileage may vary !!!

INGREDIENTS :

1 Pack of three adult dogs.

1 Flock of new adult chickens.

One afternoon.

1 mouth full of feathers.

1 Big stick.

1 Booming voice.

1 leash ..... Optional


In a fairly large, confined space, mix alpha dog with chickens, while other K9s are watching. Use leash if desired.

With a heavy hand, employ big stick.

Remove feathers from dogs mouth, while using booming voice.

Rinse, and repeat with other K9s.


If all goes correctly, the consequential K9s will be reluctant to acquire the mouth full of feathers.

If not, employ the big stick, and booming voice until desired consistency is achieved.


Seriously, this was my experience, with my dogs, and literally took about an hour. Once the dogs realized what a tasty treat chicken poop is, they followed them around, and are now best friends, and excellent protectors !

View attachment 2450478
View attachment 2450470

Once the novelty of the poop eating wore off, within a few weeks, it was fairly easy to discourage them from foraging for feces !!! Now they only occasionally partake in this disgusting practice, and just a "look" from me makes them spit, and move along.

No animals were harmed in this exercise.

Ingenious!
The photo of chickens in military formation marching by aforementioned poop-eating dog in complete safety says it all!
I could only wish my personal Booming Voice was more effective in deterring my dogs from consuming all of the chicken's deposits.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I just realized you gave me feedback on multiple areas of my post!! Thank you! The ramp is pretty steep and they are still small so I will see what I can do....maybe I will install an elevator HAHAHA.

I am in sunny southern california. It was 80-90 degrees all september. Luckily bar a few nights it still gets cooler in the evening. The upstairs encloser has a side window with wire and the roofing does allow air to flow out but I am not convinced it would constitute great ventilation. In the summer I may implement a sliding screen door panel in liu of the solid wood panel that is in place right now. Would not be too difficult to construct. Can always add a little vent to the roof area as well. Just trying not to give my fiance too many more projects than I have already given him haha.

Thanks for providing a link to the coop. And I apologize in advance for the novel I'm about to unleash on you. Two things:

1) From the photo, the ramp is really quite steep, like 45 degrees. Other people with this same coop have had the same issue. You'd want it more like 30 degrees. Easiest way is usually to prop up the floor end of the ramp on a cinder block.

2) You want a lot more ventilation (especially as cold won't be an issue for you) - really in hot climates having at least one entire wall in wire is optimal. Best place to add it is the wall that's directly under the run extension roof, depending on how your wind blows.

Also don't know how many chickens you have, but here's the bad news all prefabs: that coop is small, really small. Doing a rough calculation from guesstimating the coop size based on the (insufficient) numbers provided on the listing, the actual coop floor space is around 10.5 sq ft. The nest boxes are NOT usable sq footage and eat up 3.5 sq ft, leaving you with 7 sq ft. You have barely enough space for 2 adult chickens inside - nothing close to the 8-10 chickens they claim it holds.

What I'd recommend thinking about is converting the entire thing into the coop, and adding on a more secure run - a dog kennel for example is a good base structure for a run that you can augment with smaller opening wire for safety.

What I mean by "converting" is: to turn it from 2 small "boxes" (tiny coop above tiny run) into 1 bigger "box" you'll want to remove as much of the inside coop wall as possible, plus the floor. Take out the old roosts too.

Nests might be able to stay as is, or may need to be relocated elsewhere or replaced - depends on the structure of the coop and how things inside stack up once done.

Run a new roost(s) lengthwise across the newly open space. Ideally you’d like 12” per bird but 10” can suffice in many cases.

Board up some of the external wire walls so that the roost area is protected from winds and rain. Do NOT fully cover up all the wire, you need ventilation and natural light, so at the very least a few inches under the roofline should remain open. If your climate allows for it, you can leave entire walls open with just the mesh, or make it convertible for the season by covering up open walls for winter, and then uncovering for summer.

 

[maryhbrock]

So I really just need to get this out because I think many of you will understand this feeling of ultimate frustration I am having right now. Maybe in the process some of you can offer me some sound advice.

Today was the first day my 5.5 week Wyandotte pullets moved into their new coop. They were happy and exploring all day. They did not seem the least bit stressed out by the new sites and sounds of the yard. The thing I did notice is that they had ZERO concept of what the ramp was to get into the part of the coop that has the nesting boxes and closes up. I thought for SURE they would want to explore but they made no attempt to go up there. Half way through the day I put them in the "upstairs" and they seemed to enjoy their time. They actually took a little nap up there and seemed super cozy. I then noticed that they were not LEAVING that part so I moved then back downstairs where their food and water is. At 5:30pm it was dark and not only were they still hanging out but they were wide awake and eating and scratching and such.

At this point I needed to let me two corgis out to go potty and thought it would be good to introduce them and set some boundaries. The corgis were HORRIBLE. The chickens nearly killed themselves flapping all over and COMPELTELY IGNORING the ramp to which they could escape to a more safe feeling area. Long story short I now realize that I will probably not be able to let the dogs into the yard anytime soon without having them INSTANTY be glued to the coop an terrorizing the chickens. I will try to work with them but they are 12 and have a psycho prey drive...not sure how well that will go. Plus I do not want to torture the "girls" in the process. However, silver lining, the girls actually figured out that the dogs could not get in there and they quickly grew some confidence and were willing to stand by the wire and be fairly near the intense sniffing and circling of the devil-dogs, aka, corgis.

I put the dogs inside and decided that I needed to put the girls in the upstairs and close the door since they were making ZERO attempts at it themselves. They were really upset with me and when I finally got them in there and closed the door BOY o BOY did they have a lot to say to me and each other. They were doing their chirp that they do when they are calling for each other and their little trill when they hear crows or danger. The most distressed one actually WANTED me to hold her which is completely out of her nature. I put her in one of the nesting compartments and then moved the other two in with her. They instantly hunkered down with each other but they were just FULL of peeps and chirps and frustration. I LITERALLY had to stroke their backs and sing to them to get them to calm down. I went back out a little after to listen and they are still peeping but more normal peeps, not frantic chirps.

Please tell me what just happened.

I feel like I went from pure joy and happiness to see them in the coop to now I suddenly want to either have them live in my guest room for the rest of their lives OR find them a home with dogs that are less jerks. I am also at a loss as to why they could fly and jump alllllll over the guest room but not get on the ramp to go to a safe, cozy space. What am I doing wrong? Are they too young? Am I too green? Does this just work itself out?

Also, idk why I did not think about this when I got the chickens...but am I going to have to wake up with the sun to let them out of the upstairs part every day so that they will lay eggs eventually or will the sunlight that comes in through the little window they have be enough? I really do not think I can commit to letting them out at that time every day....more like 8 or 9 to be honest.

Ugh. Sorry for the rant and the questions...just feeling deflated and defeated today.

We just LOVE our automatic door opener/closer. Nuff said!

 

[VSP]

So I really just need to get this out because I think many of you will understand this feeling of ultimate frustration I am having right now. Maybe in the process some of you can offer me some sound advice.

Today was the first day my 5.5 week Wyandotte pullets moved into their new coop. They were happy and exploring all day. They did not seem the least bit stressed out by the new sites and sounds of the yard. The thing I did notice is that they had ZERO concept of what the ramp was to get into the part of the coop that has the nesting boxes and closes up. I thought for SURE they would want to explore but they made no attempt to go up there. Half way through the day I put them in the "upstairs" and they seemed to enjoy their time. They actually took a little nap up there and seemed super cozy. I then noticed that they were not LEAVING that part so I moved then back downstairs where their food and water is. At 5:30pm it was dark and not only were they still hanging out but they were wide awake and eating and scratching and such.

At this point I needed to let me two corgis out to go potty and thought it would be good to introduce them and set some boundaries. The corgis were HORRIBLE. The chickens nearly killed themselves flapping all over and COMPELTELY IGNORING the ramp to which they could escape to a more safe feeling area. Long story short I now realize that I will probably not be able to let the dogs into the yard anytime soon without having them INSTANTY be glued to the coop an terrorizing the chickens. I will try to work with them but they are 12 and have a psycho prey drive...not sure how well that will go. Plus I do not want to torture the "girls" in the process. However, silver lining, the girls actually figured out that the dogs could not get in there and they quickly grew some confidence and were willing to stand by the wire and be fairly near the intense sniffing and circling of the devil-dogs, aka, corgis.

I put the dogs inside and decided that I needed to put the girls in the upstairs and close the door since they were making ZERO attempts at it themselves. They were really upset with me and when I finally got them in there and closed the door BOY o BOY did they have a lot to say to me and each other. They were doing their chirp that they do when they are calling for each other and their little trill when they hear crows or danger. The most distressed one actually WANTED me to hold her which is completely out of her nature. I put her in one of the nesting compartments and then moved the other two in with her. They instantly hunkered down with each other but they were just FULL of peeps and chirps and frustration. I LITERALLY had to stroke their backs and sing to them to get them to calm down. I went back out a little after to listen and they are still peeping but more normal peeps, not frantic chirps.

Please tell me what just happened.

I feel like I went from pure joy and happiness to see them in the coop to now I suddenly want to either have them live in my guest room for the rest of their lives OR find them a home with dogs that are less jerks. I am also at a loss as to why they could fly and jump alllllll over the guest room but not get on the ramp to go to a safe, cozy space. What am I doing wrong? Are they too young? Am I too green? Does this just work itself out?

Also, idk why I did not think about this when I got the chickens...but am I going to have to wake up with the sun to let them out of the upstairs part every day so that they will lay eggs eventually or will the sunlight that comes in through the little window they have be enough? I really do not think I can commit to letting them out at that time every day....more like 8 or 9 to be honest.

Ugh. Sorry for the rant and the questions...just feeling deflated and defeated today.

<y dog has a strong chase response to any critter that will move fast. I started her when the chicks were very young. Making her sit in a nearby bed and watch them through glass at first and then a wire pen. It took some diligence, but after a few times of being removed for not staying calm, she go tit. THEN the girls were moved to their coop at 8 weeks old and able to move about and the pup (8 years old) forgot her manners. SO, we never took her out to the coop unless she was on leash and one of us had her under control. If she calmed and just watched them as she used to, she was allowed to be off leash, but was right back on if she acted up in the slightest. The girls are now 7 months old and all behave calmly...I still would NEVER allow the dog in the coop because I know that one sudden burst from even one of the chickens would start an ugly "game of chase." Instinct is strong in some of these breeds. I cannot help on the bigger question as I am a first timer myself. Good luck.

 

[microchick]

I have to agree with @sourland. Hot wire your run. We have 5 red heeler Australian Cattle Dogs who have a prey drive that is on steroids. We also have a brother sister team of border collie mixes who are running a close second.

All 7 of the dogs after touching the hot wire with their wet noses are now convinced that my flock of 40+ chickens are all armed with the highest caliber machine guns that they can hold in their little feathered wings and are capable of inflicting horrible pain on them should they go near that fence.

I have mine at variable heights from several to 7 inches around my entire run. We can walk the cattle dogs by the run on their leads and they will not look at the chickens even if they are standing next to the fence.

Hot wires work and no, they do not do permanent damage to the dogs nor to the chickens should one make contact with it. If I have a bird get out, the first thing I do is unplug the charger because yep, you can get shocked should you touch a chicken that is in contact with the wire. But nope, no permanent damage to me either. I just make up new swear words and return the escapee to the pen.

Don't give up. Keeping chickens is a learning process and we are all still learning.

 

[JLoose]

Thank you so much for adding that. The coop is a two level with a wire enclosed run "downstairs" with a ramp up into the "upstairs" and a sliding door to close them in there. I figured to keep them as safe as possible at night I would close them in a little after dusk as often as I possibly can....is it ok to just leave that open and let them do their own thing even on cold nights in the 20's? and praise the Lord that 8 or 9 is reasonable!

I have a similar coop. I leave the "upstairs" door at the top of the ramp open most of the time. They climb up there to either lay eggs or roost and climb down the ramp to eat or hang out in the attached enclosed run. The run is welded wire on the sides and top (it is only 4' high) and I have an apron of hogwire so predators can't burrow in. This means I don't have to worry at all about predators, and I also don't have to let them in or out. The only time I close the upstairs door is when I'm cleaning out the coop. I don't want the girls to escape when I open the access door so I put them downstairs and block off the entrance to the enclosed coop part. By the way, I too was worried when it took them forever to learn how to go up the ramp. Their food and water were on the ground floor so they didn't starve but I didn't know if they would ever go up there to lay eggs. Now I'm averaging 3 eggs a day from 4 mature hens. I have two more younger ones who aren't laying yet. I'm 70 and this is my first chicken coop. I've learned a lot from this group!

 

[schmedlap]

LOL!! Oh the joys of owning animals!!

Thank you for sharing your experience. Oddly enough I must have woken up on the RIGHT side of the bed today because almost like magic the dogs cared maybe 30% about the chickens. The chickens seemed to have stopped caring almost entirely about the dogs unless they bum rushed one of the sides of the enclosure. My girl, Luna, was more enamored with the big bag of chicken feed than the chickens and my boy, Link, would momentarily forget about the chickens and then suddenly remember they were there and start crying lol. It was a MUCH easier morning though compared to last nights insanity. And I agree! The chickens not reacting and flapping all over the place really seemed to help the dogs drive not kick in.

our 3 year old Doberman loves to sneak up on my girls and bark like heck. she can't get to them. I swear I can almost hear her laughing after they squawk and flap around. we got one of those stop barking things from amazon. supposed to make an ultrasonic noise. so far it's worked pretty good. a lot less barking. she still stands outside the fence and watches them. don't think I would trust her to be alone with them.

 

[DSill]

So I really just need to get this out because I think many of you will understand this feeling of ultimate frustration I am having right now. Maybe in the process some of you can offer me some sound advice.

Today was the first day my 5.5 week Wyandotte pullets moved into their new coop. They were happy and exploring all day. They did not seem the least bit stressed out by the new sites and sounds of the yard. The thing I did notice is that they had ZERO concept of what the ramp was to get into the part of the coop that has the nesting boxes and closes up. I thought for SURE they would want to explore but they made no attempt to go up there. Half way through the day I put them in the "upstairs" and they seemed to enjoy their time. They actually took a little nap up there and seemed super cozy. I then noticed that they were not LEAVING that part so I moved then back downstairs where their food and water is. At 5:30pm it was dark and not only were they still hanging out but they were wide awake and eating and scratching and such.

At this point I needed to let me two corgis out to go potty and thought it would be good to introduce them and set some boundaries. The corgis were HORRIBLE. The chickens nearly killed themselves flapping all over and COMPELTELY IGNORING the ramp to which they could escape to a more safe feeling area. Long story short I now realize that I will probably not be able to let the dogs into the yard anytime soon without having them INSTANTY be glued to the coop an terrorizing the chickens. I will try to work with them but they are 12 and have a psycho prey drive...not sure how well that will go. Plus I do not want to torture the "girls" in the process. However, silver lining, the girls actually figured out that the dogs could not get in there and they quickly grew some confidence and were willing to stand by the wire and be fairly near the intense sniffing and circling of the devil-dogs, aka, corgis.

I put the dogs inside and decided that I needed to put the girls in the upstairs and close the door since they were making ZERO attempts at it themselves. They were really upset with me and when I finally got them in there and closed the door BOY o BOY did they have a lot to say to me and each other. They were doing their chirp that they do when they are calling for each other and their little trill when they hear crows or danger. The most distressed one actually WANTED me to hold her which is completely out of her nature. I put her in one of the nesting compartments and then moved the other two in with her. They instantly hunkered down with each other but they were just FULL of peeps and chirps and frustration. I LITERALLY had to stroke their backs and sing to them to get them to calm down. I went back out a little after to listen and they are still peeping but more normal peeps, not frantic chirps.

Please tell me what just happened.

I feel like I went from pure joy and happiness to see them in the coop to now I suddenly want to either have them live in my guest room for the rest of their lives OR find them a home with dogs that are less jerks. I am also at a loss as to why they could fly and jump alllllll over the guest room but not get on the ramp to go to a safe, cozy space. What am I doing wrong? Are they too young? Am I too green? Does this just work itself out?

Also, idk why I did not think about this when I got the chickens...but am I going to have to wake up with the sun to let them out of the upstairs part every day so that they will lay eggs eventually or will the sunlight that comes in through the little window they have be enough? I really do not think I can commit to letting them out at that time every day....more like 8 or 9 to be honest.

Ugh. Sorry for the rant and the questions...just feeling deflated and defeated today.

Give them time to adjust. They are babies. It took a couple of days for mine to go in and get on their roost on their own. They don’t see well at night and want to be safe inside, up on a roost. Don’t let them sleep in the nest boxes- they poop the whole night. Put some roosts in that can be raised, or easily accessed while they are little.
Keep the dogs away until you can gradually get them used to the chickens. I’ll NEVER let my chickens and my dog near each other without a fence between them. Strong prey drives don’t go away.
I let my hens out into the run about 8:00, only because I’m lazy and it’s cold here. They go in on their own as soon as the sun is down (about 4:15 now) and I go close the pop door. Yours will learn to go inside when it’s dark.

 

[DSill]

I will do even better than that. Here is the link with all the specs

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...NdxbGNL0RNvRgCjMXJ6vdmEYD7hP0bQwaAgDrEALw_wcB

This coop has a really steep ramp, especially for chicks. If there’s any way you can enlarge the run so you can make it less steep, it might help. Plus, they need lots of room so they don’t get bored and start picking at each other.

 

[WTCH Ho Dog]

So I really just need to get this out because I think many of you will understand this feeling of ultimate frustration I am having right now. Maybe in the process some of you can offer me some sound advice.

Today was the first day my 5.5 week Wyandotte pullets moved into their new coop. They were happy and exploring all day. They did not seem the least bit stressed out by the new sites and sounds of the yard. The thing I did notice is that they had ZERO concept of what the ramp was to get into the part of the coop that has the nesting boxes and closes up. I thought for SURE they would want to explore but they made no attempt to go up there. Half way through the day I put them in the "upstairs" and they seemed to enjoy their time. They actually took a little nap up there and seemed super cozy. I then noticed that they were not LEAVING that part so I moved then back downstairs where their food and water is. At 5:30pm it was dark and not only were they still hanging out but they were wide awake and eating and scratching and such.

At this point I needed to let me two corgis out to go potty and thought it would be good to introduce them and set some boundaries. The corgis were HORRIBLE. The chickens nearly killed themselves flapping all over and COMPELTELY IGNORING the ramp to which they could escape to a more safe feeling area. Long story short I now realize that I will probably not be able to let the dogs into the yard anytime soon without having them INSTANTY be glued to the coop an terrorizing the chickens. I will try to work with them but they are 12 and have a psycho prey drive...not sure how well that will go. Plus I do not want to torture the "girls" in the process. However, silver lining, the girls actually figured out that the dogs could not get in there and they quickly grew some confidence and were willing to stand by the wire and be fairly near the intense sniffing and circling of the devil-dogs, aka, corgis.

I put the dogs inside and decided that I needed to put the girls in the upstairs and close the door since they were making ZERO attempts at it themselves. They were really upset with me and when I finally got them in there and closed the door BOY o BOY did they have a lot to say to me and each other. They were doing their chirp that they do when they are calling for each other and their little trill when they hear crows or danger. The most distressed one actually WANTED me to hold her which is completely out of her nature. I put her in one of the nesting compartments and then moved the other two in with her. They instantly hunkered down with each other but they were just FULL of peeps and chirps and frustration. I LITERALLY had to stroke their backs and sing to them to get them to calm down. I went back out a little after to listen and they are still peeping but more normal peeps, not frantic chirps.

Please tell me what just happened.

I feel like I went from pure joy and happiness to see them in the coop to now I suddenly want to either have them live in my guest room for the rest of their lives OR find them a home with dogs that are less jerks. I am also at a loss as to why they could fly and jump alllllll over the guest room but not get on the ramp to go to a safe, cozy space. What am I doing wrong? Are they too young? Am I too green? Does this just work itself out?

Also, idk why I did not think about this when I got the chickens...but am I going to have to wake up with the sun to let them out of the upstairs part every day so that they will lay eggs eventually or will the sunlight that comes in through the little window they have be enough? I really do not think I can commit to letting them out at that time every day....more like 8 or 9 to be honest.

Ugh. Sorry for the rant and the questions...just feeling deflated and defeated today.

I can only imagine.

I can try to help with the dogs, I’ll let the experts deal with the feathered felons, because my coop is just a fenced space in the barn, no structures except nest boxes and open roosts. I used one of the dogs to push them in at night and out in the morning for the first few days until they get the hang of it. As for the dogs, um, okay, Corgis. I’ve worked with a few over the years, funny little critters. I’d suggest starting with food, the GOOD stuff, what we call ‘jackpot’ material. The stuff they’d kill for. If you can do one at a time, that works. If you can’t, well, electric fencing may be the answer. Take dog #1 out on leash. Go just outside the door, but in view of the coop/run. Put dog in a sit-stay. Walk over to the coop/run, and if dog stays, immediately say a word (I used ‘yes’), go back and give a SMALL bit of the jackpot material. If dog breaks stay, say nothing, take leash, go back, and repeat. You’re laying a foundation, not building a house quite yet. Use your word, and your treats, to make a boundary for the dogs. Do this repeatedly, from other places in the area of the coop/run. Make it fun for both of you, or you’ll both hate it. Eventually, hopefully, the dog(s) will see you as far more awesome that the feathers flying around the coop. You want to eventually work up to the dog(s) sitting quietly next to the coop/run, and you call them to you and reward them. But, it’ll take work, because, Corgis.