Chickens in the Garden
In the Brooder
Hello, I just joined this group after purchasing six Lohmann Browns that I will be picking up at our local feed store in early April. These chickens will be about 12 or 14 weeks old, so I will not need to start out from the chick stage. I have not raised chickens since I was growing up on the family farm so this will be interesting. I am repurposing my adult daughter's large and now vacant bunny enclosure behind the house, which has been vacant for a number of years now. The enclosure kept the rabbits safe from predators and has wire over the top, so chickens should be safe there. My carpenter son-in-law is going to help me build a coop inside the enclosure for the chickens.
I have four large dogs that are all rescues and would like some advice on getting them to 'bond' with the chickens and hopefully accept free range chickens in the yard later this year. Two of the largest dogs were bred to be working sheep dogs, one is a still active senior citizen at 13 years of age and the fourth one is always by my side wherever I go and seems to have the most patience for younger critters.
I live on an acreage located northwest of Calgary, Alberta in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. We can get some rough winters here and the temperatures around Christmas were down to minus 35 and minus 40 Celsius (which is also minus 40 on the Fahrenheit scale). But when the chinook winds blow out of the SW, our temperatures can climb pretty quickly. Our weather since mid-January has been much warmer than our 'normal' winters and this week, Sunday's daytime high forecast is 16 Celsius which is 60.8 F. Getting worried that some shrubs will start budding and then get caught if the weather turns back cold again. Last summer was dry and hot here, so we would all really like to see more snow and moisture before spring really gets rolling.
Bye for now.
I have four large dogs that are all rescues and would like some advice on getting them to 'bond' with the chickens and hopefully accept free range chickens in the yard later this year. Two of the largest dogs were bred to be working sheep dogs, one is a still active senior citizen at 13 years of age and the fourth one is always by my side wherever I go and seems to have the most patience for younger critters.
I live on an acreage located northwest of Calgary, Alberta in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. We can get some rough winters here and the temperatures around Christmas were down to minus 35 and minus 40 Celsius (which is also minus 40 on the Fahrenheit scale). But when the chinook winds blow out of the SW, our temperatures can climb pretty quickly. Our weather since mid-January has been much warmer than our 'normal' winters and this week, Sunday's daytime high forecast is 16 Celsius which is 60.8 F. Getting worried that some shrubs will start budding and then get caught if the weather turns back cold again. Last summer was dry and hot here, so we would all really like to see more snow and moisture before spring really gets rolling.
Bye for now.
Glad you joined.
