New to all of this

cilginkosucu

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6 Years
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Mar 30, 2013
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Lake Tapps (Seattle), WA
After moving and finally settling in we decided to get chickens and wait to get chicks until we get used to raising adult hens...that didn't work out so well when we ended up buying four day-old chicks: an araucana, Rhode Island red, buff orpington and a welsummer. I am in the process of building a coop for when they're ready to be outside.
Living up around the Seattle-Tacoma area we don't get freezing/snowing winters nor really hot summers and are looking forward to when they can be outside. Two of difficulties are I travel for a living (usually gone during the week) so the rest of my family will be caring for them and our dachshund keeps going crazy when we're holding the chicks and will start to sniff them and almost try to nibble at them to eat them. Do you have an recommendations for this? A very lazy, calm dog, never bites anyone, we're hoping once they get bigger he won't have the same urges.
Anyways, we're looking forward to the lessons and experiences this brings to our family, especially our toddler.
 
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from New Mexico!

Dogs have a tendency to want to go after chickens. The dog has to be trained to behave around them. I have a small maltese and he never stops barking at the chickens. But my birds are kept in an enclosed run, so they never come in contact with each other. I am sure if you checked around in the archives here or posted this question, others may have trained their dogs to leave the chickens alone.

Good luck and welcome to BYC!
 
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The only tip I can give about dogs around chickens is. Don't hold out a chick up for a dog to smell. The dog thinks you are offering him a treat. People are always shocked when the dog grabs the chick. This isn't about you - it's about the endless stories I read on here where people do that over and over. Always have the dog on leash and if he is meet the chickens (thru a fence or cage) if he acts wild to get them, about face and walk away with him.

He can only approach chickens once he is able to settle down and casually look at them. I'm sure others have their better way to help condition a dog - you can probably search for it on BYC.
 
We started our own hen house this year too, I have 16 Buff Orpingtons for my self, and I'm holding onto my Mother in laws 16 until Monday. So 32 little chicks in my dinning room right now, and I just love them! I have a 4 year old lazy lab mix, he gets excited but pretty lazy and pays no mind to our chicks for the time being. That being said the very first batch of chickens my mother in law got he ate 6 of the original 12 in two days, they were about 12 weeks old and had escaped the chain link fence they were behind. I have Labs, which are bird dogs, I'm not taking any chances and not allowing them to be near them at all. Good Luck!!
 
Hello and welcome to BYC
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Glad you joined us!
 

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