New to chickens

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2wheelnurse

2wheelnurse

In the Brooder
5 Years
Sep 5, 2014
20
2
24
Hi! My husband and I recently procured some chickens and I just love them! They are about 4 months old, 6 hens and 1 rooster, bantam Cochin/Old English mix. Right now they have a coop and run, I let them free-range after work and on the weekends when we are home. Never had chickens before, but we have 3 dogs. That has been the biggest challenge thus far, as I have to keep a close eye on the two bigger dogs when we are all outside. I live in Iowa, so winter is going to be the next hurdle to figure out, as I can see we are going to have to do something different with the living arrangements and short days.

I came across BYC when googling various things, such as will my rooster ever crow again after he was scared by the dogs. Clearly there is A LOT to learn!! My husband has more experience with chickens as his grandparents routinely had chickens for meat and eggs. I consider mine more like pets, as they provide a great deal of enjoyment.
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Hopefully we'll see some small bantam-sized eggs soon, which will be a bonus! I'm anxious to glean any tidbits of wisdom the more experienced members of this site have to offer, and learn right along with all of the other newbies!
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Your rooster will crow again after he gets over the shock of being scared by the dogs, but I would be concerned about the dogs. As most BYC members will tell you (many to their sorrow), dogs and chickens do not generally mix well. We see a low of new member introductions that begin with horror stories of their dogs (even small ones like Chihuahuas) slaughtering their chickens when they least expected it. Once a dog begun chasing or killing chickens, it's almost impossible to break him from doing it again. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
 
Michael OShay said:
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided to join our flock. Your rooster will crow again after he gets over the shock of being scared by the dogs, but I would be concerned about the dogs. As most BYC members will tell you (many to their sorrow), dogs and chickens do not generally mix well. We see a low of new member introductions that begin with horror stories of their dogs (even small ones like Chihuahuas) slaughtering their chickens when they least expected it. Once a dog begun chasing or killing chickens, it's almost impossible to break him from doing it again. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck with your flock.
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Sorry for the typo. It should read "a lot of new members. . ."
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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So glad you could join our community! Michael X2 You need to be very careful with the dogs. So many threads here on BYC on how my dogs ate my chickens. So you might keep the dogs locked up at all times when the birds are out free ranging. Or don't let the birds out to free range. Most dogs see chickens as dinner and just don't understand not to chase and hurt them. So just be extremely careful.

Make yourself at home here and welcome to our flock!
 
Sadly chickens + dogs= dead chickens. Yet you never hear of chickens killing dogs.

Most people would be thrilled if their roosters stopped crowing, so that they wouldn't have to rehome them to please neighbors and chicken laws.
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Dogs are one of a chicken's main predators. Some dogs do perfectly well with them but never take them for granted.
 

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