Potential issues in my yard for Chickens

[Spawn2031]

Hello guys, I am brand new to these forums and wanting to start a flock. (Backstory) I have 2 dogs that, during the spring time, every year get into something that gives them bloody diarrhea from something in my yard. We are near a swamp so I don't know if they are eating g frogs or mushrooms possibly.
My wife REALLY wants to start raising chickens but we are concerned that whatever is effecting the dogs in the spring might effect chickens as well and cause some serious problems with them. I don't know anything about chicken digestion so I figured I'd ask here for some advice on this.

Thank you!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. I would get a fecal float on some fresh dog droppings to look for giardia or other parasites.

 

[Spawn2031]

When it first started happening, we did that, several times actually. The vets could never find anything. After several visits, the only solution they could provide was a probiotic powder which controlled it well enough but there is still something out there in the yard that causing this for them.

I want to set all this stuff up for my wife. Owning chickens has always been a dream of hers but I'd hate to do it only to have them all die from something like this and I have no idea how to find out if it'll effect chickens or not other than to just try and see. That'd be one hell of an expensive expeirament!

 

[Eggcessive]

Well, since you have dogs, they could hurt your chickens. So, you may want to build a coop and make a large run that is predator and dog proof. Build larger that you think you will need. That way they wouldn’t get into anything. My chicken coop and run were outside my yard, and I had 3 chickens at different jump over my 4 foot chainlink fence while free ranging. My golden got each one and played with it, killing one. We had ordered a shock collar, and it only took one shock to train him not to touch or even go near them. Then we were able to have a few chickens in our yard later on, and they lived in a small coop and free ranged without the dogs bothering them. I like to free range, but if you have the dogs and something making them sick, you may want to keep your chickens in a run. Predators can wreak havoc and kill your whole flock in minutes. Use 1/2 inch hardware cloth for your run and to cover all windows.

 

[Spawn2031]

Well, since you have dogs, they could hurt your chickens. So, you may want to build a coop and make a large run that is predator and dog proof. Build larger that you think you will need. That way they wouldn’t get into anything. My chicken coop and run were outside my yard, and I had 3 chickens at different jump over my 4 foot chainlink fence while free ranging. My golden got each one and played with it, killing one. We had ordered a shock collar, and it only took one shock to train him not to touch or even go near them. Then we were able to have a few chickens in our yard later on, and they lived in a small coop and free ranged without the dogs bothering them. I like to free range, but if you have the dogs and something making them sick, you may want to keep your chickens in a run. Predators can wreak havoc and kill your whole flock in minutes. Use 1/2 inch hardware cloth for your run and to cover all windows.

Yeah, I definitely plan on doing just that. Both my dogs have high prey drives so I dont trust them to leave the chickens alone. But it's not the dogs I'm worried about getting them, it's whatever keeps making the dogs sick that I'm worried about getting the chickens. Even more so since it's something that vets can't identify.

 

[Eggcessive]

My dogs run around on 3 acres and have a pond where they have fish, frogs, and huge turtles in summer. They eat crawdads, moles, and pretty much everything that appeals. Can you dogs get hold of any bones?

 

[Spawn2031]

My dogs run around on 3 acres and have a pond where they have fish, frogs, and huge turtles in summer. They eat crawdads, moles, and pretty much everything that appeals. Can you dogs get hold of any bones?

Nope, they sure can't and this has happened with 2 out of 3 dogs. I've tried everything I can to figure this out to know how it might effect chickens.