- Feb 12, 2012
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I wasn't sure if this question belonged in this section or another, but I recently brought home a new pullet to add to my flock of 5, a small Rhode Island Red. As we suspected, the group didn't take to her really. 3 of them had been raised seperately from the others, and kind of have their own clique, and the other two are much older and definately the leaders, so they're left alone by the group. While the new one wasn't picked on more than usual, it was definately obvious that she wasn't welcome in the clique, and was too young to run with the older ones. We saw this before with our last Red, but when she grew up she was able to assimilate into the group and there was no problem.
What is the problem though, is our dog. Our dog has always been good with our chickens and never has been overly aggressive, except for a few times when he gets jealous of them eating out of our hands and lightly chases them away. For some reason though, he really doesn't seem to like the new pullet. It started just recently, now that she's comfortable enough with us that she'll run over and hop on our laps, or sit on our shoulder. He's not being aggressive per say, but he does keep nudging her and pushing her, and watching her specifically when we hold her. Once I also caught him pinning her down with his nose, which he got yelled at for. Our old red we used to pick up and handle just like this one, and she was just as attatched to us, and he was fine with it. I don't know if it's that she's a loner and different and he senses that, or if she's sick and we don't know it or not. Right now we're keeping him from going outside when we're not there to ensure he doesn't try to get more aggressive, but I hate keeping him in doors like this. Any suggestions on why he might suddenly be like this?
Sorry for the length
What is the problem though, is our dog. Our dog has always been good with our chickens and never has been overly aggressive, except for a few times when he gets jealous of them eating out of our hands and lightly chases them away. For some reason though, he really doesn't seem to like the new pullet. It started just recently, now that she's comfortable enough with us that she'll run over and hop on our laps, or sit on our shoulder. He's not being aggressive per say, but he does keep nudging her and pushing her, and watching her specifically when we hold her. Once I also caught him pinning her down with his nose, which he got yelled at for. Our old red we used to pick up and handle just like this one, and she was just as attatched to us, and he was fine with it. I don't know if it's that she's a loner and different and he senses that, or if she's sick and we don't know it or not. Right now we're keeping him from going outside when we're not there to ensure he doesn't try to get more aggressive, but I hate keeping him in doors like this. Any suggestions on why he might suddenly be like this?
Sorry for the length
