Wrong house

[mkearsley]

I've got four girls, all different breeds. This winter, I bought straw for their house & coop, and for the dog's house. Since I had extra, I spread some next to my house & covered the area with a tarp to give them a chance to get out of the rain/snow & hang out next to the house, where their dust bath is at. Well, my poor dog has been kicked out of his house! Rather than hide in their covered & protected coop, or their large chicken house, or the protected area next to the house, just a few feet from their house, they run across the back yard, steal my dog's food, & kick him out of his house! Then they proceed to kick out all of the straw in the house. Why do they do this? I've told my dog he needs to bark at them & make them leave his house. I've gone out there in the pouring rain because the poor thing was sitting in a pile of straw outside his house to find the girls were nice & cozy inside. Of course, they have other options, so I took a stick and gently prodded them out of the house so he could get inside.
Even during the summer, the birds like to hide in his house. I almost never find them in their own house unless they're sleeping or laying eggs. Birds are so weird!

 

[WriterofWords]

OH yeah,, my feathered free-loaders bully their protectors Miss Kitty and Pudster horribly. They take their food, thier houses, and I can't convince them they are cats, swat 'em!

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Oh. That happened to us last summer. Turned out their house was infested with mites. We did a cleanout, did a bonfire of all mite infested wooden coop bits, re-did their shed with plastic boxes this time, dusted, washed and dried each bird, dusted each bird, now all is well. We also cleaned and dusted everyplace the birds were going to avoid their infested coop. Now, we inspect each bag of wood shavings and re-apply Poultry and Garden dust (sevin?) with each coop cleaning. Everybody's happy now.

It was a cathartic experience. One I hope to never repeat, but it was definitely a day of cleansing.

I hope your birds are just funny, territorial characters, but its definitely worth a look. For bugs.

 

[WIChookchick]

Perhaps you need to put up a fence so the chickens get the idea where they are supposed to live.
It could lead to a sick dog if you aren't careful...

 

[mkearsley]

Quote:
What do you mean? How would they get him sick? I do treat him for fleas & ticks during most of the year. They free-range throughout the entire back yard, the only fence is around the garden, but that's to keep the dog out, although this summer I'll be regulating their garden time a bit more.

 

[mkearsley]

6chickens in St. Charles :

Oh. That happened to us last summer. Turned out their house was infested with mites. We did a cleanout, did a bonfire of all mite infested wooden coop bits, re-did their shed with plastic boxes this time, dusted, washed and dried each bird, dusted each bird, now all is well. We also cleaned and dusted everyplace the birds were going to avoid their infested coop. Now, we inspect each bag of wood shavings and re-apply Poultry and Garden dust (sevin?) with each coop cleaning. Everybody's happy now.

It was a cathartic experience. One I hope to never repeat, but it was definitely a day of cleansing.

I hope your birds are just funny, territorial characters, but its definitely worth a look. For bugs.

What should I look for with mites? I've noticed what looks like dandruff on my black star & polish hens, could that be mites? I haven't done it lately, but When I changed their bedding, I mixed in some diatomatious earth with it. I haven't done that with the straw, but the dog has the exact same straw in his house as they've got in theirs. Will the DE kill the mites like it does with other insects or are they too small? I'm afraid that if I had to treat as extreme as you did, I'd have to get rid of them, as we really don't have the money to create a new home.

I really hope they're just silly birds.....​