Obsessed With Chooks

[persephone]

Glad the chooks are now part of the pack :)

[Kirislin]

I want to get more chooks, I miss the bug hunting expeditions in my garden and the lovely golden yoked eggs.

[Kuzko]

Having chooks is awesome, but a few days ago we had to get rid of all of ours because apparently you need 500m2 and we only have 475m2

[hankdog]

I'm guessing that was a council decision and not yours?

[Little Gifts]

My mum keeps chooks - silky bantams and frizzle types which spend their days being clucky rather than laying teensy eensy eggs. But she has an animal hating neighbour and he complained to the council because.....wait for it......some of their feathers blew onto his driveway between the dividing fence.

[Guest Wildthing]

My mum keeps chooks - silky bantams and frizzle types which spend their days being clucky rather than laying teensy eensy eggs. But she has an animal hating neighbour and he complained to the council because.....wait for it......some of their feathers blew onto his driveway between the dividing fence.

I can't help but wonder if this man would complain about the native birds droppings or feathers in his yard!!!!! Some years ago, I was advised one person here had complained to the government about the frogs croaking near his property !!!

[hankdog]

Haha I have a creek on my property but I also shove in little water features everywhere. Yes neighbours have complained about the frogs. Also about the native birds that come feed because their dog can stand at the second story window and see them and it makes the dog bark. True story????.

[mornaw]

As a dog rescuer, I hear about issues in this situation very regularly so this is a topic that actually raises my blood pressure somewhat.

What the general population don't realise is that many dogs get beaten, euthanased or dropped to the pound for euthanasia BECAUSE they have killed a chicken.

I've rescued dogs just in the nick of time - beautiful dogs that were expected to live in a garden with free range chickens but killed them and were about to die themselves.

I've spoken to dropkick owners including the man who'd rescued a "lovely dog that I love" 5 years before and suddenly decided it was time to get some free range chickens. Hmmm, surprisingly the dog suddenly killed a couple and he had punished it severely before putting the dog back in the same scenario - guess what? Followed it's instinct again. It was time for the dog to move on he said.

I said what I had to say, in a nice way - that he had very unrealistic expectations that his dog should live with chickens and that it's the chickens that should go. The dog went. Some people don't understand the meaning of love, it's all about what suits at the time.

[mornaw]

Thank you for being a human with a human brain. Thank you for understanding a dog with a dog brain.

[ash1]

As a dog rescuer, I hear about issues in this situation very regularly so this is a topic that actually raises my blood pressure somewhat.

What the general population don't realise is that many dogs get beaten, euthanased or dropped to the pound for euthanasia BECAUSE they have killed a chicken.

I've rescued dogs just in the nick of time - beautiful dogs that were expected to live in a garden with free range chickens but killed them and were about to die themselves.

I've spoken to dropkick owners including the man who'd rescued a "lovely dog that I love" 5 years before and suddenly decided it was time to get some free range chickens. Hmmm, surprisingly the dog suddenly killed a couple and he had punished it severely before putting the dog back in the same scenario - guess what? Followed it's instinct again. It was time for the dog to move on he said.

I said what I had to say, in a nice way - that he had very unrealistic expectations that his dog should live with chickens and that it's the chickens that should go. The dog went. Some people don't understand the meaning of love, it's all about what suits at the time.

There is a solution in between the two and neither the dog/s nor the chook/s have to go. We have chookies and dogs who are chookie hunters. The dogs are okay under supervision, but left unsupervised they will kill.

During the day our chookies live in a very large fenced run (we're on acreage, so their run is a good 1/4 acre in size by itself, but I reckon this would work even on a standard house block, just fence of a portion of your yard). Around 3pm we close the dogs inside the house with a meaty bone or kong, etc, and then let the chookies out to free range. The chooks put themselves to bed at dusk, we go and lock all their houses up and then let the dogs back outside for a good run around.

It's a system that works really well and both dogs and chooks are well used to it - chookies all start lining up at the gate at about 5 to 3, ready to start their afternoon's foraging. The dog's are knackered by the day's escapades and are happy to chew or snooze the late afternoon away until their evening romp.