But the dogs are waaaaay to interested* in them We're going to do some training with a spray bottle for a while and see if that helps, but you cannot get their attention when they see the chickens. You have to drag them away by the collar. We have a treat jar and usually when you shake it they will come running from anywhere on the property like fools, but it does nothing. It's a little disappointing because they have been near other chickens three times now and took little to no interest at all. We've had them over to the neighbours where the chickens were bok-boking all over the yard and the dogs took no notice. Once when we were walking them we came across a couple escapee chickens on the road and again, they didn't seem to care at all. Maybe it's because these chickens are on our property, I don't know. But hopefully it will calm down over time. For now, they're not allowed into that part of the yard without supervision.
Here is a slightly longer video, that sound right at the start...
The hens came from a 'free range' farm where they likely had lights on 24/7 to keep them laying. So they all laid an egg the first day, 2 laid an egg the second day and 1 laid the third day. Nothing sine then. So we got 7 eggs
Today was the first day that they put themselves away for the night. So hopefully we can start using the automatic door thingy now with a timer. Then we won't have to worry about getting up in time to get let them out or remembering to put them away. Do we have a lazy smiley? Sort of
The precautionary measures announced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) apply to farmers and anyone in England who keeps any birds, even those with a few chickens in their back garden.
Seems a pretty stupid rule to me - so perhaps best honoured in the breach more than the observance?
The precautionary measures announced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) apply to farmers and anyone in England who keeps any birds, even those with a few chickens in their back garden.
Seems a pretty stupid rule to me - so perhaps best honoured in the breach more than the observance?
We hadn't planned on letting them outside the totally enclosed chicken run for a while anyway, so it doesn't make much difference to us. I suppose we'll just keep them in there until this is over. They have a fair bit of room in there anyway, but we like the idea of them clucking around all over the garden so we'll let them out eventually.
Here are some random chicken pics I took today while installing the automatic door mechanism. Now I won't have to get up at super early and let the chickens out
Sat down with my friend this afternoon who has a farm and chickens to plan our combined order. The kid and I are going to get a backyard flock of 9-10 hens: an assortment of Australorps, Barred Plymouth Rocks, and New Hampshire Reds. My friend is also the aggie teacher where I work and she has the whole setup for raising chicks into pullets in her classroom, so we have a great place to keep them when they arrive, far away from George the Cat.