I just want to say hi to everyone, then I’ll go back to lurking. I’ll be moving to central TN in a couple of years from SW Florida. One of my first things to have there is a few chickens. Just for eggs. I thought I’d feel like an idiot for not wanting to kill and eat something I’ll give a name to, but I see I’m not the only one.
I work from home making computer-generated dollhouse miniatures for the adult collector…and will be doing the same when I move. It is a part-time endeavor that makes living on SS a bit easier. I want a change of lifestyle to a more simpler time, and I want to garden and store/freeze my own vegetables.
I’d far rather care for chickens, and dig in the dirt for exercise than I would invest a thousand bucks in a treadmill where such energy expended rewards me with nothing. My father’s mother was a traditional farm woman (in MO) and from her I learned much practical including how to actually take a live chicken and turn it into dinner…but also learned to appreciate the simple life she lived. As long as I have high-speed Internet, I’ll be content.
I’ve had lots of gardens and am pretty knowledgeable about that and I’ve started the research on my first task of turning into a chicken person and have already gotten some terrific information from the posts I’ve read here so far. I need to read more…but my first question is how to get my three Pug dogs to live happily ever after with the chickens. They are well behaved, and not brave, or aggressive dogs at all…and are extremely well fed. They will be fenced in TN as they are here and a two foot high fence keeps them reliably contained.
It is highly likely that the chickens will be more aggressive than the dogs will be. How high does a chicken fence need to be to keep them away from the dogs until (which may be never) I can be sure they all won’t hurt each other? The hens (no roosters) will have a nice house to live in but I want them to be able to roam some of the day. That’s the goal anyway.
Should I just plan on putting a wire roof on the chicken run so they can’t get out? Chickens are birds…how high can they fly? All I remember from being a kid at Gram’s was that they flapped and fluttered and ran around like chickens…however, at the time that was happening she was chasing down two or three to turn into dinner so I can understand their actions. I just want pets that lay eggs.
So…hi everyone. I’m enjoying your chicken facts, figures, and tales very much.
Terry
On being a chicken mommy who already has Pug kids.
I think you should keep an eye open for a poultry show. Then you can go see all the different size, shapes and colors. I just went to my first and it was so awesome. I prefer bantams myself, but i have both standard and bantams and i love them all. They can all fly, but you can clip their wing and it helps keep them from getting too far. I look at coops online and save the pics of the ones i like for ideas. to cover the run, you can use any kind of garden netting. I used wire, but i wish i had used the netting. They even have a soft plastic-y kind that will last longer. check your d-mail
wendy
I m no expert but having a rooster would help, he will chase away the dogs. The dogs will learn not to mess with the birds.
But like i said i m no expert.
You could do a cattle panel hoop style pen .Very cheap and can be any size . This way the chickens have room to roam and the dogs won't get in . Unless they dig ,but i don't think pugs do that ? dig i mean.
hope it helps
sue
hi. my boyfriend has a bird dog who had killed a chicken before and every time we "tested him out" on other people's chickens he went bananas and acted way too intrigued (by that i mean hungry). i have a wild little mutt from the caribean who also had a chicken killing history. things were looking grim. so i ordered my chicks anyway. while they were in the brooder (cardboard refidge box in cellar) i just kept on telling the dogs that these chicks were MINE. the words "MY CHICKEN" rang through the neighborhood for about two months as my babies grew. by the time they were ready to go outside the dogs had lost all interest. my advice to you would be to try to tell your pugs that those chickies are a part of you, and they don't bite you do they?
as for the chickens hurting the dogs, i feel that one of the most wonderful things about keeping chickens is that there are so many wonderful types and color isn't the only factor. their temperments are so varied breed to breed. everyone has their favorite but i know that my orpington hens are big, hearty, quiet, happy, super layers even in the cold, just all around great, so sweet and tame. they are twice as big as my mothers chinese crested dog and they don't give her a second look. a very live and let live chicken. good luck enjoy.
No, Pugs don't dig...I have one who likes to scrape out a shallow spot in the dirt to lay in but as far as digging out, or in...they don't. Pugs are small, fat, somewhat lethargic house dogs with very little tolerance for heat or cold.
Thanks for the suggestion about the black plastic netting...I actually have some of that. I've had good luck building my own fence panels out of electrical conduit. I measure three feet in at each end, and make a 90 degree bend with a pipe bender (cost about twenty five bucks) and fasten them together at the ends with standard electrical conduit connectors. That makes a panel four feet by about six and a half feet. I cover the pipe panels with wire fencing with zip ties. Another pipe cut in half, and pounded a couple feet into the earth (I have mostly sand here) where the panels join will hold them up nicely. Again, with zip ties. And you can zig-zag the panels in a rough circle and just leave them sitting on the surface with no ground connection. Easy to move, easy to take down. They weigh almost nothing. To make a gate, just leave one side of the panel open and close it with a chain and lock. Keeps my dogs in.
They can be used as panels six feet plus wide, or standing on end as panels four feet wide. They also work well for vertical gardening. I'll use them for my movable chicken run. For the house I'm thinking something pre-made too. For boxes I'm thinking something plastic I can just drill holes in and 'hang' on the wall. Easy to hose out.
I wouldn't worry about your pugs with the chickens. Pugs aren't going to mess with them and neither will the chickens mess with the pugs. A rooster might if the dogs got to close but sounds like that won't be a problem if you don't have a rooster :) Chickens can fly but it takes a lot to fly and most won't except to get up on tree branches or their roost.
If you need ideas for coop designs backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html is a great place for ideas for small/medium/large coops depending on your needs.
Chickens are a lot of fun with eggcelent rewards!
LOL....i have 2 maltese and they run like hell from the chickens. Chickens can be tough.