When we decided to get chickens again after nine years we
had to take a lot of things into consideration. One, the original chicken house
was built inside the machine shed (by previous owners) out of chipboard. Even
though this was technically inside, it is not a good idea. It was still exposed
to the elements and the chicken doings so it had been ripped out a few years
ago. Therefore, we had to make a secure, rot-free home for the hens. We decided
to give them the old sheep shed and build a pen for them to go outside in. The meat
birds we built a treated wood pen for in the old barn. They'll only be there a
couple months until they are ready to butcher, and there is plenty of
ventilation for them.
We did not let the chickens roam when they lived in the
machine shed like we did when we lived in Missouri because we are way, way
closer to the road, and I wasn't sure how our Australian shepherd Spot would
handle them. He was cool with cats, but he liked to chase the yard birds
(sparrows, robins, etc.) around bushes, so we figured he would also chase the
chickens. He never was interested in getting them out of their house however,
just going to the door occasionally to make sure (I suppose) they were still
there. Flash forward to our obtaining Chaos, a four-month-old Labrador
retriever, a/k/a a bird dog, a few years later. Spot being older and wiser,
left the chickens alone, but Chaos made it her mission to get those birds. She was
an excellent hunter without really any training. My husband once took on a
company day-hunting trip to a local hunting preserve and he let someone else
borrow her for a while. Their gun misfired and didn't go off and the guy yells
really loud in a booming voice, "Damn!" To her I guess it sounded
like 'blam!' and she took off after the bird she had pointed to. She jumped in
the air and caught the live bird and took it back to the guy. Everyone just
shook their heads as she presented him with the stunned fowl. My husband got
five offers immediately for Chaos. I would have killed him if he has sold her.
However, she really, really wanted my chickens. The door to
the hen house latched with a hook and eye lock. Who knew a dog could unhook it
with their nose? I mean, that should hurt with the sharp point on the hook. She
was not deterred once she figured out she could unlock that door. She opened it
only enough to play Big Bad Wolf and stuck her head in and grabbed the first
unsuspecting hen to waddle by. Poor things never saw it coming. We had many
rounds of "Drop that Bird!" to no avail. We finally had to put a
concrete block in front of the door. Unfortunately, if one was inside cleaning the
pen or feeding the hens or collecting eggs, the door could not be locked. One
winter's day after my husband had plowed the snow up into high banks across the
yard in a sort of Y shape so we could go from the house to the shed or the barn
Chaos decided she was going to get her one of those hens while I was inside
feeding them. The chase was on. I tripped trying to get out of the hen house of
course, so she had a head start. She decided to run circles around the
snow-plowed (now apparently) running track. After several laps of my yelling
for her to give me back my chicken she played 'hide the ostrich' with it and
plunked its entire body, head first, up to its feet into the snow bank and kept
running like she still had it. Apparently she couldn't breathe with a chicken
in her mouth and run at the same time. I
was far enough behind her (because she is very fast when she wants to be) that
I saw her 'hide' the chicken. I pulled the poor bird out of the snow bank and
checked for signs of life and then decided I should probably do that in the hen
house in case it came out of its stunned silence. I wasn't sure it wasn't dead,
except dead chickens usually flop around quite a bit- I had seen it many times
from the ones we either butchered or she had shaken to death like a rag doll
when she stole them. I put the hen down in the house just in time for her wake
up. She got to her feet and staggered around a bit and looked at me like (I kid
you not) 'what the hell happened?' I locked the hen house and re-barricaded it.
Chaos was so into the chase she made at least two more laps before she realized
I wasn't chasing her anymore. She went to retrieve her ill gotten prize only to
discover it was gone. She sniffed around and ended up at my feet. She looked up
me and I looked back down at her. "Yes?" I asked her. Have you ever
seen a dog pout? She pouts. She figured out I found her quarry and put it back.
Yeah, we have a chain and lock system on the chicken pen now.
She can't get that open so she just stares at the hens, licking her lips when
I'm out there.
This morning I was cleaning up the pen with the meat
chickens. They are held in with a large wooden panel attached to the old steel
pipe cow stanchions and gated on the ends with a concrete block wall and the
other with a 4X8 piece of plywood. She cannot get over it or under it or
through it. She paced the entire time by that panel across the stanchions
whining and complaining because she could hear the little chicks squawking
about my cleaning their floor and re-bedding them with wood chips. When I was
done, she stood in my way looking up at me like 'would you give me a chicken
already!' No, I don't think so.
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