Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[poachedegg]

We have only had Milly since Tuesday, so is very early days yet. however didn't have this issue with Ruby, so some tips would be gratefully received.

 

Basically Milly is predominantly in the kitchen and dining room during the day which both have french doors into the back garden, she intially barked through the doors at the chickens in the run the first couple of days, but seemed to calm down, until today when we let the chickens out to freerange and basically she went bonkers!

 

So any tips on how to deal with?

[Seagazer]

I had to do a really softly softly approach with Cookie. I always had her on a lead whilst they were out free ranging, I'd sit down with her and I'd try to take her attention away from the girls. Then I let go of the lead but kept it on so I could catch her quickly. It really needs to be done slowly. It took us a couple of months I think, it was summer then so much easier

 

Good luck

[chelsea]

Well, we have just had 2 hours with a dog trainer and it's worked wonders already

 

Skye lunged at anything - she is very movement orientated. You could adopt the same with Milly incase she does go for the chooks. We had a small bottle of fridge cold water and held it up and said "nicely" every time a dog or car passed us - if she lunged out we would give a short sharp squirt in the face of water and then when she had calmed down we would click with the clicker and feed her a small treat. Eventually we were walking past dogs and just showing her the bottle without even squirting!

 

You could do something similar?....

 

Is she used to a crate? I have read to get dogs used to cats is to put them inside the crate and let the cats come near the crate so that the dog can get used to them but cannot touch - maybe this again could be adapted for chickens?

[Snowy]

I have the same problen with Candy As long as the chickens are out she whines at them through the patio door, or scratches the back door to get at them. If we let her into the garden when they are shut in their run, she paces round the run and has even tried digging in (I now KNOW my run is fox proof! ) Ruby will ignore them unless they are actually in the garden together (as we found out the other day when OH accidentally let her into the garden while the chooks were out - luckily the only casualty was a mouthful of poor Cloves tail feathers, and Ruby was so shocked that she'd actually caught one, she just stood there spitting them out! ) It's OK at the moment because it is cold, so they take turns in the garden, but as the weather warms up, we need to nip it in the bud! Anyone got a feisty cockerel I can borrow?

[Space Chick]

Henry needed the squirting with water treatment

 

The funny thing is, when we introduce new girls, he knows and we have to re-train him again

 

I would NEVER trust him off the lead when they are out, but he now doesn't bark, and tends to run in the other direction when they are free-ranging

[poachedegg]

Thanks guys - I will try the water squirter in the house first before we move onto letting her in the garden with them.

 

[Rhapsody]

All my dogs were naturally chook-proof but I had to train Zeus not to snap at the ponies' heels and faces, I did this by tying him up on the yard and letting the horses wander around as I did the mucking out. It desensitised him to their presence and any lunging or barking was pointless and it all very quickly became boring. When I let himn loose finally I had a horsey fly spray handy- citronella in the nose is like a poke in the eye for a dog. Job done.

[Snowy]

All my dogs were naturally chook-proof but I had to train Zeus not to snap at the ponies' heels and faces, I did this by tying him up on the yard and letting the horses wander around as I did the mucking out. It desensitised him to their presence and any lunging or barking was pointless and it all very quickly became boring. When I let himn loose finally I had a horsey fly spray handy- citronella in the nose is like a poke in the eye for a dog. Job done.

Thats what I did with my old terrier, Dennis. He would still chase pigeons off the garden, but just ignored the chooks unless one flapped under his nose. Even then they were quicker than him. I plan to try the same with the spangles once the warmer weather comes and we can be in the garden with them. I tried the water squirter with Candy but she just ignored it