chicken challenges – Crack of Dawn Farms

It has been nuts around here. Every time I think we are getting into a rhythm of sorts, it goes haywire.

As I reported earlier, all the critters did admirably well while Ryan and I were gone on our weekend jaunt down to Florida. Then, Tuesday morning, Atlas decided that 4 months old would be a splendid time to go through a regression.

I went downstairs to feed everyone and let the Black Stars out of the coop, and Atlas was laying at the gate with our Red Star between his paws, mouthing at her feathers!

It's a rope! I promise! — It’s a rope! I promise!

It has been a week of correction, crating, and leash time interspersed with times of freedom thinking that all was going to be ok only to have him go back to chasing (and catching!) again. He seems to have decided that it is real fun to catch the “old guard” (Dominique or Red Star) as they come out of their tree roost in the morning. I even caught him stalking them as they started their descent while I was out in the yard one morning!!

Last night, Jerry and I decided to get them and put them in the coop for a week of coop training to get them to where they would roost indoors finally – in hopes that they would seem more “normal” to Atlas again.

That was great, but then I relented and let everyone out this morning. I couldn’t see making the Black Stars stay in all that time when they have been doing what they should. Instead, we limbed the tree that the old guard has been using so that it is a MUCH higher flight to get to the roosting branch.

It was kinda sad watching them pace and cluck at dusk tonight, but they eventually made the decision to sleep indoors (YAY!). The Dominique did make one valiant running leap/flight attempt to reach the limb, but she gave up shortly after that.

Then, it seems as though Atlas decided to try and be a herding dog. He laid quietly by the gate while all the coop entry shenanigans were taking place – up until it was the Dominique’s turn to finally go in, then he was stalking her almost like he was trying to round her up!

I’ll tell ya, I was pretty happy to close that coop door tonight! I am hoping that tomorrow night will be more natural for the old guard to go inside. Now, it is just a mystery what tomorrow will bring. I feel pretty certain I don’t have to worry about any Pyr feather plucking before I get down to the yard at least!

SO…. my question to the masses is… Are there any Great Pyrenees being used as Livestock Guardians that are only protecting chickens??? Does everyone out there also have goats/sheep/etc. to help keep the Pyr company? I’m wondering if Atlas is just lonely/bored. I’m not ready for goats, infrastructure-wise. I guess I could put my boys on shifts to occupy the dog during the day…

Until next time… Here are some pics from around the farm:

: The Black Stars had a fascination with Atlas’ crate area for some reason.

: Penelope even hopped on top for a bit (but no escape so no problem)

: You know it’s Fall when the boys take to raking leaves – unprompted!

: The girls found a nice corner of the yard to dust bathe in.

: Protect the chicks. Protect the chicks. Gotta remember that is my job… NOT PLAY with the chicks!

: This boy LOVES the little ones. He is perfectly at home inside the CamperCoop with the chicks.

: Learning to roost already (but we discovered some motivation from pecking at the window tint… that won’t do!)

: Does Atlas know something I don’t about the forecast?

Sorry for the cliff-hanger, folks! Ever since the night of the missing bird, so much has happened. Where, oh where, to begin?!

Well, I can summarize the past several days with a cartoon. Imagine my livestock guardian-in-training Atlas as the Abominable Snow Man:

I know that he’s just a puppy, and I know that he just wants to play with them. However, his play results in serious chicken damage. Besides, “George” is a crummy name for a hen.

To catch you up, the prodigal hen DID return! Wednesday morning, when I went down to feed the critters, I was SO surprised to see her down in the lower part of the yard. Turns out she was INside the yard, but before I could get to her Atlas had started chasing her up the fence line. By the time I got back in the yard I couldn’t find her. Crazy.

After more searching, it turns out she had taken refuge in the doghouse. She looked like a mere shadow at the back corner. I woke Ryan up and had him come help me since he could actually climb in the dog house.

Penelope the Prodigal Hen taking refuge in the dog house.

Got her out and separated her into a dog crate outside the yard to give her a chance to settle down and relax.

Whew!

Crisis averted. Or so I thought.

When we went out to check on the chickens at their bed time, I couldn’t find her. Finally, she was located under the dog house. (Jerry had let her back in while we were gone to my Mom’s in the afternoon thinking she looked ok.) We had to raise the dog house to get her out, and she was a mess! She had a good patch missing from her neck and her back feathers were seriously plucked.

I was in shock, and I had no idea what to do – in hindsight I should have been more prepared for chicken emergencies. So thankful for another “phone-a-friend”. Elaine talked me through it and I cleaned her up with some peroxide and got her into indoor hospital quarters in the garage. If she made it through the night, she would probably be ok.

That was a rough night. If I was struggling with my chicken-keeper credibility before, now I was really in a mess. I tried to run the next morning, but it just was a walk. I mentally couldn’t handle anything more. I had no idea whether I would go downstairs to a survivor or to having to figure out how to dispose of a dead chicken.

Well, she was alive! And when I cleaned her up I could see that she was truly healing like a champ. Amazing creatures, these!

Things get a little blurry after all the drama with Penelope (yes, in case you’re wondering, the way you get a name in this hen yard is to go through a major trauma and survive). Now we’re at Thursday I think. By the end of that day, I had one more in the infirmary – not as bad though. Just her back feathers plucked pretty good.

It turns out that Atlas was getting INTO the coop via the ramp door. We thought we had made it small enough, but clearly not. His curiosity seems to get the best of him when all of the new chickens are in there, and he goes in and drives them out. In the process of their clucking and fluttering to get away from him, his puppy play gene takes over the protector gene.

After another phone-a-friend to Heather, I decided to use the crate. When I couldn’t be down with a leash to directly supervise his time in the yard, Atlas was going to have to be in the crate. He was NOT happy about this, and when I put him in there Saturday morning he showed me that he can do an excellent imitation of a dog hung in a trap. Sorry dude, not working on me.

We are still crating for now, but he is getting some non-leash time when he can be supervised. Plus, Jerry measured his shoulders and reduced the coop door entry to the point that we are pretty sure he can’t get in now. The chickens did a double take when they got to the door, but they fit just fine.

Atlas figured out the crate is a nice place to store his bone for safe keeping.

I am looking very forward to his next little maturity spurt to match his physical growth. We are at 3 1/2 months and he is getting bigger every day!

This chicken thing is definitely turning out to be much more of a challenge than I ever dreamed. I imagine I got a little over-confident after Atlas was doing so well with the “old guard.” I underestimated the impact the new chickens would have on the dog. I was more worried about how they would interact with the other two.

As for that, imagine two cliques of high school girls that just tolerate being in the same general space. The red one from the old guard is pretty stingy about the feeder under the coop. If she is half way across the yard and notices one of the new hens eating there, she comes on a beeline up to the feeder and they run to some other place to scratch. Nothing violent, just asserting her place in the pecking order.

As we start a new week, I am hopeful that we will find a turning point so that Atlas can start having more freedom while the girls are out and about. I am grateful that the two hens seem to be well on the mend. They are very bedraggled, but they are alive. And perhaps someday they’ll give us eggs 🙂 With all of the chicken drama and a lot of extra curricular activities this past week, we struggled getting all of our school done. Grateful for the flexibility, but now it is time to start getting back on track. I am looking forward to a productive week!! Here are some more photos from the week’s adventures: