njoy Hatfield

I remember reading about a man who found himself with a lot of rabbits and no help (during World War II) so he converted a shed, filled it with straw and lots of nesting boxes and plopped in his bunnies. He said it was incredibly easy. He went in a few times a day with food and water and the rabbits hopped right up to him to get their dinners. This made harvesting very easy, too. He'd just pick one up, no fuss, no muss. I guess his weren't very aggressive! He had several bucks and a lot of does. He said the males didn't fight much and the females were fine as long as they had their own nesting boxes. I think he figured he put in about 10 minutes a day on a LOT of rabbits. He mucked out the deep litter twice a year, as I recall.

It would be even easier (and of course healthier) to keep these critters if they had outdoor access to pasture. If I ever keep rabbits, I'll do it this way. I've been spraying LABS on my chickens' deep litter and would do the same with rabbits. Also ferment their feed. I'm doing that with chickens, dogs and sheep, so far.

Thanks, Jiggy. I lived near Sherbrooke at one time. Different climate than here but comparable. We get a bit colder, though!

Excellent. I thought it would work. Thanks.

njoy

Paul said:

"I have huge tracts of time put into the study of consensus, intentional community and communication.  And while most people who travel this path come to the conclusion that consensus is best, my conclusions are different.  My mission is seems simple to me, and sounds awesome to others on first blush - but when it is time to implement, damn near everybody tries to shut me down.  Consensus gives them the tools to shut me down ("dig?  into mother earth?"). "

I have a similar history. Both my dh and I have too many ideas. At first people love us, then it begins to drive them up the wall.  One former friend said, "You are just trying to make me feel stupid". 

I have concluded that some cultures encourage extremely contentious and competitive behavior. Others allow almost no contention and tightly control competition.  Still others have developed weird combinations of the two extremes. All are attempts to control and direction "human nature" because it just doesn't work, naturally. Imho, the species is going to have to evolve quickly or die.

Congratulations on solving your problem.

No one seems to have mentioned electric fencing. Would it be possible to electrify the chicken fence to keep dogs out? Or, for that matter, would an electric fence keep dogs in?

I have one dog who stays home and behaves herself but have recently acquired another who is young and full of beans. Both are obedient, not ordinarily escapers, but I don't think they will listen when the first deer or coyote happens by. In fact, I want them to chase coyotes and other predators. Just not too far.

Also, my dogs love to hunt field mice and the older one has learned how to catch the odd bird and fish.  So they could easily mistake a chicken for easy prey. I am going to raise chickens and feel confident that I can teach them not to eat my chickens but a neighbor's might look like fair game.

Very worrying.

Oops. Confusing, sorry. Yes, I was looking for suggestions about training dogs to protect, not molest, the chickens. I've read quite a bit already and came up with an idea since the last post:

I'm thinking I will put the dead chickens into the freezer for a couple of days before feeding the dogs. This should make it clear to them that their is a difference between a live chicken (to be protected) and a dead, frozen one (to be eaten). I already feed my dogs raw meat and they prefer chicken frozen anyway. Freezing may also help to kill any pathogens in the meat. Not really relevant to my dogs who constantly hunt field mice and must have strong immune systems since they are never sick.

I hope it won't bother anyone that I am going to feed some of my chickens to the dogs. Of course there is ground up chicken (or some other animal) in dry dog food. I've seen videos of how the chickens are killed and believe me my way is a lot kinder.

Click here for a photo of my coy dog who I think looks a lot like Henry:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44652461@N00/1451438266/in/set-72157611622989177/

I'm delighted to have come across Paul's chicken page. I'm going to raise some chickens this spring and will definitely do the paddock thing or as close to it as I can come. I have raised canaries for years and I keep them in a big cage with deep sawdust litter (changed only twice a year) in my kitchen. There is no smell and they are ridiculously healthy. I  feed them a canary seed mixture and as much green leafy veg as they can eat which is at least a good sized romaine lettuce leaf a day. My oldest canary is nearly 12 and he is still chipper and still singing.

I wanted to say to Paul that one of my dogs is the spitting image of your Henry. She is at least half coyote and the rest is German Shepherd. She is a great hunter but very obedient and willing so I am hopeful I can convince her to protect the chickens. We have a lot of coyotes nearby (wolves, too) which means this could be a challenge. Any suggestions would be great.

I'm a newbie here and qualify as "great white north" as I live about half way between the US and Yukon border at 3000 feet above sea level. Actually, I've lived a lot of places in the world and here is good. My DH and I are retired and have bought a small acreage and are looking forward to messing around with chickens, etc.

I hope there are other people from climatically-challenged parts of the world who will suggest what kinds of chickens to raise. We are mostly interested in meat so may not bother overwintering them. We have the space to do the paddock thing.

Cheers!