Chickens for back garden

Chickens and Dogs?

I am contemplating investing in an outrageously overprice eglu and keeping a couple of chicken in my back garden in Kimmage.

My main concern about this venture (apart from trying to convince himself indoors!) is that I also have two dogs. Now, omlet.ie (the eglu site) says that chickens can live with dogs, cats, etc. And I'm sure it depends on the dog. But I'd love to hear from anyone with experience as to how feasible it would be to keep chickens and my dogs and still have a happy home (with no dead chickens!)

For info, my dogs are both small mutts, one is like a leggy jack russell and will chase cats but doesn't appear to bite what he chases. He cornered a cat once and just yelped/barked at it in a 'Er, what the heck am I supposed to do now?' sort of way. He seems to treat cats as furry versions of his rubber bone - to be chased, not chewed. He's also getting old now and is arthritic and suffered a spinal injury last year which means that which he can still leg it after his rubber bone, he doesn't corner so well and gets tired quite quickly.

The other is smaller, about the size of a West Highland White. She's fat and lazy and an attention whore. However, last year she killed a mouse (only thing she's chased and/or caught in the five years we've had her, despite having mice infestations - she's useless!) Admittedly a slow-moving heavily pregnant mouse (mouse embryos everywhere). But she doesn't seem to be that pushed about chasing things. The only time she really runs or barks is if she's being defensive (or trying to steal a toy from the other mutt ... b1tch by name, b1tch by nature!)

Another thing is my garden is pretty small. More than enough space for an eglu (though on concrete patio, so will have to lay bark). But the omlet site suggests leaving 8m by 6m. Now my garden is bigger than than that (but not by a lot, about 11 m x 7m) and the space is shared by my shed, patio furniture, a bath (soon to be a water feature), a pond (in a raised bed), a raised bed, many container fruits and veg (to dog-proof them), bins, a water butt and the washing line (well, that takes up air-space more than ground space, but you get the picture - its a small, intensively used garden. Now, the chickens would have the free run of all the garden while we were around (thanks to the dogs we've long-since given up on being precious about the garden) but the rest of the time (i.e. when we're at work) they've be in their eglu while the dogs would be in the garden/garage.

Thoughts and experiences much appreciated.

I saw a guy called Shane Heuston on RTE's Higher ground programme a few weeks ago. He manufactures hand-made wooden chicken coops and bird houses.
According to the RTE website "His plan is to sell them directly to the customer and also to provide the hens. A recent casualty of the recession, Shane has only been in this business for a couple of months, but the business is not moving forward. He is not a farmer but is trying to sell ‘a farming lifestyle’ to the middle classes. Shane has invested his savings into the marketing of his product and setting up a workshop to produce his masterpieces. It is time for Shane to look at his sales techniques and also his workflow & time management."

We should be supporting local producers rather than going to the uk to buy igloos. The company is Chic-hens and the chichen houses are hand crafted and look the business [broken link removed] No affiliation what so ever by the way.

I think they are lovely houses but are overpriced in my mind. They look well made from what I can see of the photo's though.

@builder-ed: I'm all for supporting local producers but it isn't a like-for-like comparison. The eglu is, according to what I've read, minimal maintenance, easy-clean, compact and double-walled (better insulation). A timber product will require additional maintenance (regular treating or the thing will rot to pieces - I speak from experience of my erstwhile wooden patio furniture!) For a very similar price (admitedly too high a price) I'd prefer the more durable, more functional and easier to maintain option.

(BTW, is it just me or is that RTE website quote very patronising to all concerned?)

But back to whether dogs and chickens mix...

We have a springer & he will kill the chickens if he gets a chance ( got some last year) . The fox is a bigger problem , to over come that I bought poultry netting on the internet it is about 1 meter high with an electric controller that send pulses though it like the farmers electric fence. I move the fencing every few days ( more in winter ) & our chickens graze or scratch away at the ground. The dogs will not go within 10 feet of the netting , one shock is enough for them .

coolaboola said:

@builder-ed: I'm all for supporting local producers but it isn't a like-for-like comparison. The eglu is, according to what I've read, minimal maintenance, easy-clean, compact and double-walled (better insulation). A timber product will require additional maintenance (regular treating or the thing will rot to pieces - I speak from experience of my erstwhile wooden patio furniture!) For a very similar price (admitedly too high a price) I'd prefer the more durable, more functional and easier to maintain option.

(BTW, is it just me or is that RTE website quote very patronising to all concerned?)

But back to whether dogs and chickens mix...

Click to expand...

We don't have dogs ourselves, but our garden is surrounded by dogs. A couple have managed to get into the garden. One of them just seems to ignore the hens, but of course we can't be sure if this was just because we were there. The other dog is much younger, a collie, and she kinda went for the hens, barking and rushing at them. At one point (she's been in more than once), she had them cornered beside the patio doors, but didn't go for the kill, thank God. It seemed that she didn't know what to do with them once she had them cornered. The hens were terrified, though, and once we'd chased the dog away, they hid in our living room for a fair while. The risk of mixing hens and dogs isn't just that the dogs might kill them; it's also that the hens will get very frightened, will go off lay, or may even die of shock.

Basically, it depends on the dogs, and it depends on the hens. If the hen is confident enough, she can peck the dog of the nose, and that'll usually take care of it, but as with introducing people, there's always a risk that they'll clash.