# Poodles and Chickens



## ericwd9 (Jun 13, 2014)

And I thought poodles were "bird dogs"?
Eric


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Wow you have a big flock. Do you sell eggs? I have just four birds (having parted with my rooster just about a year ago), but am buried in eggs anyway right now. We are not supposed to sell eggs in my town, just personal use (fine with me). We also aren't supposed to have more than 8 birds and no roos.

I totally trust Lily with them and even will leave her alone in the yard with them for a few minutes if they are loose and foraging. She has never shown any interest in them, despite being a pretty intense retriever. Peeves would love it if they would let him herd them, but as you may have had happen chickens scatter when dogs pressure them, so he finds them pretty frustrating, but we have trained his leave it around them very heavily. Javelin is very interested in them and needs some more training. Right now I would not leave him in the yard if they were loose.


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## Countryboy (May 16, 2011)

Wow! What an exercise in socialization. As Spock would say... Fascinating!

Well done so far, and best of luck!


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

ericwd9 said:


> And I thought poodles were "bird dogs"?
> Eric


Well, Polly would tell you that if given the chance, she'd be on those chickens like white on rice.  But really, I think she'd just want to chase them and play with them. I don't think she'd hurt them... intentionally. She is an intense watcher of wildlife but we've never let her chase them (or rabbits or birds) so she has to just sit there, muscles stiff, and watch. She even watches birds flying overhead.  
The chickens know the poodles won't hurt them so they aren't afraid and will wander among the dogs without a care. My sister's dog visited recently and tried to herd the chickens and the chickens freaked!!! The roosters were sounding the alarm and all the chickens hid in the bushes! Poor chickens didn't know that dogs could do that.  



lily cd re said:


> Wow you have a big flock. Do you sell eggs? I have just four birds (having parted with my rooster just about a year ago), but am buried in eggs anyway right now. We are not supposed to sell eggs in my town, just personal use (fine with me). We also aren't supposed to have more than 8 birds and no roos.


Yes, we sell the eggs. I'm getting about 3 dozen eggs a day right now! We live in a rural town not far from a big city. We have 2 1/2 acres so luckily we can have a lot of chickens. 
It's a lot to keep up with but we're loving the chickens. They're so much fun to watch and be around. We have 4 roosters and 42 hens. I might try my hand at incubating eggs next week and I have a broody hen so we might be up to our ears in chicks soon.  I can sell any chicks I don't want to keep but I think it'll be really neat to try to hatch our own. 

That's great that Lily is so trustworthy! I'm hoping Polly will get to that point too. Her excitement is what keeps me watchful. Although, when that hen pecked her nose, she just jumped back and yelped. I guess that was a good sign.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I figured you had a larger property than is typical around my area. We only have a total of 1/4 acre including the footprint of the house, deck and out front, so more than the 8 our town allows would be unwieldy, not to mention more eggs than I could cope with.

The only "bad"interaction Lily ever had with any of them was with the roo before he got rehomed. He goosed her on the butt, but she barely noticed since she had a fair amount of coat at that time. He was way to ornery and noisy at all hours, so even though I thought he was extremely handsome and I had a strong attachment to him since my birds were raised by me from hatchlings I had to send him to a better home out east on a real farm.


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## Axeldog (Aug 29, 2014)

That's quite an accomplishment to be able to play fetch with Polly with the chickens roaming around. You have worked really hard to contain that drive in her! 

We live in suburbia, but our neighbors have a few chickens in their backyard. Axel loves to listen to them, and I have no doubt he would love to chase them even more


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## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

My flock is about 30 ish. I call it 22 chickens and 10 silkies (which don't count, LOL)
I haven't taken the puppy out there yet. I am drowning in eggs and just give them away. They are pets. Even the 10 roosters.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

seminolewind, how do all those roosters get along?


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## poofs (Jan 6, 2016)

How much for the quilt?


Beautiful fall colors with the fall border, very nice!


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

poofs said:


> How much for the quilt?
> 
> 
> Beautiful fall colors with the fall border, very nice!


It might look lovely in the picture but it's actually a cheapo Walmart "Better Homes and Gardens" blanket for $20! LOL My mom is an amazing quilter and makes the real deals... but they're too special to put on the ground.


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

Axeldog said:


> That's quite an accomplishment to be able to play fetch with Polly with the chickens roaming around. You have worked really hard to contain that drive in her!
> 
> We live in suburbia, but our neighbors have a few chickens in their backyard. Axel loves to listen to them, and I have no doubt he would love to chase them even more


It was a lot of work to train Polly and I admit I did use the electronic collar in the beginning. I used it on it's lowest setting and only if she moved towards the chickens. I was very careful with it's use and it was very effective. 



seminolewind said:


> My flock is about 30 ish. I call it 22 chickens and 10 silkies (which don't count, LOL)
> I haven't taken the puppy out there yet. I am drowning in eggs and just give them away. They are pets. Even the 10 roosters.


Your flock is beautiful!! Is that a Polish? We have a white polish named "Phyllis Diller" and she's the biggest goofball! I have to regularly trim her crest out of her eyes. I've heard silkies are great broody hens. Do yours go broody often?


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## poofs (Jan 6, 2016)

BeckyM said:


> It might look lovely in the picture but it's actually a cheapo Walmart "Better Homes and Gardens" blanket for $20! LOL My mom is an amazing quilter and makes the real deals... but they're too special to put on the ground.


Ah, that explains why the plaid and striped fabric is so perfectly aligned. I've seen it done, though!


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

Oh what beautiful pictures!!! What a wonderful job you've done with Polly to curb what has to be a natural instinct! I know Molly would love to chase chickens! 

P.S. What beautiful chickens everybody has!!!


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

Oh, how I would love to have chickens. Our city has an ordinance which allows urban chickens, no roosters, 6 per home. Quite a few people have made it work nicely.

I worked for years at a local feed/pet store and we sold chicks, ducklings, turkey chicks, quail, pheasants, guinea hens and any other possible bird that the hatchery had to offer. Many customers ordered the more rare or exotic birds. It was such fun getting the noisy boxes of birdies down at the post office and then unboxing them at the store. 

Iris went to work with me and paid keen attention to all the peeps and quacks coming from the brooders, but if we had them at home she would have tried to make playmates out of them. 

Our store owner took unsold birds to her farm and kept all of us supplied with free fresh eggs. Oh, how I miss those eggs both for eating and baking. Nothing better.

Thank you for sharing your chicken and dog stories as well as pictures.....maybe someday...........

VQ


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

Viking Queen said:


> Oh, how I would love to have chickens. Our city has an ordinance which allows urban chickens, no roosters, 6 per home. Quite a few people have made it work nicely.
> 
> I worked for years at a local feed/pet store and we sold chicks, ducklings, turkey chicks, quail, pheasants, guinea hens and any other possible bird that the hatchery had to offer. Many customers ordered the more rare or exotic birds. It was such fun getting the noisy boxes of birdies down at the post office and then unboxing them at the store.
> 
> ...


That's great that your town allows urban chickens! You should get some!  I loved picking up our baby chicks at the post office last year. I could hear their peeping over the phone when the post master called to say they'd arrived! 

Yes, nothing like fresh eggs!


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## poodlecrazy#1 (Jul 2, 2013)

I have poodles and chickens too! My poodles are smaller than most my chickens so I don't have to worry about them together like you do. Killa and Branna do still have high prey drives and love to chase and help round up the chickens if they get out of the coop. They wouldn't really be able to hurt them though because they are so tiny. I can't wait for my ducks to get bigger so I can start training them to actually herd. Lillycd is right when she says chickens scatter lol. I love my silkies and polish hens, and also have two Blue Andalusians, one the same color as yours and the other lighter with a couple a dark blue splashes. The Andalusians won't come within 5ft of me they are so flighty but they are beautiful birds! 

http://youtu.be/_Nz_xGgpMg4


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## TeamPoodle (Aug 10, 2015)

I'm so jealous of everyone's chickens, I'd love to have some but sadly we're not allowed.


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

poodlecrazy#1 said:


> I have poodles and chickens too! My poodles are smaller than most my chickens so I don't have to worry about them together like you do. Killa and Branna do still have high prey drives and love to chase and help round up the chickens if they get out of the coop. They wouldn't really be able to hurt them though because they are so tiny. I can't wait for my ducks to get bigger so I can start training them to actually herd. Lillycd is right when she says chickens scatter lol. I love my silkies and polish hens, and also have two Blue Andalusians, one the same color as yours and the other lighter with a couple a dark blue splashes. The Andalusians won't come within 5ft of me they are so flighty but they are beautiful birds!
> 
> http://youtu.be/_Nz_xGgpMg4


What a great looking flock of chickens!  I love how the poodles and chickens all get along. Funny about them wanting to herd them.  I want ducks too but just for fun and the eggs. I have 4 Blue Andalusians but 2 are black. It took me forever to figure out what breed the black ones were since they were in a hatchery mix. Mine are pretty friendly but they were in the batch that were handled a lot as babies. My second batch of chicks are much more flighty.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

It is amazing how strongly chickens imprint if they are hand raised, isn't it? I handled all of my birds several times every day when they were in the brooder and also showed them to Lily and Peeves every day during that time. Now I can be out in the yard with Lily and the birds loose foraging and have problems taking steps because everybody is right under my feet.


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## BeckyM (Nov 22, 2013)

lily cd re said:


> It is amazing how strongly chickens imprint if they are hand raised, isn't it? I handled all of my birds several times every day when they were in the brooder and also showed them to Lily and Peeves every day during that time. Now I can be out in the yard with Lily and the birds loose foraging and have problems taking steps because everybody is right under my feet.


How did the dogs do with seeing the new baby chicks. See, I taught Polly to keep her distance and never allowed her to be near them but I wonder if that was a mistake. I wonder if I made them a thing of mystery or something to be afraid of. I was worried that if I showed her it was okay to be near them that she'd think they were playthings.


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## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

Yes, I have Polish, Creveceuors (sp), and Houdans. Polish and Jerseys were my first loves. My Houdans are much calmer than Polish.

If you like hatching eggs, get a few silkie hens. Mine have been known to sit all summer on nothing! A non broody lays an egg and they just roll it underneath them. If one gets up to eat, another silkie steals her spot. The roos are good with even cockerels that are hatched and grow. One of my Houdans cries for me any time I'm outside, and I have to pick her up and rock her. But then she pecks me real hard. If my hand approaches from the front, she attacks it. A psycho, LOL but very snuggly.


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## seminolewind (Mar 11, 2016)

In ny, I had an American eskimo and a pug. A rooster showed up one day to live with the horses. Interesting rooster since I never had one before. After a few years, he decided to jump the fence and be with the dogs. They ran up to him but he just stood there. When all the intro was done, they took naps together. In the morning he would be standing at the patio door waiting for them to come out. Good think he didn't figure out the doggie door yet! 

Then I got a Boston Terrier and the rooster jumped the fence and was almost killed by a terrier. So he never got to come in the backyard again. Since then, I don't care for chickens getting used to my dog because it makes them more vulnerable to other dogs since the chickens become relaxed with dogs. Maybe it's okay for some people.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

BeckyM said:


> How did the dogs do with seeing the new baby chicks. See, I taught Polly to keep her distance and never allowed her to be near them but I wonder if that was a mistake. I wonder if I made them a thing of mystery or something to be afraid of. I was worried that if I showed her it was okay to be near them that she'd think they were playthings.


I always made sure there were two people present, one to handle the dogs and one to handle the chick. We would show one chick at a time with the dog on a sit stay. We would also let the dog look at the chicks in the brood pen with a collar and leash held closely so that an excited jump wouldn't free (or stomp on) baby birds. With Lily I think it made her totally accepting and pretty disinterested in the chickens. With Peeves it made it possible to teach him to pay more attention to us than to the birds once I turned them outside into the coop.

Here is a link to an old thread about training dogs and chickens to coexist well. http://www.poodleforum.com/5-poodle-talk/118209-training-dogs-chickens-chickens-dogs.html

seminolewind I don't let my chickens range if I am not home to keep an eye on things. There are feral cats in my neighborhood and they know the chickens are there since Peeves has warned us and chased them off a few times. There are also too many hungry red-tailed hawks. Since my flock is so small I am personally attached to each of my birds. They are clearly well socialized pets as mush as egg producers. I can't bear the idea of them being eaten when I wasn't there to try to save them.


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