A day that starts with dogs sleeping is a good day. Takuma 拓真 and Ena 枝那 are napping after hunting rabbits for several hours at the crack of dawn. While we snoozed, they were on the prowl.
A day with tomatillo flowers is a good day. Tomatillos are worth growing for their unusual blooms.
A day when a mother hen and her chick check to see what you are doing in the hoop house is a good day. They are hoping I’ll do something that will stir up some worms.
Pulling weeds out by their roots and turning them over makes a good day for Molly and her chicks.
A day with daisies is a good day. The first of the daisies are opening, which means July is around the corner. If you have enough flowers, you can get rid of your calendars. The flowers will tell you what month it is.
So, if the dogs are out hunting while you’re asleep, does that mean that you now trust them to leave the hens alone? Do they eat the rabbits? Also, want to add that any day you take the time to post your thoughts and pictures is a good day!
The dogs are learning to leave the chickens alone. At night they are in their kennel for their safety. There are coyotes in the area and even though our property is fenced, we don’t want to risk having the dogs tangling with them at night. We let them out between 4 and 5 in the morning. They come back to the kennel between 6:30 and 7 a.m. when we get up for good. Then once the dogs are back in their kennel, we let the chickens out.
During the day, we take the dogs to the vegetable garden which is fenced, and they spend much of the day there with me while the chickens roam everywhere but the vegetable garden. Chickens in vegetable gardens does not work if you want to grow vegetables.
The chickens are back in the chicken yard by 7:30 pm on their own, and we let the dogs out to hunt until bedtime. The dogs cannot get into the chicken yard. Once the chickens go into the chicken yard, we close it to keep out predators. It sounds far more complicated than it is.
The dogs have learned what “go to the garden” and “go home” means. When it’s time to go to the garden, we say, “Go to the garden,” and they go from the kennel to the garden, ignoring any chickens they pass on their way. And when we tell them to “go home” from the garden, they run back to their kennel without bothering the chickens. They understand what “no” means and are quite obedient. Eventually, we should be able to have them out all the time. Yes, they do eat any rabbits they find. They grew up as feral dogs and are skilled hunters.
Thank you for your response. I didn’t know that the chickens return to the chicken yard on their own — I guess things would get really complicated if they didn’t! I am delighted that these dogs are working out so well for you.
That is one thing that is so nice about chickens. You don’t have to round them up. Late in the afternoon, they all head back to their roost. Since they don’t wear watches, they go by the sun, so it doesn’t matter what season it is, they are in bed before it gets dark.