Keeping Chickens Newsletter

stick may be perfectly acceptable. Don't try to go against or ignore the forces of instinct and nature - just direct them into acceptable activities. Gezme was allowed to play - but only with her brother or the old dogs. Running through the middle of the birds was a bad idea, but lying quietly near them was O.K. Gez was fascinated by the pheasants, who have quick, sharp movements, are apt to fly around their aviaries if disturbed, and who make an astonishing variety of high-pitched noises. She learned that she could go up to their pens and look in, but then she would walk away when their whistles and chirps became more frequent and higher pitched, signaling that they were getting ready to take off and try to brain themselves against the roof of their pen. Her brother, Gar, could eventually look in and observe them, too, but the birds seemed to be more afraid of him at first (possibly because Garnizon is a dark brindle, and the other dogs are all fawns).

This brings up another point: that of acclimating the flock to being around something which looks an awful lot like a predator to them. My chickens and other fowl paid little, if any, attention to Sahin and Sahbaz, who had been around them their entire lives. However, new birds take a while to become accustomed to dogs, and the birds also know the difference between 'their' dogs and 'other' dogs.. Skittish animals may lead inexperienced dogs into temptation! When training a new dog, it is preferable for the stock to be acclimated to the presence of a non-threatening dog. Just having a pup or new dog around the stock while you are with them