These cute little guys arrived last week.
By special delivery in the mail (USPS is still pretty cool in my opinion…). We nestled them into their new, warm temporary home… the bathtub!
They’re all adorable and they are already growing FAST! We chose to get babies so that they would get to know us and so that the dogs would have some time to get used to them. I can just imagine the three dogs rushing outside everyday to bark in the poor chicken’s faces (jerks).
Well unfortunately, we already had an accident. Wilbur got one. WHAAAAH!!! I feel horrible and I can’t believe we let it happen. He rushed inside when the door was open before we could even think about it. Before then, I was letting him sniff them at a distance, with dual supervision and a grip on his collar. He was obeying, but definitely obsessed… way too worked up to be left unattended.
The ONLY good thing that came from the tragedy is the lesson learned… the dogs and the chickens are not going to be friends and definitely can’t be left together. I do want to try to make the existence between them peaceful, although separate. With barriers. Because the poor babies are never going to be able to defend themselves. And there are a lot more vicious beasts who will be trying their best to get at them… both by ground and by air. Mitch is going to have his work cut out for him reinforcing the coop to keep out coyotes, raccoons, rodents, hawks and obviously, dogs too. I am so mad a Wil, but I know this was my fault, not his.
Here is a peek into the peaceful past… before the ‘incident.’ When I was still a naïve and trusting mother.
Wilbur showing self control
SoWoodsy 
It’s a brave mother that faces the shortcomings of one of her other loved animals. Keep up the vigilance. Animals have a pecking order and left to their own devices it is the survival of the fittest.
Last year when we first got chicks, my 10lb mini Dachshund was obsessed with watching them, but the tote they were in was too deep for him to get to them. So I picked one up and let him sniff it. He proceeded to slowly open his mouth like he was going to walk away with it. In his mind, small, fluffy and squeaky means “toy”. So I would let him see them every once in awhile, but kept him away until they were bigger. Now that they are full grown, he runs around the yard with them and bobs & weaves at them like they are dogs and he wants them to play. Maybe once your chicks are bigger, your pup will stop thinking he needs to destroy! Good luck!
Thanks so much for this comment. What a sweet image of a little Dachshund with the chickens. That is what I was… and still am hoping for!
You’re welcome! It’s always hard trying to incorporate new fur babies in with current ones! But I can understand a dogs perspective…small, fluffy and noisy = toys. I’m glad that my pup stopped trying to eat them lol. He started doing really good when there were probably 2 months old and were in our garage in a big dog pen (it was too cold outside for them yet and our coop wasn’t totally done). Now he likes sniffing at them and trying to play. Def keep socializing your pup with them. They get used to the smells and noises and adjust easier. Good luck!!!
Your pup look like mine curious and having to show a lot of self control not to try to ‘play’ with them. We have a terrier mix and he goes crazy when they scurry about, but is doing well. Our lab likes to look at our chicks, but could care less about them as long as his belly is getting rubbed 😉 Love your chicks – good post 🙂
You poor thing. How sad.
Thanks… 😦 Good thing the remaining 9 little ladies are growing so fast and are so cute…
Amelia’s shepard slept with her pet bunny, they were buddies – then one day she came home from school and all that was left was a few remnants of honey bunny-i guess his instincts kicked in- (he also ate her chickens-so be weary!). 😦