“ You should get lay hens , ” my 13 - yr - old niece say in the outflow of 2019 . I thought about that ideafor a while and decided it made sense . On June 3 , 2019 , I purchased four Production Red baby chickens fromL & M Fleet Supplyin Detroit Lakes , Minnesota .
When I induce the chicks back to the farm , I put them in a dreary bath with a net cover inside my previous trailer house .
The Trouble with Chickens in the Dog Kennel
The volaille were thriving until I adjudicate to scavenge out their tub . This event happened on June 18 , 2019 .
First , I put the chickens in a small pet carrier , then , I put them inside a pen inside my dog kennel and opened the door . The chickens squeeze through the wires in this playpen , so they were running around inside the frankfurter doghouse while I strip the blue tub .
After arrest the vat and bird feeder situate back in my lagger , it was time to put the chickens back .
I caught two of the chickens and put them back in my trailer . The third one had escaped from the detent kennel , and I could n’t happen the 4th one . Angel , my Chihuahua , was ascertain and chased one underneath my trailer . I got Angel out because I did n’t want her to catch the chicken .
After looking underneath my trailer in various places , I could n’t see any chicken , so I permit Angel out again . Kara Tollerud
Dog Helpers & Important Lessons
At this point , I decided to get a pole to strive between the trailer tires . Before I got back withthe pole , Bella , my Beagle , came with a wimp in her mouth . I tell her to ‘ neglect it , ’ and I caught it and put it back in my prevue . Chicken No . 3 seemed to be OK , so I put it back with the other two .
After going back to recall the pole from where I left it , Bella came with another volaille in her mouth . I also overtake this one , but it appear to be injured , so I put it in a separate lieu from the others . I put the pole back and did some task . When I go back to check out on the chickens , Chicken No . 4 had perished .
This whole experience with Bella , Angel and the chickens gave new meaning to one of the trade projects I was working on . It was a rampart - hanging with the saying “ give thanks God for Dogs ” on the front . I was quick to give up on finding the last two chicken , but Bella and Angel helped me get them all accounted for .
Kara Tollerud
The dead chicken also taught me a example . If I had not open up the door to the best-loved carrier in my dog doghouse , my four chickens would all be alive . The next clip I clean out the dismal tub , I wo n’t open up the pet carrier door .
Read more : Check out these incubator tips for baby bird !
Finding a New Home
As the three stay on crybaby produce , I fuck it was time to move them out of my trailer . I link chicken netting to the inside of the pen inside my dog doghouse with twine . The chickens lived in this penitentiary until the weather became cold .
Then , they were put in a pen inside my dad ’s barn for the winter .
On Oct. 26 , 2019 , I unwrap two browned eggs in the chicken pen . My chicken had become lay hen . They have laid eggs mostly every daylight since then . Kara Tollerud
Kara Tollerud
A Growing Flock
After the deprivation of some of my dearie from November 2019 to January 2020 , I decidedI wanted more animal to take care of . My parents were supportive of me getting some more chickens . On June 4 , 2020 , I purchased five White Leghorn chick from the same place as my browned chickens the prior year .
The livid chickens started their lives on the farm in the same blue vat with a netting cover inside my trailer as their brown counterpart . As they grew old and big , I put the white crybaby in the playpen inside the wiener kennel .
The tarp roof in this pen did n’t survive the winter , so my Fatherhood helped me put a roof on the dog kennel . The Panama hat fly back and forth between this penitentiary and the dog doghouse and have also used the doghouse .
Kara Tollerud
Bella and Angel passed away , and there are two new blackguard on the farm . Sparky and Reynbo run around the outside of the dog kennel trying to track the white chickens . The chickens run around inside the kennel while the dogs are “ chasing ” them .
Who eff that when I bought my first lay hen that my dogs would be regard in the chicken - arouse operation ?
Kara Tollerud lives in Pelican Rapids , Minnesota .
This article to begin with come out in the January / February 2022 issue ofChickensmagazine .
