Giving a chicken carcass to the girls

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labradors
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Giving a chicken carcass to the girls

Post by labradors » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:17 pm

I'm new at chicken-raising, but had read that they like to peck on chicken carcasses. Having recently eaten a delicious BBQ chicken from Metro, I was anxious to see how my girls would like it. I tossed it into the middle of their run and they all descended on it and seemed to be enjoying it :) A while later, they had moved on to pecking on cukes and pears. I would have to wait to see the "picked-clean" carcass that I had read about.

I had to go into town on an errand and returned to see NOTHING in the coop. It appeared that one of the plastic poles, holding up the snow fence for their daytime run, had been slightly damaged and I immediately knew what had happened. My dog Abbey doesn't think that chickens should get cukes or tomatoes, and even snitches stuff that has found its way to the edge of the fence.

Now I have to worry about a dog who has eaten cooked chicken bones :(

Lidna
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Happy
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Re: Giving a chicken carcass to the girls

Post by Happy » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:28 pm

Oh dear. My dogs (the lab especially) get very jealous of the chickens getting any kind of treat. If I give them some peas from the garden they won't eat the pod so I just discard it on the ground. Cash the lab figures that's better than getting nothing and eats every pod he finds. If he gets slighted (either real or imaginary) he will squeeze through the chicken door and help himself to food. It's quite obvious early the next morning. :barf:
I've had the hound dog raid the garbage numerous times and chicken bones haven't stopped yet!
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windwalkingwolf
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Re: Giving a chicken carcass to the girls

Post by windwalkingwolf » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:50 pm

It could be worse, it could have been an entire turkey carcass. That bit of thievery resulted in five days of copious mucousy diarrhea, and the worst turkey farts you can imagine. I don't know about labs, but little mutts apparently have guts of steel.
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Re: Giving a chicken carcass to the girls

Post by labradors » Mon Sep 18, 2017 3:04 pm

Thanks ladies. Here's hoping that Abbey has guts of steel, even if I have to let her out in the middle of the night for potty breaks, and we have to put up with some labra-gas! Thank doG we still have the windows wide open!

I gave her a bread crust in the hopes that it will coat any sharp pieces in her tummy. We used to have a cottage on a lake and Sarah, our previous lab, would eat anything (that's in the breed standard don't ya know) including dehydrated fish! On one occasion I tried to retrieve one from her mouth right after I saw her grab it, but my reflexes wouldn't let me when my fingers made contact with those sharp bones! I always kept leftover bread in the freezer after that for such emergencies. I don't know if it helped or not, but she lived a long life :)

Oh and another Sarah story. She was quite elderly and deaf when she went out for her final potty break one cold night and didn't come back! We called and searched, and took the other dog out on the leash to look, but she was no help. After an hour of panic, she simply appeared, and we discovered where she had been the next morning when we saw "evidence". She'd been at the neighbours, eating their stash of bird seed.

Labs!!!!
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Happy
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Re: Giving a chicken carcass to the girls

Post by Happy » Mon Sep 18, 2017 4:03 pm

@labradors which is the chocolate in your profile pick? My guy is chocolate as well. Not sure how old he is (since I apparently stole him from my neighbor lol) but he's slowing down fast. I've tried glucosamine but didn't seem much difference. He's already had tplo surgery on one knee and I'm scared the other may be weak.
Hopefully Abbey doesn't have any issues. They never learn!
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Re: Giving a chicken carcass to the girls

Post by labradors » Mon Sep 18, 2017 4:19 pm

@Happy my PB Lab, Chloe, is the chocolate too. She's 6. Abbey is the yellow who just turned 8. She's a rescue who we think is a Lab/BC cross. I was very worried about her behavior towards the chickens and I wouldn't trust her with them, but when we've had escapees, she has been surprisingly helpful in herding them back home and "holding" them in position for me to pick them up, instead of eating them - phew!

Sorry to hear about the TPLO surgery. That's expensive and it takes a long time to heal. I hope the other leg holds out! I used Glucosamine Sulfate on my previous old gal, and Hyalauronic Acid too. That must be good as they use it on race horses (LOL)! I think I gave her a teaspoon a day. She only weighed 50 pounds. I didn't see a lot of difference either, except that when I ran out, she seemed worse! The best we can do is keep their weight down and try to limit their activity - yeah right! My previous PB lab was a ball freak!

Abbey is feeling a bit down that she was yelled at. She's a sensitive soul.....

Linda
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Re: Giving a chicken carcass to the girls

Post by Happy » Wed Sep 20, 2017 6:43 pm

I assume no news is good news and Abbey was fine @labradors ?
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Re: Giving a chicken carcass to the girls

Post by labradors » Thu Sep 21, 2017 7:59 am

Ah yes. Thanks for reminding me @Happy. We had no ill effects for dear Abbey and she's back to barking at the chickens to make them go to bed in the evenings :) Hooray for cast iron stomachs :)

Linda
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