Posts Tagged Australian labradoodles

"Scooter", one of our six-week-old Australian labradoodles, meets the hens.

We’ve had the best luck with our two Australian Labradoodles and the two elderly hens Daisy and Sweetpea. Labradoodles are rather high energy dogs and I really thought that we would never be able to let both hens and dogs out in the yard together to free-range. But, they have both learned to tolerate each other quite nicely. The dogs still like to sniff and will follow the hens around until the old girls can’t take it any longer and turn, puff up, and say, “That’s enough!”. The dogs go back to doing what they were doing and the hens go back to digging in the dirt beside me.

I love being outside with my two old hens and my two young dogs. I was unable to be out in my garden as much as I wanted this fall because our “Tillie”, a breeder that we co-own with a professional, was bred in October and produced the sweetest, smartest, puppies for us to raise. Husband Don and I were kept busy inside with the six little furry bundles so it was fun when they were ready to get out and explore. One of our favorite puppies “Scooter” was the only one really interested in chickens. Maybe a little too interested and we had to put the girls in their run when the puppies were out. The puppies have all been sold and are in wonderful homes. None have chickens to play with.

See puppies here.

Hens have had lots of visitors this summer. Granddaughter Brooke loved Daisy!

I’ve neglected my hen blog the last few months. The three remaining hens from my original flock of six are getting older now and getting into much less trouble. I have less to report to their fans. Seems like unless a hen is sick or injured or unless there is some “coop” event, most visitors to this blog are content to just watch the hens and read my message board.

We’ve had a pleasant and somewhat busy summer in our back garden. We trust our Australian labradoodles (who are now over two years old) with the hens, and are able to let them all out together to wander the half-acre terrain that we call our backyard. Daisy, Poppy, and Sweetpea give the dogs a warning glance and a sharp “trill” if they come too close and the “doodles” find them less interesting or perhaps they consider them too much trouble to turn into a snack.

The hens were great layers in the late winter and early spring but are now slowing down to about 2-3 eggs a week. The shells of their eggs are thin and break easily in the nest boxes. This is not good and I have tried giving them oyster shells and their own eggshells but nothing seems to work. Perhaps thin shells are a sign of old age.

I’ve heard of hens living to be 6-8 years old but their laying career should be about 4-5. This means at 3 ½ our dear hens may be at the beginning of the end. I really need to consider getting a couple of pullets to keep my egg production going but we are enjoying the peace and congeniality of these three hens. They seem to like each other and like us too. So for now, the “good old girls” will have the coop to themselves.

.

.

.

.

Sweetpea and Tulip looking for bugs

We’ve been letting the hens out in the late mornings to scratch around and clean up snails and bugs. This is a good time of day for them to forage and free-range. After a morning run, the labradoodles sleep inside the house for a couple of hours and the hens can have the run of the yard, sans canines.

I don’t know if the labradoodles would really harm the hens but I’m not taking any chances. I heard, through a friend, that a husband let her dogs out when her hens were in the garden. The dogs made short order of the “girls”. Needless to say, the woman didn’t know who to be madder at, the husband or the dogs. I know whom I’d blame!

So we are careful. Labradoodles are inside in their crates when the hens are loose in the garden. And the “ladies” are lovin’ it! They’re finding lots of snails and slugs. They grab them in their beaks and run. The others will join in the chase unless they see something better to eat. They’re finding lots of sow bugs and earwigs. They are unafraid of us humans and our weed diggers and hoes. They stay underfoot, ready to pounce on whatever we uncover for them. I’ve stepped on toes more than once.

Pulling Weeds with the Hens

We’ve been clearing the rose bed of alyssum “Carpet of Snow”. I shouldn’t have let in go crazy this winter but it provides a little color and covers the bare ground around the roses throughout the winter. Now, I need to remove it. Don has been helping me for an hour or two a day this week and we’ve just about finished. The hens have kept us company. I find their little clucks soothing as they go about their foraging. Such a sweet sound.

If you are at all curious about our Australian Labradoodles, I have an article on them at my Central Coast Gardening site.