I don't have any chickens now, but I may decide to get some in the future just for the eggs. I was wondering about Lucy, did she grow up with chickens and that is why she won't hurt the baby chick or is it because she knows that the baby chick is part of the family. I have dogs and cats and they live together for the most part with out any problems, but I'm not sure what would happen if I get chickens and allow them to free range. Also I was wondering if you would do a talk on natural pest control, like how do you control slugs, white fly, aphids, and other insects. I try to do as much as I can organically, but insects like Japanese Beatles can sometimes take over my orchard and garden.

Good questions! Lucy didn't start out as the stellar dog you see on our blog today. When we got her, she had been chained up 24-7 for months and was slightly out of control. We started training her using Cesar Milan's method, and continue to give her two training walks a day.

When the first chickens arrived on the farm, Lucy thought they were going to be dinner. I explained in this post how we introduced her to the chickens in a way that made her understand they were ours. It's not so much a matter of making sure a dog knows chickens are members of the family as making sure the dog knows the chickens belong to us. You might check out the other posts linked at the bottom of that post for more information on Lucy's training regimen.

I don't have quite as much answer for your insect question. You might be interested in the series I made last year around this time which includes a post about Japanese beetle control.. But I have to admit that my insect control methods are archaic --- if I'm particularly worried, I'll pick them off and feed them to the chickens, but mostly I try to prevent insect infestations before they begin. I plant flowers around the garden that attract beneficial insects that prey on the bad bugs, and I provide my garden with plenty of sun to sidetrack slugs. The only time I see aphids is when I accidentally overfertilize, and whiteflies are only a problem with houseplants so I move my few houseplants outdoors ASAP. We're still struggling with squash vine borers, which I think probably means I'm missing a key step in keeping our squash plants and/or ecosystem healthy. In the end, I think that's the key --- bad bugs seldom become infestations if your garden is part of an ecosystem without gaping holes.