Recent content by gottsegnet

  1. gottsegnet

    rat

    We know we have one rat. Guessing on five acres it's wishful thinking to think it is the only one, but there is a tunnel under the hen house that is usually full of feathers. Mostly, we have no issues. In the winter, we'll see a little trail from the hen house to the barn and the pesky bugger is...
  2. gottsegnet

    Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

    Perfect! Thank you so much!
  3. gottsegnet

    Silkie thread!

    Maybe they just lay to the beat of their own drummer? The only thing I can think is that if it is important to you, box them up where you want them to lay. Give them feed, water and a nice layer of straw or bedding in a sheltered area and keep making the area bigger to see if they suddenly think...
  4. gottsegnet

    Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

    Brand new to this. My children just got a flock of silkies in the hopes of having broody hens to incubate their faverolle eggs. I've read about people ordering eggs for their broody hens but was wondering how long a hen will normally stay broody once she starts. If you give her some golf balls...
  5. gottsegnet

    Silkie breeding, genetics & showing

    We are brand new to this and were wondering if some kind soul out there knew of some sort of pictorial guide to the standard? Like pictures of good vs. bad toe placement, "well shredded" feathers, etc?
  6. gottsegnet

    Silkie thread!

    Is it possible to move the boxes to where they are laying? We have the lid of a cat litter box, a board leaning against the wall and part of a plastic tub as nest boxes. Sometimes they lay other places and I just move the boxes to the new site.
  7. gottsegnet

    Silkie thread!

    My kids put their money together to buy a little flock of silkies at the Nebraska State Poultry Show. This is one of the three white ones my daughter chose. Such sweet little fluff balls!
  8. gottsegnet

    Lice?

    We're doing an ivermectin dip because that's what the vet recommended when we got a mite infestation thanks to wild birds a couple years ago. I was just reading about Sevin, though, so that may be our follow up in future. Planning on three treatments, four to five days apart. We're treating the...
  9. gottsegnet

    Lice?

    We just brought home some lovely little silkies, only to discover they brought along some hitchhikers. I can't believe we didn't notice these when we were going over the birds, but we weren't thinking about parasites at the time. Anyway, I think they're lice, based on the masses of eggs on the...
  10. gottsegnet

    Salmon Faverolle Bantams

    These are my boys' birds. He hasn't had them long (maybe a month?), but he's in the chicken run just watching them every day. He's extra proud of this boy because he just won Best of Variety and Best of Breed at the Nebraska Poultry Show (granted, he was the only bantam salmon faverolle!). The...
  11. gottsegnet

    I need jackets for my silkies for winter!

    Just a thought from a total newbie to silkies. Our first birds (and the mites that came home with them . . . grrrr! . . . ) are spending their second night with us in a kennel in the garage as I type. From what I've read, they handle the cold fine, but not the moisture. Their feathers don't...
  12. gottsegnet

    Leash training

    One other thing we did with a dog that was young and just all over the place: We would walk and just abruptly change direction, letting her snap at the end and get pulled back. A few times of that and she started keeping one eye on us at least.
  13. gottsegnet

    So we adopted a new dog...and now I know what his flaw is: he's a runner....

    I would say that good training will likely lessen the behavior, but he may not ever be completely trustworthy. We had a beagle like that and beagles are notoriously stubborn. I don't know about this breed, however. :) The first thing we did was put a leash on him and just let him drag it. Then...
  14. gottsegnet

    Leash training

    There are different ways to do it. One is to just ignore the poor things and drag them along until they get it, but that isn't very nice. It's just how my parents did it when I was a kid and all our dogs did eventually learn how to walk on a leash. :) But the basic philosophy is that the leash...
  15. gottsegnet

    How to train?

    What commands does she know? I'm assuming the basics like come and sit and down? The way we teach it is to have them sit, tell them to stay and then step directly in front of them so your legs are almost touching them. Keep praising as long as they stay and release them after a few seconds...
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