Any one want to join me in waiting for eggs, posting and comparing notes?

[Redangler]

***DAILY FODDER UPDATE***

I figured I would make a grand entrance today! haha! Well I gave the fodder to the girls this morning. I put a pile of scratch and the fodder in the run and my daughter let them out. They all chose they scratch! After a few minutes they pecked at the fodder a little bit while the finished cleaning up the scratch. It has now been about a half hour and they have nearly gone thru all the fodder and are working on the rest as I type this message. It seems to have gone over really well and I believe they will view it as a treat as they get it more often. I will continue on with the great fodder production!

Red

I have a video if I can figure out how to post it!

 

[Crafty chick]

Oh, that's good they like it red. I bet even if they didn't, they would eventually the more you introduced it.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

***DAILY FODDER UPDATE***

I figured I would make a grand entrance today! haha! Well I gave the fodder to the girls this morning. I put a pile of scratch and the fodder in the run and my daughter let them out. They all chose they scratch! After a few minutes they pecked at the fodder a little bit while the finished cleaning up the scratch. It has now been about a half hour and they have nearly gone thru all the fodder and are working on the rest as I type this message. It seems to have gone over really well and I believe they will view it as a treat as they get it more often. I will continue on with the great fodder production!

Red

I have a video if I can figure out how to post it!

Nice! They're sure to be excited the next time you offer it. I'm curious to see how the chickens eat it. I think to post a video, you have to place it on a video site like Youtube, and then copy the link here?

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

I went to rural king this evening... they literally have thousands of chicks!!! I heldmy ground and didn't get any though. I showed them to my kids and showed them their differences. The bantams were sooooo cute! Tiny little buttons.

Bantam chicks are adorable! Last year someone sent me a couple of bantam Ameraucana eggs as a bonus with the eggs I had ordered. Only one hatched. It was the tiniest, cutest piece of fluff you have ever seen. My daughter named her Omelet. Unfortunately, Omelet had some sort of genetic condition, and didn't survive. My daughter cried and cried. So I promised her we'd hatch bantams again this year. Sometimes hatching can be a difficult life lesson for little kids. I had to give her the whole circle-of-life speech.

 

[kdwag]

Oh gosh, **gets out soap box, climbs ontop**

Bear with me, I am a nut about this breed, so here goes. Jackson is an English Shepherd. Yes, it's a real breed, not AKC,(the way their breeders want it) and they do look at first glance like border collies. They are superior herding/guarding/tracking/companion dog. They herd upright, and loose eyed, not preditorially as a border collie does. They are often reffered to as the old american farm collies, like the ones you saw on dairy and cattle farms all along the early american mid west. I can't tell you how many times people used to tell me that dog is a lot like the one my grandparents used to have. Another wonderful thing an ES has is a turn off switch, providing they get proper excersice, they also have a wonderful companion quality about them. What is their owners, they guard and protect. Jack is amazing with the chickens, after day 1, I showed him each one, and said.. mine.. put my body beteen him and the chick,, and that was it... he never touched one ever. He knows they belong here, but hates the crows, and ravens that sometimes land on the property. Here is a copy of a link that I put on another thread that someone asked me about him... has some useful links....
If you do ever get the courage up to get another dog,please,please consider an English shepherd in your possiblitlites. The one thing I truly love about an ES is their all around quality of being a guardian, but also being an amazing family dog as well. Their herding style is loose eyed, not preditorial as some herding breeds. Jackson is forever my "english shadow". Despite still being intact, he never roams. Never is "studdish", is the perfect gentleman. He knows my entire routine, and by the way, yesterday Duke, my rooster, really took a run at me, and I used Jackson to move him for a good 10 minutes. He kept him outside the fenceline per my orders, and just back and forth, and back and forth. Wouldn't let him on property while I sat and gave the girls a treat. He was beside himself, but that dog kept him off me. Understood fully what I wanted, and wouldn't let him enter. He has killed two possom this year. They just have an amazing sense of what belongs, and what doesn't . That goes for people too. I socialized him intensly as a pup, almost too much I thought as I have a lot of small children here at all times. I thought I had made him "too nice". The other day he wouldn't let the oil man out of the truck until I came out of the barn to see what the racket was. I can't say enough about him, and so many owners of these dogs say the same things. Jack also puts the chickens up if I ask him too. Easy enough to be companions, but serious enough to do any farm work needed

Look at these two videos. of some English shepherds.

The picture below is of an engish shepherd who caught a raccoon that had gotten into it's masters rabbit/chicken/goat pen.

And of course, there is my Jackson!




I would seriously consider one for animal, small farm protection. Lots of wonderful breeders I could put you in touch with, especially in your neck of the woods, tons of wonderful breeders in the midwest. Four color patterns they come in..Love em!

Thanks for all of that information, I can see you how passionate you are about the breed-- I"ve always had springers , lost my most beloved friend in February, 2011-broke my heart-- anyway, my husband has a german shorthair and I inherited a mixed breed of some herding blood but she's arthritic, etc. Until I got chickens, I thought I was going to get a cavalear king charles but I think I would rather have a lovely farm dog type. Is Jackson an inside dog as well? Did you train him to herd? Is there a rescue organization? He sounds amazing and KUDOS to his protection of you and your girls from that crazy rooster, maybe a few times of that and the roo will get in line. LOL I'm going to do a little more research on the breed and thanks for the introduction, I've always been around and had dogs but have not heard of this great breed!

 

[debbie_nibbles]

For some reason bumps on things really gross me out Are these just feathers coming out on her head?

 

[debbie_nibbles]

So looks like end of the month count for February is 83.

 

[Crafty chick]

Wow debbie, her neck feathers are beautiful! Idk, i don't have those kind. You would think if she was to have a top hat, she would have a full blown one by now.

 

[theotherfoote]

Total eggs for February = 68! (four hens)

Not bad for new layers, plus only two were laying until mid month or so.

 

[debbie_nibbles]

Wow debbie, her neck feathers are beautiful! Idk, i don't have those kind. You would think if she was to have a top hat, she would have a full blown one by now.

Thanks, it looks like feathers starting but then I can't look at them for very long without feeling queezy LOL I have always and the same with my daughter can't stand anything bumpy like something growing under the skin

She was born Oct 31st.