BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[CanadianBuckeye]

Fire ant farm, sorry about your rooster, it's a dreadful thing to happen. Don't blame or take it out on the dogs, they are only doing what comes naturally to them. It could have all been a dreadful mistake, the little dogs could have escaped unintentionally, which may be the case if you have never seen them before.
A long time ago our neighbour's dog maimed my very favourite beautiful sweet Minorca rooster. I did not blame the dog at all, the neighbour actually told us that their dog had brought home a chicken (I did not know). I pleaded with the owner not to blame the dog but he killed her for her deed and I'm still feeling sick over it many years later. The dog did not deserve to die. I blame myself, having free range chickens that are not behind a fence, even on 20 acres, is an invitation to all predators. True the dog should not have been loose but it's a dog.

A few strands of hot cattle/horse electric fencing is a good way to deter dogs. Perhaps you could put up an electric fence where dogs could get in.

 

[AnthNDacula]

I appreciate your kind heart and humanity Canadian Buckeye. However over the last 30 years my farm has gone from being an isolated, rural location to being literally surrounded by housing developments. My losses of chickens, sheep and pigs are approaching 100 animals and thousands of dollars. Dogs don't come once and take what they need to eat... they come again and again and kill for fun leaving carcasses everywhere. I actually live in harmony with a mother coyote and her annual pups. If I fail to do my job she will take the occasional chicken or piglet to feed her pups but it's a fair fight. Dogs have no boundaries unless their owners maintain them. I don't blame the dogs but rather their irresponsible owners. But in their irresponsibility the owners never pay up. I've been thru the court system and ultimately my only recourse for collection would have been to put a lean on their house. I opted not to bother for a $4000 bill that I might collect in 20 years.

The rest of that story is that I went to their door and made the owners come watch as the pigs lay bleeding and dying. The woman cried and begged for me not to take it out on the dog and promised to pay. The dog was back the next day at its usual time. I caught it and called animal control. The dog was bailed out and back again two days later. I shot it. The owners had to appear in court a month later. They had replaced the dog, and it was already coming to my farm. They stood there and lied to the judge saying they had a fence which I knew they didn't. A few weeks later they were gone and the house abandoned.

This is only one account among many over the last thirty years, and it is severely abridged leaving out many waisted calls to animal control and the police. I intend no offense to animal control workers and police... their hands are usually tied by laws enacted by toxic nurturers. Dogs have been my bane since a cockapoo broke into a pen and killed my pet guinea pigs when I was a teenager. So to wrap up my rant, once a dog has crossed my property line... the only good dog is a dead dog.

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

I have done a pretty good job of blocking off the ways the dogs got in - involved making "gates" across human walking areas out of some pallets I got from work (I'm so glad I picked those up thinking I could use them for something). Chickens stayed in yesterday except about an hour before bedtime when I could supervise. I think there are still some potential gaps so I'm going to reexamine again and build it up before they can range unsupervised again. The only electric fencing that would have prevented this is the type I'm not allowed to have in my residential neighborhood (perimeter electric) - paddock electric wouldn't have worked because dogs were still there harassing everyone from the outside, finally inducing Dumbledore to leave his paddock to lure them away. But I have a good chance of excluding physically with some effectiveness. Meanwhile, I'm starting to keep rocks in my pockets at all times - I'm VERY good with a rock, and I can cock and throw faster than getting a pellet gun or other (by which time the dog or cat is gone). They remember the pain whether from a pellet gun or a rock.

Speaking of which, Dumbledore is doing SO much better today, and is crowing this morning (interesting experience, since he's indoors!

)

I knew going into this that a lot of keeping chickens would be predator management - and indeed, here we are. In terms of breeding for production, that has to be part of the equation, and if you are someone who does costs balances, I guess that cost has to go into it as well (physical or electric fencing, LGD and its upkeep, etc., etc.),

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Speaking of feed - I was at Tractor Supply yesterday. They had two bags of Manna Pro Gamebird/Showbird feed. I checked the dates.

Manufactured April, 2014 and October, 2014. Yikes! (Needless to say, I didn't bother.) Game bird feed may be good as a component of breeder ration, but really old game bird feed isn't good for anyone. Scary.

Read those dates on feed tags, folks!!! Even if you return it to the store, it's a real pain to drive back...

- Ant Farm

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

For those of you in warm areas, how do you store your hatching eggs? I've read they need to be at 50-60F, but even at this time of year, no where in my house is near that - best I can do is 68-70. I have a wine fridge at 55, but am worried about humidity (and it would need to be thoroughly cleaned, had used it for a "root cellar" this past year).

(Sorry for the multiple sequential posts...)

- Ant Farm

 

[CanadianBuckeye]

Fire ant farm I am glad your rooster is better, looks like he will mend and hopefully good as new. The recuperative powers of chickens is amazing.
It's too bad that dogs have to pay the price for their very stupid owners. I completely understand your frustration, I do hope you can solve the problem.
We use this product to keep our dogs contained, of course if they really wanted to get out they could but we've had it up for around 10 years, it's as good as the day we installed it (it hasn't broken down from UV) and no dog has chewed or jumped over it or gotten out (Many dogs, including huskies). It might work in your situation. We did have a problem with rabbits chewing the bottoms but rolls of chicken wire along the bottom solved the problem.
http://www.bestfriendfence.com/

 

[Fire Ant Farm]

Fire ant farm I am glad your rooster is better, looks like he will mend and hopefully good as new. The recuperative powers of chickens is amazing.
It's too bad that dogs have to pay the price for their very stupid owners. I completely understand your frustration, I do hope you can solve the problem.
We use this product to keep our dogs contained, of course if they really wanted to get out they could but we've had it up for around 10 years, it's as good as the day we installed it (it hasn't broken down from UV) and no dog has chewed or jumped over it or gotten out (Many dogs, including huskies). It might work in your situation. We did have a problem with rabbits chewing the bottoms but rolls of chicken wire along the bottom solved the problem.
http://www.bestfriendfence.com/

This is similar to what I have around the NN paddock (to a height of 6 feet), but stronger (from Kencove), also pinned down at the ground. I have a shorter one around the Cream Legbar paddock. That will change - but I still need to exclude the dogs form the larger yard that the paddocks are in. (Coops themselves are bombproof.) Multiple layers of protection...

Dogs have not been back. I'm grateful that they didn't succeed in getting Dumbledore in part because that would have been positive reinforcement. But it may just be because their owners reinforced their enclosures. Some dogs can, unfortunately, be houdinis. This is why my property is so well fenced. It just turns out that there was a weakness for very small dogs getting in. I'll be fixing that...

- Ant Farm

 

[Beer can]

I guess I'm lucky, any neighbor dog visits have been chicken friendly so far. Bottle rockets usually chase them off. One visits from a farm over the hill, bottle rocket didn't work. Next visit I tried six rapid blasts from the 12 gauge, it wandered off when it was done peeing on everything. Don't know if it is deaf or dumb or just not gun shy. It doesn't even seem interested in the chickens, just my dogs and peeing every where. The other neighbor dogs if they enter our property I usually hear the owners calling for them within minutes.
I wouldn't blame the dogs either, bad neighbors bad owners.
If it happened to me I'd confront the owner first, mininum $100 per chicken, worth more than that to me in time and feed. I'd probably sell them for $10 a piece but that's selling, not having them taken.
If it happened again I wouldn't hesitate to employ the SSS method.

 

[ronott1]

For those of you in warm areas, how do you store your hatching eggs? I've read they need to be at 50-60F, but even at this time of year, no where in my house is near that - best I can do is 68-70. I have a wine fridge at 55, but am worried about humidity (and it would need to be thoroughly cleaned, had used it for a "root cellar" this past year).

(Sorry for the multiple sequential posts...)

- Ant Farm

Upstairs on the bathroom sink. It is dry here and there is more humidity up there.

In hot places, storing is not that big of a problem. The problem is over heating the eggs in the nest box.

Oddly, eggs that sit in a nest box at over 104 for too long will not hatch!

 

[Beekissed]

For those of you in warm areas, how do you store your hatching eggs? I've read they need to be at 50-60F, but even at this time of year, no where in my house is near that - best I can do is 68-70. I have a wine fridge at 55, but am worried about humidity (and it would need to be thoroughly cleaned, had used it for a "root cellar" this past year).

(Sorry for the multiple sequential posts...)

- Ant Farm

I store mine in a nest. This year they will be "stored" in hollowed out impressions in the ground, aka the breeding nests. Nice, cool and humid enough.