Consolidated Kansas

[JosieChick]

Josie I wish people had the nerve to just come up, knock on the door and discuss things like adults. I've had people a mile away comment about my GPs barking on quiet nights. No open complaints though. Last night my own dogs kept me awake. Predator level is so high right now.
If you know who it is, or have a good idea, I would simply go be very nice, but explain they are there to protect your livestock and they do so by warning barking. Say that you are sorry that it disturbs them but that it is because predation is so high right now. That once the predators move on the dogs will be quieter.
Maybe offer them a small peace offering like some cup cakes or something as a friendly neighbor gesture to help sooth them.
If they react hatefully I'd be calling the sheriff again just in case, to see if they will prosecute if one of your dogs gets shot. Not that that would help the way you feel any but after being there I'd want to know you could prosecute if necessary.
Meanwhile if it were me I'd be thinking... "close your windows, insulate your house and buy a white noise machine to muffle the noise. "
Some people would rather complain than just learn to deal with things.
King Bee doesn't that just make you dislike people? I am still angry that someone chased my dog down and shot her.

 

[JosieChick]

Other random tid bit of info, these people shoot and target practice ALL the time and often all weekend. And it always starts up right when I put the baby down for a nap. I have two fans and white noise running to drown it out. I have never left them a note in their mail box....

 

[Trish44]

AWESOME! I need some advice. I just went out to the mail box and found a note on lined paper that says "PLEASE control your dogs barking ALL night!!!" No name or address, just stuck in our mail box. If I had to guess it is the people just west of us and they are trigger happy, gun shooting fools. I called the sheriffs department to double check but their is no ordinance against barking dogs. The girls have been on ramped up duty because the fox have been out heavily and the coyotes have been in closer to our house. And they are fenced on our property so they can't really chase something off instead they bark to protect our property. I was going to go talk to them this afternoon but I don't know what to say! Like, they are doing their job.....barking is how they work....everyone else in the area has dogs barking all night.....IDK! HELP!

I agree with Danz, just explain why the dogs are there & how they work. Some people you can't make happy no matter what, but if they can't understand that you have dogs to protect your livestock there isn't much you can do. I like that you're giving them an explanation on paper so you have proof you explained to them. I guess I'm lucky here because my neighbor to the west of us made a comment awhile back about how he makes his dogs shut up. When he came over the other day I asked him how much he knew about Great Pyrenees & he said not much. I then explained to him why the dogs were here & why they bark all night. We then talked about all the coyotes & other predators we have here & he said they were totally fine with the dogs. He said that he's sure between our dogs & his 4 German Shepherds that if they weren't here we would have coyotes all over this hill & I agreed. They aren't even across the road as much as they used to be. As the weather gets colder the predators are going to be out even more because food gets more scarce. Good luck Josie, I hope they can be reasonable.

 

[HEChicken]

I need some advice. I just went out to the mail box and found a note on lined paper that says "PLEASE control your dogs barking ALL night!!!" No name or address, just stuck in our mail box. If I had to guess it is the people just west of us and they are trigger happy, gun shooting fools. I called the sheriffs department to double check but their is no ordinance against barking dogs. The girls have been on ramped up duty because the fox have been out heavily and the coyotes have been in closer to our house. And they are fenced on our property so they can't really chase something off instead they bark to protect our property. I was going to go talk to them this afternoon but I don't know what to say! Like, they are doing their job.....barking is how they work....everyone else in the area has dogs barking all night.....IDK! HELP!

I don't know what to tell you except I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. I really dislike people who leave anonymous notes. If you don't have the guts to say something to someone's face, perhaps you shouldn't be saying it at all.

In about six months later all the dogs were dead from cancer.

That is so awful. I think it takes a certain psychosis to take anger at a person out on an animal.

I am still angry that someone chased my dog down and shot her.

I would be too, Danz. *I* am still upset about that and I never even met Cloud.

Quote: I am going to hand deliver it to their door like a grown up though.
Perfect. It lets them know you know they left the note (if they didn't, you will just be someone randomly delivering info about GP's) and "shames" them about doing it anonymously, without coming right out and saying so.

 

[cherwill]

HEChicken, my kitty got tortured again today, at least that is how she saw it. I took her in to the Vet again & she gave her more fluids, an antibiotic injection since she was having so much of a problem swallowing, a short acting steroid shot to hopefully reduce the swelling in her throat, & a B-12 shot to stimulate her appetite. She was so mad at me when I got her home, she went & hid behind the chair, she sees me as the bad person who has been shoving things down her throat & taking her to the bad Dr. who pokes holes in her with needles. This cat has never had to go through anything like this before so this has been pretty traumatic for her. At any rate, I left her to rest this afternoon after all of that & went out to continue putting up tarps & plastic on my hoop coops & pens. My DH had to go into work really early this morning to get re-certified in CPR & first aid since he is a first responder, so he got home about 4:30 this afternoon instead of working 2nd shift today. We both did things outside for awhile & then I had to feed & do all of my chores. About the time I had started chores my granddaughter called me wanting me to come & bring her cell phone back to her because I had it checking out her issues with it & hadn't had time between taking the cat to the Vet all the time & working on winterizing, so I told her we would come after chores were done & we ate supper. We had to take the cell phone over & then came back to check on the cat & hopefully get her to eat, it's been days since she has eaten a thing or drank water on her own because she's been so sick. My DH got her on his lap & I warmed up this canned food the Vet had us get from her, it's a special diet for seriously ill cats. I really was expecting her to look at it & turn up her nose again the way she has been doing, but to our surprise she started chomping it down & ate every little bit. I didn't want to overwhelm her stomach after not eating for days so I didn't give her much the first time. But we were so thrilled to see her eating something & then evidently the canned stuff spurred her to go out & try some dry food as well after that. That is so exciting to see her eating & acting better. She got brushed, something she loves for a reward for eating & she was actually purring! Finally, something helped her, I was getting really concerned & the Vet was too, she said she should have been better before this & she told me she would call me tomorrow to see how she is doing. I'm really liking this new Vet we have, she is really good & is really caring. I like that she tells you all of your options & let's you decide what you want to proceed with. The next step if this didn't help was to sedate her & check out her nose, but I hated to have her go through that, she has had so much trauma already.

Poor kitty. We can't explain to them it's for their own good. Well, we can explain (and I do explain things to my dogs all the time), but they won't understand. She's eating, so that's a good thing.

I was looking out the front door at the horse pasture and saw a coyote go jogging thru ! Gerr... Creepy buggers ,I went running out in my stocking feet waving my arms and yelling trying to make sure he wasn't heading towards the chickens that were out free ranging. When the dogs saw me running around they thought we were going to play "fetch the hedge apple" and totally missed the coyote! Then while my daughter and I were out rounding everybody up so the wouldn't be on the menu, my husband called and our son who is non verbal somehow answered the phone but was only making a noise like he was upset. (The battery on his IPod had died) So that got the husband worried which led him to call my parents , who then rushed over to see if we were ok. Ha ha ... What a zoo!

That's too funny. Everything happens at once, doesn't it?

I woke up about 4 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. I hate that. I just got up and took a shower. I forgot to empty the leftovers from my coffee pot before making coffee. (It is a stainless carafe so I can't see in it.) So I came out to a mess of coffee all over the counter and the pot of coffee is luke warm. Yuk!

Bleah. And nothing you do it going to make that coffee taste better. That's so disappointing when you're looking forward to that first, hot, rich drink of coffee.

Awhile back, while trying to design a shelter for the goats this winter, I remembered how much they had liked going into the dog's igloo when they were out free-ranging. I had a spare, so I moved it into the goat's pen and put some old hay on the floor for bedding. They immediately tried it out, and now sleep in there together every night. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get a picture because they run out to greet me every time I go down there but this morning they were too sleepy to move. Gem wasn't in the igloo but Smoky was, and he stayed put long enough for me to get this:

Doesn't he look cozy back there?

The goat in the igloo is so cute! I love the chick feeder. What a brilliant idea.

AWESOME! I need some advice. I just went out to the mail box and found a note on lined paper that says "PLEASE control your dogs barking ALL night!!!" No name or address, just stuck in our mail box. If I had to guess it is the people just west of us and they are trigger happy, gun shooting fools. I called the sheriffs department to double check but their is no ordinance against barking dogs. The girls have been on ramped up duty because the fox have been out heavily and the coyotes have been in closer to our house. And they are fenced on our property so they can't really chase something off instead they bark to protect our property. I was going to go talk to them this afternoon but I don't know what to say! Like, they are doing their job.....barking is how they work....everyone else in the area has dogs barking all night.....IDK! HELP!

My advice is basically what you ended up doing. Write a letter explaining it's temporary. If you're not sure who left the note, you could leave one for several neighbors. On their doors because, yes, leaving something in a mailbox IS technically illegal. If the neighbors have small dogs or cats, you could point out that those predators are a threat to their pets, as well. You talked later about a peace offering, which is also a good idea if they're going to be really obnoxious about it. Maybe a dozen eggs?

In about six months later all the dogs were dead from cancer. My assumption was that something was thrown over the fence and the dogs ate it. Sad, sad.

People can really suck. Is a little temporary noise problem really worth killing over?

 

[HEChicken]

I happen to love listening to my peacocks. I guess it's all in the "ear" of the listener.

I woke up about 4 AM and couldn't get back to sleep. I hate that. I just got up and took a shower. I forgot to empty the leftovers from my coffee pot before making coffee. (It is a stainless carafe so I can't see in it.) So I came out to a mess of coffee all over the counter and the pot of coffee is luke warm. Yuk!
It looks like it is going to be a little warmer today. Maybe I'll get out and get some more work done. It is still a lake around here though with all the rain. I'm thinking of trying to rake some leaves and see if I can throw those in some of these wet pens. Most of them blow away out here but maybe I could come up with enough to start anyway.

Awww…that's the pits on the coffee. Been there, done that.

I agree about it all being "in the ear" and "eyes" of the listener/looker. DS was out with in the chicken yard recently and he commented "Those turkeys are about the ugliest thing I ever saw". I gaped at him, truly amazed, because to me they are beautiful.

 

[chicken danz]

All the birds are beautiful to me. Turkeys have those huge eyes that make them look so sweet. And of course they are.
Even the guineas are beautiful except for their heads. (Hummm! Maybe that describes some people as well!

)

Josie I think you are doing the right thing. I'm so glad I don't have close neighbors. I did notice when I had the windows replaced in the house with more energy efficient vinyl ones that the noise from outside is much louder than it was with the old wooden windows.
I went out and broke up some pumpkins and gave them to the birds. Some of the birds just go nuts and others look like they are foreign objects. I need to put a jacket on and go back out and get some work done. The wind is making it feel a little chilly today.

 

[ashncarson]

I had a question about roosters. HE Chicken, these are the ones from you so maybe you might know!

I have one who is clearly a roo, large comb, pointed hackle feathers, thick legs...just no crow yet, but clearly male
I have the female who is clearly a hen
and then I have another....his comb large is larger than the females, but not as large as the other male, he does not appear to have pointed hackle feathers, and his tail curves under, but it has the thick legs

Do some roosters just not develop as quickly? They are siblings....or is there is a chacne its a over developed hen? I will be rehoming them soon and would just hate to get rid of it if I am wrong



Thanks, I hope everyone is doing great! Sounds like we will have some good weather this weekend!

 

[HEChicken]

Interesting….I'd love to see pictures of the "unknown". On some breeds, it can be really hard to tell until they either crow or lay an egg but by this age on NH's it shouldn't be so hard to tell! There is such a thing in chickens (as in people) where they are asexual, showing some characteristics of both genders but being neither. They can't fertilize an egg but nor can they lay one. It is rare though. Likely this one is just a late bloomer. The combs have fooled me before on the NH's. I think I told you when you were here that I have a pullet who I was convinced from a young age was a cockerel because at 2-3 weeks she had a good little comb going. However, after developing quickly, it didn't grow much more for a long time and by the time she was 12 weeks or so old, it hit me one day that I was looking at a pullet and not a cockerel.

Anyway, if you can get some pics this weekend, I'd be interested to see and hear anyone else's opinion on gender at the same time.

 

[ashncarson]

When I first look at him I saw he is a cockeral becuase of the comb. After looking at the photo it maybe looks like there are pointed saddle feathers? I just took this and its pretty windy today.
This is all new to me