Consolidated Kansas

[sharol]

On a less happy dog note, my big rescue, Red, killed a chicken while we were in town this afternoon. I thought I got all of them in the pen, but I missed on of the little EE's. I feel terrible about it. I counted them, and I just missed Skeeter. She has been a little off for the last week. Sitting fluffed up in the coop when it was cooler and then today apparently she was sitting next to the fence when I left.

When DH got home, he was standing over the body looking really guilty. Steve put him in and finished off the injured chicken. Her breast under her wing is a little chewed, but otherwise there wasn't much damage. He said her neck was broken but she was still breathing when he put her down.

He has done so well with them that I was beginning to trust him alone in the yard with them. Now I don't know what to do exactly. I zapped him with the shock collar when he went back to the scene of the crime (I put it on especially for that -- haven't used it in weeks). Dang.

Anyone have any suggestions? Now that he has tasted blood, it could be a bigger problem.

 

[Trish44]

Awww Prairie Fleur he's a cutie! I'm so glad for you that you got him.

sharol, I don't think you're going to be able to trust that dog again with your chickens. Once they do that it's just really hard to stop them from continuing it. I can't remember what breeds he is, but if he has any hunting dog in there or herding dog it's about a given he's not going to stop. One method some have used & I have used myself is to beat the dog with the dead bird. I know it sounds bad, but it is kind of a way of showing them what they did was very wrong. The bird doesn't feel it at that point & it's kind of aversion therapy. I'm sorry for your loss.

I didn't get a whole lot done today other than my usual chores & digging out some big rocks that were in my path to get to the goat pen that I had been tripping on. I needed some dirt to fill in a hole the GPs had dug by the sheep pen so I was digging dirt anyway & decided to try to get those rocks out of the way. Those things fool you, there will be this little point sticking out & you think oh that's not very big & then you start digging & find out it's huge. I had one that is a really big old block of limestone, solid, I had to roll it to get it out of the way. There was no way I could lift it to pick it up. I got quite a stack of rock just out of one small area there. I added them to the pile I have saved up to fix my diversion wall in front of the pens when I get the goats confined so they can't knock it down any more. There is no sense in fixing it till they're shut out in the field for the day. Speaking of that my DH got the fence rolled out in that southeast corner to start putting it up tomorrow. I can't wait to have that end closed in so none of the animals can go out down there.

 

[HEChicken]

Awww Sharol, I am so sorry about the loss of your bird. I hate to say it but I agree with Trish that you probably won't be able to trust him again. It seems like some dogs are just born poultry-safe and others aren't and I've heard too many stories of dogs that were not poultry safe being tried over and over again with poultry - with disastrous results. I know that isn't what you wanted to hear….

I am working on this a little myself. My own dogs are poultry safe but my next door neighbor has two puppies - a lab mix and a schnauzer. Since they are likely to get over here by themselves, and always accompany her when she visits - and I dog sit when they are away - I want her puppies to be poultry safe so she and I are both working on it right now. The lab mix has gone after birds a couple of times but stops when we yell at her. I think she is going to wind up being okay once she is over the puppy energy stage. I haven't had much of a chance to try the schnauzer yet but will be puppy sitting for the next week while they are away so I guess I'll have a chance to find out.

Prairie Fluer, what a cutie. What kind of stock are you running?

 

[sharol]

I fear you are right. I'll have to supervise him whenever the chickens are out of the run. I'll have to use the shock collar, I suppose, but I really hate it. I feel so stupid for not realizing she was out when I left today. My fault. Red's fault. Doesn't matter, it just changes everything.

Yesterday I ordered the dog breed genetics kit from Amazon, so I'll know pretty soon what he is (at least in part). Otherwise he is turning into a really sweet dog, so I'll just have to deal with it and keep him apart from the chickens when I'm not home.

 

[HEChicken]

How much is it from Amazon? A friend of mine did them through the humane society and said they were around $65. Its hard not to be curious when your dog is a rescue mutt...

 

[morgangirl1]

Well our poor Okie chicken today, you know the one with the crooked beak, well when I was trying to catch our brahma chicken I found him dead in the run. He was off hidden in the weeds but his head was mangled badly. I told mom I couldn't do it, you know getting near the poor boy. It was just awful. Mom thinks a hawk or something came down and gave him a good blow and he kinda ran around well like a chicken with his head cut off and just ended up in the run. He was quite bloody though it just kinda broke my heart.
Any Ideas about how a bird might tear their ear lobe? One of our younger hens had torn their earlobe and I'm not quite sure how it happened.

 

[sharol]

How much is it from Amazon? A friend of mine did them through the humane society and said they were around $65. Its hard not to be curious when your dog is a rescue mutt...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CAVM9SI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 is the one I ordered. It is about $58. We have prime, so shipping was free. I'm not sure what shipping would have cost without Prime.

It had pretty good reviews (I like Amazon reviews because they tell you if the reviewer actually bought the iteim) considering.

 

[HEChicken]

Quote: Awesome! I'll let my sister know as she was thinking about doing this on one of her dogs. It actually would have been free shipping without Prime as well since orders over $35 are free shipping on Amazon anyway - the Prime just speeds up the amount of time it takes for it to get to you. I have Prime for the first time this year but have never paid a penny for shipping from Amazon in over 10 years, since I used to always just make sure the order was over $35 (the minimum was $25 until a couple of years ago, which was even easier).

The reviews are the reason I originally started shopping at Amazon. I don't know if they were the first to offer reviews of products but I remember it seemed like a novel feature the first time I saw it there. And I also like that they tell you if the customer purchased the item - it is too easy for a disgruntled person to go in and enter a lot of negative reviews, trying to bring the rating down, but Amazon at least tries to keep that to a minimum.

 

[sharol]

@HEChicken

Yes, I agree. The reviews seem pretty authentic. If you read them they paint an honest picture of what you can expect from the results (mixed) and the customer support from the seller (excellent and responsive).

I'm dying of curiosity about Red. He's a BIG dog. Of course with the chicken trauma yesterday, we are going to have to change the rules about yard access, but we will work it out. I'll just have to supervise him more closely, and he is such a slug-a-bed that he doesn't spend much time outside anyway.

 

[KsKingBee]

Well, after 215 days of the gentle hum of the GQF Sportsman is quiet once again. The hatching season is over but the work is not. Still plenty of young ones to feed and find new homes for. OQB is adding up the numbers and varieties we hatched. I think next year we are going to use more broodies for hatching the peas but the incubators we used this year did a great job on everything else.