Consolidated Kansas

[Trish44]

You're going to get various answers here because people have their own opinions. Mine is to get Great Pyrenees, they are great dogs. Just be aware that all of the breeds are large dogs & they mature slow so they're still puppies till 18 months. You will have to go through the puppy stage with them & they will make mistakes that you have to correct them for. If you buy from a reputable breeder with dogs that have good working instincts you will be better off. Yes it's an investment but in the end you will be glad you did. If you buy from a backyard breeder a lot of times the dogs will not be good quality & you end up having problems with them, cheaper is not better in this case. Make sure the parent dogs have been working & do their job well before considering buying pups. Do not get a mix of herding dog & LGD, people don't realize that the herding part will eventually come out & they will chase birds, it's their job to herd, not a good thing with chickens. I'm not saying you can't get a mix of LGD breeds such as GP & Anatolian, that is a good mix, just make sure the breeds are LGD breeds & not any others mixed in.

 

[chicken danz]

Need some opinions as to good lgd breeds. Thanks, Chad

I totally agree with Trish that a Great Pyrenees is the dog to get. I don't however agree with the fact that it needs to be a major breeder. What you need is a breeder that has the pups and adults exposed to and safe and proven with poultry and that are working dogs..not pets. And make sure that they have the parents on site, or at least the Dame and a real photo of the sire. I say this thing about the sire cause I just sold my male Pyrenees and am planning to use his son for my new breeder. His mother was from my own lines and I was trying to keep that line going . I simply didn't need two males and I have enough dogs to guard the place without him for sure.

After the all night rain we had here, Tuesday morning, I noticed one of my turkey hens, setting in the middle of one of my larger chicken lots. My turkeys usually stay, in another lot,, on the opposite side of the place. She stood up when I approached her, and she had 13 baby pullets under her. I have no idea where here nest was, but I had been missing a hen for over a month. How she kept them dry and hatched them, without being in a shelter, is amazing. One of my other turkey hens hatched out 17 two weeks ago, but she had a nest in a shed. When she left her nest I found nine Marian hen eggs. One of my Marian hens had been laying her eggs near her, but I thought I had been gathering them. She must have swiped them, before I knew the hen was laying there. The eggs were cold, but I gathered them in an egg carton, and put them in an incubator without a turner. Seven of the nine eggs hatched, but only one or two at a time. I was surprised that any would. They hatched out in the carton. They were in the incubator for over a week, before the first chick hatched. I really forgot about them, until I hear the first one peeping. I had some quail that were in a brooder, so I just added the chicks as they hatched, and they are getting along fine.

Ralph, I had some turkey hens nest in high weeds and grass which I assumed were gone. That was last year. They did the same thing. I normally just hatch the eggs myself cause my record is better than there's. This year though I've been letting the hens sit about 10 days before gathering them. It's saving me some time and space in the incubator. I need to sell a bunch of poults. I sold all of my first hatch and really want to keep the some of the older poults that I have left. I like to have a few butcher Toms and a couple hens to add to the breeders each year. That still leaves me with a ton of babies to sell.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

Danz i have a lot of friends up here who are jelous of my turkeys from you and they are checking with their city if they can get them legalized so you may have more Metro people contacting you though I will of course bring down anyone

 

[HEChicken]

Need some opinions as to good lgd breeds. Thanks, Chad

I'd suggest joining some of the LGD groups on Facebook - you can learn a lot there about the various breeds. For me, GP wasn't a good option as one of their primary methods of protecting is to bark to let predators know they are there as a warning to keep away. Although we have some acreage, the lots are narrow and long, so our neighbors are not that far and we didn't want to alienate them (not to mention, nothing bothers me more than to lie in bed at night listening to a dog barking!)

As Trish said, all of the LGD breeds are large breed dogs - they need to be to fight off some of the larger predators. And all were developed for centuries in their home countries, to protect herds of sheep and goats, often on remote mountainsides, without a lot of human interaction. Therefore, many of them like to have a larger area to patrol than most homesteads these days, so good fencing is a must. Even with good fencing, many LGDs will dig under or jump over so a lot of people have to resort to a hot wire to keep them in.

Be aware that LGDs were traditionally not used to guard poultry, so they rarely bond with birds. However they will keep them safe by keeping predators out of their territory, so they are still effective as LGDs. Also, be aware that pups are not mentally mature until they are two years old and many go through an adolescent stage that includes killing poultry. That can be tough to take when the dog you brought in to protect the flock, is the one killing them. So, you need to have a way to separate and introduce and work with them through that stage, until you are confident they are safe to be left together.

I chose Karakachans after spending about two years researching the various LGD breeds. Karakachans don't have the reputation for barking that some of the other breeds do - when they bark it is because they have detected a potential threat - they don't do it just to let everyone know they are there. Also, they tend to more content to stay with their flock or herd rather than roaming to patrol a larger territory. HOWEVER - keep in mind that though there are breed characteristics, every dog is an individual. It is possible to find GPs that don't roam and Karakachans that do. Mine are young yet - the male is almost 9 months and the female just turned 7 months. I'm happy with them so far but still have most of the adolescent phase to go

 

[HEChicken]

Well, my little turkey is still alive. I carried it in my shirt all day yesterday. That turkey has fed all the animals, transplanted seedlings to the veggie garden, planted seeds, weeded, made cheese, milked goats and done some fencing.

Most of the day it was so still I kept checking it was still alive. Around 4pm I transferred its siblings to a bigger brooder in the 3-season room and on hearing them calling, it perked up and started talking. From then on, it talked to me throughout the evening. It occurred to me it might be weak due to lack of nutrition/hydration, so I mixed up some sugar water and dipped its beak several times. It was so weak it could only swallow 3-4 times before its head flopped again. When bedtime came I was in a quandary. It was still weak and not ready to go with the others but I couldn't risk crushing it in my sleep. So I started up the incubator and once it was up to temp, put the turkey in it for the night. I fully expected to find it dead this morning but to my surprise it was sitting in a more normal position rather than on its side and responded immediately when I took the lid off the incubator to check on it. Amazingly, it actually seems a little stronger, and since it hasn't had much nutrition in the last 24 hours I don't know how that is possible. I got some game bird crumbles and every time it opened its mouth to peep, I'd try to throw a piece in. Some of them were swallowed and others ejected. Every couple of pieces of crumble, I dipped its beak in the sugar water again. It isn't getting many calories this way but it does seem to have a will to live and I'm hoping I'll get enough nutrition in it to be able to eventually return it to the brooder with the others.

 

[chicken danz]

Well we all have opinions I guess. I'm not trying to argue just have a different opinion. I raise my GPs with the chickens having access to the pen from the day they are born. They tend to be naturally protective of them. And a well bred Pyr will bond to any animal they consider belong. Try grabbing one of my chickens and making its squawk and see if you aren't surrounded but upset dogs! I like my Pyrs because even if they aren't around kids on a daily basis they have a sense and know it is a baby and are very loving and gentle with them. I've never had to correct a pyr pup over once or twice at most to teach them a chicken isn't a play thing. A firm no works. The only time my pyrs roam is when I have a female in heat. I do plan to electrically fence the property though because of that reason. Most pyrs, when mature, establish an area to patrol and stay there. Since I have the intent of producing a litter every couple of years I have to keep an in tact female.
My dogs don't just stand and bark. They bark when they hear or perceive a predator. They do however have extremely good hearing and they detect things sooner than we can for sure. But yes they do bark which to me is total comfort that the birds are safe. I have pens and coops I never shut up at night and birds that free range 24 7 thanks to the dogs. Just a little more food for thought. This looks like bonding to me! Taken in my yard.

 

[chicklover56]

Well, my little turkey is still alive. I carried it in my shirt all day yesterday. That turkey has fed all the animals, transplanted seedlings to the veggie garden, planted seeds, weeded, made cheese, milked goats and done some fencing.

Most of the day it was so still I kept checking it was still alive. Around 4pm I transferred its siblings to a bigger brooder in the 3-season room and on hearing them calling, it perked up and started talking. From then on, it talked to me throughout the evening. It occurred to me it might be weak due to lack of nutrition/hydration, so I mixed up some sugar water and dipped its beak several times. It was so weak it could only swallow 3-4 times before its head flopped again. When bedtime came I was in a quandary. It was still weak and not ready to go with the others but I couldn't risk crushing it in my sleep. So I started up the incubator and once it was up to temp, put the turkey in it for the night. I fully expected to find it dead this morning but to my surprise it was sitting in a more normal position rather than on its side and responded immediately when I took the lid off the incubator to check on it. Amazingly, it actually seems a little stronger, and since it hasn't had much nutrition in the last 24 hours I don't know how that is possible. I got some game bird crumbles and every time it opened its mouth to peep, I'd try to throw a piece in. Some of them were swallowed and others ejected. Every couple of pieces of crumble, I dipped its beak in the sugar water again. It isn't getting many calories this way but it does seem to have a will to live and I'm hoping I'll get enough nutrition in it to be able to eventually return it to the brooder with the others.

Wow that's amazing!

 

[lizzyGSR]

Well we all have opinions I guess. I'm not trying to argue just have a different opinion. I raise my GPs with the chickens having access to the pen from the day they are born. They tend to be naturally protective of them. And a well bred Pyr will bond to any animal they consider belong. Try grabbing one of my chickens and making its squawk and see if you aren't surrounded but upset dogs! I like my Pyrs because even if they aren't around kids on a daily basis they have a sense and know it is a baby and are very loving and gentle with them. I've never had to correct a pyr pup over once or twice at most to teach them a chicken isn't a play thing. A firm no works. The only time my pyrs roam is when I have a female in heat. I do plan to electrically fence the property though because of that reason. Most pyrs, when mature, establish an area to patrol and stay there. Since I have the intent of producing a litter every couple of years I have to keep an in tact female.
My dogs don't just stand and bark. They bark when they hear or perceive a predator. They do however have extremely good hearing and they detect things sooner than we can for sure. But yes they do bark which to me is total comfort that the birds are safe. I have pens and coops I never shut up at night and birds that free range 24 7 thanks to the dogs. Just a little more food for thought. This looks like bonding to me! Taken in my yard.

What a great picture! The black and white birds right in front of the dog on the right...what kind are they? Pretty!

 

[chicken danz]

Lizzy those were supposed to be black over white polish. The opposite of the norm. None of them bred true. I think they look like a houdan myself. I didn't keep them. Used them as layers for awhile then sold them on the cheap. They were a huge disappointment.
I was out spraying roundup. Had the tank behind my lawn mower and got rained out. Really??? It wasn't supposed to rain. I sure hope it didn't wash off the roundup. I have so much more to do out there today but came in to eat and relax before I go back out. It feels really chilly to me.

 

[Trish44]

I think the beauty of this forum is that we can have differing opinions & still be friends. What works for one person doesn't necessarily for another. I know we have talked about this before, but my GPs don't bark unless they perceive a threat. My neighbor's dogs just stand & bark all day at nothing, mine don't. I agree that you will have people who have good & bad experiences with any breed of LGD. Mine only have 10 acres here but they know where they belong & stay here, others say theirs roam. I think you have to give them a job from the beginning so they know their purpose. Mine do watch over everything here & I agree with danz that they do pay attention to all of their charges, the birds included. If there is a ruckus in the pens mine will go & investigate. They know somehow every bird & animal that belongs here & will run off stray cats or even wild turkeys because they know what belongs & what doesn't, they're very intelligent dogs. I think you have to take your individual situation into consideration & make a decision based on that. Danz what I meant about the breeders was exactly what you said, I wasn't putting down everyone who raises GPs but my point was that you should see the parent dogs & make sure they have good working instincts. There are some who raise them just for the money & don't really care if the work instincts are good or not. That is what I meant & said about making sure before buying a pup or pups that this is the case. If you know the person's dogs have been working & doing a good job of protecting the livestock, no matter what it is then that's what you want. I'm not saying you have to be a big breeder, just a reputable one, there is a difference.