Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

Hechicken and Cleansquared, Pyrs really do learn fast. I think it is more exposure and expectations. My first one never was taught anything and at 4 months old she chased off her first coyote and has spent the night protecting ever since. Now my male on the other hand laid around and chewed on stuff for the first year of his life. He is still very laid back but he watches the area near the house while Marshmallow works the outside boundaries. But if he is ever needed he is awesome. She just works a lot harder than he does initially. He's the perfect partner dog. When my girls had pups he took over the outside area and let the girls stay in...like he knew they were pre-occupied.
Raising pups, I exposed them to chickens from day one. Most of my pyrs ended up sharing their food with a chicken or two. Not necessarily by choice. I think the pack rat thing is more of a boredom response. Like "I need something to chew on when there's no predators to chase off." That's why I suggest good chew toys. If you are tidy and don't leave things laying around you may never have a problem. In my case I have a million things going on at once and hate putting things up in the middle of working on something. My fault they disappear into the pile of treasures in the front yard. Now that the dogs are mature they only tend to chew on bones and things like that. Or if I lazily leave the can to some dog food sitting out it ends up being moved around.
I have to say my silly geese are just as bad!!! Josie, I do hold their food and fill their sled with water right before I put them up. It has worked beautifully and they file into the green house single file....until last night. I thought they were perfectly behaved little angels. I told them last night if they insisted on acting like that they would have to sleep with the big geese. I am going to try to have things ready and see if DH will help me put them to bed early tonight before he goes to work. It will be a fight because they are used to going to bed at dusk. All birds should be like my midget turkeys. I grab a bucket and walk slowly toward their pen and hollar "turkeys" and they just walk behind me and file into their pen. Sometimes a couple of them know it's about that time and go by themselves. If I wait too late though, sometimes a couple of the girls will roost on top one of the other pens and I have to drag them down. That is not fun.

 

[Trish44]

Well I think on the LGD issue, you just have to realize with a puppy you have your work cut out for you for several months no matter what the breed or mix is. They do learn fast, but a puppy is still a puppy. You can't let up on them with the training to leave the birds alone. Which ever method you use, a shock collar or just stern warnings, you have to be consistent & like I was told the dog needs to know you are watching & can correct them from wherever you are. That's one advantage to a shock collar, but those don't always work on some dogs. I have one that it didn't work on, so it depends on the personality of the dog. For awhile there my dogs were bringing home any trash they could find to the yard. I was having to pick it up almost daily, but they seem to have slowed down on that, partially due to the heat, they just don't feel like going that far to get things when it's so hot, but they're also getting older & don't need so much to chew on these days.You're going to have some things to deal with any dog you get, there are none that are totally perfect from the start.

Danz I had a merry chase with my turkey hen last night too. I went out & let one of the little pullets in there that sleeps with the turkeys & in the process out came my naughty turkey hen. She was determined she was not going back in there & it was time for them all to go to roost. I was just as determined that she was not going to take off again like she has been, especially at night, so I got my net & I followed her everywhere she went until I finally got her to go back into the pen. She was not happy about it. I have just decided that the two of them are going to have to stay in the pen until she gets over the idea of running off. She had never done this before until recently & I figure she has a nest out there somewhere that she hid really well that she has been laying eggs in. The problem is the eggs are no good since I don't have a Tom turkey right now & I'm really afraid with her staying out all night something is going to get her. She paces the fence in her pen all day wanting out, but I just have to ignore it because I know if I let her out she's gone again.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

I have a question, I have had several broodies hatch a few chicks and this last one is puzzling me. I am not sure what exactly happened here but here is what I found--- Opened the coop this morning and checked all the chicks and chickens etc and as everyone left the coop I check on the last broody on 2 eggs due any day. I look down to find a chick laying on the bedding infront of the nest box bloody. Both eyes seemed to have been bleeding and they were swollen. The baby was cold and lifeless. I stroked its belly and saw it rise and fall so I high-tailed it to the incubator. I put her in the incubator to warm her. She begain moving and making noise. I picked her up and saw that on one side of her face there was skin torn back from her neck to her eye, and on the other side just a hole on the neck towards the eye. Both eyes are swollen and I am not sure if they eyes are gone or not. What could have happened and should I just put her down? I feel so terrible. Would the broody do that to the baby? I slipped her an extra egg a couple days ago but besides that nothing is changed.

 

[Trish44]

maidenwolf, there may have been something wrong with the chick. I have had them throw a chick out of the nest if it's got problems & leave it to die. I If it's suffering I think I would put it down, it sounds like it's in really bad shape. I also did see my hens eating a dead chick awhile back too. It sounds gross, but I guess it's just nature's way of taking care of things. It doesn't make me happy to see them doing those kinds of things either.

I got all the holes patched in the tin to put up on the goat shelter tomorrow. My DH is off for the holiday, so we plan to go out in the morning & get to work putting it up. The goats have been using the shelter, but they just have had no roof to protect them from the weather. They really do like their new shelter though, they have staked out their favorite spots in there to sleep. After we get the roof on we will have to get some siding for the outside to cover the pallets & some paint.

HEChicken do you remember the little stone walkway I put in to lead to the first hoop coop we built? Well I made one today that goes from that one over to the second hoop coop next to it, so now I have walkways to both. I had worn a path between there anyway, so now I just have something that looks a little nicer there. It's a good thing we have rocks everywhere, I use them for everything.

 

[maidenwolfx80]

maidenwolf, there may have been something wrong with the chick. I have had them throw a chick out of the nest if it's got problems & leave it to die. I If it's suffering I think I would put it down, it sounds like it's in really bad shape. I also did see my hens eating a dead chick awhile back too. It sounds gross, but I guess it's just nature's way of taking care of things. It doesn't make me happy to see them doing those kinds of things either.

I got all the holes patched in the tin to put up on the goat shelter tomorrow. My DH is off for the holiday, so we plan to go out in the morning & get to work putting it up. The goats have been using the shelter, but they just have had no roof to protect them from the weather. They really do like their new shelter though, they have staked out their favorite spots in there to sleep. After we get the roof on we will have to get some siding for the outside to cover the pallets & some paint.

HEChicken do you remember the little stone walkway I put in to lead to the first hoop coop we built? Well I made one today that goes from that one over to the second hoop coop next to it, so now I have walkways to both. I had worn a path between there anyway, so now I just have something that looks a little nicer there. It's a good thing we have rocks everywhere, I use them for everything.

That is the most logical explanation I can think of too. I have heard that they will eat them and if the hen is busy sitting then another hen can snatch the baby and kill it too. But of course like you said it just natures way. No matter how much we do not understand, it isn't for us to understand. It is either something you need to stop or turn your back and let them do what they do. Anyway thank you for the reply, the baby didn't make it.

 

[HEChicken]

HEChicken do you remember the little stone walkway I put in to lead to the first hoop coop we built? Well I made one today that goes from that one over to the second hoop coop next to it, so now I have walkways to both. I had worn a path between there anyway, so now I just have something that looks a little nicer there. It's a good thing we have rocks everywhere, I use them for everything.

That is awesome - I will have to come and see it sometime soon!

 

[babsaroo]

Good morning to all, i hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day.

 

[babsaroo]

Chicken danz im very interested in what kind of ducks u have left if any ?

 

[chicken danz]

Mine was uneventful. Normal day. My evening after putting birds up was spent snoozing in front of the TV. My DH is working nights so it was an sandwich evening.
I spent most of the day on the phone and computer with people asking about birds. I am hoping to get a ton of them moved today and tomorrow. I keep thinking... oh I can keep just this or keep just that but in reality I know I need to move them.Once the adults get sold it's time for babies.
This is really exhausting but I hope in the long run it lets me keep those that I really want to keep.

 

[chicken danz]

I have tons of Cayuga and Pekin left. As well as a huge amount of mixed ones. Mostly Ancona and Cayuga mixed. I pulled my Anconas out because I decided I wanted to keep them. I would have some males though. I'm selling the ducks for $5 each or less if I sell several. Many of these are full sized now, but I do have some younger ones left. I also have a couple of crested cayuga that are awesome. I am going to do some butchering

on Sunday. Not sure how many but if you want some of these in particular let me know and I can hold them back.
Some of these girls should start laying around September if you are interested in hatching or eggs from them.
How is Roosters SD doing?