Consolidated Kansas

[chicken danz]

What a day. I've been out since I got home from church catching ducks and chickens to go with my buyer tomorrow. I should be getting rid of a lot more of my big roosters but every one of those brahmas and cochins made my heart hurt to put in the "to go" pen. I should be out catching a few more since it is dark but I am totally exhausted. I feel so guilty putting all my birds through so much. I gathered up 39 Serama roosters and only saved 8 for breeding.It's so hard when you look at all of them to choose which ones to keep. I'm not into show birds so it's hard to say one is better than another. I still have tons of birds but at least maybe they won't be beating each other up so bad. Well that is if she goes ahead and takes them all. I have a bunch of young ones left in the brooder so there won't be a shortage for sure.
I had someone call me for eggs today and on second thought might come to buy chicks instead. That would be nice. Instead of having to raise all of these to see who was going to be what size and what color I could let someone else do it. But they have a about a 6 hour trip to get here so who knows if that will happen.
I have sold tons of birds in the past but for some reason it really bothered me to get rid of these. I must be getting softer in my old age.

 

[Trish44]

Danz, well you have cared for those birds, so I can see where you're coming from on that score. It kind of hurt me to find out my neighbor had lost both of the birds I sent over there, especially the one I raised from a day old chick & he let them both die. They were doing so well at my place, so I almost felt like I had killed them by letting him have them. Then after he told me the rooster died he had the nerve to say to me that he didn't think he was ever quite right. That rooster was fine when I had him, if he didn't care for them properly after they got there I can't help that. He won't be getting any more of my birds I know that, he was just feeding them to whatever predator came by at any given time. If you're going to have chickens you have to be responsible & make sure they're as safe as you can, that's how I feel about it. Yes, it's nice for them to free-range, but that doesn't mean you leave them out 24/7 to feed the coyotes & foxes. We all lose some birds once in awhile, but just putting them out there tempting whatever predator comes calling is another thing. I kind of got off the subject there, but still I can see why you would feel the way you do about getting rid of your birds.

Well Lily & I went head to head today over her eating my eggs. After giving her 3 chances with scolding her & taking her back out, even putting her on the chain for awhile she didn't learn, so I put her on the chain in the yard for a longer time this afternoon. Then after taking her off there she must have tried once more even & the rooster corrected her that time because I heard her yelp. If he sees her going into the run or coop he will take care of it by giving her his kind of correction, which I see as him doing his job protecting his girls. He doesn't like her being in there at all & if he sees her he will take care of it. I know tomorrow we will be going through the same thing again because she is very hard-headed & determined & has a short memory it seems like. I have already decided that if she doesn't stay out of there tomorrow that she is going to spend the whole day in the dog run. She is not going to win this battle, one way or the other she has to learn that I am boss & what I say goes. Unlike her sister she does not seem to respect me as the leader & doesn't listen. Scolding her does not have the same effect that it does on Jasmine. I can scold Jas once & she skulks off & she's done. When Lily gets in trouble she even goes away like she doesn't want any part of it. But with Lily you can tell her something repeatedly & she still does it over & over. I have had to get a lot more severe with her than with Jas or it does not make an impact. She comes to me after doing something bad with this silly, goofy grin on her face like see how cute I am, you can't get mad at me & I have to ignore that & punish her because she thinks that will get her off the hook. If anybody has any ideas about how I can break her of eating eggs, I'm open to suggestions. I just think I have to break her of going into the run or coop at all in order to accomplish that. I can't shut the coop door or the chickens can't get in to lay, eat, or get a drink of water, so it has to be somehow conveyed to Lily that the run & coop are off-limits to both of them. Jasmine got attacked by the rooster & scolded by me & I have not seen her go back in there, but Lily is another story, she just has to learn things the hard way.

 

[Candace69]

The way Today went for Trish:

lily:

Trish:

Lily:

Trish:

lily:

Trish:

Lily:

Trish tonight:

 

[Trish44]

Candace, that's hilarious! But Lily is now in the dog run for the night, whew!

 

[rittert3]

The folks that are letting me keep my birds at their farm have a wild 9 mo old golden retreiver like that. All 3 of their dogs are egg suckers but thankfully arn't allowed in any of the buildings or runs and the wild one's penned up except for a supervised run every evening.

 

[justhatchin]

Trish I have this same problem with mollie. She ate lots of duck eggs this summer cuz they make nest all over- if she finds it.... I didn't have very many duckies this year and it wasn't just cuz of the heat.
I can scold her and she will set there and shake her head "no" at me. She will walk off sometimes but then she comes back and shakes her head at me- yes she thinks she is the alph. We are working on this she is -at 3- begining to listen.
I have heard of a person putting "hot" sauce in a egg with a needle and then leaving it where the dog can find it - said it worked?? don't know haven't got that serious about it.
To keep her out of the coop we have a cattle (wire) panel cut just the size to put across the door and the chickens go in and out but not the dog.
Some of the ducks started laying in the goat shed where she doesn't go. We bought her as a guard dog for them and she still is afraid of them but the perimeter is well guarded. She circles around the outside of our yard. Good luck on the training.

Danz, well you have cared for those birds, so I can see where you're coming from on that score. It kind of hurt me to find out my neighbor had lost both of the birds I sent over there, especially the one I raised from a day old chick & he let them both die. They were doing so well at my place, so I almost felt like I had killed them by letting him have them. Then after he told me the rooster died he had the nerve to say to me that he didn't think he was ever quite right. That rooster was fine when I had him, if he didn't care for them properly after they got there I can't help that. He won't be getting any more of my birds I know that, he was just feeding them to whatever predator came by at any given time. If you're going to have chickens you have to be responsible & make sure they're as safe as you can, that's how I feel about it. Yes, it's nice for them to free-range, but that doesn't mean you leave them out 24/7 to feed the coyotes & foxes. We all lose some birds once in awhile, but just putting them out there tempting whatever predator comes calling is another thing. I kind of got off the subject there, but still I can see why you would feel the way you do about getting rid of your birds.

Well Lily & I went head to head today over her eating my eggs. After giving her 3 chances with scolding her & taking her back out, even putting her on the chain for awhile she didn't learn, so I put her on the chain in the yard for a longer time this afternoon. Then after taking her off there she must have tried once more even & the rooster corrected her that time because I heard her yelp. If he sees her going into the run or coop he will take care of it by giving her his kind of correction, which I see as him doing his job protecting his girls. He doesn't like her being in there at all & if he sees her he will take care of it. I know tomorrow we will be going through the same thing again because she is very hard-headed & determined & has a short memory it seems like. I have already decided that if she doesn't stay out of there tomorrow that she is going to spend the whole day in the dog run. She is not going to win this battle, one way or the other she has to learn that I am boss & what I say goes. Unlike her sister she does not seem to respect me as the leader & doesn't listen. Scolding her does not have the same effect that it does on Jasmine. I can scold Jas once & she skulks off & she's done. When Lily gets in trouble she even goes away like she doesn't want any part of it. But with Lily you can tell her something repeatedly & she still does it over & over. I have had to get a lot more severe with her than with Jas or it does not make an impact. She comes to me after doing something bad with this silly, goofy grin on her face like see how cute I am, you can't get mad at me & I have to ignore that & punish her because she thinks that will get her off the hook. If anybody has any ideas about how I can break her of eating eggs, I'm open to suggestions. I just think I have to break her of going into the run or coop at all in order to accomplish that. I can't shut the coop door or the chickens can't get in to lay, eat, or get a drink of water, so it has to be somehow conveyed to Lily that the run & coop are off-limits to both of them. Jasmine got attacked by the rooster & scolded by me & I have not seen her go back in there, but Lily is another story, she just has to learn things the hard way.

 

[Ivywoods]

The cattle panel across the dorr is a good idea. That is kind of what I did for one of our pens. I made it so the hens could go in and out, but the dogs and goats couldn't get through the panel. You can cut those panels to the size you want and then hinge them up just like a screen door. Works for me. I'd take a pic and send it, but we have since revamped that pen and no longer use the cattle panel "screen door."

 

[Candace69]

I like the egg and hot sauce Idea, might take a couple times, but heck, I can see that working!

 

[HEChicken]

Do the chickens not have a pop door to get in and out? Surely a GP can't fit through it if they do....My suggestion would be to add a pop door for the chooks, and leave the people door shut so the dogs can't get into the coop.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Trish, I can feel your frustration and anger over losing all those eggs! I would be MAD as heck. I like the suggestions with the cattle fencing-- it has those great big square holes, and surely she can't fit thru that? Perhaps put that over the door to the run? She is going to have to learn that the run and coop are off limits to her. I'm not sure about the hot sauce and the egg. I only heard that works with chickens.... not dogs. My dogs seem to like mustard, sauces, etc. But they drained out an egg, then filled it up with the sauce of choice. I guess you could get habaneros and simply grind them down to a paste and squeeze them into a few drained eggs. A sauce won't be hot enough or much of a deterrent, so I'd go with fresh chilies that are known to be insanely hot. Habanero is great-- I can't even cut those or work with them without wearing disposable gloves. I'd grind down the stem, and seeds with it-- that is hottest part. But I like the wire panel idea better-- that restricts her from even going in, in the first place.

Danz, I hope your buyer takes all of your birds you penned up. Good luck with the sale.

Who ever talked about the incubator (a few pages back)... I have been reading up a lot on incubating. Everyone says that the incubator drops in temps when you set eggs. The eggs are cooler, so it will take some time to bring it all back up. And a while back, Danz and Ivy told us that when they add water-- they always add really hot water so it won't drop too bad. Besides... in real life, the hen does get up from the eggs from time to time, I doubt a temp drop is really going to hurt them.

Yesterday was a fairly good day. Went to church, and then hung out at home-- the temps were so nice outside! The kids played outside most of the day. Last night, ALL the chickens put themselves into the coop. They are starting to get a lot better!