EDUCATIONAL INCUBATION & HATCHING CHAT THREAD, w/ Sally Sunshine Shipped Eggs

[mlm Mike]

i saw this cup at the store, snapped a picture of it on my cellphone, and didn't realize I took a picture of someone's rear end, in the background.

I couldn't stop laughing when I saw it when I got home ^.^

Nice mug.
What the heck is she wearing in public?

 

[mlm Mike]

Good morning everyone!

 

[kajira]

Afternoon folks. Guess who got woke up by a charlie horse this morning?

(answer is me and husband, because I guess I'm not getting enough potassium or magnesium or something and my legs keep cramping. joys of motherhood.)

I had the WORST cramps in my legs during my pregnancies, if I didn't take a magnesium/potassium/calcium supplement..... they luckily are pretty easy to find if you need extra vitamins!

Nice mug.
What the heck is she wearing in public?

Shorts. It's 90+ on average here.

 

[kajira]

For the dog people
The one puppy we kept, out of my german shepard/great pyr accidental breeding (courtesy of my teenager.)

He loves being in the car, he's already clicker trained at 3 months old with numerous commands.... AND he doesn't eat birds

 

[BantyChooks]

For the dog people
The one puppy we kept, out of my german shepard/great pyr accidental breeding (courtesy of my teenager.)

He loves being in the car, he's already clicker trained at 3 months old with numerous commands.... AND he doesn't eat birds

Come train my nutcase not to kill birds.

 

[BantyChooks]

Shaw, hurry up and get here already.

 

[kajira]

Come train my nutcase not to kill birds.

I'm 99% sure, had we not traine dmy husbands working dogs, to not eat birds, they'd have wiped our chickens out. (lab/pit mix and a pure bred GSD.)

He used a shock collar to train them. Even our blood hound no longer "mouth hugs" our birds. He loves stuffed animals SOOOO much, never tears them up, but just slobbers on them and hugs them and "which way did he go george, which way did he go" the chickens............. lol

We've caught our blood hound, more than once carrying around a full size chicken, like he does his stuffed animals. He's not trying to hurt them - but they are "real life stuffed animals" and they just make him squee in his little doggy heart.

However, the stress of that, is not good for my poor chickies.

 

[mlm Mike]

I had the WORST cramps in my legs during my pregnancies, if I didn't take a magnesium/potassium/calcium supplement..... they luckily are pretty easy to find if you need extra vitamins!



Shorts. It's 90+ on average here.

It get's hot here too, but we still manage to wear clothes in public.
I live in a very conservative area.

For the dog people
The one puppy we kept, out of my german shepard/great pyr accidental breeding (courtesy of my teenager.)

He loves being in the car, he's already clicker trained at 3 months old with numerous commands.... AND he doesn't eat birds

Awwwww

 

[BantyChooks]

I'm 99% sure, had we not traine dmy husbands working dogs, to not eat birds, they'd have wiped our chickens out. (lab/pit mix and a pure bred GSD.)

He used a shock collar to train them. Even our blood hound no longer "mouth hugs" our birds. He loves stuffed animals SOOOO much, never tears them up, but just slobbers on them and hugs them and "which way did he go george, which way did he go" the chickens............. lol

We've caught our blood hound, more than once carrying around a full size chicken, like he does his stuffed animals. He's not trying to hurt them - but they are "real life stuffed animals" and they just make him squee in his little doggy heart.

However, the stress of that, is not good for my poor chickies.

I worked with positive reinforcement with my dog for quite a while, just repeating and repeating it, but she was so fixated on the chickens she wouldn't even eat the most delicious treats I could find. Nothing could budge her. Took her to a trainer, she told me to just keep doing it...

I eventually gave in and bought a shock collar. I don't have to use the shock now, just the buzzer, and as long as the collar is on she doesn't fixate quite so much. She's too smart for her own good.

 

[kajira]

I worked with positive reinforcement with my dog for quite a while, just repeating and repeating it, but she was so fixated on the chickens she wouldn't even eat the most delicious treats I could find. Nothing could budge her. Took her to a trainer, she told me to just keep doing it...

I eventually gave in and bought a shock collar. I don't have to use the shock now, just the buzzer, and as long as the collar is on she doesn't fixate quite so much. She's too smart for her own good.

I believe that positive reinforcement is great.... but in situations like this, where they'll rip apart chickens, you want to create avoidant behaviors. You literally need to associate a very unpleasant reaction, with their fixation, or nothing will ever stop them.

I've worked with a lot of hard core working dogs, and I hate that most trainers don't respect or even understand how to use tools. You can't proof a dog with out being open to using a wider variety of training methods, especially high energy working dogs, or dogs who have issues with other animals. Especially if they have a high prey drive.

My husband has his dogs so fixated on their reward for working now, the work itself was also created to be the fun part, and then at the end, they get their ball. He created a very big ball possession drive, where you nearly have to choke them out to get their ball back, but because of it, they can go anywhere, around anything, and if their reward ball is in their mouth, there's nothing that will make them drop it. Not even the desire to taste a chicken, too. LOL

However, I have a strict rule. If a dog eats my chickens, it can't live here. So he made sure his dogs wouldn't eat a chicken. haha