Homesteaders

[lcertuche]

My neighbor had a wire that went around the border of her property and her dogs wore collars that would shock them if they went past it. It worked like a charm. I've been thinking about something like that. Does the wireless containment system work similarly?

 

[Beekissed]

My neighbor had a wire that went around the border of her property and her dogs wore collars that would shock them if they went past it. It worked like a charm. I've been thinking about something like that. Does the wireless containment system work similarly?

Though it has limits and cannot be conformed to the property like an in ground system can(transmits a signal in a large circle), going around corners and such to cover the entire area, I like the wireless much better and I've had better success with it than with the wired systems. My dog would blow right through the in ground wire system like it was nothing, then he would be reluctant to come back in the boundary because he'd get shocked both going and coming. The wireless only shocks when they go out but not when they come back in and it shocks for a much longer time/distance than the in ground system.

It's also less work and more versatile...plug in the transmitter, set your boundary with a dial on the box, put the collar on the dog. System is up. The in ground system kept failing and I'd have to dig it up to see where it had gone wrong. Then it would slowly surface over time and get cut by the mower, etc. Unless someone ran that wire above ground along an existing fence, that stuff is more trouble than it's worth.

The good thing about the wireless is that you can change that boundary with the touch of a finger, unlike the in ground systems. You can also get an adaptor and take it on vacation, in an RV, on a boat, etc. It can even be dialed down to areas small enough to contain a dog to a room in the house.

I also think it transmits a better, more reliable shock than the in ground. It's kept my dogs safe for many a long year now and I used to live right on a busy highway.

 

[Chicken girl 15]

I have a rott who is 13 and an amazing lgd. He protects the chickens and Duckie as well as his 6 kittens and bunny. He allows all small critters in so the flock and cats can eat them, but if there happen to be big critters he won't allow them in. I also have a psychopath Carolina dingo who will eat anything he can grab, unless mom (me the evil one) puts his shock collar on. Once his collar is on he's perfect.

 

[wyoDreamer]

Coming back - late to the party as usual.

I like cooking in cast iron, most things at least. Some things not so much, though I can't think of any right now. Oh yeah, fried eggs. I don't like eggs fried in the cast iron.

A friend of mine was really into the rendezvous stuff. He had a teepee, throwing axes, musket loader, buckskin clothes and full set of cast iron pots and pans. His wife got a glass-top stove when they built a house in the country. His mountain man stuff has been packed away in the garage ever since.

My sister and brother-in-law used a shock collar/fence system for their lab. He was really good with it; however, the chipmunks would chew the wire and let him out of the yard about once a month. I had installed a chain link fence for my husky - it took her 21 seconds to dig enough of a hole for her to squeeze under the fence and get out of the yard. I ran an electric fence about 6 inches above the ground on the inside of the fence. Took me and my boyfriend about 3 hours to get it all set up and running. We turned it on and stepped back to admire our work. The dog came over and laid down ON THE FENCE and wagged her tail onto the fence so we could really feel the defeat. I guess that the double coat of a husky will insulate them from the electric shock. however, once we went into the house all deflated - she tried to dig out and got a shock on her feet/nose/ or some other non-insulated area. The drawback of that system was that she could hear when the fence was turned on and quickly learned when she could get out.

 

[chickendreams24]

They are my own creation kind of.  I like CX's but they are not perfect. They are very fragile and short lived. Keeping them alive to breeding age is a feat in itself.

They also have large breasts but the ratio to thighs/legs is too low for me. My Wife and I like dark meat. So I kept 5 CX's over winter, or tried to 3 hens and 2 roosters.

Only one lived to successfully breed.  I had planned to cross the hens to a Rainbow rooster I had that was overly large.  As fate would have it he died too.    Working with meat birds can be trying and frustrating.

I made lemonade out of the lemons, I crossed my rainbow hens to the CX rooster.  He only lived a few months and because of his size most eggs were not fertile, but I got a few chicks. They were what I wanted. 

The next year I crossed these back to the CX's.  Getting what I called "frogs"

The next year I crossed these crosses back to each other again I did not get many because of the size but they were getting better. I kept my best rooster (and a spare, I learned) to breed back to the biggest best hens.

This worked and I got the parents of these.  I bred these back, to their father to cement the traits I wanted.  I like what I have now. Next year I plan to breed cousins and try and get a real number of chicks instead of the handfuls I have had the last few years.

I am thinking I might try AI as distasteful as it is to me, to get higher fertility on the eggs. Also the roosters are so big they hurt the hens and the chances of conception are very slim.  Naturally I am lucky to get one in 10 eggs to hatch.

I wish there was a place to show these birds, they are so fantastic, in my mind, but all the shows exclude a class for meat birds in the open division.  I guess they think the CX's dominate so much and they are all hatchery eggs so no sense to show them.  These crosses, my Toads, will blow away a CX for size, and health.

I do not have to limit feed as much with these as I did with the CX's. They have slightly better self control at the feed dish. 

They are extremely docile so I have to pasture them in a separate area from my other birds. They just will not fight or stand up for themselves.   When I had the USDA Vet out to do my NPIP inspection she was extremely impressed with the "toads". She could not believe the size of them...


Also they are not bad layers, I get 5 eggs a week from the hens and they weigh in at around 3 ounces, They are the same size as my turkey eggs, matter of fact they looks so much like a turkey egg, I goofed up this spring and hatched 2 with the turkeys.  I inspected the eggs a week before hatch and found two empty shells!   Looked on the bottom shelf and there were two chicks!

So there you have it more about "toads' than you wanted to know...

Short answer they are 3/4th CX  1/4 Rainbows.

They sound awesome. I'd like to try some of them.

Lol where'd you come up with "Toads"?

 

[duluthralphie]

They sound awesome. I'd like to try some of them.

Lol where'd you come up with "Toads"?

Long story..
I wanted to just breed CX's first and raise my own CX's. Someone made a big deal out of the name "CX" being patented or copyrighted or something else. So even though I thought 2 CX's would produce a CX if bred to each other and still do, I did not feel like arguing with this person over something as dumb as the name "CX". So,,,,,


I said I will call them "frogs' then, it was the first weird animal name that popped into my mind, These are further down my experiment and have Rainbow in them, so they are obviously not frogs, And I had learned it is required each bird be properly named as to not infringe on a patent or copyright...


So I decided a non-pure frog was a "toad", Toad has stuck generation after generation. They are pure toads...


Everyone is happy and I can not be sued by who ever holds the name CX in patent or copyright...

I actually thought CX was more of a description than a name, If I cross my Cornish Rock with anything, isn't it a CX? (Cornish cross)?

Heaven forbid I would ever get into a pottying match. So I just gave in, It helps to keep me off probation if I just give in...


That is the story of the name "toads"...

 

[chickendreams24]

Lol I love it!

I once worked in an animal shelter where a little black kitty fell through the cracks(this was a no kill cage free-unless being medicated shelter) the room this kitty was in was massive containing 20 cat litters, 70+ cats, multiple cat trees, shelves for lounging below nearly floor to ceiling windows and vaulted ceilings. There were about 9 other black kitties in this room of the shelter alone(all rooms kept separate) because of the stigma of black cats. This little kitty fell through the cracks and went blind nearly overnight. None of the other workers could figure out in the photo index of all the cats which one he was. I was the only one who noticed he'd gone blind. Not getting anywhere with trying to identify him after narrowing it down to three possible cats all of whom were named unextraordinary things. Well not wanting him to ever fall through the cracks again I named him Pickle. Or I guess I renamed him Pickle. As the room was safe and he could find good and water it was deemed he could live out his life comfortably in spite of his blindness. He's not forgotten in the cracks anymore. How often do you hear about a cat named Pickle? You don't forget a cat named Pickle.

Kind of a different story but yours reminded me of it. I think your toads sound wonderful and I would love to check them out sometime. How do they do free ranging?

 

[lazy gardener]

I also have the wireless system. I will say that it is not a sure bet for all applications. Very uneven ground can have issues with the boundary. Metal buildings, or other large metal objects. Transmitter can't be kept in igloo conditions. And most recently, my collar is malfunctioning, giving my dog random zaps in the house. So, I have to keep it off her when it's inside. The company has been good to work with, and is sending me a new collar. I'm hoping that solves the problem. Pain to keep putting it on/off every time she passes through a door. But she loves it, gets to run her little legs off. Something she couldn't safely do when attached to a wire cable.

 

[Beekissed]

I also have the wireless system. I will say that it is not a sure bet for all applications. Very uneven ground can have issues with the boundary. Metal buildings, or other large metal objects. Transmitter can't be kept in igloo conditions. And most recently, my collar is malfunctioning, giving my dog random zaps in the house. So, I have to keep it off her when it's inside. The company has been good to work with, and is sending me a new collar. I'm hoping that solves the problem. Pain to keep putting it on/off every time she passes through a door. But she loves it, gets to run her little legs off. Something she couldn't safely do when attached to a wire cable.

LG, my transmitter is kept on cement blocks under a bucket...in all weathers...outdoors. Before that it was just bungeed to a tree with a trash bag over it. Not sure about the whole "can't be kept in igloo conditions" bit or where you heard that but I've kept mine in just such conditions for the past 13 yrs without any problems.

 

[Molpet]

LG, my transmitter is kept on cement blocks under a bucket...in all weathers...outdoors. Before that it was just bungeed to a tree with a trash bag over it. Not sure about the whole "can't be kept in igloo conditions" bit or where you heard that but I've kept mine in just such conditions for the past 13 yrs without any problems.

which brands are you both using?