Hudson Valley NY *chat thread*

[LSzajko]

Quote:
Glad you made it through both storms! We've had more flooding from the rains this past week than from Irene and Sandy. I was literally scooping water out of the container herb garden near the coop last night. I really hope the plants survive. I don't want to replace everything. More rain tomorrow and/or Friday, I think? The run is soooo muddy. My mom lives in NJ. She lost power for 2+ weeks but no flooding. The marina near her house was washed out so she was lucky. I was down there in April. Sandy Hook is still a mess as well as the other shore towns. LOVED your coop pictures! You must be so excited to get chickens. And If I ran into a bear I'm pretty sure I'd panic!

 

[LSzajko]

Quote:
I would feel better if your dog could be outside while your chickens free range. Hawks are quick. As soon as I let my chickens out there are 3-5 hawks hovering overhead. Although they stomp all over the flowers, I'm glad the girls prefer to forage in my front yard under a dwarf Japanese red maple and the other bushes. Both provide good shelter. Sometimes I have to move branches to make sure they're still there. Would your dog bother the chickens? From the very beginning when my dogs poked around the brooder I told them "Noooooo...they're mine!" and they eventually learned to leave the chicks alone. For awhile they liked to poke their noses through the run fence which always resulted in a peck and a yelp. They quickly learned to leave the girls alone !

 

[mountaindog66]

I would feel better if your dog could be outside while your chickens free range. Hawks are quick. As soon as I let my chickens out there are 3-5 hawks hovering overhead. Although they stomp all over the flowers, I'm glad the girls prefer to forage in my front yard under a dwarf Japanese red maple and the other bushes. Both provide good shelter. Sometimes I have to move branches to make sure they're still there.Would your dog bother the chickens? From the very beginning when my dogs poked around the brooder I told them "Noooooo...they're mine!" and they eventually learned to leave the chicks alone. For awhile they liked to poke their noses through the run fence which always resulted in a peck and a yelp. They quickly learned to leave the girls alone !

I'm afraid my dog, even though a gentle working breed who is great with my cats, would try to eat my chickens. He has a prey drive for rabbits, squirrels, and birds. He once chased down, before I could react to stop him in time, a mother wild turkey and her juvenile and he caught the juvie mid-flight and killed it. I was able to get it away from him right away but it was too late. Other than getting excited over wildlife like that, he does listen and train easily though, and is a very good boy, so I'm hoping if I keep working with him steadily I'll train him out of it. Last time we were at my sister's place in Vermont, though, he very much wanted to chase her Buff Orpingtons and I had to keep him on leash.

My sister thinks I should set up a interior divider fence in the backyard of 4 ft woven wire to keep the dog separated until he's trained, and that I don't actually need an attached run. I guess if he was in the yard with the girls but fenced separate, the hawks would still be deterred by him.

 

[Coupe]

A divider sounds good. Your dog will beable to see them but wont beable to chase them..plus He'll get use to seeing them walking around in "his" yard.
My dogs go after anything "wild" but wont touch the chickens or ducks...My female loves to chase birds around the yard! She goes crazy for wild turkeys aswell, which i always thought was weird because i use to raise bourban red turkeys and she would raise the babies.
You have a very intelligent breed of dog, so im sure he'll pick up on it pretty quick!

 

[DoubleC]

Hi, I'm popping in from over at the NY Chicken Lover's thread at the suggestion of Coupe and LSzajko to introduce myself and say Hi.

To rehash my introductions from the New Members area, my husband and I live in Phoenicia with our Bernese Mountain Dog Baxter and 2 cats. 

I have no chickens yet but am planning a flock for next spring. I'm interested in getting a mixed flock (for egg color variety and fun) of Wyandottes, Black Copper Marans, Wheaten Ameraucanas, and Welsummers. My sister in Vermont has a large flock of Buff Orpingtons. My husband and I work full-time (no kids) so although we built a lovely coop about 10 years ago, we hesitated actually getting a flock started because we were afraid we could not get home in time to lock them up securely each evening. We have since built a 7-foot fence for our dogs around a large portion of our yard containing the coop area, so my sister is encouraging me to finally get some hens. We'll also build a small attached run for the coop this fall/winter. My property borders a huge tract of NY State Forest Preserve in the Catskills and we have a lot of predators, especially bears. I figure a lot of you from Upstate NY are dealing with the same and hope to learn a lot from you.

When the time comes next winter/spring, I'd be interested in obtaining chicks locally for pickup, if possible. (I consider within a 2-3 hour drive to be somewhat local).

I look forward to seeing pics of your birds and coops! (I love Cayuga ducks too, but we have no pond, so chickens seem to be the easier option - but ducks are just too cute).

--Terry

 

[DoubleC]

These are my 7 sweeties. I just wrote a super long post....tried to add a pic, and lost it all....so, as that I am frustrated and annoyed, this is short and sweet. LOL
Hi Terry! Nice to have another chicken fan here!
Hope you are all well! I'm having one of those days. Everything seems wrong or out of whack today...so, I am off to bed - hoping that tomorrow will be better.
Laura

 

[DoubleC]

Oops .... 8 sweeties! See what I mean.LOL

 

[Coupe]

Lol sounds like you need to sleep! Miss counting chickens is a sign of sleep deprivation

 

[mountaindog66]

These are my 7 sweeties. I just wrote a super long post....tried to add a pic, and lost it all....so, as that I am frustrated and annoyed, this is short and sweet. LOL
Hi Terry! Nice to have another chicken fan here!
Hope you are all well! I'm having one of those days.

Everything seems wrong or out of whack today...so, I am off to bed - hoping that tomorrow will be better.
Laura

Good Morning all,
Beautiful variety in your flock, Laura! You have a SLW also, how is her temperament? I like your EE also, very pretty. You must get a nice assortment of eggs. Hope you feel better.

Lexi, I showed my husband the pics of your SLWs, he thought they were just beautiful, he really wants those in our flock along with the others I'm thinking of (BCM and Wheaten Ameraucana or maybe EEs).

Everyone be careful with the rain today and stay on high ground! Off to work now...
--Terry

 

[LSzajko]

Good Morning Everybody

I heard we're in for quite a storm. Ugh. This weather really suxxx.
Terry & Laura~ Cool pictures! Lexi..did you post pictures of your newest chicks or did I miss them? Lemme see Lemme see!

Soooooooo.......I was in Facebook last night and saw a post from my DH's cousin. He and his wife just got chickens and built a coop so at a quick glance, I saw pictures of (what I thought were) his chickens.
I said "Wow, their coop came out nice.." and then I said "..."Hey...his chickens look just like ours..." and then I realized it was our coop and they're our chickens. He works in the area and apparently decided to stop by to see our coop/run and then decided to take some pictures...and post them on Facebook too! lol
Where's my toolbar with all those cutified smiley faces? I wanna insert the one bangin' its head...
*sigh* You can pick your friends but ya can't pick your relatives, right...........?

Anyway...........

Hang in there~ it's almost Friday!
Come to think of it, today is Friday for me. I work for the Gov't and we are being furloughed tomorrow. A 3-day weekend and 10% loss in pay. Yay.

Have a great day~ Stay dry~