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I often talk about the dogs being my CHORE DOGS...the sense being that there are never any CHORES to do with dogs are along with you. A chore to many is just that...something to be avoided at all costs. Well the girls make my day and never any drudgery with them to entertain and distract me...and yes, to ensure I am not overdoing it because just like Fixins...they will hit you up when you think you are unable to move, toss a toy or even pay attention! Dogs ensure you are healthful and alive...indeed...here is what I mean.
Jan 26, 2017 - Many paws make light the work??
Firewood is a weekly task in winter...you need to fill and maintain the Man Porch wood box.
One wall of wood near gone, so 21 walls less 1 wall burnt up is 20 walls of wood left
Especially important when a cold snap is on the brink of happening...better to haul wood and pile it in -10C than -40C.
Now if we could only find a reasonable way to harness that energy
Dogs make light the work...
How quickly I forget I just loaded a sled with splits and before I know it...
I am standing stunned and stupid, distracted and gobsmacked
"What you standing there with that stupid grin on...don't YOU have a full sled to haul to the Man Porch?"
"Do we have to be watching your every move...herd your useless butt down the incline with that load of firewood?"
Emmy speeds ahead, taking a short cut, up and over to get in front of me and Lacy. Then Lacy, she does what she does...
"Yup, that wood smells good...prime firewood, well seasoned and ready for burning
I do believe that you could have wedged in one more piece...
Now you don't want Dad and us catching a chill tonight because you got lazy and hauled a lighter load than was possible!"
So one chore for that day completed...what task, what work--no chore when dogs are keeping your mind off your labours, eh.
Few days later (Jan 28), I decide to take clicks of hay hauling...I head out that way but not without FIRST stopping to admire their antics...up the two race...first to be on top of the large snow pile Dad has made them to play upon.
"What? Don't you have more yet to do? I don't smell you sweating up a storm yet...get a move on!
This ain't no holiday resort here..."
Extra task on the roster today, load up the same sled with hay for the ruminants out in the front pasture. Like firewood, somehow these supplies keep getting depleted...gremlins I tell you! Gremlins undoing what I keep trying to top up. Oh well...I have a purpose. Something about digging holes and filling them in or pouring energy down black holes??
So there...sled is brining over with hay... got my water bottle for a thirst quencher and look them girls!
Lookit how proud that Emmy is, placing the floppy on my knee and knocking that silly bottle to the ground
"You don't need that distraction...toss the toy!"
These two shots make me grin...lookit the intensity...look at them l00k at me! Emmy's all excited and Lacy, she's got the "Mom throws it, we bring it," back look..."She always has, and always will..."
"Uh yeh...you don't need to rest, you need to throw the toy...
Quit gasping or we're gonna call 911 and have you hauled away...unfit to be here!"
O"K, you got up and covered the hay bales...
that's enough...we need you to toss that toy..."
Always love how the girls are so very much alike. Like peas in a pod, even move that way.
Here's what I mean...watch this set of clicks.
Pretty durn cutesters, eh! TWINNERS!
So on that note...here's three more from Australia Day, eh.
OK...nuff on the dawgs...
Well I guess I am gonna make ClaraBELL one famous chookers...posted this to a query here on BYC (What are peoples ways of preparing their birds for show which have proven to be effective?) and posted those pictorial instructs...
To allow any poultry to become accustomed to the show room environment...inspecting them in hand daily is a good idea. When selecting birds as breeding prospects, a breeder does this anyway as part of our "enjoying the finer parts" of the Fancy. I will end this post with one I posted on my own BYC thread some years back. I teach and judge showmanship for youth and was the APA/ABA Youth Program Adviser for Canada.
If you are going to take up showing poultry on a regular basis, get yourself some cages like you would find at the shows. Show cages fold up to take up minimal space for storage and have no bottoms on them. They also make great trio or pair breeding cages during breeding season if you pedigree breed. Pet crates of the wire kind may work better for you as they may be easier to find and purchase than show cages...if you do not need to have them new, you may often find these at thrift and used stores. Back when we use to show, we would sanitize the bird's plumage by washing them in surgical soap, allowing them to fully dry and then quarantined our waterfowl entries for a month to twelve weeks after the show in our Hay and Straw building. We never showed landfowl for fear of bringing home contagious disorders like chronic respiratory disease. We are a Conservation Farm so we are setup to be able to evacuate our livestock if needed (during past emergencies like several forest fires and monumental floods like 2005, etc.) so obviously we have a large assortment of containment crates as part of our evac plan!
Show cages piled up for storage on top left
We use oat straw for bedding. At the shows, usually you will find wood shavings used--when you register your entry, you may ask the organizer what they use. My Calls found some of the shavings at the shows, far too sharp (whole pieces of wood shards that could have been used as fire kindling!
) on their tender webber feets so you will want to train them to stand on "sharp" shavings or like bringing your own water and feed (less shock and stress to your birds), you may want to bring softer "pet" type shavings. Ask if this is OK as you may be deemed to be "marking" your cages if your shavings are noticeably different than what is provided to the rest of the exhibitors. At the shows, the wire cages are usually placed on long strips of paper and topped with bedding to help contain the bird dropping messiness. You could brush the sharp shavings to the sides to allow your birds an area to stand level in if it is seen to be unsportsmanlike to use your own softer shavings for bedding. We bring our own feeders and waterers, but we will wait until AFTER judging is over to put these in our bird's cages. When we showed, we never left our entries unattended as part of our duty of care to them.
These shavings were nice and soft to Rosy's webbers
I happen to have show cages but also have two sets of training cages that I had made by a rabbit cage maker. These ones below are four units fully enclosed and were a steal of a deal at a cost of $150 for both in 2003.
After the initial training on straw, I placed scraps of wood ply in each cage and then heaped on shavings. The photo above, the ducks are just starting to be cage trained and have straw for bedding...what they were typically use to, eh. Don't want to overwhelm them with too much all at once--unless duck a l'orange is on the menu...nobody likes a dead duck, especially the ducks.
Some people that show Runner ducks will train them to stand up tall in their show cages by using treats held at the top of the cage to encourage that stance. Birds may often be encouraged to stand in perfect form in their show cages by gently using a show stick (judges often have these and brilliant judges have these on their persons ALWAYS! I recall asking a judge that was not judging at the show to have a look at my Call entry and instantly they had their trusty stock stick in hand!
) to get them into position...just like riding a horse, it is a "pressure" to move and then for Pete's sake, leave them at rest when standing perfect. I have seen young kids entered in showmanship with a well trained bird moving wonderfully steady down the carpet and in a youthful miscalculation, the child has pushed the bird too quickly so much so the bird takes to its wings and leaves the table!!
Lightly touch to move any misplaced part into place and stop immediately when the bird is correct--the reward to the bird is to be left in peace and not bothered...so it becomes natural when a person approaches the cage, the bird turns and displays so you leave them alone and un-poked! I remember after judging at a show was completed, asking an exhibitor with landfowl I admired if it was alright to take photos of some of their show entries...having their permission, I walked up to the birds in their cages and immediately the birds turned and stood perfectly for me to click pics. I commented on how easy it was to get their pictures compared to some entries and the exhibitor smiled that knowing smile...all their work was fruitful but not necessary easy like the photos were. LOL You may do this type of training with all sorts of creatures...besides the birds, I've shown llamas, dogs, and sheep at sanctioned shows using the same techniques--short sessions of practise, practise, practise and it does pay off. Some animals adore the whole affair and just have an aura about them; others never shine under the limelight and would rather not. Identify the ones that excel and usually they are also made up properly to begin with. It is awful hard to get an improperly made up creature to stand or move balanced if it has bad feet, improper structure, and/or all around bad conformation. There is a whole art form in preparation for showing (fitting and training), but the old saying that it is difficult to make a silk purse from a sow's ear rings very true.
Shows are basically one big beauty contest with beauty in the eye of the beholders...here's hoping it's the judge that agrees with your vision!
Get a radio and tune it to a station with a mix of sounds...music, talking, commercials (car ones seem the most annoyingly loud!), etc. to acclimatize your birds to the noises they may hear at the show. Place your training cages where there is traffic, like you moving around them (doing chores?) but in an utmostly safe location where the cages won't get tipped over (note I have secured mine with bungy cords and placed them up on bales of straw) and you are not risking your bird's physical wellbeing by harm thru predation, inclement weather, etc. Make the experience enjoyable for your birds by placing fresh feed and water in the cages before collecting them and placing them in the cages...so when you go to get the birds, after a few times, they will look forward to it, knowing there are good eats waiting on them--a few romaine lettuce leaves go a long way into convincing your ducks this is all about the FUN GOOD TIMES! Make show cage training like a pampering SPA DAY, eh.
You may tie plastic shopping bags near the cages to flap in the wind; the movement and strange noises all add to the desensitizing and acceptance of the upcoming show environment you will be exposing them to. I start out with the birds in the cages for about half an hour and then return them to their regular quarters. The handling of taking them in and out of the training cages also mimics what is done to them at the shows when being judged. If you have not trained them prior, about a month or so in advance, every few days per week should work. Depends on the temperament of your birds. I was training bantam ducks and our Calls are pretty sassy little flirty blighters. Our exhibition bird club entry included a pair of Whites that just loved being in the annual rodeo parade on our Jacob drawn wagon...go figure!
There are some poultry breeds that we personally would never attempt to show...we find our Mandarin ducks are not a breed that will ever settle to be complacent enough to be shown IMHO. They are quite fine and happy at home and let me do chores all around them, but that be at home, and not confined to a show cage. They are pretty and they are a wild species we keep in captivity. I have witnessed turkeys being shown that really took the exposure quite badly...depends on the breed, the strain, and of course...THE pre-show TRAINING you do with them. It is your call on what to do with your property.
Thankfully Silver Sebrights are a wonderful breed and variety for exhibition...there is no better contrast than black to white in the colour pattern and well made up Sebrights literally strut their stuffings magnificently at the shows. We often recommend bantam chicken breeds for newbies when showing in showmanship. The attitude of the bantams to show off is rewarding and the small size makes them less intimidating to youth. I hope you and your entries do well.
So without further delay...here is a hen that will never lay... (a cackleberry that is!).
Here's my post off my Pear-A-Dice thread from a few years back...so much fun, it needs regular repeating...
For those unaware, showmanship is a form of competition that may be held at sanctioned poultry shows. It is not how one enters poultry in exhibition but it does teach people how and why judges do what they do when judging the show entries. It is most helpful to persons entering birds because you get an idea on what the judges will be looking for in your entries and makes you a much better selector in what would do well at a show. Besides, it is delightfully enjoyable to see a small bantam chicken listen or not listen to its master...after all, the BIRDS are the ones in control...or did you not get that memo they sent via Pigeon Post?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I also asked at the end...
Anyone here wanna take a kick at the can?
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
I often talk about the dogs being my CHORE DOGS...the sense being that there are never any CHORES to do with dogs are along with you. A chore to many is just that...something to be avoided at all costs. Well the girls make my day and never any drudgery with them to entertain and distract me...and yes, to ensure I am not overdoing it because just like Fixins...they will hit you up when you think you are unable to move, toss a toy or even pay attention! Dogs ensure you are healthful and alive...indeed...here is what I mean.
Jan 26, 2017 - Many paws make light the work??
Firewood is a weekly task in winter...you need to fill and maintain the Man Porch wood box.
One wall of wood near gone, so 21 walls less 1 wall burnt up is 20 walls of wood left
Especially important when a cold snap is on the brink of happening...better to haul wood and pile it in -10C than -40C.
Now if we could only find a reasonable way to harness that energy
Dogs make light the work...
How quickly I forget I just loaded a sled with splits and before I know it...
I am standing stunned and stupid, distracted and gobsmacked
"What you standing there with that stupid grin on...don't YOU have a full sled to haul to the Man Porch?"
"Do we have to be watching your every move...herd your useless butt down the incline with that load of firewood?"
Emmy speeds ahead, taking a short cut, up and over to get in front of me and Lacy. Then Lacy, she does what she does...
"Yup, that wood smells good...prime firewood, well seasoned and ready for burning
I do believe that you could have wedged in one more piece...
Now you don't want Dad and us catching a chill tonight because you got lazy and hauled a lighter load than was possible!"
So one chore for that day completed...what task, what work--no chore when dogs are keeping your mind off your labours, eh.
Few days later (Jan 28), I decide to take clicks of hay hauling...I head out that way but not without FIRST stopping to admire their antics...up the two race...first to be on top of the large snow pile Dad has made them to play upon.
"What? Don't you have more yet to do? I don't smell you sweating up a storm yet...get a move on!
This ain't no holiday resort here..."
Extra task on the roster today, load up the same sled with hay for the ruminants out in the front pasture. Like firewood, somehow these supplies keep getting depleted...gremlins I tell you! Gremlins undoing what I keep trying to top up. Oh well...I have a purpose. Something about digging holes and filling them in or pouring energy down black holes??
So there...sled is brining over with hay... got my water bottle for a thirst quencher and look them girls!
Lookit how proud that Emmy is, placing the floppy on my knee and knocking that silly bottle to the ground
"You don't need that distraction...toss the toy!"
These two shots make me grin...lookit the intensity...look at them l00k at me! Emmy's all excited and Lacy, she's got the "Mom throws it, we bring it," back look..."She always has, and always will..."
"Uh yeh...you don't need to rest, you need to throw the toy...
Quit gasping or we're gonna call 911 and have you hauled away...unfit to be here!"
O"K, you got up and covered the hay bales...
that's enough...we need you to toss that toy..."
Always love how the girls are so very much alike. Like peas in a pod, even move that way.
Here's what I mean...watch this set of clicks.
So on that note...here's three more from Australia Day, eh.
OK...nuff on the dawgs...
Well I guess I am gonna make ClaraBELL one famous chookers...posted this to a query here on BYC (What are peoples ways of preparing their birds for show which have proven to be effective?) and posted those pictorial instructs...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To allow any poultry to become accustomed to the show room environment...inspecting them in hand daily is a good idea. When selecting birds as breeding prospects, a breeder does this anyway as part of our "enjoying the finer parts" of the Fancy. I will end this post with one I posted on my own BYC thread some years back. I teach and judge showmanship for youth and was the APA/ABA Youth Program Adviser for Canada.
If you are going to take up showing poultry on a regular basis, get yourself some cages like you would find at the shows. Show cages fold up to take up minimal space for storage and have no bottoms on them. They also make great trio or pair breeding cages during breeding season if you pedigree breed. Pet crates of the wire kind may work better for you as they may be easier to find and purchase than show cages...if you do not need to have them new, you may often find these at thrift and used stores. Back when we use to show, we would sanitize the bird's plumage by washing them in surgical soap, allowing them to fully dry and then quarantined our waterfowl entries for a month to twelve weeks after the show in our Hay and Straw building. We never showed landfowl for fear of bringing home contagious disorders like chronic respiratory disease. We are a Conservation Farm so we are setup to be able to evacuate our livestock if needed (during past emergencies like several forest fires and monumental floods like 2005, etc.) so obviously we have a large assortment of containment crates as part of our evac plan!
Show cages piled up for storage on top left
We use oat straw for bedding. At the shows, usually you will find wood shavings used--when you register your entry, you may ask the organizer what they use. My Calls found some of the shavings at the shows, far too sharp (whole pieces of wood shards that could have been used as fire kindling!
These shavings were nice and soft to Rosy's webbers
I happen to have show cages but also have two sets of training cages that I had made by a rabbit cage maker. These ones below are four units fully enclosed and were a steal of a deal at a cost of $150 for both in 2003.
After the initial training on straw, I placed scraps of wood ply in each cage and then heaped on shavings. The photo above, the ducks are just starting to be cage trained and have straw for bedding...what they were typically use to, eh. Don't want to overwhelm them with too much all at once--unless duck a l'orange is on the menu...nobody likes a dead duck, especially the ducks.
Some people that show Runner ducks will train them to stand up tall in their show cages by using treats held at the top of the cage to encourage that stance. Birds may often be encouraged to stand in perfect form in their show cages by gently using a show stick (judges often have these and brilliant judges have these on their persons ALWAYS! I recall asking a judge that was not judging at the show to have a look at my Call entry and instantly they had their trusty stock stick in hand!
Lightly touch to move any misplaced part into place and stop immediately when the bird is correct--the reward to the bird is to be left in peace and not bothered...so it becomes natural when a person approaches the cage, the bird turns and displays so you leave them alone and un-poked! I remember after judging at a show was completed, asking an exhibitor with landfowl I admired if it was alright to take photos of some of their show entries...having their permission, I walked up to the birds in their cages and immediately the birds turned and stood perfectly for me to click pics. I commented on how easy it was to get their pictures compared to some entries and the exhibitor smiled that knowing smile...all their work was fruitful but not necessary easy like the photos were. LOL You may do this type of training with all sorts of creatures...besides the birds, I've shown llamas, dogs, and sheep at sanctioned shows using the same techniques--short sessions of practise, practise, practise and it does pay off. Some animals adore the whole affair and just have an aura about them; others never shine under the limelight and would rather not. Identify the ones that excel and usually they are also made up properly to begin with. It is awful hard to get an improperly made up creature to stand or move balanced if it has bad feet, improper structure, and/or all around bad conformation. There is a whole art form in preparation for showing (fitting and training), but the old saying that it is difficult to make a silk purse from a sow's ear rings very true.
Shows are basically one big beauty contest with beauty in the eye of the beholders...here's hoping it's the judge that agrees with your vision!
Get a radio and tune it to a station with a mix of sounds...music, talking, commercials (car ones seem the most annoyingly loud!), etc. to acclimatize your birds to the noises they may hear at the show. Place your training cages where there is traffic, like you moving around them (doing chores?) but in an utmostly safe location where the cages won't get tipped over (note I have secured mine with bungy cords and placed them up on bales of straw) and you are not risking your bird's physical wellbeing by harm thru predation, inclement weather, etc. Make the experience enjoyable for your birds by placing fresh feed and water in the cages before collecting them and placing them in the cages...so when you go to get the birds, after a few times, they will look forward to it, knowing there are good eats waiting on them--a few romaine lettuce leaves go a long way into convincing your ducks this is all about the FUN GOOD TIMES! Make show cage training like a pampering SPA DAY, eh.
You may tie plastic shopping bags near the cages to flap in the wind; the movement and strange noises all add to the desensitizing and acceptance of the upcoming show environment you will be exposing them to. I start out with the birds in the cages for about half an hour and then return them to their regular quarters. The handling of taking them in and out of the training cages also mimics what is done to them at the shows when being judged. If you have not trained them prior, about a month or so in advance, every few days per week should work. Depends on the temperament of your birds. I was training bantam ducks and our Calls are pretty sassy little flirty blighters. Our exhibition bird club entry included a pair of Whites that just loved being in the annual rodeo parade on our Jacob drawn wagon...go figure!
There are some poultry breeds that we personally would never attempt to show...we find our Mandarin ducks are not a breed that will ever settle to be complacent enough to be shown IMHO. They are quite fine and happy at home and let me do chores all around them, but that be at home, and not confined to a show cage. They are pretty and they are a wild species we keep in captivity. I have witnessed turkeys being shown that really took the exposure quite badly...depends on the breed, the strain, and of course...THE pre-show TRAINING you do with them. It is your call on what to do with your property.
Thankfully Silver Sebrights are a wonderful breed and variety for exhibition...there is no better contrast than black to white in the colour pattern and well made up Sebrights literally strut their stuffings magnificently at the shows. We often recommend bantam chicken breeds for newbies when showing in showmanship. The attitude of the bantams to show off is rewarding and the small size makes them less intimidating to youth. I hope you and your entries do well.
So without further delay...here is a hen that will never lay... (a cackleberry that is!).
Here's my post off my Pear-A-Dice thread from a few years back...so much fun, it needs regular repeating...
For those unaware, showmanship is a form of competition that may be held at sanctioned poultry shows. It is not how one enters poultry in exhibition but it does teach people how and why judges do what they do when judging the show entries. It is most helpful to persons entering birds because you get an idea on what the judges will be looking for in your entries and makes you a much better selector in what would do well at a show. Besides, it is delightfully enjoyable to see a small bantam chicken listen or not listen to its master...after all, the BIRDS are the ones in control...or did you not get that memo they sent via Pigeon Post?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anyone here wanna take a kick at the can?
Doggone & Chicken UP!
Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
