Michigan

[Hillbilly Hen]

Olive, I think it's cool too...scary but cool. As long as it does not find my chickens or my dogs. Oh and my DH!

 

[Olive Hill]

I need a border Collie!!!!!!!!! Our German Shepard/Black lab is worthless!!!!

She won't do anything with the cows!

Really, I would love to get one after Bella had decided that it her turn to escape.

What an adventure, Daron! Shepherds and Labs are working dogs, and Shepherds are even herders but the working blood is so far removed from most of them that they just don't have the instinct to use if a herd of sheep hit them over the head. Add in the lab, which also has been bred far, far from its working heritage in most cases, but that even as a worker would be a retriever, not a herder and there's probably not much hope for your dog in this instance -- through no fault of her own, of course.

What about putting a gate across your driveway so if they come up that way they can't get out? You could actually just put one across the drive that goes back to the coops/cow shed, not across the main drive to the house.

 

[EeyoreD]

I wonder if a border collie would help keep my border collie/pit mix in the yard? Is it strange to get a dog to herd your dog?

 

[RaZ]

I wonder if a border collie would help keep my border collie/pit mix in the yard? Is it strange to get a dog to herd your dog?

Not really. I have a catahula/blue healer mix (Bella) and she loves to herd. She herds the cats and the chickens. Several weeks ago, the gate latch broke and my golden retriever got out of the yard and ran down the street. Bella was with me and I told her to go get Maggie. She took off and fetched the wayward golden back home.

Ladyfeather,
Did you get a ticket?

 

[EMAW]

I wonder if a border collie would help keep my border collie/pit mix in the yard? Is it strange to get a dog to herd your dog?

I don't know, but I bet it would be hysterical to watch, two herding dogs working with or against each other.

I have watched them herd ankle biters, cats, most livestock (not pigs and I still want a video of that later Olive

Pretty Please). I know our dog (s) in the past always stayed around and behaved better with a friend. But I also know we have had neighbors where the dogs became a nuisance pack and caused even more damage. I know I was absolutely no help.

 

[Olive Hill]

Once we start working him I'll be taking video and pictures of his progress so I'll be sure to post. Of course, that's a good 8+ months away, so you'll have to be patient. LOL!

I know of only one farmer who claims to use "herding" dogs on his pigs. His are mutts though and I've seen pictures of them moving pigs and it's always people with hog boards so I'm skeptical as to how much herding his dogs actually do. I did find one short video of a collie moving a handful of shoats on YouTube but that's it. I guess Tripp the Pig Dog ought to be something of an anomaly by the time I'm done with him.

 

[ladyfeather]

Raz: Just a warning letter for the car we were storing in the side yard, my mom's boat too close to the road, the camping trailer they claim is in the front yard (it is actually on the side of the house), and the car some jackwagon hit me in that I'm trying to get a scrap yard to haul away. The camping trailer has been on the side of the garage for 11 years so why we are getting a letter now... I blame my family next door. It is a big drama filled mess that started long before I was born and she's been picking away at us with calls to the township for the last year instead of just walking 200 feet to our front door.
I looked up the ordinances and we'd need another 2.5 acres to meet the requirements of a farm but are rated as RC which they classify as zoning for residential areas and farms. I did plan on selling eggs so maybe I can find out more from Destiny Farms.
Today I am working on getting rid of the boat, the two cars, and now trying to find a place to hide a coop/run that can't be seen from the street.

ETA I have until the 17th to comply with the camper trailer placement, scrap the cars, get rid of the boat.

 

[SillyChicken]

Opa, best wishes for safe and healthy delivery of the twins and for the mom!

Woke up today with no hot water................ need I say more about how my day is going..........

Got the new coop moved to its spot last night before the storm hit. DH is going to put the door on and secure the fencing to the side. When I get home, I'll sink some posts to split the chicks yard off from the other birds. I need to start painting the inside of the new coop. The other coop I made the mistake of not painting and wished I had. Plus, with the old wood, there's lots of areas for unwanted crawlies to hide and we can't have that!

Tomorrow I'm meeting mutt to get the other chicks!

 

[NovaAman]

Ladyfeather... do you have a deck? Make a tractor you can push under the deck, and hide with lattice work when you need to stash them. Just a thought.

I again will go on about how AWESOME my neighbors are. The ones to the east, are the best type of neighbors. They've got the chickens too. The ones to the west, are the best also. THEY don't mind my chickens in their yard. As soon as my produce starts good this summer, I will have to gift them with a basket of it a few times.

 

[SillyChicken]

I couldn't imagine living my life, having to worry about a bunch of petty neighbors...