Silkie thread!

[kajira]

what kind of dog do you have? I've been toying with the idea of a LSG, but don't know if I have it in me to keep a dog outside all the time. We've had no predator issues yet...not even any attempts, but I now we do have lots of predators in the area. I had originally gotten a BO cockerel as well...hoping he'd help keep the ladies safe, but he turned out to be too aggressive while mating and we had to eliminate him. The accidental silkie cockerel doesn't seem to be trying to mate yet. he just started crowing last week. I thought someone was dying, lol. he sounds horrible!

I have a german shepard - he's a working dog, and not our outdoor dog.
We have a great pyr. She LOVES our family, she sleeps by our front door every night and protects our property. We spend hours per day with her company, playing with her, feeding her, walking around the property with her, praising her for watching the birds. She sleeps out with the birds - but that's her job, to keep the safe. She's richly rewarded for a job well done, and gets plenty of attention for it during the daytime.

When it's super hot in the summer, she's allowed inside to hang out in the AC'd kitchen.... Great pyr's basically train themselves. You just have to teach them what you DONT want them to do and they learn pretty fast. If you had one, you'd understand why having one for a regular pet, doesn't work well. They need a job - if she's left inside unsueprvised, she destroys everything. LOL

She's happiest outside, killing mice, rats, non-chicken birds and chasing off predators. If we tried to have her inside at night, (which she was when she was a puppy, to crate train her, so I could take her to the vet with out her freaking out about a crate in the car.) she howled ALL NIGHT LONG... because she wanted to be outside - it's in her nature to be outside and awake at night and keeping track of the property. She walks our property line every day. We used to walk itwith her as a puppy,to teach her boundaries. She's chased the barncats away from our birds, and even bit one of the terriers that attacked a goat through the fence.

I have no doubt she'd be miserable with out doing her job. She lives for it, she's happy and thriving because of having it. Due to my having children, I had to make sure she was safe with kids and a family, so I over socialized her with people. She's a big marshmellow dog... but don't think for an instant she can't kill a nasty predator of any size.

Great pyr's are very tolerant, patient, and she even shares her food with the turkeys. lol

But, they need a job. They are happiest doing their job. It's not mean to them to let them do their job.

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you can see my little silkie by her head. lol

 

[robyn8]

very cute pics! I'm a GSD person myself...we used to have 2, but now just have a small terrior mix. Yes, I had heard Great Pyrenees prefer to be outside...I agree it's better for them to be allowed to do their job...I just meant I'd miss the dog if they were outside! But maybe I could wrap my head around it better if the I saw the dog clearly preferred to be outside as it sounds yours does.

 

[kajira]

very cute pics! I'm a GSD person myself...we used to have 2, but now just have a small terrior mix. Yes, I had heard Great Pyrenees prefer to be outside...I agree it's better for them to be allowed to do their job...I just meant I'd miss the dog if they were outside! But maybe I could wrap my head around it better if the I saw the dog clearly preferred to be outside as it sounds yours does.

I homeschool - so we are almost always home. Living in Texas, it's 80 evne in the winter.

90% of our time, is spent outside. Our dog is NOT alone - she has company. there's other dogs, there's kids, there's people. When I go outside at night to put the birds away, she follows me. We feed her twice a day, and in the hot summer months, she gets to come inside and hang out with us. sometimes, if she wants to come in, she gets to come in and hang out for an hour or two before bed. Her job is to protect the property. She wants attention, don't get me wrong - but a dog bed in the house isn't giving a dog attention. Walking around the property line, and giving her a belly scratch is attention. Having her play tug of war, is attention.

We do those things with her. She just sleeps with the birds. Those are her job. We are her family... if that makes sense?

She knows her place. She's happy with it. She gets treats and I do a little bit of obedience training with her, here and there. These dogs have a horrible recall command. They don't like to come if it's not their idea, so I trained her to "come" to the word "hot dogs" - butI always pay up with a hot dog if I use that word.... because otherwise, she wouldn't come when called. Those dogs are stubborn like that! LOL

You have to understand that dogs, have a purpose. Some dogs are meant to be little, tiny, lap dogs. Who are protected by humans. some dogs are meant to be great protectors of the family, and if not allowed to do their job, become destructive, and hostile over time. OR neurotic. I've seen "show dog" Pyr's bite their people, go OCD about garbage cans to protect them, and other weird/odd behaviors because they aren't allowed to be the dog they were bred to be.

I won't buy a show dog great Pyr - i'd rather have a great pyr/anatolian shepard cross as a farm dog. I'd rather breed that dog to another great pyr/cross farm dog, to get a working dog that can actually DO their job and not have problems.

You know what I mean? A working dog needs to be able to work, it's the kindest thing you can do for them. A working dog expected to be a well behaved pet with no purpose ruins them, and will ruin their breed over time if you keep selecting ones to breed that aren't workable.

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She protects the kids when they are outside too. She never leaves the baby.

 

[kajira]

And because it's a silkie thread :

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SILKIEEEEEES

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it may seem dumb - but she is always close by, hoovering. protecting everyone. I have never had a better dog, than her. Once she knew I wanted her to keep the birds and goats safe... she's never looked back.

We even had a chicken get inbteween dogs rough-housing. They pounced on the chicken, thinking it was my dogs chi-pug puppy - I would have expected most dogs to accidentally kill a chicken in that situation.

Both big dogs immediately stopped and let the chicken go once they realized it wasn't a dog. ^.^ I really couldn't ask for better livestock dogs.

 

[robyn8]

we had been talking about a LSG when we get the goats, but maybe we'll bump up the timeline for the chickens

 

[kajira]

we had been talking about a LSG when we get the goats, but maybe we'll bump up the timeline for the chickens

My goats abuse my poor great pyr. They head butt her and chase her around.... LOL they are mean to her. But she still protects them, She just gives them a wide space. She loves the chickens though. The chickens ride her back and steal her food, but don't hurt or traumatize her. The goats are mean to her

 

[sunnie7]

I have four 11 week old chickens 3 are bantam Cochin/ silkie mixes, one a sebright/ bantam Cochin mix and one silkie. 2 pullets and 2 cockerels. I really should only keep one cockerel since we live in a neighborhood but Im having a hard time deciding to rehome him. I'm for sure going to get another pullet, probably a silkie so mine has a friend. I'd like to keep my four and add a 5th just not sure if I have the space in my coop. My coop is pretty tiny only 40"x 40" but they all sleep huddled together in a corner or one of the 3 nesting boxes. The run is 3.5'x12' and then we fenced in a 21'x18' area that I let them roam in for a few hours a day when I'm home. Do you think since they are all small breeds 5 will to too many in the small coop? Advice please!

 

[sunnie7]

Sorry I accidentally posted twice

 

[robyn8]

I also have another question about silkies. I have 4 standard size pullets with 1 silkie cockerel. what's the recommended hen to rooster ratio for silkie roosters? I originally had planned a flock of 6 hens to 1 rooster (standard size roo), but we had one death, one pullet turned out to be a boy, and then we had to cull the standard roo. So we're left with 4 girls, 1 boy. Will he need more girlfriends? I was advised earlier that my standard roo would probably need more ladies so I planned to add this spring, but now I'm wondering if the same holds true for silkies.

If I don't add to the flock, then I think I can keep them happily in their current coop and run, but if we add I should probably start free ranging, and I'm a little nervous without a standard roo to help protect them, and with potentially adding more bantams. my coop is 8x8 and run is 8x12 fully covered with hardware cloth sides...seems to be very secure so far.

 

[Sylvester017]

Hi
I'm new here and just wondering if it's a horrible idea to add a silkie, and a couple more bantams with my next batch of chicks this spring. I have 4 BO pullets, and a silkie cockerel that was supposed to be a pullet. All are about 5.5 months right now. I have coop and run space for about 12 standards I think (8x8 coop 8x12 run) and plan to free range in the spring. I don't want to build a bantam coop, but I really want a couple more bantams...maybe 2-3. I was planning on getting 3-4 standard size easter eggers, 1 white silkie, and 2 bantam cochins. That's what I've already ordered, but I can cancel or change it if needed. I planned to utilize a dog kennel in the coop to make a panic room for the new babies, but maybe this is all a horrible idea. I really wanted a couple bantams hens with my first round of chicks, but one died early on and the other turned out to be a boy.

EEs or purebred Ameraucanas are great with bantams -- at least ours have been. Most EEs/Amers are non-combative and aren't looking for a ferocious territorial fight but dual purpose (especially older mature dual purpose large fowl may not be as kind). As for putting bantams with heavier oversized large or dual-purpose fowl I would hesitate mixing them. Experience has taught me not to mix dual purpose with bantams/Silkies/Cochins. I raised Silkie chicks with same day large fowl chicks and the large fowl chicks grew faster and heavier than the Silkie chicks and picked on them terribly in the brooder. The Silkie chicks had to hide all day long and run out in the evenings to try to get some food/water without getting attacked.

my other thought is would it be better to add older silkies? I'm talking to a breeder who will have some available this spring. I still want some EEs though. I thought the silkies might do better if introduced as part of group with the bigger EEs, but I have no idea.

Older or DNA-sexed rather than straight run Silkies is the way I get my chickens. That way I'm not stuck with an unwanted cockerel because we are not zoned for males. It's heartbreaking to get attached to a Silkie only to have to part with it when it turns out a cockerel later. As far as introducing new pullets to a flock, I wait until the juveniles are around 5 months old and at least as large as the regular flock birds before putting them together. All it takes is one mean adult bird to get the other adults started picking on the younger smaller birds. Ameraucanas as adults are rather timid docile birds and nurture orphaned chicks, injured, or new birds added to the flock but I can't say the same for other breeds. The environment you have as far as space, open foraging, separate pens, plays a large part in how the birds get along too.