South Carolina

[Joycats]

As I said in the previous post...that Mozilla ate.... as long as we have had dogs & chickens - no dog has ever killed any of our chickens. That I remember. I would have to ask DH since he had chickens for years and years & I never bothered with them!

I will not repeat the story I was telling on the other post. It was not an animal killing dog...but what made me start getting silkies!

Sorry! I hate when that happens. I've always had dogs, long before I had chickens. There was a learning curve but we've done quite well for the most part. My old dogs were easy, they love me so much. It only took one conversation with them and they never again touched my birds. Even now, Sophie is sleeping beside Tom, the sick turkey. They just seem to know what I expect from them. These Pyr girls are different. And they're the only dogs I've actually purchased. All others are rescues. Rescues are the best. I just knew I needed some big dogs that could fend off these coyotes. I still hope that they would do that. Heck, I've even considered a perimeter run all the way around the yard. Keeping the dogs on the outside between the wild animals and my birds and pets. I worry about my older dogs too.

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

Sorry! I hate when that happens. I've always had dogs, long before I had chickens. There was a learning curve but we've done quite well for the most part. My old dogs were easy, they love me so much. It only took one conversation with them and they never again touched my birds. Even now, Sophie is sleeping beside Tom, the sick turkey. They just seem to know what I expect from them. These Pyr girls are different. And they're the only dogs I've actually purchased. All others are rescues. Rescues are the best. I just knew I needed some big dogs that could fend off these coyotes. I still hope that they would do that. Heck, I've even considered a perimeter run all the way around the yard. Keeping the dogs on the outside between the wild animals and my birds and pets. I worry about my older dogs too.

I edited that post and added a little more.

I love any animals. I had a dog when I met DH...he had several hunting dogs. We have rarely been dogless since. I have had my house dog 6 years. I would have two but she did not like my lab....the lab does not like people, so she is better outside. My pit is inside and if someone pulled up and opened the door to a car and asked if she wanted to go to the store she would go!


(She does not like strange men, though - women are OK lol)


ETA: My pit is smart enough that she knows around 80 or more words, phrases, sentences. She also has Nicole trained to feed her. She never asks me to do it, but she does Nicole. It is FUNNY....although when I feed her, she gives Nicole funny looks like Nicole should be in time out. (My dog does know what time out is!)

 

[WestKnollAmy]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEAH!!

Leah said to tell you all Thank You for the Birthday wishes. It was just like another day to her except me and her Dad singing Very Loudly "Happy Birthday".

My kid is not babied at all. Not like Kris and Robert saw her come to me and have mommy tie her little string on her shirt. No, no babied at all.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
I think I am going to take a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of strawberry jam and mix them and have it on toast this morning. Yum!
And I try to hide the honey but my family loves it as much as I do!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Thanks Amy - I can deal with the escape artist part of them if only they will learn what to do (and not do) with the birds. I knew it wasn't easy to keep them confined before I got them so I was prepared for that. Georgia is an escape artist. I've seen her lay flat on her side and wriggle under the fence as flat as a piece of paper. I've watched her climb over a 6' tall fence. I even witnessed her chewing thru the wire to make a hole to climb through. She is something else. As a matter of fact, we had her tied outside the chicken yard and she kept crawling under to get inside the yard with them. She seemed happy to just have some company. She has tried to play with 3 of my comets, I see the feathers missing from the birds and flying across the ground. The comets are so friendly they don't pay her any attention. The other problem is that both dogs are still competing for the Alpha dog spot. Whenever I'm with both of them, they fight over me. Physically fight, knockdown dragout.....scary kind of fight. Georgia is a bit wilder than Dixie and sometimes she will jump on me for attention. That drives well mannered Dixie crazy, she will put Georgia down on the ground if she thinks she is being to rough with me. So we have to be careful how we put them back together, they will growl and grumble immediately wanting the other to submit but neither will. Right now Georgia is in the dog run alone and Dixie is beside her in the goat yard with the goats. Dixie has adopted the goats and she is very attentive to them. I can't leave Georgia in the goat yard as that fence won't hold her. We're planning to put a run of electric wire along the top and bottom of the pasture fence to keep the dogs in and also help with the goats as they are really hard on fences. So do you think that they will ever learn NOT to play with the chickens (and chew on them, kill them and eat them)? I've been told by Pyr people that I shouldn't expect them to work until they're 3 years old (these are almost 2). I've been told by dog trainers that I will have to "train" this out of them and the sooner the better. I've been told by other people that once a dog kills a chicken there is no going back, they're a lost cause. I don't believe in lost causes. I cannot physically do what the dog trainer is telling me to do, these dogs are just too big and heavy. I guess I will wait it out another year. But you know that "Patience" (spit, spit, spit) is a BAD word in my book.

A lot of Pyrs kill chickens while learning their job. But having to wait until they are 3 is not going to help. Jolie learned before she was 3 years old and was actually living in a pen with chickens. It does help to have another dog train them but they should have it bred into them as well.
I think a lot of their aggression towards the chickens comes from not being able to free range. They need to run and stretch their legs a lot. They need to do their job and wander the farm. I really do not think they will ever get past this while confined tied up or in a small pen.
You see that Susanne's new dogs to not fight over attention. She has young dogs together that are not killing the livestock but do play together. They are guarding the animals. They have to get out all that energy and being tied or confined they can't do it and so your dogs play with what they can find. If let loose they will run around, mark their territory and eventually settle down and do their job. However, they will not stay just in your yard. They will wander down the road to the neighbors and down to your creek and all back in the woods. Without being fenced, they won't just stay near the poultry.
I just think that the people that tell you that they have to be 3 before they work is incredulous! These dogs can work long before that and those folks are very mistaken.

Your girls are fighting over attention from you because they have nothing else to do. I fear you will never be able to turn them loose until you chance it and let them do their thing but I also believe you will not see them staying right by your chickens either.

Jolie is a bit jealous over Roxy but nothing to the point of fighting because Jolie gets her energy out doing her job. And she plays with Roxy every day. Jolie was not raised with chickens but she knows her job since that is what the breed does.

I hope you can trust yours enough to turn them loose and let them go mark the territory to keep the predators away. From your camera it looks like just them barking is doing nothing to keep anything away from the animals.

Just my 2 cents worth and not meant in any offense.

 

[Southern Bee Lady]

Good Morning

I had a nice but long day swapping a silkie. We drove past each other by 15 miles thanks to a cell phone that wasn't picking up any signal. Love technology when it works.

We talked silkies for a couple of hours. I will take advantage of an opportunity to learn from an experienced breeder.

I will bring honey to Newnan. We will only be down Sat.

Creamed honey: All honey granulated. The length of time depends on the nectar source.
Creamed honey is made by using a "starter" (creamed honey) and controlling the process so that the texture is smooth and creamy instead of grainy. At 90 deg. it will liquify back to regular honey.

Had a nice time at Amy's place. I saw the lavender muscovies.

So pretty. Of course everything at Amy's place is gorgeous.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I just sat and did my monthly egg count papers(yes I count who and how many EVERY day)...it is kind of depressing...I have 17 gals who are laying age and have laid and egg sometime.A couple are new layers part way through and 1 laid me a single egg in November but not another? But I include her in the count because she has laid.She is my smallest Self Blue and I was told by the man I got my second from to get the second girl in a bigger size for eggs because the teeny ones do not lay well but are most desirable when they do and for show.Any way...I got 266 eggs this month from the ladies. I feel like it is not that good but then I consider the time of year and fact I do not extend daylight with a bulb and wonder if it may be resonable??

Daylight is lengthening and by April you will be amazed at the amount of eggs you are getting. I got double the eggs yesterday from what I was getting last week. I have a 100 wt bulb in the coop. Out of 45 hens I was getting 8 eggs a day. My breeding pens with a lot less hens in it and no bulb were giving me that many! Bulbs are useless, hence the reason they use hormones, as well, for egg production.

Don't despair, your egg production will continue to improve.

 

[RedBugPoultry]

Redbugpoultry, I will have a few extra I am sure after the next hatch (if "no-one" messes with the 'bator as I travel for work again next week) or a very few from this one if you want chicks...how many/what ratio of pullet to roo might you want?

I will also have hatching eggs when these mature...LOL...

Patsy, I PM you!

 

[ChickyChickyBaby]

A lot of Pyrs kill chickens while learning their job. But having to wait until they are 3 is not going to help. Jolie learned before she was 3 years old and was actually living in a pen with chickens. It does help to have another dog train them but they should have it bred into them as well.
I think a lot of their aggression towards the chickens comes from not being able to free range. They need to run and stretch their legs a lot. They need to do their job and wander the farm. I really do not think they will ever get past this while confined tied up or in a small pen.
You see that Susanne's new dogs to not fight over attention. She has young dogs together that are not killing the livestock but do play together. They are guarding the animals. They have to get out all that energy and being tied or confined they can't do it and so your dogs play with what they can find. If let loose they will run around, mark their territory and eventually settle down and do their job. However, they will not stay just in your yard. They will wander down the road to the neighbors and down to your creek and all back in the woods. Without being fenced, they won't just stay near the poultry.
I just think that the people that tell you that they have to be 3 before they work is incredulous! These dogs can work long before that and those folks are very mistaken.

Your girls are fighting over attention from you because they have nothing else to do. I fear you will never be able to turn them loose until you chance it and let them do their thing but I also believe you will not see them staying right by your chickens either.

Jolie is a bit jealous over Roxy but nothing to the point of fighting because Jolie gets her energy out doing her job. And she plays with Roxy every day. Jolie was not raised with chickens but she knows her job since that is what the breed does.

I hope you can trust yours enough to turn them loose and let them go mark the territory to keep the predators away. From your camera it looks like just them barking is doing nothing to keep anything away from the animals.

Just my 2 cents worth and not meant in any offense.

That is what I was saying basically in the post I lost last night.

We have a Border Collie...got him around 8-12 months of age....was raised as a pet not a farm dog. But he instinctively herds our goats......and ducks....... lol

I did train our Aussie we had. She is the reason I have silkies BTW. Long story.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Amy, I will have a roo or two of these Dorking chicks available I am sure if you and/or DH want some yard decoration...LOL...(some pullets maybe too...) Your yard is pretty decorated now and WONDERFUL! I am actually trying to calm my exuberance towards chickens down and get more focused on a limited number of breeds because I want more color...and I want to learn how to frizzle my beloved WCB Polish... In my naive and excited way I started out wanting (and getting) every thing I saw. I think it is best for me to back up and focus a little more especially because I have work which right now takes the daylight hours week-days...don't you hate short days! ...no help unless DD and her DH have time but they are pretty busy at their place...and now hungry little chicky mouths to feed adding to the feed bill! PLUS I have to travel kinda regular the next 3 months and do not know what will come after that at work...looking for a short break then more travel in the fall and everyone knows how my chicken sitters did this last week I was gone! I need a live in chicken nanny! LOLOL My chicken math right now is very backwards for $$ and $$ way outnumbered for beak count...LOL...a boat we ALL float in!

but LOVE LOVE LOVE the birds one and all!

Thanks, Patsy but with not knowing how we will proceed with DH being in such bad shape I am not going to add anything this year. Even if he gets on Disability that is not as much as he can make at a job.
My job is plenty busy and I could have the income if the birds would cooperate, not to mention getting the mealies to grow faster. In this economy I am thrilled that I have all the orders but my problem is getting the product out!
I think I will focus on ducks since they have proven to be much better layers than chickens and my sales are pretty equal on eggs and offspring. Not to mention they are better foragers and have a lot less health issues than chickens.

I love all my birds but looking over my numbers from last year my accountant pointed out areas that I could certainly work to make more money and get rid of the ones that aren't helping to feed themselves. It sure makes you look at farming differently when you keep records and don't let your heart rule. Kinda a pain......