Texas

[Aphrael]

Add my hopes that Max gets home soon. My latest rescue dog was from STAR - which is a private Aussie rescue. First one I've gotten that came to me microchipped. Hopefully Max got chipped too before your BIL got him. Melina (the dog) was dropped on the vet when she was 3 to be put down because she was too hyper. Luckily the vet said no and turned her over to STAR. Pretty stupid of that woman to get an Aussie and confine her to a condo with minimum outside activity. Anyway, Melina has turned out great and is even a good chicken dog!

She is gorgeous!

Its always sad to go out to the coop and find you have loses

So sorry for your loss.

Update : BIL is fine, very sore, and very upset. They are going back out to look for Max. I emailed my MIL the flyer I made so she can print it out. Brads very upset over totaling an awesome truck and loosing his best friend.

Good to hear he is ok. Hopefully hearing familiar friendly voices will bring max out of hiding.

I'll be looking for another dog once my four aging miniature Dachshunds go. They are getting on in age--12, 10, 10 and 8. My pit bull cross is a great dog and leaves the chickens alone but I don't really think he guards them. I think his presence on the property keeps many predators away during the day. I've been thinking of getting some sort of a livestock guard dog, but I don't want a big dog. I had thought a smaller herding dog (I wanted a Border Collie) would be a good choice, but people who actually work with livestock did not think that was a good idea. A herding dog is just going to do what herding dogs do, which is basically chasing the livestock.

I've also thought about just going to an animal shelter and finding a mutt with a low prey drive. Farm dogs in the past were not purebreds, just dogs that fit in and any that didn't were culled.

Your Australian Shepherd looks as though she leaves the chickens alone.

Thoughts?

I had an aussie/border collie cross growing up, named Gypsy. She really didn't like the chickens, but they were HER chickens nonetheless and she would protect them just as she did everything on the farm. I think it is partly dependent on the individual dog and more largely dependent on how they are trained. I think a lot of times when herding dogs chase it is because they haven't been given enough work to do and they are bored. IMO a good, well trained herding dog should never just chase livestock. Herding and chasing are two very different things. Just my 2 cents.

 

[jockeyeba]

Jockeyeba - are you going to use your stove to bake the bread??? I've been hinting about wanting an outdoor bread oven.

I want to make an outdoor clay oven for baking bread too

 

[bnjrob]

I am reading of so many chicken deaths on this thread. I wonder if people who are losing birds to the cold might have a very heavy parasite load and the cold is just one stress too much for the weakened birds. A healthy bird should have no trouble coping with severe cold as long as they are dry, and near freezing isn't severe cold. Either that or the birds are getting wet and the feathers can't insulate them anymore. Most birds' feathers, other than the unusual feathers of Silkies or frizzles, should be able repel most water. Yesterday, my birds were out all day in the rain and the birds with good plumage were dry and warm under their top wet feathers. I did bring the Silkies into the garage and dried them under a heat lamp. I'll keep them in until the rain stops tomorrow.

If birds get wet to the skin, they can get into a lot of trouble trying to keep warm. The reason water birds die after oil spills is because the oil soaks the feathers and they can't insulate themselves anymore and they get chilled.

A recurring problem that I've seen over the years is that often people baby their chickens too much instead of allowing them to be well acclimated to weather. The chickens end up dying at temps that are not very hot or not very cold because they have not been allowed to be chickens.

Have seen too many people on here over the years that put air conditioning and/or heating in their coops causing problems with the chickens being acclimated. Someone a few years ago was bringing their chickens into the air conditioning every time it rained because they thought the chickens would be afraid of the storm if they were in their coop alone - so the chickens couldn't get accustomed to being outside before the really hot temps of August got here. Then a flip side that I've seen is people trying to be so cheap with building a coop, or not building a coop at all, that the chickens don't have adequate shelter from rain or cold wind.

People love their chickens and want to treat them well but they don't always realize that sometimes their efforts do more harm than good - especially here in TX where we can get extreme weather changes & temperature shifts - sometimes it happens in the same 24 hours.

 

[Teri Metcalf]

Hello from Austin, Texas. I have a small colorful urban flock with some amazing egg producing ladies.

Greetings from College Station! We share a mixed flock of a dozen or so free-range girls (and a couple of boys) with our neighbors.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

I had a Border Collie from a working ranch. She was a great frisbee dog. She also hunted grasshoppers. Luckily we had a plague of them that spring. We started out with her on 3 acres and she was great, but then we had to move into an apartment and I couldn't bring myself to make her live there so I sold her to some people that had her 1/2 cousin and a working ranch. She wasn't going to be a cow dog, just a spoiled pet who could run and chase things and lounge in their orchard. I think the got a pretty good home. I don't think I would keep a BC with chickens though. It would herd them all day long.

I am partial to German Shepherds. If you have a good breeder you have awesome dogs. My girl is the best! I highly recommend my breeder. She produces awesome dogs and the price is pretty good compared to other breeders out there. She only has a couple litters a year. She should have one in the spring.


For all you horse people out there.
I found this incredible bracelet yesterday. I'd get it but it is 2 inches too big for my wrist. She thinks it is from the 1960's-70's.

I did 20 miles in my trainer on my bike this morning and averaged 21mph. Can't wait until Wednesday when I can ride on the road again.

 

[Teri Metcalf]

BIL is ok, according to my husband. Scratches and bruises, but they are taking x-rays right now. He was driving my husbands old Tundra, which he was driving because he wanted to get rid of his little bitty coupe sports car (can't remember what kind it was right now.) Thankfully, he was driving the truck. However, truck is totaled now The truck was a 2000 year model, and survived 170k miles from my husband, then me, and now he's brother, lol. Max is probably hiding, because he's a scardy cat. But I am hoping someone finds him. He's a rescue, and my BIL has only had him since the summer. And I worked my tail off to find my BIL a cocker spaniel

Glad to know that BIL is doing okay. Sure hope that poor little dog gets found soon.

 

[Teri Metcalf]

Finally coming up for air after yesterday's "Pulletpalooza" tour of chicken coops. I was surprised we had any visitors at all, but about 20 people braved the cold and sloshed through the puddles to see our henhouse and talk chicken.

 

[jockeyeba]

I had a Border Collie from a working ranch. She was a great frisbee dog.  She also hunted grasshoppers.  Luckily we had a plague of them that spring.  We started out with her on 3 acres and she was great, but then we had to move into an apartment and I couldn't bring myself to make her live there so I sold her to some people that had her 1/2 cousin and a working ranch.  She wasn't going to be a cow dog, just a spoiled pet who could run and chase things and lounge in their orchard.  I think the got a pretty good home.    I don't think I would keep a BC with chickens though.  It would herd them all day long.

I am partial to German Shepherds.  If you have a good breeder you have awesome dogs.  My girl is the best!  I highly recommend my breeder.  She produces awesome dogs and the price is pretty good compared to other breeders out there.  She only has a couple litters a year.  She should have one in the spring.


For all you horse people out there.
I found this incredible bracelet yesterday.  I'd get it but it is 2 inches too big for my wrist.  She thinks it is from the 1960's-70's.

I did 20 miles in my trainer on my bike this morning and averaged 21mph.    Can't wait until Wednesday when I can ride on the road again. 

Love that bracelet! but it's 2" too big for my wrist too. Looks like it would be hard to shorten too.

 

[Ms Jellybean]

Love that bracelet! but it's 2" too big for my wrist too. Looks like it would be hard to shorten too.

The lady selling it is a jeweler and can shorten it, but 2 inches is too much I think.

Hmm.... I just had a look see at the bracelet again. It says it is 1.5 inches wide. To shorten it to 6 inches I think only one horse would need to come off.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I am partial to German Shepherds. If you have a good breeder you have awesome dogs. My girl is the best! I highly recommend my breeder. She produces awesome dogs and the price is pretty good compared to other breeders out there. She only has a couple litters a year. She should have one in the spring.

I had a German Shepherd Dog in my teens and twenties. He was the best dog I've ever had. Unbelievable dog. I would have one in a heart beat if I was confident I didn't have to deal with bad joints and temperaments. Breeders have so distorted GSDs--they've turned them into cripples. When I was really active showing dogs, the GSDs were also really spooky with horrible temperaments. I also hate the amount of shedding they do. Their hair just never stops coming out. I'll have a look at them again. A good one is the best dog ever. Maybe one from a rescue--at least I would know if it were crippled or not.