The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[misbhaven]

I only have about an acre.. I have 3 dogs. An elderly boxer, an aussie 1 yr old, and a 2 yr old male saint , I live right on the edge of a good 300 acre field and probably thousand beyond that if I look out the one way all I see is field and no fences here they plant right to the roads. I live 1000 feet or so from commercial grain elavators and about 1500 ft from a creek. I have motion light on my garage facing my animals, a motion light on the front and back side of my house and a big 400 watt bulb I can manually turn on where my dogs go out. Animals get spooked by the light when they come on, there was a big stray cat until a yr ago that was as tall as a 5 gallon bucket she kept all cats out of of yard. And she only liked baby wild bunnies and rats she didn't like birds. (Sadly she vanished after 3 yrs). I clean by dog area up and take the poop over to some scrub trees for scent. I have dumpster service so I don't have esy trash for coons etc to get into. I have seen a fox just down from my house but never tracks in my yard. Between my dogs and there being easy food close from spilled grain so there is rats and mice for fox etc to get . The animals just stay away. Except for hawks and eagles they are all over. The lights do help they spook cats etc when they come on, dogs scent helps also the saint is intact. Actually all 3 of my dogs are male. Aussie hyper as heck at 1 but stays in my yard. Follows us around wouldn't trust him for a second with any animal he would herd them and play with them to death.. the Saint keeps delivery men , salesmen away the drop stuff on my porch and run never ringing the doorbell He hates men for whatever reason he protects us even would guard my now 5 month old as a newborn would growl at my husband if he tried to pick her up..my kids and me are usually the only ones home my husband is gone 14 hr most days. The dog is great my 2 and 3 yr old ride him like horse sleep on him . Wrap him in blankets pull his hair he loves it and goes back for more.

 

[Jewelwing]

The coyotes here are never a threat... That's the point. They will not challenge my Maremma. I don't need to kill them... I simply need to protect my livestock. Traditional livestock Guardians work in pairs or packs... I have enough Maremma that a few hundred chickens and a hundred new born lambs (with their moms and all the cattle too), are at zero risk from any predator. I don't want to waste my time or ammo unnecessarily.

Or kill an animal if it isn't necessary? That would be my reason.

I'm late to the discussion regarding the color inside the egg but I had a good excuse....Edie was not laying at the time

I'm baking today & I remembered to see what the inside looked like. Pretty blue thru & thru

That is one beautiful egg shell!!

I use Heelers (Australian Cattle Dogs) with great success. Even though these aren't large dogs, they can be quite rough and territorial so they have to be conditioned and trained to conform to what you want then to do. I raised mine from age 8 weeks in the chicken house (starting off in a large kenned crate) and they live there now.

There are other small tough breeds that can do a good job, like the Australian shepherd, if you get a working strain as opposed to dogs that have bred for show without emphasis on working ability, the old type English shepherd, if you can find one...

I don't like border collies for this sort of work but some might...Kelpies could do if you are patient and willing to put the time into training.

All in all...for small holdings...go with the Heelers. IMHO

I had a Heeler many years ago, and I know the breed is supposed to be tough, but my Heeler was an incredibly wimpy dog! She would wince & cry if you stepped on her tail fur. Not even her tail, just the fur! That has to be the exception, though, and I love the breed!

I have a. Heeler mix and she is a great dog. Listens well to commands but has chased a chicken when it got out. She will be turning 4 but I want to try her in with the hens this year (with me on a leash) to see how she does. I had her in there last year and when told to leave them she did. But I don't trust her alone with them. That will take time. She is food orientated & chicken poop yuck! But I'd like to see how she does. My dogs are house dogs. Not protectors of the yard. And she is such a baby she doesn't like to be in the dark alone. Always made me wonder if she doesn't see well at night? When we camp she is at my feet once it gets dark. But she does seem to hear exceptionally well.

Ay Aussie/lab mix is super energized & not trusted with the hens at all. He drools when he sees them. As dinner.

Thank goodness for electric netting keeps the dogs out. The heeler took 3 days of touching it to finally realize it stings

My Great Dane is afraid of the dark too. She's better about it now, but when she was younger, someone always had to go out with her at night so she could pee!

 

[Jewelwing]

So it sounds like you all are saying that a chicken can rarely lay two eggs in one day, but for all three of them to do that, and one of them to lay three eggs in one day seems a bit unlikely.

I bet he just didn't notice the eggs in the nest the day before. My chickens didn't stop laying in that weather, and we only live a couple of miles from him, so we had the same temps. Oh, except that he uses heat lamps in his coop and I don't, so his birds were actually warmer than mine.

 

[RedRidge]

The only good coyote....is a [COLOR=FF0000]DEAD[/COLOR]  coyote.  Everyone else can do as they please but if they are on my property or a neighbor's property...they are fair game to me and everyone I know around here.

All of my neighbors (and I) allow several folks from Tenn.,  Ky., OH., and WV come to our property in the spring with various types of den-dogs and Lurchers...

The coyotes here are never a threat... That's the point. They will not challenge my Maremma. I don't need to kill them... I simply need to protect my livestock. Traditional livestock Guardians work in pairs or packs... I have enough Maremma that a few hundred chickens and a hundred new born lambs (with their moms and all the cattle too), are at zero risk from any predator. I don't want to waste my time or ammo unnecessarily.

Ok... Should not have jinxed myself... Sometimes ammo is necessary.

2am, sound asleep, pouring rain.
2 of the Maremma, Whenny and Dillon (short for Dillon Areo, btw - figured hellbender would get a biz outta that), start a serious intruder alert.

Now I usually just let a pair of dogs handle it and roll over and go back to sleep, but Dillon is only 5 months old. So... rain coat, coveralls, boots, shotguns... What do we find? opposum. It was a large, very angry male. Since Dillon isn't old enough to have had his rabies yet we didn't want to leave it for the dogs, so we shot it and took it to the woods behind the house.
Sometimes a good shot is easier and wiser... Although the dogs were mad at us for taking away their fun.

 

[hellbender]

Ok... Should not have jinxed myself... Sometimes ammo is necessary.

2am, sound asleep, pouring rain.
2 of the Maremma, Whenny and Dillon (short for Dillon Areo, btw - figured hellbender would get a biz outta that), start a serious intruder alert.

Now I usually just let a pair of dogs handle it and roll over and go back to sleep, but Dillon is only 5 months old. So... rain coat, coveralls, boots, shotguns... What do we find? opposum. It was a large, very angry male. Since Dillon isn't old enough to have had his rabies yet we didn't want to leave it for the dogs, so we shot it and took it to the woods behind the house.
Sometimes a good shot is easier and wiser... Although the dogs were mad at us for taking away their fun.

I hope Dillon lives up to his name-sake. I think I would have let the dogs do the job on the 'possum. Rabies is virtually unknown in them...but not entirely. The work out would have done the pup good

 

[lazy gardener]

There will be more possums for the pup to learn on. Better safe than sorry!

 

[RedRidge]

Ok... Should not have jinxed myself... Sometimes ammo is necessary.


2am, sound asleep, pouring rain.

2 of the Maremma, Whenny and Dillon (short for Dillon Areo, btw - figured hellbender would get a biz outta that), start a serious intruder alert.


Now I usually just let a pair of dogs handle it and roll over and go back to sleep, but Dillon is only 5 months old. So... rain coat, coveralls, boots, shotguns... What do we find? opposum. It was a large, very angry male. Since Dillon isn't old enough to have had his rabies yet we didn't want to leave it for the dogs, so we shot it and took it to the woods behind the house.

Sometimes a good shot is easier and wiser... Although the dogs were mad at us for taking away their fun.

I hope Dillon lives up to his name-sake.  I think I would have let the dogs do the job on the 'possum.  Rabies is virtually unknown in them...but not entirely.  The work out would have done the pup good

Unfortunately just this year we have had several opposum and coon heads from our county taken in and evaluated and they were positive for rabies, so... That's why we are being cautious.

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
oh yeah they're a very versatile breed. I know several who compete successfully in herding, nose work, carting, agility, obedience, and also have titles in conformation as well... (same dogs did all of that). usually though one dog will have his 'niche' where he is happiest.

Sunny trained in agility and obedience and did ok but tended to stress out in agility, but we discovered Rally is his strong point at least in training classes. when I stopped going to training classes (scheduling issues between work and the training classes themselves) I discovered he had a nose for finding/tracking things (lost chickens mostly).

tracking the wounded deer took me totally by surprise. I thought he was just along for the walk until I realized he was leading me to the blood pools. since then he's also been encouraged to track predators that have visited my pens, but they invariably cross the property line and head up the neighbor's property, so we have to stop.

 

[hellbender]

oh yeah they're a very versatile breed. I know several who compete successfully in herding, nose work, carting, agility, obedience, and also have titles in conformation as well... (same dogs did all of that). usually though one dog will have his 'niche' where he is happiest.

Sunny trained in agility and obedience and did ok but tended to stress out in agility, but we discovered Rally is his strong point at least in training classes. when I stopped going to training classes (scheduling issues between work and the training classes themselves) I discovered he had a nose for finding/tracking things (lost chickens mostly).

tracking the wounded deer took me totally by surprise. I thought he was just along for the walk until I realized he was leading me to the blood pools. since then he's also been encouraged to track predators that have visited my pens, but they invariably cross the property line and head up the neighbor's property, so we have to stop.

I'm not a bit surprised. Poodles, especially are known to have relatively 'cold noses' and the Germans took them to great levels in pleasure hunting as well as organized trials. A lot more dog than many people would ever imagine!

 

[RedRidge]

 

 


my only problem with the herding breeds, is they try herding everything!  at least as far as personal experience with friends' dogs goes... 

i'll stick with my multi-purpose standard poodle. LOL  he's part time lgd, pretty good wounded deer tracker, full time service dog (balance and mobility issues), and currently a mudball. LOL 

grooming on Friday, thinking I should bring Annie a special gift because she's going to have to WORK on him. LOL   hm. wonder if she eats eggs. LOL

I know better than to sell the Standard Poodles short, having seen two of them compete successfully in ScH work!!!

oh yeah they're a very versatile breed. I know several who compete successfully in herding, nose work, carting, agility, obedience, and also have titles in conformation as well...  (same dogs did all of that).

Poodles are versatile; however, they are not allowed to compete in AKC herding events. I owned a poodle for 21 yrs... smart dog.
As far as guardians, I don't know...

But I can tell you that one of my dogs was a breed champion and had titles in tracking, agility, obedience, and herding on ducks, sheep, and cattle. And one year he was #1 in the country in obedience. And yet, even at age 14, he is not permitted with my livestock without me. Competition dogs who have any umph (especially if they have any herding instinct at all), make terrible lgds.