Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[jvls1942]

I have a Maremma. He guards the chickens, ducks and rabbits. We have had a few stray dogs and a coyote show up. His size and bark were enough to scare them off.

do you remember who you got your Maremma from ?

how old is he/she/it ?
picture ?
.............jiminwisc..........

 

[Sclark73]

Well I just candled eggs and have 14 thriving chicks. 7 BLRW, 4 EE, 2 SS and 1 from barn coop which is OrpxMaran. I just refilled the 10 un-fertile eggs with 4 SS, 3 BLRW, 1 EE and 2 Barn eggs. I did a really dumb thing and had been collecting eggs from my banty coop but after finding them all unfertile and wondering why as those had always had nice eggs last year. I realized that the only roo that had been in there was Jose my he/she and doesn't breed. What a duh moment. I won't be able to separate my BLRW's until more snow melts as all my pens are covered as I hadn't used them so was no point to keep them shoveled out. When time comes I'll pair Hephaestus with the 3 Foley girls and let Zeus keep the Americanas and Hera. I will also pen the BO's to hatch out some pure chicks to sell. Until this darn snow is gone I have nowhere to put them for breeding and it makes it a pain as I should be hatching all pure chicks by now. I'm going to ask the person I borrowed the foam incubator from last fall if he wants to sell it instead of borrowing as it needs to be tweaked badly. It will go against everything I went thru last fall to give it another try but I hate feeling defeated and I hear so many of you use them with success. The Brinsea is golden, but 24 eggs just doesn't seem to be enough when you have a plan in order.

Isn't a Lemon Cuckoo Orp a Barred Rock crossed with a BO? I didn't even want them but daughter brought home 2 chicks and only one lived.

 

[cuties]

I have a Maremma. He guards the chickens, ducks and rabbits. We have had a few stray dogs and a coyote show up. His size and bark were enough to scare them off. 

I am curious if your Maremma is bonded to your chickens. Does he/she protect them against hawk? Or protecting the property against threat?
Do any of you have a strictly lgd? Any breed. Just curious how it works if you also have pet dogs. I saw in the video they had herder. And the lgd stayed with the flock during moves. Intriguing how their bond is stronger with the flock when there is other dogs present!

 

[1876 Farm]

Hey Kevin, did you look at the Maremma video posted a few pages back ? Bigzio posted it.. You would find it interesting.. it is only a few minutes long..

only just in your mind, substitute chickens for the sheep it features ..

///////jiminwisc..........

Jim,

Do you have problems with your dogs getting matted down with burrs? From the video, if you've trained your dog to strictly be a protector of your livestock, they don't let you get very near to them. Do you just let them be? "Tackle" them, like the woman said, 1-2x a year for bath/combing/etc?

 

[Kelsykin]

He will be a year in June. The person who I got him from was only having 1 litter and then getting the mother fixed.

This is the best picture I have of him. He has a sock and foot fetish.



He is 4 feet high now. We had to train him when he greets the kids, coming home from school, to have his stuffed hedgehog in his mouth to muffle his bark. He is fantastic with the chickens, ducks and rabbits. When he is on duty he is On Duty and does his job very well. My husband also taught him to fetch. Apparently, Maremmas are not suppose to fetch. We do have to give him a good brushing every few days. If we get another dog it most likely will be another Maremma.

 

[jvls1942]

funny you should mention burrs.. Annie just locked the pups up yesterday because they found a patch of burrs.. The older dogs seem to be able to chew the burrs out when they can reach them.
we find a few in the neck area, but not many.. we don't have many burrs near the house where the dogs stay most of the time..

cooties, Maremma are LGD .. on the video they used border collies for herding.. LGD do not herd. they will accept dogs "in the family " but heaven help a stray ..

I thought it was neat how the sheep followed the dog through the gate..

In stock yards, they use a goat to lead the flock of sheep.. sheep will follow anything, I guess..
not the brightest bulbs on the string of lights ..

as far as a LGD protecting from hawks.. If you were a hawk, would you land close to any dog ?
If the LGD noticed a hawk among the chickens, I think it would go investigate..

I have had hawks buzz my yard, but none have landed, yet..

I would think twice about tackling one of these LGD if they are not used to it..
My male will lead on a leash, but do not try to just lead him by the collar ..

they were bred to be independent thinkers, and that is a strong trait in them..
If you give them a command, don't expect them to react quickly about it.. sometimes they don't think the command is worth reacting to ..

/////jiminwisc//////

 

[Kelsykin]

I am curious if your Maremma is bonded to your chickens. Does he/she protect them against hawk? Or protecting the property against threat?
Do any of you have a strictly lgd? Any breed. Just curious how it works if you also have pet dogs. I saw in the video they had herder. And the lgd stayed with the flock during moves. Intriguing how their bond is stronger with the flock when there is other dogs present!

Mine is bonded to the ducks and the chickens. He also bonded to the rabbits. We have not had issues with hawks. We do have a pair of Bald Eagles nesting near by. We have not had issues, but since we are just now getting back into poultry we will see how he does with hawks. Maremmas were bred to take down wolves.

He is protective of the property, his animals and his people. He has his job, but he gets down time. Since he is 9 months old, we want to make sure he is growing properly. We have to watch his growth for the next 15 months or so. Right now he is recovering from an injury so he is inside with us. He has learned that the one cat is not a fan of dogs and to give that one a wide berth. Once he is healed up he will be spending more time with the birds.

 

[bigzio]

Fish Fry Friday All....yep, I agree bl4...the burgers were delish....suzie was goin mmmm with each bite LOL! I shoulda told you to run over and visit with us Wed..just thought of it now..dang it. You woulda been home by midnight.

A lot more folks have the maremma breed than I thought. I haven't heard anyone say they didn't like the breed.

I have to separate the breeders to yet. Gonna be a later hatch here this year...kina like the spring weather.

Yep, I talked to Terri about the new bill that will allow egg sells without permits...that will be nice for sure. It only makes good sense.

I forgot to thank you for the maple surip terri Thanks....gotta love free surip...LOL!

Later...bigz

 

[jvls1942]

He will be a year in June. The person who I got him from was only having 1 litter and then getting the mother fixed.

This is the best picture I have of him. He has a sock and foot fetish.



He is 4 feet high now. We had to train him when he greets the kids, coming home from school, to have his stuffed hedgehog in his mouth to muffle his bark. He is fantastic with the chickens, ducks and rabbits. When he is on duty he is On Duty and does his job very well. My husband also taught him to fetch. Apparently, Maremmas are not suppose to fetch. We do have to give him a good brushing every few days. If we get another dog it most likely will be another Maremma.

My male has the same fetish.. I have to remind him once in awhile that my toes are still in my sock..

I am still curious,, where did he come from ? I know of only 4 people in this state who sell pups.. and one of them quit doing it.. they still have 5 of them with their flock, but they had them all fixed ..

4 ft tall ? I think you hit the wrong key.. check your ruler, I think a foot is broken off the end..

I have mine more or less trained to not bark in the house.. they do if someone knocks on the door, but shut up immediately when I say "OK" .. they are the same outdoors.

once they recognize a vehicle that has been there and got the "OK", they don't bark at it again.

..........jiminwisc..........

 

[Kelsykin]

I would think twice about tackling one of these LGD if they are not used to it..
My male will lead on a leash, but do not try to just lead him by the collar ..

they were bred to be independent thinkers, and that is a strong trait in them..
If you give them a command, don't expect them to react quickly about it.. sometimes they don't think the command is worth reacting to ..

/////jiminwisc//////

Yep, mine will get a look like 'I'll get back to you on that one" when given a command some days. He listens to me the best. But I also have the "Mommy" voice and it tends to make everybody do as I say or else..... I have yet to show what the or else equals.