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jen judkins
ParticipantThanks, Billy. When I talk of training, I am speaking only of developing good pack manners and socialization. I expect the dog will take to her guardian status without much special training. I plan to crate the dog with the chickens and goats, only allowing direct interaction with them in a supervised setting until she essentially ‘ignores’ her flock. In addition, I plan to walk the perimeter with the dog daily to accustom her to her ‘territory’ until she understands her job. Its important to me that the dog tolerate our other dogs (who have limit access to the area she will live, being behind an invisible electric fence) and is friendly to the occasional human visitor.
ParticipantWell, 3 skunks trapped in about a week. I think I have gotten them all now…empty trap for two nights running.
What I have learned from this, is that closing up the coop at night is important, not just to protect the birds from predators, but to keep the nuisance pests out of their food. I suspect the skunks were simply used to dining on the chicken feed and on the night they got into the brooding box (because I didn’t close it up one night), they found easy targets in the juvenile birds. Always something to learn….
ParticipantThanks, Kevin and Andy….very helpful. She should be here next week. I’ll post pictures.
ParticipantDave, I think this ad is old and I am not sure the position is still open. If you are interested please call, Cathy Wells at the number above. Julie was just posting for her and is not the person hiring.
ParticipantThanks for the thoughts, everyone. George, sorry to hear about your GP….was he old?
Andy, how many strands on your fence?
In regard to training, I am not too concerned. I am good with dogs. Most people think I spend hours training my dogs, when really I am an alpha bitch! They know their place…or else!
My biggest predator is the fox….
Participant@Does’ Leap 10477 wrote:
We have a Great Pyrenees for our herd of goats. No losses of kids or adults. He’s a great dog, very loyal.
George, I am looking at a great pry puppy right now. Getting sick of losing chickens and don’t want to pen them up. Can you give me an idea of what kind of fencing is necessary for your pyranees. Does he stay right in the goat enclosure or does he roam the property. I’ve been told they wander… Also, any trouble with people visiting the farm? I remember your big dog when I was there a few years ago and he/she seemed very friendly. Just wondered if that is something you had to work on or if it came naturally? Any thoughts would be appreciated. We do have several other dogs and I plan to start this dog in the goat/chicken barn….I just have some concerns about aggression with people and other dogs. We have a lot of foot traffic at our place.
Participant@Does’ Leap 10477 wrote:
We have a Great Pyrenees for our herd of goats. No losses of kids or adults. He’s a great dog, very loyal.
George, I am looking at a great pry puppy right now. Getting sick of losing chickens and don’t want to pen them up. Can you give me an idea of what kind of fencing is necessary for your pyranees. Does he stay right in the goat enclosure or does he roam the property. I’ve been told they wander… Also, any trouble with people visiting the farm? I remember your big dog when I was there a few years ago and he/she seemed very friendly. Just wondered if that is something you had to work on or if it came naturally? Any thoughts would be appreciated. We do have several other dogs and I plan to start this dog in the goat/chicken barn….I just have some concerns about aggression with people and other dogs. We have a lot of foot traffic at our place.
ParticipantCaught another one last night….much bigger. This time I did not leave a tarp on the cage, but approached with it this am. No spray, though when I peeked over the edge of the tarp, he was looking right at me with his tail in the air….yikes!
ParticipantBeen laughing hysterically for some reason at all your responses….not sure what is so funny. All I know is I would NEVER have the nerve to sneak up on a skunk and grab it by the tail! I, like Kevin and Geoff, have had that experience….and I have a great deal of respect for that defensive maneuver!
ParticipantI might try to come out tonight. What time is dinner??
ParticipantI left a tarp over the trap except for the door and pointed it away from my retrieval approach. Simply flipped the tarp over the closed entrance and slowly moved it, lifted into the back of the truck and drove off, repeating the steps on the other end. Robert is right, they are very near-sighted. I could swing out and take a look at him in the cage if I kept a 10 or 15 foot distance and he didn’t even notice me. I was a little nervous about being very close to the little guy especially since the trap is heavy and the tarp made some noise I thought might startle him. But the visual barrier appears to work well. Didn’t catch anything last night…
ParticipantWell, I successfully relocated the little guy this am. He/she did not spray me. I think I will keep a trap set up for a few more nights in case there are more of them waiting to move in…
ParticipantWell, since you ask…he is currently in a have-a-hart trap. I am just in from checking it. So it was super easy to trap him…with alittle dog food as bait. I think the hard part will be moving him in the AM. Definitely will wear disposable clothes! I’ll let you know how it goes.
ParticipantI’m hoping to have a great turnout Saturday! We will be holding a raffle after lunch to benefit Geoff Pritchard’s (near horse) and his family who just suffered a huge barn fire recently. We have a lot of cool items, including some draft horse artwork, logging grab hooks, maple syrup, canned goods, shelburne farms sharp cheddar, to name a few. Items from Meaders and Kellyville tack have been donated as well. So come on out and support a fellow DAPNet member and previous DAPNet President. This is a free event. NH Chronicle will be there, doing a promo piece for DAPnet and we have a super line up of teams and teamsters! Should be a very fun day…
If you cannot be there and want to buy raffle tickets, or donate to the fire fund, email me at jenjudkins930@gmail.com. Thanks for your support.
ParticipantWell, I lost a whole brooder full of juvenile birds this week when I stupidly forgot to lock them up one night. Then we had a loss every night thereafter in the main coop. So I set up my kid cam (which is now the ‘coop cam’)….and this was what I saw at 8pm tonight!
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