I wrote another blog post and tried that thing that is supposed to upload it at a time you set. That did not work and it seems to have eaten my whole post as well. I sure get tired of being so untecchie. I don't have time to do anything about that problem right now, so here goes that post over again, but it has to be shorter this time.
As soon as I thought my chicks might be able to handle it, I took them out to the garden with me. I would lift up a bean plant and the chick would dive under it and peck up all the earwigs that fell to the ground and then pick them off of the bean plant. I trained them to also peck where I pointed with the tip of my trowel. This is because cutworms blend in with the soil and lie still when you uncover them. Chickens can not see things that lie still very well. The hen would get the cutworm when I pointed at it with the tip of my shovel.
I had been killing the cutworms by mashing them with my trowel. The sandy soil did not make this easy, so it wasted precious gardening time. The chickens speeded things up a lot. They ate the earwigs and cutworms fast and got other bugs also. They also helped by scratching the soil and fertilizing as they moved along the row.
The way I helped my dogs to stop chasing chickens was to take the offending dog to the chicken pen and put her in the pen with the chickens. I left the dog in there until she really wanted out. The offending dog was usually Cossett.
Cossett was kind of cute in a goofy way. She looked a lot like a collie, but her legs were too short. Her ears flopped on the tips. I named her because she looked as if she was part collie and part basset. I have since learned that Cossett and I ay have been suffering from a misunderstanding. Cossett could have been a purebred corgi instead of a mutt.
Corgis have a serious drive to herd things. Cossett quickly gave up on attempts to herd cats and the goats squashed the idea of herding them. Maybe chickens were poor Cossett's last hope for herding.
A few times in the pen with my chickens seemed to end Cossett's harassment of my garden chickens. I believe the egg protection events really caused that.
Something was getting some chicken eggs for a while. I thought it must be a rodent. There were lots of rat traps around the farm buildings. I got a rat from one of the traps and cut it into pieces. I threw the pieces into the chicken pen and the chickens ate them up so fast I could not believe it. After that there were no more missing eggs. I had killer chickens.
The next time I put Cossett into the chicken pen the hens did not crowd into a corner and mostly huddle and only occasionally bump into Cossett. They started pecking gingerly at Cossett, as if wondering whether she might taste as good as a rat. Cossett immediately wanted out of the pen that time. She was careful to not disturb my garden chickens after that.
I think it was the chickens changed attitude that did it. They were now predators and acted like it. I kind of expected Clint Eastwood music in the background.
The cats dropped off on showing any desire to chase my chickens after the chickens got bigger. The gardening chickens were heavier than an average cat and taller. I think it did something to the cats to have their prey animals looking down on them.
La Mancha goats were the next addition to the garden team. I will tell you about them later.
As soon as I thought my chicks might be able to handle it, I took them out to the garden with me. I would lift up a bean plant and the chick would dive under it and peck up all the earwigs that fell to the ground and then pick them off of the bean plant. I trained them to also peck where I pointed with the tip of my trowel. This is because cutworms blend in with the soil and lie still when you uncover them. Chickens can not see things that lie still very well. The hen would get the cutworm when I pointed at it with the tip of my shovel.
I had been killing the cutworms by mashing them with my trowel. The sandy soil did not make this easy, so it wasted precious gardening time. The chickens speeded things up a lot. They ate the earwigs and cutworms fast and got other bugs also. They also helped by scratching the soil and fertilizing as they moved along the row.
The way I helped my dogs to stop chasing chickens was to take the offending dog to the chicken pen and put her in the pen with the chickens. I left the dog in there until she really wanted out. The offending dog was usually Cossett.
Cossett was kind of cute in a goofy way. She looked a lot like a collie, but her legs were too short. Her ears flopped on the tips. I named her because she looked as if she was part collie and part basset. I have since learned that Cossett and I ay have been suffering from a misunderstanding. Cossett could have been a purebred corgi instead of a mutt.
Corgis have a serious drive to herd things. Cossett quickly gave up on attempts to herd cats and the goats squashed the idea of herding them. Maybe chickens were poor Cossett's last hope for herding.
A few times in the pen with my chickens seemed to end Cossett's harassment of my garden chickens. I believe the egg protection events really caused that.
Something was getting some chicken eggs for a while. I thought it must be a rodent. There were lots of rat traps around the farm buildings. I got a rat from one of the traps and cut it into pieces. I threw the pieces into the chicken pen and the chickens ate them up so fast I could not believe it. After that there were no more missing eggs. I had killer chickens.
The next time I put Cossett into the chicken pen the hens did not crowd into a corner and mostly huddle and only occasionally bump into Cossett. They started pecking gingerly at Cossett, as if wondering whether she might taste as good as a rat. Cossett immediately wanted out of the pen that time. She was careful to not disturb my garden chickens after that.
I think it was the chickens changed attitude that did it. They were now predators and acted like it. I kind of expected Clint Eastwood music in the background.
The cats dropped off on showing any desire to chase my chickens after the chickens got bigger. The gardening chickens were heavier than an average cat and taller. I think it did something to the cats to have their prey animals looking down on them.
La Mancha goats were the next addition to the garden team. I will tell you about them later.
