Thursday, December 13, 2012

New Additions ... and Tricky T'day!

No, not another sheltie! We have some chicken instead!

As I have been intended to get 2-3 chicken for eggs, after talking to some friends and people around here, we were planning to have chicken in Spring but you know ... plan always changed! We got an offer of these chicken (8 hens and 1 cockerel). The previous owner is very ill and he desperate to rehome them; so they come to me on the weekend. Didn't we have fun owning these chicken! Trying to catch them was funny enough. Thank God Rhoda, Brooke's mummy is an expert in catching chicken. We trim off their wings, so they can't fly away!

We bought a nice chicken coop and after trimming their wings, we have to catch them one more time to put them to bed! Phew! BTW, the shelties are pretty hopeless :) Sing wanted to eat them. As they were travelling down from Wales on Saturday. We kept them in the cardboard boxes as they came in in the greenhouse overnight. We let them out on Sunday morning. When Sing saw the flying cockerel, he determined to get him! Hahaha ... I was laughing hysterically watching him jumping in the air to catch the cockerel. I know I am bad but it was too funny. Sizzle is scared of the chicken. Well, I don't blame him really, the smallest chicken is bigger than him! Saturn can't be bothered but Sonic is very interested in them. He tried to herd them but he went the wrong way, he herd them into the corner, so we have to go into the bush to catch them!

Every morning, Sing and Sonic cried to get into the chicken coop to check them out. As I am keeping them in the coop/run for the next 2 weeks before I am brave enough to let them out. I did struggled to get them out in the morning and put them back at night in the first two days but now they learned their roost, so I just have to open the door and close the door everyday. Will post better photos of them when they are allow out. I am thinking to expand the run a bit ...


they gave me two eggs on their arrival but nothing since :(




As for tricky T'day, I've decided to teach WAIT to Sen. I don't teach my puppy "wait" until they are 6 months. I'd rather like my puppies a bit more pushy and naughty before I put some force/pressure into a behaviour. Personally, I think "wait" is quite pressure and control kinda training. Seny is a busy bee. She gets very excited when she sees clicker and treat. She is extremely into treat, still no play from her though :( She can't sit still when there is food involved (even when there is no food, actually), her whole body gone into wriggly mode! I don't know this is a good thing or a bad thing. When I tried to teach her a trick, she gave me everything and I sometimes think if I click the right thing as she moves so fast.

Seny's WAIT:


 Seny will be 6 months old tomorrow and is 32cm (12.5") at the whitter


7 comments:

Diana said...

Love, love , love the face picture of Sen. Very cool, her black coat against the white frost.

Rhoda said...

I agree, I don't think they should learn wait until they are 5-6 months as it goes against so much we want them to learn as young puppies (come to me, walk next to me, etc)

Seny is a lovely girly - I love the pic of Sing staring at the sheep as well :) Oh and chicken chasing was fun!! x

corbinwooten said...

She is adorable!

Reminds me a bit of Lexi...Lexi will try everything if there is a clicker and a treat around.

Interesting to hear that you don't usually teach wait right away. I've always taught that from the beginning. I wonder if it depends on the dog? Bentley I didn't know we were doing agility so we started with obedience and he is not naughty enough! Lexi we did waits right away because she was (and sometimes is!) too naughty.

Vonnie said...

OMG a cockerel cockadoodledoo!
Sent tap dancing when she sits, clever girl!

Unknown said...

Love love love your header! Everything looks so unreal except Sing!

Going to have some Chicken Run fun?

Chris and Ricky said...

Seny is so cute at the beginning wiggling around in her sit! Love her wait though!

Chickens look fun - I think Ricky would bark and bark at them!

Pippa Sheltie said...

Oh, Sen is just adorable!
Bi-blacks are so pretty!
From
Pippa