I thought I would let you all know that I have my first eggs!
an update on my Brahmas
Here are the girls....all grown up.
This is the pullet who turned out to be a rooster, M. Poirot.
And last, this is probably my favorite, Mable.
M. Poirot is very handsome! Very pretty and healthy looking chickens.
How old are they now?
This message was edited Nov 22, 2009 5:00 PM
They are beautiful! I love Brahmas.
This message was edited Nov 22, 2009 9:50 PM
porkpal, I got them the first week in May. So I think they are almost six and a half months old.
SO so pretty....covetous...
It seem's like I'm always agreeing with Porkpal, but Mr. piriot is truly handsome, and Mable is also very pretty. Nice birds. I have two brahama banties and they also are very pretty. Hay
Very pretty birds. Congrats on the eggs. My pullets are old enough to lay and have yet to give me a single egg. The stingy heifers. :(
congrats! My brahmys aren't laying yet, but they're a little younger than yours....
Thanks a bunch for the compliments, guys.
Ideal told me when I placed the order that Brahmas take longer to start laying so I wasn't really expected much of any egg production until possibly this spring. We have gotten so that we just look at them as calming and entertaining to watch and that, for now, that would be production enough.
I'm kind of excited. I have wanted chickens for so long...and now it works! Woohoo!
PS. M. Poirot has stopped crowing all night long. He only did that for one night. We think he figured out that it was interfering with his beauty regime!
Awwwwww.......those are some handsome chickens and rooster. Congratulations on the eggs. It is exciting isn't it?
Beautiful birds!!
We had frost this morning and an unwelcome nocturnal visitor last night.
We never did identify what creature caused all the commotion, but we let the two big dogs out and DH followed with big light. Whatever it was ran off too fast for the light to catch up and the two dogs know to only go so far with a chase, especially at night. I new there was something, though, as the Catahoula dog was singing about it! I was worried that the girls would be upset this morning, but no. They seemed to like the frosty air and popped right out of the coop when I opened the door and went on about their business.
I think I need to find the inner Brahma in me and not worry so much!
You have a Catahoula dog?! I'd love to see a pic if you have one. I've only seen one and she was very pretty. I saw her at a PetCo, she was a rescued dog. That was the first time I'd ever heard of that breed.
It's the La. State dog.
We had one in my Border Collie's agility class...very intense. Like a Border Collie with attitude. Beautiful dog....but I think it would need to work, not lie around the house. I've heard that they have native American dog ancestry...maybe something like the Australian Dingo. I love "natural" breeds.
I think they are actually a hound and they do need exercise.
I'm not looking to get one, it would not be happy living in the city (the cats don't want a dog around anyway...lol). I just think they are beautiful dogs. We sometimes dog-sit our neighbor's cattle dog mix, and that's fine with us. It's kind of like having grandkids I guess, you have them over for a few days then they go home....lol.
They are called a type of "cur dog"--which isn't as bad as it sounds. Just that they are of mixed ancestry with possible Native American dog influence. I think this is really interesting, since they are dogs that are selected for their working ability and not just their looks. It is what I like about my Border Collie too.
But every once in a while, I look longingly at a tiny toy breed and think how nice it would be to cuddle one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catahoula_Cur
The trouble with the dogs with working ability is that they really NEED a job. If you don't assign them one, they will find one on their own. They are driven. "Idle hands..."
I had an Australian Shepherd/Golden Retriever, it was really comical to watch her try to keep the 3 cats together. She got to herd a small flock of sheep once too, she knew what to do in spite of no training, she had more herding instinct than retrieving.
Our son's Australian Cattle dog herded our cows too - without any training, but usually in the wrong direction.
My Border Collie herds the other dogs---he is afraid of sheep. And blue buckets.
Obviously related phobias.
The mind of the Border Collie is full of novel connections....perhaps his mother was frightened by a Blue Faced Leicester?
Or a blue woolen handbag?
My BC's job is to "find it". He doesn't know what "it" is. He just hunts furiously in the weeds digging up roots and dragging out sticks. He constanly looks at me for directions and "good boys". He also herded the cows with no training but I can't get him to round up the chickens.
Here are a couple of photos. She is quite shy around the camara. She was a found dog. I found her in my back pasture, in real bad shape. She was only about 6-8 months old at the time and had really been mistreated by someone or something. She's turned out to be a great dog. She was easy to house train but hard to teach to come when called and to stay in her yard. She has learned that now. Catahoulas are supposed to be cattle dogs but some folks around here use them for "hog dogs". She's actually afraid of the distant squeels of the ferral hogs (they live along the Sabine River bed which is within calling distance from my back pasture). She also doesn't like the sound of gun fire at all. She runs into the house and buries her head in the couch pillows. She does love to run and we take her on long walks; however, she is really a couch potato at heart. She doesn't like the cold--I've read that they only have one coat layer. All in all she reminds me a lot of a Doberman. Same energy level, same goofy personality, and same need for consistant training.
Both her eyes are blue. She is brown but it seems that all colors are good. I'm not a really authority on these dogs. Just what I've read on the internet.
Side view to show markings.
This message was edited Nov 27, 2009 12:58 PM
Very pretty. Looks like she may be a mix but they make the best dogs. Always seem to be healthier than a purebred. My guard dog, Cowboy, is a mix. His mom is a boxer/ bull mastiff cross and I think his dad was a shepherd mix. He's a great guard dog but he is a handful. Big old goofy dog. He is very submissive to the family but he does not trust or like strangers.
She looks a lot like the pictures of catahoulis I found on the web...
beautiful! Love the markings.
I don't know if it will help, but a lot of pups that haven't been socialized to people will act like they've been abused. They're just scared 'cause we're so strange to them. I suspect that's what happened with your girl... probably the pup of some barely cared for female, and the litter wasn't handled... sounds like not fed either. =0( But she's sitting in clover now!
She looks all Catahoula to me too. We have acquired a number of dumped dogs; they are often shy and slow to warm up to people but end up very grateful and loyal.
She looks "right" to me too. I have a red and white border collie--not many people identify him because they expect black and white--but otherwise he looks just like a traditional border collie. Red is such an interesting colour.
Here is a picture of a "red" Catahoula male:
http://www.lesanimaux.ca/images/C/catahoula.jpg
She had some serious injuries when I found her. Our vet said the injuries were consistent with being thrown from a vehicle and/or dragged.
Thanks for the photo, Catscan. Pumpkin is much younger than that dog, and looks more femine. But I can see why my vet thinks she is a purebred. It doesn't realy matter to me. Mostly I would just have corgis if I went looking for another dog, but this dog found me, so there you have it.
The one I met in agility was much less muscular and more feminine too.
When I was an undergraduate in VA, I found a starving young dog and hid it in my dorm room. It was skin and bones and totally untrained (or housebroken). One of the cooks at the college saw her and told me she was actually a very valuable "Redbone Coon Dog". He offered to take her--since I was about to be forced to get rid of her by housing. I hope he had a good time hunting with her...she was very sweet. But I would never have guessed that she was actually a recognized and valued breed. She just looked like a skinny yellow mutt to me.
Here is what they look like:
http://www.google.com/images?sa=3&q=red+bone+hound&btnG=Search+images
Wow! That red boy is gorgeous, and what a keen look in his eye... they must be waving a 'coon in front of him for the picture.
Maybe she fell out of the back of some yaahoo's PU... I can't stand to see untethered dogs in the back of trucks. There are a lot of nice dogs dead by the side of the interstate around here and I have always figured they fell out of someone's truck... one little swerve and the dog is airborne if it likes to hang over the side, or even worse, ride on the tool box.