Shiba Playdate

Recap of the play date last weekend with friend Pam, and her Penny and Eli. After a good romp, we all went to the Puyallup Farmer's Market for a nice walk. I scored some apples for 10c a pound, which went to the chickens and bunnies. Fun times for all.

Ike: Please can I go inside, I just want to eat look at them.

Penny and Eli

Eli checks out the chickens and junk pile

I dropped an egg accidently on purpose

Blurry Grym tail, but check out the look on Ike's face as he
guards his prize egg

Poofy puppy buns!

Finally a group photo. Woot!

Learning About Quarantine from Craigslist

I added three adult laying Cuckoo Marans hens to help fill some of my egg requests. I bought them off of Craigslist and was really excited about having some Marans running around. Well, they have chicken lice. I mean, they are flippin infested. Now, parasites are not uncommon in poultry, but it's still gross. I noticed the critters (unfortunately) after the purchase when I was unloading the hens at home.

Thankfully, they were in their travel cages at the time, so they have not come into contact in any way with my flock. For the record, my own hens are beautiful and clean and parasite free, and I want it to stay that way. I am mindful about keeping everything clean and tidy for them as possible. I put out new hay/timothy grass every week in the nesting boxes, and they get a new layer of pine shavings litter about once every 3-4 weeks. The coop house itself stays fairly clean since they spend most of the day ranging outside and having natural dust baths.

Back to the Marans, I immediately dusted them, ALL the chicken bedding, roosting areas and nest boxes with poultry dust, and re-inspected my own hens. I handle my hens everyday, but try to do a more thorough feather check about once a month. Chicken lice are not a risk to people, dogs, cats, rabbits, etc. They only live on chickens.

The new hens are now in quarantine, which really is best practice regardless of any known issues. They are setup in the unused outdoor covered dog kennel, in a covered ex pen, and there they shall remain for at least 30 days. While they are in quarantine they will also be prophylacticly treated for coccidia just in case.

Moral of the story: Craigslist is pretty cool, but I should have bought these birds as chicks from a certified hatchery or CLEAN breeder. I tell you, some of the backyard chicken setups I have seen lately are appalling, but so were the human dwellings and land, so, I hope not to repeat this same purchasing mistake in the future.

Happy Easter for Chickens and Shibas

Being that it is Easter, and spring fever is in abundance here, it was only fitting that I ended up bringing 8 more chicks home to the flock. These are special chicks, and are the first heritage breed to take residence on my little homestead. They are week old Mottled Java chickens, and are generally very rare, and have a very interesting history as far as chickens go.

Java's are supposed to be an excellent table bird. They are listed by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy as threatened, which means there are less than 1,000 breeding birds in the United States, and 5,000 world wide. They are an efficient dual purpose bird, with a good feed to weight ratio, but may not be as hardy in colder weather as the Buckeye. I guess my quest for the perfect dual purpose, large egg laying, good meat weight, attractive, friendly, calm, hardy and thrifty chicken breed has officially begun.

Here is a good comparison chart listing stats on each breed. Dual purpose heritage breeds I will be investing in the future, are the attractive jumbo egg laying, large meaty Delaware, the Buckeye, and the flashy olive colored egg laying Copper Marans. I'm also interested in Jersey Giants for their large size and jumbo eggs.

The new Java's. They are very cute and sweet and seem to
be doing well in their hutch under the heat lamp.

This hutch is covered on several sides to help retain heat.
Hatchlings are susceptable to drafts until fully fledged. They
must be kept seperate from the larger hens to avoid being
pecked to death.

The Shibas know there is something interesting inside.

Shiba Hobbies

Old favorite hobby: Chicken Watching

Even older favorite hobby: Quail Watching

New favorite hobby that is so much fun Inus have to wake Mom up in the middle of the night with "roo roo roo" and "eee eee eee" which sounds like the noises they make when they REALLY have to go, really badly, but then they don't because they just wanted to sprint like crazy dogs to the pasture to enjoy this wonderful new hobby:  Rabbit Watching

Spot the Inu

Cottontail

Flopsy



We're hunting wabbits



More bunny watching (Mopsy in hutch)

 Introducing Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail (it's been done, I know). I decided before I invest a lot in real rabbitry and keeping production backyard meat bred rabbits, I ought to try with some generic bunnies to see if I can keep these alive. The large meat breeds like the white New Zealand, can overheat easily, and given that they are so large and so domesticated with 0 survival instinct, that practically guarantees a life in a cage. I'm not a big fan of keeping things in cages, which is why I no longer have domestic quail. I think it will be charming to release some wild quail eventually however, but no more domestic birds unless I can devise a way to let them range while keeping them safe from predators.

That said, I'm sure you can see that these bunnies are in a hutch, with a covered run. That's for their safety (the Inus), of which they lack any instinctual fear. They get grass time in the mornings in an ex pen, or fresh veg, whichever I have time for. Eventually, if they make it thru summer, I would like to cover my chicken run and release them into the coop. I'm pretty sure they will still be killed or escape. Domestic rabbits are really at a total disadvantage when it comes to survival, and I think there are hardier, easier to keep smallstock that are just as useful for meat or charm and less work to maintain. Anyways, these bunnies will not (intentionally) become food. I like them too much and they are very sweet.  

Caucasian Ovcharka and Border Collie Mix for Adoption in Washington

Can anybody explain to me why mixing these two types together is in any way an improvement on either breed?

This is the second "CO mix" I have seen comming from Eastern Washington. The first was a Shiloh Shepherd/CO mix, and boy was that a doozy of a dog in terms of liability. Honestly, I'm not convinced that I see any CO in this dog. There seems to be some CAO markings, but to me he looks like a large BC/mix thing. Whoever is getting these grand ideas, over there in Eastern Washington, to breed their CO with herding dogs, STOP IT! All this litigous country needs is a hyper vigilant, stranger wary, powerful guardian dog with the drive, brains, speed and energy of a herder.

A Veritable Smorgasbord

Thank you to Tacoma Boys, for sending me home with a free 30 lb goodie box of fresh organic greens for my hens. This will last through the week, and the chickens love it. Their Friday and Saturday goodies were grass and weeds from the yard, with a large pile of dirt clods and nightcrawlers to kick around. Chickens have modest needs and will eat almost anything that is green or wiggly.

Hypothyroid Shiba Inu and Coprophagia

Beebe eats her poo (coprophagia). I thought she had outgrown it, but yesterday, right in front of company, she immediately turned around after eliminating and started lapping at it, right in the middle of a play date with 5 other Shibas and Grym. Gross.

Popular dogma indicates that feces eating is the result of boredom or hunger. High protein food may also be suspect. I think lack of sanitation in the whelping area is also a factor for this behavior. When people with dogs from pet stores and puppy mills report it, I admit that I am quick to label that as a cause of this disgusting behavior.

Most people know by now that puppy mills generally lack proper sanitation, or anything remotely acceptable in the housing and care of young pups, and many petstores as well. These poor environments counteract the dogs' natural desire to avoid soiling in its bed due to constant crating over its own waste and the lack of space for proper elimanation habits to form outside. There is quite likely an element of boredom and hunger involved in these case.

To note, the breeder Shibas who have stayed with me have never done this. Ike is horrified of his poo and will bury it like a kitty does. They were raised in a loving, clean, healthy and stimulating environment indoors with nearly unlimited access to spacious outdoor freedom. Beebe however, did come from a classified ad, and I'm sure there is a behavioral component to her coprophagia, but I'm wondering if it also may be from her hypothyroid. Interestingly, here is a blogpost from some friends regarding their Akita and some of his medical issues, including hypothyroid and coprophagia (feces eating).

I don't think boredom is an issue with Beebe. It's my feeling, that she does this because she is hungry. She is always hungry, which is par for the course with hypothyroid dogs, but she's overweight so I can't feed her all that she could eat. So, my question is for any other hypothyroid Shiba Inu owners: do your dogs do this too and did it get worse or better when on thyroid meds or with increased amounts of food?

Spring Cleaning: Bowls for Inus

Spring cleaning time for Inus. I have been organizing their gear, getting rid of stuff they don't use. After counting more than 30 dishes, I realize I am opting for function over looks. I like buying the stainless steel bowls these days for ease of cleaning. The cute little kitty size decorated ceramic bowls just aren't practical any longer, although their water bowls are ceramic so they don't dump them. I don't buy plastic bowls either, and other than water dishes, I don't leave bowls out past their feeding times.

For puppies, I am using the shallow puppy pans. For the adult Shibas, I buy the 1 qt stainless bowls with flat bottoms. Beebe, who is a horker, gets the eat-slow bowl (pictured on your far right). I use crate pails (also on your far right) for overnight in expens and traveling.

Worst purchases: fancy (expensive) ceramic bowls that I drop and break the same day, bowls with detachable rubber rings on the bottom that Grym ends up chewing, anything plastic which gives the dogs acne, and cat or 1/2 qt size bowls which Farrah likes to carry around and chew. I feed twice a day and wash bowls in hot soapy water after each use.

Upcomming spring cleaning posts: collars, leashes, toys, treats, beds and crates. I will go over what I have used, what works, and what were some big wastes of dollars.

Inus at the Beach

We went for a little beach walk at Dash Point, true to our Northwest roots, in the rain. Not much to add, so on to the photos. Ok I lied, I want to add that walking 4 dogs is much easier once they braid their leashes together. Now the pictures:

Hobby Farming, Choosing Heritage Breeds

Please forgive the increase in posts related to hobby farming. My dogs are all happy and fit, except Ike has had a bought of painful acne/folliculitis on his chin that I noticed late overnight when he was rubbing his muzzle with his hand. It's probably from the puppies always licking his mouth as an appeasement gesture. Poor guy is really embarrassed by it and he gets a quick trip to the vet in the morning. Also, Farrah has graduated Level 1 puppy class, and will be trying for her CGC soon.

Back to hobby farming, I'm laying out some landscaping options and I see that I definitely have enough space for 2 pigs for meat, a calf for meat, and 2 goats for milk based on their recommended space requirements. I think the ideal setup is having 1-2 meat animals each year, and keeping a smaller milk producing animal that will not be used for meat. Here is a good livestock guide for hobby farms. This will involve more time and management to keep things clean and in order, and there will be extra cost for vetting and feed, so this will take some time to actualize.

They should all be hardy and thrifty enough to survive outdoors. Size is important. It would also be ideal if these animals can all share the same paddock, which will make it easier on my electric bill this coming winter so I don't have to heat 3 separate outdoor areas. However, after further reading, I don't think swine are the safest animal to run with goats or chickens. They may eat them if not attended.

Here are some animals I am considering: Berkshire pigs, the Mulefoot Hog, the smaller, but much rarer Guinea Hog, and another smaller hog, the Ossabaw Island Hog. I think the Berkshire, although much larger, will be the easiest to find. I really like these little Dexter cattle, and here are some heritage goat breeds good for rural homesteaders, along with additional reasons for choosing heritage breeds. I like the Nigerian dwarf, which is a good milker.

The Backyard Homestead

@ Inu Baka-I took the Shibas for an outing to Del's today, my local feed and seed, which has been my chicken supply depot. I bought a really neat book, The Backyard Homestead:

Apparently all you need is a 1/4 acre, which could produce, if in the right climate and with the correct care: 

• 1,400 eggs
• 50 pounds of wheat
• 60 pounds of fruit
• 2,000 pounds of vegetables
• 280 pounds of pork
• and 75 pounds of nuts

The book has lots of neato layouts and dimensions needed to help give us visual learners a better idea of what to build and where. There is also schematics for those on 1/10th of an acre, which is probably nearer the size available for most of those who live in a larger city. I have hope that on 1 acre, I can at least put up some raised beds and raise a pig or two, or have a couple small dairy goats. Heck, that is more than sufficient space to raise a calf or lambs for meat as well depending on grazing. The dogs would still have enough open running spaces if I lay the beds and paddocks out cleverly. Oh, and my new favorite term now is "Rural Homesteader".

Follow-up for Available Shiba Inu in Rescue near Seattle

I am temporarily fostering a sweet little 3-4 year old Shibamo near Seattle. He is likely mixed with American Eskimo, but is definately part Shiba Inu. He is a neutered cream named Kodi and he is looking for his forever home. He was picked up as a stray with his little dog friend. He is very sweet with people, and loves nothing more than to cuddle on my lap. He plays nicely with my dogs, and had a great little playdate this afternoon with my Shibas, my CO, my mom's Pom, and a pit/shepherd mix. He is fine with children and other dogs, and is quiet overnight if he has one of my dogs with him. He is a very busy guy, and becomes anxious if he can't be with me, but he is settling down as he gets used to the routine here. He walks well on the leash, and is doing better with crate training, prefering the vari-kennel to the wire crates for overnight. The wire crates are too noisey and exposed for his taste, so he really settles quickly in the enclosed crates that are more like a den. He looks like a Shiba, but has more of an Eskie temperment. He would do best in a home where someone is home most of the time, or is able to take him with on a ride. He does great in the car in a kennel. Please email me if you live near Seattle and want to offer your home for this sweet little guy:
Here is his new courtesy listing http://www.eskierescuers.org/animals/detail?AnimalID=3331242