Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

Actually, I wondered if (when) they get old enough they stop wrestling and behave like older dogs. Did Fixins wrestle much? I can only remember her with her ball and eyes pleading that you throw it for her.
 
Actually, I wondered if (when) they get old enough they stop wrestling and behave like older dogs. Did Fixins wrestle much? I can only remember her with her ball and eyes pleading that you throw it for her.

The girls came here as six day apart puppies...other than the six days between births...Emmy & Lacy have always been together.

Inseparable so to speak...twins, Siamese perhaps?
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I laughed as the supposed "know it all's" told me how terrible it was that I had two puppies growing up together. "Are you not afraid that they will BOND?"

What the...??
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Of course they will bond...like two siblings...bond together; play, live, breathe...don't see an issue...like two kids in the same household...someone to complain to that "Mom & Dad are being mean to us dog, eh?"
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Aug 5, 2013
For Fixins and Styra Foam - They were best ADULT girlfriends...they played like ACDs played!

The ACDs we have had here have always been good dogs...listen quite nicely. Well behaved because we know to burn off the bad energy and then they are ever so much more manageable....nice to be around, calm and collected...fun, happy, smart but not vibrating outta their furs. Sensibly tired ACD is a good ACD.
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Stoggar, HyBlade, Fixins and Styra Foamy - June 2 2012

Adult ACDs playing...
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March 16, 2008 - HyBlade and Styra Foam playing...like ACDs love to play


ACDs roughhouse and wrestle at any age...but as adults, like the pups, need to be supervised...they can get mean and nasty if left unsupervised...blink yer eyes and you could have ripping and tearing...wee doo / wee do...off to the vet's! Up to their owners to supervise the excursions...I have seen ACDs with torn portions of ears...because they got into it, eh. Nobody saw it coming or nobody intervened...either way, the ACDs were not to blame because they are tough dogs, extreme...always to the boundaries, bending to see how far to go to just about break the rules.
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All's fun and games until someone ends up in a CONE.



June 2 2013 - Fixins and Foamy in the Orchard

Styra was subordinate to Fixins.

We want the ACDs all to be best friends and the girls were BEST girlfriends. Nothing makes an ACDog happier than to chum around with another...well golly....another DOG! Fixins was not quick to warm up to dogs but she and Foamers were really good for each other. Never gonna be like Emmy & Lacy, but they never were with each other from their beginnings, eh.



Trouble...girlfriends out for Trouble

Fixins appreciated that Styra let her get the toy...that relationship worked that way.
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Nov 20 2013 - Fixins retrieving toy with Foamo in follow mode

There would have been real bloody fights if Foamers had not been second in command. She arrived after Fixins...so the pecking order was set before she even arrived here as an adult rescue. We kept an ever watchful eye on both...never unsupervised because if a skirmish broke out, we needed it to end without harm.
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July 14, 2001 - Mommy Makins with Fixins under her chin...day one, found them like this, so not a stage click

Fixins was subordinate to her Mommy Makins and played respectably with Momma...that was where Fixins respected that Mom was boss of her--fur ever and ever.
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March 16, 2008 - Fixins and her mother Makins tugging

As far as Fixins and her toys...inseparable...always, always ready with a toy she would pack around.
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Nov 10, 2013 -
Fixins always had a toy for you to toss

She was our medic...if you were too tired to toss a toy for a dog...you needed to quit whatever you were doing and have a sit down rest.
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Dec 23, 2014 - One of my fav photos of Fixins...PINK too, fur a girl dog!


Before I move onwards, a few more show related photos to post.
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Hey, they had for the first time, some new thing for us exhibitors...a plastic bracelet that you could get wet (maybe not do chores like I do every day, but still) that was required for you to be exhibiting dogs by.


Seemed to work but cannot tell you how many times I got bothered by it...I like to have no jewlery on to get caught up when doing chores...it bothered me consistently to have this on my wrist. Sure was elated to cut it off on Sunday. LOL Was like being admitted to the hospital...not quite with a toe tag but same sorta identification thingy...
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The collapsible cart worked marvelous...I LOVE it and functioned perfectly. Makes dog showing a breeze!



Girls packed up and ready to head home on Friday. Show dogs home to the ranch...but not until they had some well earned ice cream!
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Here is a click of the nice coloured lead my son bought for Lacy to go with her copper collar on the new try it out grey mats for the dogs to lay upon. Material is super thick fake fur and chew resistant...from England. Stays really nice and dry and super plushy...so far, so good. We have one set in grey and one set in purple. Nice mats! ACDs are near impossible to have bedding that last for. Sigh...



"I need more hugs because...well ,I sure done good, eh!"

Lacy in the breed ring with the Specials Male...she is so cute...waiting on her Best in Breed ribbons.

She sure loves showing...pretty much all of it is welcomed by her.
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"So like what we doing next, eh?"

Lookit the LOVE she has for my boy...this is them in Herding Group...such a sweety good girl!
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Nov 4 2016 - The Australian Shepherd behind Lacy took third in Group.

Pinch me perfection...I SO figure Lacy looks like she belongs there under the handling of my Boy...hee hee...show dog in Herding Group with No. 1 Son...yeh! Proud don't even begin to measure up the fun had this past weekend at the dog show. April is jest five months away...do it all over again soon enough!
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That be that fur now...

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
 
A belated but hearty congrats you all, Tara! Have your feet started to touch the ground yet, or are you still walking on air?
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I absolutely love this picture:

This looks like a happy dog, willing and eager to please. And so gorgeous!
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I reckon the people who were voicing concern about the dogs bonding were thinking of them bonding to each other to the exclusion of you. We had dogs that did that - some abandoned puppies that we found at about 10 - 12 weeks old. They listened to us . . . . sorta . . . but they were always more attuned to each other. One on one they were OK, but let them out together and they might just give you an indifferent glance as they thundered off toward the horizon.
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A belated but hearty congrats you all, Tara! Have your feet started to touch the ground yet, or are you still walking on air?
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I absolutely love this picture:

This looks like a happy dog, willing and eager to please. And so gorgeous!
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I reckon the people who were voicing concern about the dogs bonding were thinking of them bonding to each other to the exclusion of you. We had dogs that did that - some abandoned puppies that we found at about 10 - 12 weeks old. They listened to us . . . . sorta . . . but they were always more attuned to each other. One on one they were OK, but let them out together and they might just give you an indifferent glance as they thundered off toward the horizon.
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Nov 4 2016 in the Herding Group ring -
Can you feel the connection between them?
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Well fine, I will post the full photo then...you are missing half the image and nope, still floating about on cloud nine. Lacy and Boy making me too proud, Emmy and I second only to them. Yeh, wonder why we do so well on the first day of show weekend...har har...rested, ready I guess. Too much to keep the show on the road to do on three whole days but nice to begin with a big BANG so I can float DUHing the way thru I guess.
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No chance that the humans in these two girl's world would not be an integral part of their lives. I am Momma if only an unworthy poor human substitute.
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August 6, 2015 - Hints at what is to come...Lacy the love bug, Emmy by my side...forever!

Now in Foamy's case, sure, found running at large as an adult in a city park. She will NEVER EVER bond like pups bond in human packs. Her window was missed and she'll oblige humans but she's wild as a wolf when it comes to trust issues and homo sapiens.



Now some unfinished biz...

Thanks for the Jacob Sheep photos Bunnylady...changed breeds but still a fondness for my woolled up beauts. May explain why my ram Boss Man has little horns which I just embrace...the South Africans like and prefer Dorper males to have small horns (not like the Jacobs)...not required but highly desirable and to me, helps me in my transition from one sheep breed to the next.

@chickisoup as far as German Vorwerk...I have Chanteclers in my project birds coloured like them. Har har...hackle black from Partridge variety on a deep red Chantecler colour base, eh. No big single combs to get frosted...cushion combs are better! LOL
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November 10th in Alberta...HA...dandelions blossoming?



Nov 10 2016
Girls out grazing with the hair sheeps...



Duro - Nov 10 2016

Learned awesome news on Thursday, talked to our only livestock registry here in Canada. Did not know but there are four sheep breeds on upgrade status. Scottish Black Face, Karakul, Texel and...and Dorpers!


Duro, her girl progeny from Boss Man can start being registered immediately with the grading up program
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This means that all female offspring from my Duro can be registered and graded up...WOOT! No male offspring but so long as I continue to breed to registered Dorper rams...that delish girl can add her finess to Dorpers down the line. Major kewl!


So unseasonable out, we drove the SUMMER bus...


Gotta run...was in Calgary for dinner with Rick and the girls last night, got some more travels to do today, eh.



Line it with no slip liner, burn it like the other one...nice platform indeed!

Rick made a special platform fitted for the summer bus and going to see how it fits over to the red Chev...wonderbar...that man blows my mind on how handy dandy he can be. Girls loved it!

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
 
Before I get started with poultry, I have a few questions for all of you chicken laureates. My goal with chickens is to produce either an Orpington with the colours on my profile picture (Gypsy blue skin and face, with golden buff lacing), or birth a living homozygous Araucana with the EtEt allele combination (One deemed a lethal gene). Any tips are appreciated, as I'm not sure how to start. Here are my questions:

What life threat does the allele combination EtEt give to an Araucana? Undeveloped lungs? Heart? Brain? Why is it lethal?

How would I introduce Gypsy to Orpingtons?

Will my breeding goals be hard to achieve, maybe even impossible?

Is there a way to grow chicks outside of the egg, when they are still an embryo? (I've heard secret government operations of this with humans...)

What diet would be the best for my goals?
I'm lazy today, so I decided to quote from my intro thread. By the way, thank you @drumstick diva for all your help with getting me started on the forums. My main question I guess is the second one.

Thread here.
 
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Before I get started with poultry, I have a few questions for all of you chicken laureates. My goal with chickens is to produce either an Orpington with the colours on my profile picture (Gypsy blue skin and face, with golden buff lacing), or birth a living homozygous Araucana with the EtEt allele combination (One deemed a lethal gene). Any tips are appreciated, as I'm not sure how to start. Here are my questions:

What life threat does the allele combination EtEt give to an Araucana? Undeveloped lungs? Heart? Brain? Why is it lethal?

How would I introduce Gypsy to Orpingtons?

Will my breeding goals be hard to achieve, maybe even impossible?

Is there a way to grow chicks outside of the egg, when they are still an embryo? (I've heard secret government operations of this with humans...)

What diet would be the best for my goals?

Homozygous E"t"E"t" is almost always lethal because it is a deleterious gene...which means...it has negative aspects to chickens. So negative that amplified, even a hetero E"t"/e"t" chook may expire.

Life threats - The auditory canal is different and in some cases shorter or worse case scenario, completely absent (deafness--a bird that is deaf cannot function properly and lives a compromised existence--a flock of birds may turn on its own kind given an individual that is off--a deaf bird does not react to sounds the same as full hearing birds would and may be singled out to be victimized based on that fact...predators usually take the odd ones that stand out as different, culling those more easily because the prey catches their focus) and the tongue bone and lower jaw joint may be malformed (depriving the bird of the full ability of eating normally in comfort). The back part of the hearing canal is malformed and the ear opening may be irregularly formed (Somes Jr. & Pabilonia 1981 & 1983).

Non-life threats - Feathered ear tufts on one side or both which may or may not necessarily be symmetrical with varying degrees of length in expression. A breed requirement in Araucanas; no ear tufts is a disqualification in the Araucana and the presence of ear tufts in the Ameraucana is a disqualification for that breed.


Research stats - Hetero E"t" has embryo death rate at about 21% to normals. In the Lab, 20 to 42% of the heterozygous embryos die at 17 to 19 days of incubation...seeing as chickens hatch at day 21, lots of wasted space incubating eggs destined to die a few days short of when the normal chicks would be hatching out.

Even the heteros that hatch are stunted, slower to develop than normal chickens. So we humans are selecting for a trait that compromises the health and happiness of chooks.

Sommes produced a homozygous E"t" in 1981, a male but it failed to replicate. They must have had to coddle it as it was likely stunted in the above aspects of ear tuft purity. E"t" is autosomal and incompletely dominant, almost always lethal in a double dose AND plus or minus expressions of the genetics means some do quite fine whilst others expressing the maximum deleterious traits thankfully die in shell, never having to suffer trying to live a happy existence, stunted by the choices us humans make when breeding for characteristics.

You don't see me with tufted chickens or varieties with the lavender or Perlgrey gene...I consider these traits not worth replicating given the cost the birds pay for such frivolities... healthy, happy, joy and such means more to me.
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Why would someone want to grow a bird outside what I figure is the most perfect life replicating formed capsule known to Nature? I love that I can take an egg, store it at my convenience, fire up an incubator, set them and let Nature take its course blessing one with baby birds, or even better, when one of my BEST HATCHERS EVER go setty, make her comfy, provide her for all her needs and let her do the magic. Then she shows me how pathetic humans are at this and goes on to raise them up right so they can do it all over again.


Why do you want to put dark purple colour in Orpingtons? There are lots of breeds with this colouration already. Skin colour is often seen as a way to determine what breed a variety is. Trivial to the bird, as I doubt it cares if it's white or black skinned so long as you don't deprive them of their candy corns (white corn perhaps to keep the pinkish white?). In some breeds, the economic qualities list the skin colour...if you have ever processed a Bronze turkey, you'd appreciate that dark pin feathers show up pretty vividly on light skin--ACK, nothing wrong with it, just looks off! In the Orps which is a breed held in high regard for "heavy meat production and for eggs," your Standard states skin colour is WHITE and yet the recognized varieties like Black have shanks and toes which are black in youth, lightening to slate but bottoms of feet and toes are pinkish white...fabulous challenge and certainly a great clue it is an Orp...Blue Orpingtons have leaden blue shanks and toes with bottoms of feet and toes a pinkish white. Ah what a breed delight indeed...marvelous! To me, a trait in the breed to be revelled over...held in high esteem and absolutely adored.

Even the Australian Orpington, the Australorp proudly retains the bottoms of feet and toes being pinkish white.
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In regards to feeding for what you may or may not want, ringing a dinner bell or gong to signal scratch is being tossed abouts may indeed not work out too well with the want of E"t"/E"t"... not likely a goal that combines the use of the frequent sing song of "Here chicky chick chick!" Sorry, simply cannot control myself this morn...too much coffee perhaps?
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@sourland
It hurts me to have to cull birds, but at least I have the space. Thank you!

Often, you see people wanting this gypsy chimney sweeper trait because of the belief that darkness is somehow more healthful when consumed. Black chicken soup has advocates condoning its medicinal qualities since the seventh century. Why you would introduce this trait into a breed of chicken may be inviting persons to want your birds for nothing more than consumption of a magical soup...there are commercial lines already and not too difficult to find black chickens in your grocery freezer...some persons are always willing to do anything if there is a market to make a buck from it.

I have created a line of Booted Bantams in both Mille de Fleur and White feathered with black skin, black organs and black meat--I have some rather yucky photos of an autopsy I preformed showing blackness to their very bones and comments by Dr. Crawford on my studies in these regards. I use the recessive white feathered black skinned Booteds to add one dose of recessive white to make the MdF's colour pop. I am not interested in persons wanting magical soup and am very thankful the Booted Bantam would barely be acceptable in making chicken soup stock. Thank frig--their bonus to my interests is their prolific egg laying of decently sized quality cackleberries. Not a Canadian WINTER type bird with their single combs and large wattles, eh.


You'll find many different tolerance levels in poultry breeders...I don't mind breeding for Crested Ducks because I only breed crested to non so no lethals in that even though I have seen images of the skulls of crested ducks that are pock marked with holes in them. I have buff tufted geese that don't have any known negatives (head tuft, not ears) and I personally have no issues regarding culling our birds and beasts for consumption...one of the "pets with benefits" type aspects to farm creatures. I abhor persons that use gender linked traits to kill day olds based solely on their genders...as a woman, I'd be wild to see females culled so I am just as wild to see males culled...same for same and fair is fair. We often retain just as many males as females in order to maintain healthy diversity within our breeding lines. This said, I would rather see day old males grown out in happy circumstances and saved to be eaten at a later date. Happy meat and happier life than gone at a day of age because yer a boy.
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Different strokes for different folks and it is good you ask questions so you are not ignorant to the risks and benefits you are trying to implement. Educated, you make YOUR choices based on knowing and that to me, is all we can ask of anyone. I don't have to agree, but accept and tolerate you know and chose with knowledge knowing our laws dictate that an animal is merely property in the eyes of what is deemed allowable.
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Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada
 

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