Chickens and Alpacas

[dinosaw]

The Alpacas arrived last Saturday and it coincided with worming the ex batts so up until yesterday I haven't been able to let them mingle, the two boys aren't yet yearlings and were just sheared a couple of weeks ago so are quite small, they were curious about the chickens but didn't like the flapping when they got too close, this group of hens by contrast are a right bunch of tough nuts and very little fazes them, I have been quite surprised at how slow they are to scare. They were soon in the Alpacas shelter scratching through the straw which was a step too far for the Alpacas who chased them out of there which was very funny, really pleased with the way they are feathering up especially considering they haven't stopped laying in the meantime, its only really Necky who came to us with a prolapse who isn't now substantially feathered. Apologies for the number of pics, I got a bit carried away.

 

[chrismahon]

Those Alpacas are very sweet indeed Dinosaw. Someone down the canal from us in the UK had them and organised children's parties based around rides.

 

[rick]

Wow! Peacocks, alpacas - what next, elephants?

 

[Marigold]

Ahhh, they're just beautiful!
Do they need training at all? What are their names? Do you have to have them neutered or do they stay sweet and gentle?

 

[dinosaw]

Elephants shmelaphants, everybody round here has a couple of Elephants, they are so last year!!!, I've got an order in for the first of the Wooly Mammoth clones .

The black one is called Nimrod, the smaller brown one is called Felix, though what he lacks in size he makes up in attitude, he is indisputably the boss out of the two of them. I'm not planning on having them castrated unless we get some females as they aren't breeding quality, they should be fine without any females to fight over and they have been raised in the right manner so berserk syndrome shouldn't be a problem. They are already halter trained, I need to set up a catch pen soon to have a go at getting the halter on them myself, the lady I got them from made it look so easy which I know won't be the case when I do it. It's nice to have a question about them which isn't spitting based.

 

[Marigold]

What about grooming? Presumably that beautiful soft coat needs care? How is the fleece removed? Are they clipped, like sheep, or hand stripped, like a Norfolk Terrier? And can you sell the wool, or do you plan to spin it? It's very valuable, and lovely to knit with, as I'm sure you know.
I know nothing about alpacas, as you see. But "berserk syndrome' sounds a bit hair raising.
What would happen if an alpaca suffered from this? With Poppy, our Norfolk Terrier, this would entail racing round the lawn and garden at top speed in ever-decreasing circles, also chasing ducks off the pond. But I imagine it may be different for alpacas!
Also, at the moment I'm suffering from a 'brain fade' - can you remind me of the other species of rather strange-looking animals which have some similarities to alpacas, though probably not related at all?

 

[Marigold]

Llamas - brain recovered!

 

[dinosaw]

The berserk syndrome generally happens when the (normally male) Alpacas are overhandled as Cria (baby Alpacas), they then consider humans to be the same species and try to establish dominance in the same way they would with other Alpacas, spitting, biting, barging, kicking etc, obviously the breeders avoid this if they ever have to bottle feed by returning them straight to the herd afterwards and not petting them. You don't groom them per se unless your showing them, just try and keep them out of situations where the fleece will pick up too much debris prior to shearing by keeping the paddocks clean. They are sheared once a year and I went over to see it being done, really interesting to watch, they have their teeth and toenails trimmed at the same time. I am having my fleeces put in with the breeders for spinning and will get the yarn back for our own use. The fibre is actually quite different to what you get from sheep wool ,as well as being softer it has no lanolin in it so is hypoallergenic and doesn't smell. I do have some photos of them being sheared if you would like to see them. Llamas are quite a bit bigger than Alpacas and can be between 250-500lbs in weight compared to 120-200lbs for Alpacas and are pack animals rather than fibre producers but they are all part of the Camelid family along with Camels of course, I say mine aren't Camelids they are Camelidiots .

 

[Marigold]

Yes please, do post some photos. As this thread seems to be more about alpacas than chickens I'm going to move it to General Chatter.
Are you going to spin the yarn? Getting it back is great, but then what will you do with it?
Obviously keeping alpacas is a whole new way of life. What got you interested in them? And will you ever be able to go away on holiday now? Finding a chicken sitter is difficult enough!

 

[chickenfan]

It really is a lovely place you have Dinosaw. Looks like chicken paradise and nice and sheltered. Beautiful birds getting nicely feathered and alpacas. Do you think they will guard the chickens when they are bonded like Llamas?

 

[dinosaw]

Hopefully so Chickenfan, that was certainly part of the attraction to keeping them, they are too young and small at the moment but when they get to 2 years old they should be up to the job, foxes dislike even the smell of them and they are used to guard sheep in Australia and at least one of Waitroses egg suppliers uses them to guard their chickens over here, they are really quite docile creatures (despite what I said about berserk syndrome which is the exception) but faced with a fox have been known to corner and trample them to death. Will knit the yarn into something no doubt Marigold, or Mrs Dinosaw will anyway I'm a bit clueless with knitting needles. Funnily enough getting the Alpacas looked after is a lot easier than the chickens as we can simply arrange agistment with the breeder but we have lost the desire to go away for the moment anyway. Why did we get into them?, they can be chicken guards, they will keep our grass down, they are much softer on the ground than sheep, hardier and less trouble than goats and I guess we just like them.

Here are a couple of photos of the shearing, the first one is of Felix and you can see how much bigger the fibre makes them look, the white one is one of the breeders females and that is only part of the fleece that came off her.

 

[Marigold]

Amazing! That contraption to hold his legs looks a good idea. Maybe I should get one for when I want to trim Poppy's fringe, she doesn't like being beautified. For such a small dog she's very self-willed.

 

[chickenfan]

Well you make a very convincing case for the Alpacas. They sound marvellous! What a lovely combination with the chickens - and that gorgeous fleece too.