Recent content by Shadrach

  1. Shadrach

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    I think this is well worth reading. https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/extended-quality-of-life-following-hormonal-suppression-in-a-hen-with-advanced-reproductive-tract-neoplasia.80496/
  2. Shadrach

    Fugly Farm

    Every basil plant I've ever planted has bolted.:D
  3. Shadrach

    Windy hill chickens - first flock(s) of my own

    I've offered to make people at the field crop covers. Some have bought tunnel type things which aren't really up to the job. I've made a couple but had trouble explaining that the advantage of what I build is that it can be lifted on and off the plot easily, but it does mean one has to plan...
  4. Shadrach

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Rain on and off. Cold in the wind with gusts of 35mph.
  5. Shadrach

    Quarantine logistics for several hens

    It seems you may be in a bit of a rush. As Mrs. K points out, proper quarantine is difficult in even a large backyard. Mrs. K also points out that the more one can find out about the incoming birds provenance and keeping conditions the easier it is to make a risk assessment. It reads you have...
  6. Shadrach

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    The last few days. Had everything from hail and torrential rain to bright sunshine and blue skies over the last few days. It's still cold away from direct sunlight and windy but they've come out onto the field every day. I've been generally busy. Got the new auto door opener working and today is...
  7. Shadrach

    Brought these rescue hens home tonight

    Feed them mackerel/sardines for the first few weeks on top of whatever commercial feed you give; aim for four grams of fish protein from the fish per bird for the first few weeks. Take care to read the protein content stated on the tins; not all tinned sardines for example have the same protein...
  8. Shadrach

    Brought these rescue hens home tonight

    There is considerable variation in the ages that a production hen is considered a spent hen and due for slaughter. Here in the UK eighteen months seems to be the norm. Of course, the hens do still lay eggs, some outperforming younger non battery hens right up until they die. I have yet to read a...
  9. Shadrach

    Brought these rescue hens home tonight

    Having an established non production chicken group to show the Ex Battery hens the ropes I found made life easier. Be warned, they'll break your heart. You just get to appreciate what wonderful creatures they are and they start dying.😭 I'm not for a moment suggesting one shouldn't keep them but...
  10. Shadrach

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    I do have a magnet for doing this but I forgot to take it to the field.:rolleyes:
  11. Shadrach

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    11/03 & 12/03. Still going twice a day. The new auto door turned up today. Might be able to get it fitted tomorrow, but, they are forecasting rain and 45mph winds. I dropped two small nuts that were on the screws holding the auto door unit onto the coop. It took me twenty minutes to find...
  12. Shadrach

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    09/03. These morning trips are wearing me out.:D Grey, misty, with morning drizzle. Late getting to the field due to roadwork delays. One and a half hours. Tinned mackerel for supper. I give it to Glais and Glais gives it to whoever grabs it out of his beak first! I had to break tiny bits to get...
  13. Shadrach

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    08/03. Two trips today because the auto door is fecked; two and a quarter hours this morning, including travel (I didn't let them out of the run) and four more hours this evening, including travel this afternoon/evening.
  14. Shadrach

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    One and a half hours. On and off drizzle, grey and chilly. Glais will let me stroke him while he's on the roost bar now. :love He's grown up a lot since Mow and Sylph started laying again. He seems confident in his position now, a lot less clumsy with the hens who both crouch for him, but now...
  15. Shadrach

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    A simple test should narrow down the possibilities. Next time it happens lift the rooster out of the nest he's in and in front of the nest of the hen he's talking to. If the calls stop then it could be the wrong roosters are with the wrong hen. What happens if you take both roosters out and away...
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