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  1. thistlewick

    Thistlewick Smallholding - Chickens & Sheep (for now)

    Did a slight experiment today; last night the feeders were low-to-empty and they spend a couple hours past dawn in the hen house before I come to let them out - so when I go out there this morning at a little later than usual (it's pouring rain) I filled up the feeders (I have 4 of the variety...
  2. thistlewick

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Facebook, while a den of ignorance, is unfortunately the best resource for local farming/livestock trading.
  3. thistlewick

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

    I have hens that sing before they lay in right in front of the nests. I have hens that sing out wandering around, in this instance I think that's an escort request - Chuck does do this, sometimes. I have hens that sing after they lay, perhaps an escort request as well to go 'back out' to the...
  4. thistlewick

    Thistlewick Smallholding - Chickens & Sheep (for now)

    I think the best part about Ayu going broody is that she is getting so used to me fussing her. I check under her for eggs a couple times a day to see if any were deposited and for the first day or so she pecked at me (HARD!!) and so I used a little scooper tool to move her around... then a...
  5. thistlewick

    Stinky Acres Farm

    This thread is so pure, I love it haha I'm gonna go hunt down my Quiche and Souffle, because they look just like https://www.backyardchickens.com/attachments/20250802_164141-jpg.4188787/ will show pics later today haha
  6. thistlewick

    Stinky Acres Farm

    Stunning photos, love them!! Such characters :D
  7. thistlewick

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    I really was answering all the assumptions, not specifically to you <3 I think SOME hens like him, and some do NOT. After reading this all this morning and realizing a few things, and discussing with my husband who listens to all my chicken worries, we just don't want to make any rash...
  8. thistlewick

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Just read that response after I posted!! Okay, so yeah -- that is good to know. The hens that have feather loss DO in fact, steer clear of him and do not 'hang' with him. The food thing?? I free range all day long and they forage, it is hard to say -- but when I toss treats or bring treats...
  9. thistlewick

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Everyone is assuming (naturally, I guess) that Chuck is HUGE. He is actually smaller than the hens he's causing feather loss on. I picked him because he was small and tidy. He's an Easter Egger, and the size of a regular hen. He is smaller than Blanche, the Buff Orpington who is so slow she...
  10. thistlewick

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    He's been mating for over a year, so I don't think so, no. Just saw Cracker get on Blanche (he is 18 weeks old) and he only touched once, too I think Chuck is too extreme potentially
  11. thistlewick

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    He is almost 18 months old -- which I know is the "setting" age for behavior. When mating, he does 3 touches. Oscar only does 1. Maybe the boy is just taking too long up there, and hence, the feather destruction. EVERY girl almost always fluffs/accepts. They DO like these boys and hang...
  12. thistlewick

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Listening to all this talk lately of great Roosters, I am beginning to suspect my Chuck is just an average Rooster and isn't fantastic, but nor is he terrible. I have literally a dozen Cockerels coming up behind him, zero of them are aggressive so far - but whose to say? Oscar chases the...
  13. thistlewick

    Thistlewick Smallholding - Chickens & Sheep (for now)

    GINGER IS TRYING TO GO BROODY AGAIN I cannot! I'm just gonna let her sit on fake eggs, as soon as Tilly's eggs hatch, she will abandon those and try and help Tilly lolol 3 eggs were deposited with Tilly today -- WHEN do they do it? She's almost never off the nest lol I think Tilly tells...
  14. thistlewick

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

    omg the faces on these chickens are just SO CUTE AHHHHH :love :love
  15. thistlewick

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    lemme dig up the books - it's been awhile and they could have sourced new DNA - iirc, it was a team from Oxford that spearheaded DNA geneaology from matrilineal DNA. This was years ago. Found it; Saxons, Vikings and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain, Ireland and America by Brian Sykes His...
  16. thistlewick

    Wrath's Marans

    Oh those are *stunning*
  17. thistlewick

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    fascinatingly, there is almost zero roman DNA amongst people in the british isles - because they did *not mix* with the peasants at all.
  18. thistlewick

    Thistlewick Smallholding - Chickens & Sheep (for now)

    Y'all these cockerels/rooster. Chuck is feeling so insecure some evenings. Oscar is trying to chase everyone. Cream WENT AT CHUCK full attack mode, but Chuck was busy flying up to the fence, and was oblivious to it LOL the 10 week olds are crowing every morning like WHAT even Cracker and...
  19. thistlewick

    fuzzi's Chicken Journal

    Fuzzi this was such a great idea - I have steps up to the nipple waterers but this doesn't help <1 week olds who can't use the horizontal nipples yet. Was gonna buy a canary waterer this go around with Tilly's second brood and see how that goes... but I'm gonna be using your idea and put a step...
  20. thistlewick

    Wing It Ranch

    Ehhh, I wouldn't 'break' broodiness, I think it's a horrible way to treat a chicken in my own opinion, personally. Go with your gut! I live in NC too so have the same heat index -- it's even WORSE inside the hen house by 2-3 degrees, I have fans going though so air movement helps. I have 2...
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