BDutch's bantam flock & natural breeding projects #5 🪺 🪺 and #6

[fuzzi]

You are welcome to follow and contribute if you like. But please no abbreviations who are not very commonly used by everyone who writes English. What is tldr?

I didn't know, but found this with a search:

"TLDR is an acronym that stands for "Too Long Didn't Read."

 

[BDutch]

Oops yeah, tldr means too long didn’t read, and it’s basically used in place of summary. So what I’m asking is would anyone be kind enough to summarize what has happened so far?

Sorry, thats really impossible.
If you want to skip the hatch from last year you can start around February of this year. When I’m considering an early hatch with broodies for 2 reasons:

1. I like to have 2 pullets that start to lay when the oldies stop at the start of the moult before winter.
2. Me and my husband planned a vacation in April and I like to be at home when the chicks hatch.

The early hatch was not very succesvol with just one, probably male, chick. No updates now because we are on Madeira and our neighbour looks after the chickens as long as we are away from home.

 

[BDutch]

2 of my hens did a hatch this spring. But it was cold in March and the outcome was very poor.

The plan for 2 hens that lay before winter failed. Maybe I keep the little cockerel instead and give it another try next year with my own eggs.
Or I might buy another clutch with hatchery eggs in May. Not very sure yet what to do.

I like the idea to keep the cockerel and put him in a dark mini coop every evening, were he should keep quiet until 8.30 in the morning. If he gets to loud I have to give him away to someone who wants a pretty bantam Sulmtaler.

 

[kikiruru]

This is the first time that I haven’t separated the broodies with chicks from other flock members (now 3 hens).

There is no (not yet a) problem with the chicks and the other 3 hens. Only when mama Janice went out , maybe to poop/for a sand-bath , she was harassed by Kraai. Ini mini comes up in the ‘portal’ to eat the watery chick feed, but doesn’t disturb the broodies or the chicks.

Feed and water are near the nest-boxes in a ‘portal’ between the nest-boxes and the chicken ladder/board.
If the chicks leave the nest to eat or drink one of the mama’s is guarding the pop-door opening. I can’t close it because it needs to be open for ventilation.

One Dutch chick escaped
One chick escaped from this part of the tiny coop were the chick feed is and went down. I think I noticed it before the mama’s did. She was peeping and getting a bit cold. Of course I rescued her, but ferling this is a hazard. Even with 3 mama’s the chick probably escaped unnoticed and if there is no mama calling the chick the chick probably cant find his way up.

If all eggs are abandoned I hope the mama’s will go down to another bigger laying nest thats easy accessible and only a 2 inches from the floor.

What would you do?
Can I leave it to the mama’s to make the right choice. ?
Or.
Shall I put the mama’s and babies in the bigger nest box near the floor? I could do that now or maybe better tonight when they are all sleepy.

 

[fluffycrow]

In Catalonia the dogs killed any cats that strayed onto the property if they could catch them.

Same here

 

[BDutch]

Farming and pets again. Predators pets got shot on farms. Even in the UK.

My brother shot his predator bouvier dog after she broke free and killed some of my mothers chickens twice.

I can't see any reason why you should have to put up with someone elses cat stalking, or attacking your chickens.

The neighbour cats are part of the big neighbourhood family and I am rather sure they never killed one of my chickens.
Other cats might. But I have no proof for it. I only saw them chasing my tiny chickens who are not much bigger than a pigeon. The two pullets that vanished last year were even a bit smaller than the pigeons who live in the trees behind our garden. I don’t live rural, don’t have a (licence for) gun and if someone saw me shooting I could get in serious trouble with the law. And cat loving people who find out would hate me for it.

Only hunters with a permit are allowed to kill wild/stray cats. But not in an urban setting. Killing a domestic cat can get me in jail.

These two chasing cats belong to someone. A watergun is the best I can do.

 

[Shadrach]

Watermelon is stays okay if kept cool, a bit like apples.
I think its because the chickens are not so thirsty anymore. In summer they do eat it gladly.

Here its only possible to buy gmo free if you buy organic. And there is no organic all flock.

I think the price at the mill where I buy is fine. The agri/pet/gardening shop is much more expensive, especially the organic starter. They ask € 13,50 for 5 kg. And don’t sell larger bags.

Have you tried looking for growers feed rather than all flock.
For example.
https://www.smallholderfeed.co.uk/products/poultry/poultry-grower-pellets/

 

[Nero70002]

Hi! I’m curious about your project, and will be watching Anyone wanna do a tldr?

 

[BDutch]

Have you tried looking for growers feed rather than all flock.
For example.
https://www.smallholderfeed.co.uk/products/poultry/poultry-grower-pellets/

Last year year I bought organic grower pellets (made for broilers). But the mill stopt to supply it.
This year I bought organic chick/broiler crumble from another supplier. There is very little choice in organic chick feed where I live unless one wants to pay exorbitant prices.

 

[MaryJanet]

The statement made by MJ, to me, makes it very hard or impossible to qualify the relationship as one of friendship or comrades, because precisely of the authority of the keeper on life and death.
To take an extreme example which I don't mean as an analogy, could a slave be friend with the master ? Yes, possibly, in very exceptional circumstances. In most cases, the relationship would be too biased. If the friendship was true, the master would necessarily free the slave at some point.
I don't mean our chickens are slave. But owning the right to decide of their life and death, for me, means I am above all a keeper of a life and that excludes a relation on an equal basis. The chickens did not choose to live with us.
I can see, like Fuzzi, how we can work in the same direction and develop a sort of partnership , especially with the roosters.

As for Janet, MJ, it would be another long discussion. Since you saw her in the nest and thought she was broody, she must not have given evident signs of pain and been uncomfortable. And maybe she was just waiting quietly to die at home when her time had come. How can we know ?

I have some sounds to share with you in relation to Shadrach's remark about broodies not being friendly

For me, when you took that video, you were exercising authority.

I mean authority in the sense of authorship: creating the contexts in which the animals live. That covers things like taking a video, treating ailments, providing food, and providing quality of life (and death).