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

[BDutch]

It sounds like you have a good supportive community of neighbours.

Yes, it sure is a great neighbourhood/ town with mostly tolerant people where I live. But there are limits. The municipality has local rules about what is not acceptable if people /neighbours don’t agree. Crowing roosters is one of them.

 

[BDutch]

Foto shoot.
I posted a new add on ‘our’ craigslist.

Free ranging. The little fence serves no other purpose than to provide a little help in herding the chickens into the run.

Whisky seems to have more interest in Janice now. I think my 9.5 yo Pearl takes her winter break and stopped laying.

 

[BDutch]

I had an amazing 3 reactions on our Graiglist/marketplace with the new add.
The 1st was too complicated with large fowl.
The 2nd is good, she has 4 not so big hens and wants to make an appointment to pick Whisky up.
The 3th one has only 2 hens and wants a rooster bc she thinks hens need one to be happy

 

[Perris]

well done you! I hope he loves his new home.

 

[BDutch]

I think he will be very happy in his new place. I made an appointment for Saturday. It seems the 4 hens sleep in a hedge. So Whisky will have all the freedom he wants out there.

 

[Perris]

It seems the 4 hens sleep in a hedge.

hedge-huggers rather than tree-huggers! I imagine a wide dense hedge offers good protection from foxes, raptors and the weather. Lots of birds use them of course, but usually smaller varieties. On the other hand, I remember in my youth reading a book which involved someone on the run hiding in a hedge for weeks, and if people can do it, chickens surely can

Xmoor greeted me by the kitchen this morning en route to opening the coops, and Aberglasny must have spent the night high in the holm oak before flying down as I was approaching with the feed bowls, so when, last night, I got Quincy down by torchlight and thought my job was done, I was obviously mistaken I only found this morning that I merely had 1 out of now 3 camping out

 

[BDutch]

hedge-huggers rather than tree-huggers! I imagine a wide dense hedge offers good protection from foxes, raptors and the weather. Lots of birds use them of course, but usually smaller varieties. On the other hand, I remember in my youth reading a book which involved someone on the run hiding in a hedge for weeks, and if people can do it, chickens surely can

I hope so too of course. I doubted heavily for a moment when se told me she lost all the chicks who were donated by a friend this spring/summer and she lost her rooster recently.

She told me the coop was vacant bc the chickens didn’t sleep in it anyway. And her friend couldn’t keep them. But apparently some predator managed to get in and killed all chicks.
The rooster was 2 yo. And the hens are older. So its not a battlefield. Its more a year of disaster for her who she is not to blame for.

Xmoor greeted me by the kitchen this morning en route to opening the coops, and Aberglasny must have spent the night high in the holm oak before flying down as I was in approaching with the feed bowls, so when, last night, I got Quincy down by torchlight and thought my job was done, I was obviously mistaken I only found this morning that I merely had 1 out of now 3 camping out

Yeah trees and bushes are obvious their natural habitat. I spend some time catching chickens too every year. But I don’t want them to get tormented by rain, hail and heavy winds . Such bad weather cant be healthy imho. And on top of that we have a polecat (eating rabbits) and a stone marten (eating car cables) living nearby.

But I am very happy that Whiskey will have the chance to live life to the fullest. Another keeper just means another way of doing things. And I think he will have a better life than he would have as a stud for breeding purposes.

Thats why I try to get them in the run (with treats) some time before the sun sets. Which is around 4 pm in December.

 

[Perris]

a stone marten (eating car cables)

this prompted a very old memory to rise up to the surface, about the incredible edible dormouse destroying electrics in cars and houses in the midlands
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p007q4rs

fwiw, the wikipedia entry on them is unusually poor I think; despite being very elusive, they have been found from Hampshire to Essex at least (see https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/calendar/2023/02/05/the-edible-dormouse-with-dr-pat-morris-316199 ) and I rather suspect they came here with the Romans, like so much else that we regard as native edibles but actually arrived over those centuries. A random rich man might have brought some more in, but attributing the whole population to the actions of 1 man looks like typical historical fabrication to me. Most introductions need repeat seeding to take root. And memory of that bbc programme (sadly not available atm) is that they were associated particularly with Derbyshire, at that time.

Anyway, I'm sure you've posted about the stone marten before; I think it's more commonly known as a beech marten here. I wonder what it is about electric cables that attracts both species to sample them (and presumably get shocked for their troubles!)?

 

[troyer]

The 3th one has only 2 hens and wants a rooster bc she thinks hens need one to be happy

Well . . . .

 

[RoyalChick]

this prompted a very old memory to rise up to the surface, about the incredible edible dormouse destroying electrics in cars and houses in the midlands
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p007q4rs

fwiw, the wikipedia entry on them is unusually poor I think; despite being very elusive, they have been found from Hampshire to Essex at least (see https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/calendar/2023/02/05/the-edible-dormouse-with-dr-pat-morris-316199 ) and I rather suspect they came here with the Romans, like so much else that we regard as native edibles but actually arrived over those centuries. A random rich man might have brought some more in, but attributing the whole population to the actions of 1 man looks like typical historical fabrication to me. Most introductions need repeat seeding to take root. And memory of that bbc programme (sadly not available atm) is that they were associated particularly with Derbyshire, at that time.

Anyway, I'm sure you've posted about the stone marten before; I think it's more commonly known as a beech marten here. I wonder what it is about electric cables that attracts both species to sample them (and presumably get shocked for their troubles!)?

We have the issue with electric cables from both mice and squirrels. I don't know if it is true, but I was told that some vehicles use wire that has insulation made from soy, and it is the soy that attracts the critters for a snack.