Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

I think it was originally an @Shadrach-ism but a number of us found it hilarious and adopted it.
It is short for bits-a-this-and bits-a-that.
Known, more prosaically as barnyard mixes.

It's more accurate than barnyard mixes. Some bitsas have never seen a barnyard.

 

[Shadrach]

That’s awesome. One of the reasons I wanted to get chickens is for garden help. Pest control primarily. Hoping I see a reduction in Cutworms, beetles, cabbage worms, grasshoppers & other nasties since the girls go in regularly. The spring, before planting any starts, I am going to open the whole area and let them go to town. Right now they are sectioned away from my winter kale, carrots & parsnips. Those will get pulled at first thaw in the spring.

Also used chicken run compost to mulch the garlic beds. Will report if there is a difference this year!

The modern sort of equivelant is the chicken tractor. Interesting that apparently they can still be used according to DEFRA during the partial lockdown due to bird flu. There is a farm 20ish miles north of me that uses them. The runs are big and they get towed by a tractor.
He and his wife run the farm with family and friends help when required. They sell organic produce and the hens in tractors are his pest control and fetilizer. Of course his feed bills are much reduced although they can eat commercial feed before roosting apparently.

 

[RoyalChick]

One of those flocks is Ex Battery hens. If I understood him right, he buys some every year. Most still lay and he sells the eggs as free range.
He didn't know how many chickens he had. There is another large allotment plot at the back of his house with more chickens on it.
The temporary fence area is his grow plot. He puts the chickens on the plot from the year before. He doesn't do any weeding and has few plants pest problems.

The other flock at the old farmhouse has more of a mixture; note the Red Sex Link rooster. There aren't many of them around. He uses the same fenced plot system.

I was speaking about this using chickens as gardeners with C this afternoon. A lot of people when they think of chickens don't get past eggs.

Chickens are very good at tilling the soil at the end of the growing season and generally cleaning up the beds. I used mine that way for a couple of seasons, but my beds are a bit far from the Chicken Palace so I have to rely on them following me to get there. Trouble is they sometimes get distracted on the way and refuse to progress to their work place!

 

[Shadrach]

It rained right up to the moment I got off the bus. The sun came out and it stayed dry for the evening.

This one would I am sure have prefered the chair to herself but my lap will do at a push.

 

[Shadrach]

Chickens are very good at tilling the soil at the end of the growing season and generally cleaning up the beds. I used mine that way for a couple of seasons, but my beds are a bit far from the Chicken Palace so I have to rely on them following me to get there. Trouble is they sometimes get distracted on the way and refuse to progress to their work place!

I'm planning on using some temporary lightweight fencing/netting to funnel the chickens from the allotment run to an allotment area. It will also help contain the likes of Lima who goes from one place to another quite quickly.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning X Batts. Shad wonderful photos from Spain you miss it I bet.
I just have to get the rat traps from the garden to let birds in.
This is one of my oldest birds she is a marans always tells me of the world.

 

[Perris]

I'm planning on using some temporary lightweight fencing/netting to funnel the chickens from the allotment run to an allotment area. It will also help contain the likes of Lima who goes from one place to another quite quickly.

scaffolding netting works well for me, and a 50m run of it is not expensive. More or less any old sticks will do to hold it in place temporarily; rebar poles (as widely used on construction sites) are more certain, easy to move and stick in the ground, but heavy en masse if you want to do a long run in one trip.

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm planning on using some temporary lightweight fencing/netting to funnel the chickens from the allotment run to an allotment area. It will also help contain the likes of Lima who goes from one place to another quite quickly.

Yes - I was thinking of creating some kind of fenced corridor from their chicken yard down to the growing beds where they can help till and deal with bugs.
I am a bit pessimistic about it working however, because I may have made their chicken yard too nice! In my bid to protect them from hawks they now have lots of shrubs to investigate and hide under and I am having a hard time seeing them bother making it all the way to where I want them to dig without me herding them!
I think in the allotments if the gardeners would let you they could make themselves exceptionally useful while being kept out of actively growing veggies.

 

[Perris]

I am having a hard time seeing them bother making it all the way to where I want them to dig without me herding them!

I find they turn up quickly soon after I start raking or otherwise making noise somewhere in the garden. They know it means something is getting newly exposed and they're keen not to miss out on whatever it may be

 

[pennyJo1960]

We were out painting more boards for the coop .. BF acted like I did not know anything not sure why .. took my toys out of the sand box and left.
Scraped tables brought in 2 eggs ..... Paint is done bought 2 more cans but have just6 started on the first new one.