Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[HiEverybirdy]

Funny though don't you think. People have been keeping chickens for thousands of years and it has only been recently that much has been done to study much more than how to buther them and make them produce more eggs.

I've said this many times since bringing home our first chicks. It shocked me how little we humans know about an animal we've relied on [exploited] desperately for thousands of years. I also couldn't believe how old I was when I realized this, sigh.

Honey bees are another good example. Beekeeping practices have been nudged forward by pockets of research, in fits & starts, over the centuries. It's surprising how slowly practices have evolved, considering how many people keep bees.

What have we humans been doing with our time??

 

[GregnLety]

The hen I want to have a look at is behind the highest Legbar.
I need to give her some eye drops.
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As a whole they look much better now

 

[MaryJanet]

I've said this many times since bringing home our first chicks. It shocked me how little we humans know about an animal we've relied on [exploited] desperately for thousands of years. I also couldn't believe how old I was when I realized this, sigh.

Honey bees are another good example. Beekeeping practices have been nudged forward by pockets of research, in fits & starts, over the centuries. It's surprising how slowly practices have evolved, considering how many people keep bees.

What have we humans been doing with our time??

Utterly wasting it on nonsense like Kardashians.

 

[micstrachan]

This hen was on the watch list and I was rather worried about her. She is still not what she should be but her tail feathers are up now and the puffiness around the eyes has reduced. She has had her eyes cleaned. She doesn't have mites or lice and isn't laying. I think she's from the first intake last year so she may have internal problems that I can't know about. Still, if hse is dying she a lot more comfortable than she was it seems. She spends quite a lot of time by my chair if I'm sat down and has learn't to put up with me feeling her crop and checking her vent which she will put up with while she's stood on the ground.View attachment 2924913View attachment 2924914View attachment 2924915

She looks pretty good in the photos, Shad.

 

[micstrachan]

If you can get this that side of the pond, it's an eye-opener, from Nov 29 this year.
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-truth-about-your-chicken-dispatches
This is about the chicken meat industry rather than eggs, but it shows what really happens, whatever the regs, and whatever people say happens.

One has to register to watch that and they are asking for more personal information than I want to share, unfortunately.

 

[micstrachan]

Anyway, back to the important stuff in all this and that's the chickens!
A few of them do this when I clean and refill their water containor. They don't get their heads wet doing it either.
I, on the other hand managed to soak the bottoms of my trousers.
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Adorable! Some of mine are obsessed with running water. Minnie runs over to me often when I turn on a hose.

 

[micstrachan]

@Perris posted the UK Gov guidelines on poultry keeping. Thanks Perris I have a copy somewhere but so much stuff just got spread all over the place in the move from Catalonia and I can't find some of it now.
Perris also posted a rather disturbing video of what it seems is the reality in many case.
I posted a summary of various studies to do with chicken intelligence and behaviour.
I know some of the links require time to read, but believe me, they are worth reading and as the thread moves on I shall be refering to some of these studies to make my point rather than create links hoping they will be read at the time.

Shad, I’m having trouble finding that summary post to bookmark it. Is it toward the beginning of this thread? Thanks.

 

[micstrachan]

That gravity driven mist was falling when I arrived to let everyone out this afternoon. Despite the weather everybody came out and went foraging. The non layers rush to go a dig quickly, grab a few beakfulls of grass then settle near the trees.
The laying hens and the junior hens will keep foraging for the afternoon on and off.
Treat was coconut rice this afternoon. Maybe a teaspoonfull each. Most seem to like this. Not all of them like the same treats and the better fed they become the more picky they become.
By the time dusk came it was raining softly and Henry headed off to roost about ten minutes early. Most of the hens followed within a couple of minutes and everyone was in the coop before full dusk.
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They are looking better all the time!

 

[micstrachan]

Doing much in the way of construction in the current weather isn't realistic. What I am going to try and do is open a gap in the allotment run fence and make an area enclosed with temporary hi vis plastic fence so the chickens can access new ground. It's very easy to see how a single breeding pair of jungle fowl need at least an acre of territory with decent forage to thrive watching how quickly this lot can work their way through the forage in the allotment run.
I hope that by opening up small areas outside the allotment run to them a step at a time they will find more of what they need without having to do much in the way of fence building.
Of course, you have to watch them. It is very easy to get out of the allotment run and regylar counts and visual tracking of who is where is important. I believe they would all go back to the coop at dusk if they could find their way back and once outside the allotment run it would be relatively easy for a hen to get trapped outside the run.

I’m sure you and Henry are up to the task.

 

[Shadrach]

Shad, I’m having trouble finding that summary post to bookmark it. Is it toward the beginning of this thread? Thanks.

You're on that mobile phone again aren't you.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-016-1064-4