Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

for what it's worth, my experience with brown egg layers is that they're very variable, individually as well as qua breed. Welsummers and Penedesencas both supposedly produce a relatively dark brown egg, but Puffin lays a much darker one than the other two Pennies here, and all of them are a bit variable depending on whether they are at the beginning or end of a cycle, and what they ate recently (one sometimes makes a plum bloom), and other unknown influences too. I still haven't worked out why Janeka's eggs are sometimes speckled (spotted) and sometimes not. And the first eggs are not always reliable indicators of how they'll settle down, so however exciting it is when Bernie finally gets round to it, don't get too hung up on the colour, because it may change!

Very interesting. I will see what happens if Bernie ever graces me with an egg.

 

[BDutch]

Less noise than dogs.

In general the Dutch people don’t keep their dogs outside. They are kept as pets in the house (there are exceptions).
Where I live I rarely hear a dog. They don’t wake me up in the morning.

Most noise in my neighborhood comes from machines such as lawnmowers, leaf blowers, a compressor from a nearby garage and cars.

If I keep a rooster some neighbours wil complain. So I can’t keep him. And he will wake me too if I sleep with the window open on the side where the coop is. Tried to keep my bantam RIR cockerel last year. But couldn’t. He was the third I kept initially but needed to rehome before he became 1 year old.

I tried to convince people to try to breed roosters who don’t cry loud. But this seems a no go, because you need roosters to breed. And the people who can, don’t mind the noise.
If there was a bantam breed, famous for it’s soft crow, I would pay a nice amount of money for his eggs.

 

[Iluveggers]

In general the Dutch people don’t keep their dogs outside. They are kept as pets in the house (there are exceptions).
Where I live I rarely hear a dog. They don’t wake me up in the morning.

Most noise in my neighborhood comes from machines such as lawnmowers, leaf blowers, a compressor from a nearby garage and cars.

If I keep a rooster some neighbours wil complain. So I can’t keep him. And he will wake me too if I sleep with the window open on the side where the coop is. Tried to keep my bantam RIR cockerel last year. But couldn’t. He was the third I kept initially but needed to rehome before he became 1 year old.

I tried to convince people to try to breed roosters who don’t cry loud. But this seems a no go, because you need roosters to breed. And the people who can, don’t mind the noise.
If there was a bantam breed, famous for it’s soft crow, I would pay a nice amount of money for his eggs.

Me too. I would love a quiet rooster.

There is a hound dog a few doors up that is let out to go to the bathroom at all times of day & night. She howls pretty loud. Other dogs go out around 6am and will bark for a little before being let in, or late in the evening for one last nightly trip.

I don’t mind the dogs noise. I try not to complain. We all make noise sometimes. Construction sounds, plows hitting the concrete, lawn mowers, loud music, ambulance sirens & the town volunteer fire whistle (which can be heard for at least 3 miles in every direction).

There’s things to complain about. Life’s noises shouldn’t be one of them.

 

[Solanacae]

she's gorgeous! what is she?
I had to wait 11 months for Eve to start! And she's not been a great layer since (she's 4 now), maxing about 140 one year, but she does also raise chicks every year, so we're both happy.

My record is 11 months, 1 week for my Sultans. Both Peanut and Sophia started laying a day apart when they did start though. The breeder assured me that it was totally normal for her line, and worth the wait. Between April and October of this year, Peanut laid 164 eggs, with a small interruption when we moved. I’m curious to see when she starts up again this coming spring. Sophia laid less because of going broody, but has been an excellent mother, and laid almost as well as Peanut before that.

for what it's worth, my experience with brown egg layers is that they're very variable, individually as well as qua breed. Welsummers and Penedesencas both supposedly produce a relatively dark brown egg, but Puffin lays a much darker one than the other two Pennies here, and all of them are a bit variable depending on whether they are at the beginning or end of a cycle, and what they ate recently (one sometimes makes a plum bloom), and other unknown influences too. I still haven't worked out why Janeka's eggs are sometimes speckled (spotted) and sometimes not. And the first eggs are not always reliable indicators of how they'll settle down, so however exciting it is when Bernie finally gets round to it, don't get too hung up on the colour, because it may change!

I’ve had the same experience. All my brown layers lighten over time, and Cannonball (who lays olive green eggs that lightens to a sage green over the year) is the same. The mechanism for green is a blue shell with brown pigment, so this would be expected. Cannonball will lay a speckled egg on occasion as well, but I haven’t noticed any rhyme or reason to it, although it’s more common as her eggs lighten. My tan layers stay pretty consistent in color though, as do Saoirse’s light green eggs.

I took the Schijndelaar boys to their new home yesterday. A few hours before leaving, I was out filling up the food and water, when one of the boys jumped on Curie (who has recently started showing an interest in the nesting boxes) and tried to mate her. She didn’t cooperate and just screamed at him instead, so no parting gifts from Mr. Hormones. Anyway, the fellow had an old line of Barred Rocks that had been in his family since 1914. I’ve got about as many chickens in my coop as I think will fit comfortably, but if I need chickens in the future, I’d seriously consider getting some from him.

Tax:
Estella, Genevieve and the boys, Einstein and one of the boys chilling on a roosting bar until Sophia flew up to shake things up, and Curie checking out the nesting boxes.

 

[Solanacae]

@Shadrach I’m glad that the allotment chickens had you around for a while, because any improvement to their lives if better than none at all. I’m cautiously hopeful that the rehomed chickens will have good lives. It seems that the people you met are aware of their age/history and want to give them a good life. I’m glad Lima gets to stay with Henry, and that Henry has a place to live - in a coop with some nice additions that he’s finally accepted, no less. I hope that C will be able to take better care of them at her home than at the allotment. Distance certainly makes a difference, like others have said, and decent feed will be affordable for a smaller group so hopefully no more birdseed and leftover sandwiches. And I’m also glad that you’ve got some ‘sort of’ friends you’ve made at the allotments and will continue to go there. Green space and growing things are good for the soul. So are friends.

 

[bruceha2000]

I don’t understand your DD1. A fertilised egg is just as good to eat as a unfertilised one.

She is what I have termed an "emotional vegetarian". Some are vegetarian because they think it is more healthy. She is because she won't eat anything that an animal had to die to provide. Not even cheese made with rennet. She would like everyone to do the same but knows that won't be happening here. She wouldn't eat a fertilized egg because it COULD become a live animal if given the chance.

Do people know what happens in the hatcheries? Like how the chicks are subjected to a nasty examination for gender selection. And that the chicks in a small box in the dark without feed have a poor start. Especially if the mail takes more than 2 days to arrive.

I do, even DD1 does. She chooses to ignore what happens to most of the male chicks. I don't know how nasty the gender selection processes is, seems pretty fast and is non invasive.

Why not raise my own chickens? Because roughly half of the chicks would be roosters. And the shipping is, well, necessary. There are no hatcheries within driving distance, not within many hundreds of miles. I figure they are like locally raised meat animals that have many good days and a quick bad one day. The chicks have a couple of bad days (travel in the mail) followed by as many good days as they stay alive in my barn and the 1 acre fenced pasture which they have access to all day every day. The last of my original 12 died this past March, she would have been 10 years old in June. My oldest 4 are now 7.5 years old. I'm sure they have forgotten their 2 bad days.

Less noise than dogs.

True for some certainly.

 

[Shadrach]

He’s a handsome fella. Did you say he was 8 years old?

As near as we can estimate.

 

[Shadrach]

Here’s my tax times 4. I love roosters too. I’ve raised many and not a mean one in the bunch.

I like the mean ones.

 

[Shadrach]

In general the Dutch people don’t keep their dogs outside. They are kept as pets in the house (there are exceptions).
Where I live I rarely hear a dog. They don’t wake me up in the morning.

Most noise in my neighborhood comes from machines such as lawnmowers, leaf blowers, a compressor from a nearby garage and cars.

If I keep a rooster some neighbours wil complain. So I can’t keep him. And he will wake me too if I sleep with the window open on the side where the coop is. Tried to keep my bantam RIR cockerel last year. But couldn’t. He was the third I kept initially but needed to rehome before he became 1 year old.

I tried to convince people to try to breed roosters who don’t cry loud. But this seems a no go, because you need roosters to breed. And the people who can, don’t mind the noise.
If there was a bantam breed, famous for it’s soft crow, I would pay a nice amount of money for his eggs.

Me too. I would love a quiet rooster.

There is a hound dog a few doors up that is let out to go to the bathroom at all times of day & night. She howls pretty loud. Other dogs go out around 6am and will bark for a little before being let in, or late in the evening for one last nightly trip.

I don’t mind the dogs noise. I try not to complain. We all make noise sometimes. Construction sounds, plows hitting the concrete, lawn mowers, loud music, ambulance sirens & the town volunteer fire whistle (which can be heard for at least 3 miles in every direction).

There’s things to complain about. Life’s noises shouldn’t be one of them.

Pffttt...the roosters crow is a lovely sound to wake up to. When Cillin was convalescing in my house, a couple of metres away from my bed 30db reduction earplugs did the job.

 

[Shadrach]

Wet and windy. All looks a bit empty doesn't it.

Lima. She always wants to go outside and have a forage.

This is getting close to four square feet per bird in the coop. The coop bedding is dry now despite the wet conditions.