Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[micstrachan]

Dodged the rain. It felt almost warm sitting in the sun for the first hour or so.
I've been scraping out some of the wettest top layer of mud in the worst areas.
There was feed in the feeder when I got there.
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I am ao happy Henry still has four girls!!

 

[micstrachan]

Skeksis and I celebrating the Dolphins making the playoffs; where they will undoubtably get wrecked by the Bills.

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This photo is sooooo cute!

 

[micstrachan]

Shad, I am very excited to share that I have found at least a short term solution for sourcing chickens. I would like a few chicks this year, but I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t want to support the hatchery industry anymore. After doing some research, I found someone local… Just half an hour drive away. They only have about three or four breeds, and I would like two of each of these…

Isabella Leghorns

French Blue Coper Marans

I’m not quite ready right now for roosters, but I am at a point that if a female chick turned out not to be female after all, I would be OK with it. We own this property now, so I would not get kicked out for having a rooster. And here’s the best part of all… I asked her what happens with the unwanted males. It’s the best answer I could have hoped for, while wanting to source female chickens. She raises the unwanted males on pasture along with the females. At a certain age, she tries to adopt as many out as she can. The ones who are not adopted out are euthanized humanely, and then fed to her livestock guardian dogs that protect the chickens.

At this point, I think it is the best possible compromise I can find to continue keeping chickens while trying to have as little suffering as possible. And I will not be supporting the giant hatchery industry at all. For those of you not in the United States, please know that giant hatcheries are sort of just how it’s done here. Not only that, but I am in California, which does not have many options for chickens (outside of hatchery delivery) at all. I am pleased with this find and hope it all works out. I’ll keep you posted.

 

[kcan2]

On goshawks specifically, there's an observation that the female returned and dropped dead pine needles on the back of the male while he was sitting on the eggs in the nest, for which the author has no explanation.

That is very interesting! I witnessed my hen casting pieces of straw onto her back while laying her egg (before it was pushed out). After the egg was laid and the hen left, the rooster approvingly inspected the egg, threw a piece of straw in the egg's general direction, and sat down nearby to keep it company for a while before leaving. Even before the hen left, she pretty well covered the egg, but the rooster certainly championed the cause of the nest site in the straw bale. Pine needles and straw are similar in appearance

If these problems are not enough to dissuade people from the Facebook deep litter style

That looks like a distasteful/arduous task! Was this the result of deep litter gone wrong or mismanaged? Once you get down to the bottom of the sludge, what is the more permanent fix for this? (Sorry if this has already been answered and I somewhere missed the info!)

 

[Perris]

Maybe the pine needles are nest building materials delivered badly.

he considered that. Said they didn't add any structural integrity to the nest, and if meant as nest lining, why didn't she wait till the male left? same question if they were meant to camouflage or cover the eggs (as @lightm and @kcan2 were thinking). Hence he was mystified what this behaviour was about.

Has anybody satisfied themselves of an explanation for hens putting plant material on their backs when in the nest (and is it connected with broodiness, actual or aspiring)?

 

[Perris]

Shad, I am very excited to share that I have found at least a short term solution for sourcing chickens. I would like a few chicks this year, but I’ve gotten to the point that I don’t want to support the hatchery industry anymore. After doing some research, I found someone local… Just half an hour drive away. They only have about three or four breeds, and I would like two of each of these…

Isabella Leghorns
View attachment 3375653

French Blue Coper Marans
View attachment 3375657

I’m not quite ready right now for roosters, but I am at a point that if a female chick turned out not to be female after all, I would be OK with it. We own this property now, so I would not get kicked out for having a rooster. And here’s the best part of all… I asked her what happens with the unwanted males. It’s the best answer I could have hoped for, while wanting to source female chickens. She raises the unwanted males on pasture along with the females. At a certain age, she tries to adopt as many out as she can. The ones who are not adopted out are euthanized humanely, and then fed to her livestock guardian dogs that protect the chickens.

At this point, I think it is the best possible compromise I can find to continue keeping chickens while trying to have as little suffering as possible. And I will not be supporting the giant hatchery industry at all. For those of you not in the United States, please know that giant hatcheries are sort of just how it’s done here. Not only that, but I am in California, which does not have many options for chickens at all. I am pleased with this find and hope it all works out. I’ll keep you posted.

You're very lucky there!
And you give me an excuse to post a photo of Amadeo to support your decision, if one turns out to be male, and settle some back tax for the goshawk talk

 

[ManueB]

Some of my chickens often molt light/hardly noticeable. It just takes several months to complete that way.


It cruel to put 5 hens in such a cage.

you can;

1. Contact the seller, say they should alter the design and info immediately! And why!
2. Contact animal protection, say they seller should alter the design and info immediately! And why!
3. Add this coop in the reviews on BYC and maybe a french forum? say it’s worthless, and even with more ventilation not large enough for 3 standard sized chickens.

I did 1 + 3 once too, seeing an awful coop for sale on the internet.

Thanks for the suggestion, I may try 1. and 3.

I thought you would have got used to this from reading BYC.

I think your attitude toward BYC may be just a tad biased by anti US imperialism .
I also feel this way reading some of the posts like when someone tries to convince me pasteurized cheese tastes just like raw cheese .
But in this case, I think anyone who knew nothing about chickens and came to ask about that coop on BYC, would be given helpful explanations on why it's not a suitable housing for chickens.

Honestly I've found quite a wide range of attitudes and ways toward chickens on this site, from people keeping them almost as house pets, to those who have them as livestock, those who try to have them as close as possible to a natural state and those who want all the best for their beloved pets.
Where else on the web would you have found those pictures of rare breeds from Iran you linked to sometimes ago ?

he considered that. Said they didn't add any structural integrity to the nest, and if meant as nest lining, why didn't she wait till the male left? same question if they were meant to camouflage or cover the eggs (as @lightm and @kcan2 were thinking). Hence he was mystified what this behaviour was about.

Has anybody satisfied themselves of an explanation for hens putting plant material on their backs when in the nest (and is it connected with broodiness, actual or aspiring)?

I was going to mention it's not necessarily straw or needles- just this morning Merle threw wood chips all over herself.
In my flock it's always been a very common behaviour among the ex-batts who have never ever shown the slightest broody incline, and it happened way before we had the rooster.
One thing I've also noticed is that they do it even if they didn't succeed in laying. I saw that again just this morning. Brune got out of the nest after more than an hour and no egg out, and threw hay on her body. I take it to mean "I'm done". I dont have a clue where it could come from but obviously now it has become some kind of ritual behaviour.

You're very lucky there!
And you give me an excuse to post a photo of Amadeo to support your decision, if one turns out to be male, and settle some back tax for the goshawk talk
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I was going to mention prince Charming, and raise the small matter that his singing does not do justice to his feathering. As @micstrachan is well known for her lovely voice hopefully she can teach the future rooster not to shriek .

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

37 sunny 85% humidity feels like 30 rain 0%.

Have a great day!

 

[micstrachan]

You're very lucky there!
And you give me an excuse to post a photo of Amadeo to support your decision, if one turns out to be male, and settle some back tax for the goshawk talk
View attachment 3375887

He’s gorgeous!

 

[Perris]

He’s gorgeous!

that's an isabella leghorn for you