Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BY Bob]

Young Lima went to sleep on my lap, but it was her choice. I didn't pick her up.
Of course, it is possible for a keeper to establish a low stress realtionship with a chicken, but ime that takes some time.

Not for you. She was in your lap right away!

 

[Marie2020]

But it wouldn't really help. Millions are killed each year. The solution to the problem isn't adopting a few. It's a complicated issue that needs something other than a knee jerk emotional response.
It's not that I don't appreciate the offers and there have been others. I have the money to keep them fed and treated for essential health issues. Despite how it may seem from the pictures these Ex Batts and Rescues have had a bit of a touch through the most unlikely circumstances. They've met someone who actually cares about them being chickens who has the time and commitment to make a small impprovement to what little life they have left.
If on the other hand people stopped buying chicken based food for their pets, ate less eggs, were prepared for even a 5 X increase in the price of eggs, etc etc then we might be talking. This isn't a Tesco advertisment where every little helps. In fact in this case I suspect that every liittle is possibly just making things worse.

Well my dear sharach sometimes I don't agree with you and this is yet another one of those. So brace yourself because here I come...

Every life saved is a good thing , I only have two here and they are loving every second of their lives living through the rain especially the sun even the winds.

People are asking about them and hopefully more will rescue if only another couple take some on, I'll be celebrating.

I think excepting an offer of food if nothing else is nothing too be sniffed at, you're not going to eat it it's for the girls.

I'm not meaning too be rude but sometimes we have too agree too disagree. Another example, we can't stop wars or animal cruelty but we can each play a part to ease the pain where and when we can.

I get upset but I've realised that isn't helping, it puts people off trying. I was told this by a woman with her head in the clouds but on that she was right

 

[Ladies-Eight]

I definitely crashed this party too!
And it has occurred to me that it was a bit rude of me to just show up uninvited and not even pay any tax!!!!!!!
So, in order to rectify my uncouthness….
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You've got your hands full.

 

[Marie2020]

I think I must owe some tax for the triple nested brackets there... so here's Sven, watching over a spa session
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Oh look @BY Bob a cute fluffy butt

 

[Marie2020]

I notice that you are in New Jersey.

In Britain, yes there is a law that chickens cannot be fed food scraps.
In the USA as a whole, there is no such law.
In individual US states, I don't know of any such laws, but I have not checked every state to be sure.

In some states of the US, there are laws against feeding food waste to pigs (most of them permit it under certain conditions, which vary by state.)

The basic point makes sense-- don't feed anything to animals that can spread disease, especially diseases that might spread to humans. But trying to make sensible laws about the matter is difficult. Laws usually don't get made until a problem has already happened, but when people are trying to fix the problem they sometimes make laws that go far enough to seem ridiculous.


You are not a terrible person for feeding food scraps to chickens as part of their diet, no matter where in the world you live.

 

[Ribh]

And then there is the modern commerically raised breeds don't go broody.
There is just so much evidence that refutes this myth it's hard to know where to start.
I'll start with Ribh. Ribh has a very diverse group of chickens who have bit by bit decided that conventional wives tales don't apply to them.
How has this happened then. Perhaps Ribh might show us some pictures of the setup she used to have? I thought it was wonderfull. It looked like a jungle. You could tell that the chickens felt comfortable with their environment and also importantly with Ribh.
If Ribh had a rooster she would have chicks popping out from under the flower pots.
I got told when I first started looking after the chickens in Catalonia that they didn't go broody and that was because they were non broody breeds. The French Maransin particular have a reputation for being reluctant to sit and hatch. As soon as all the chickens had decided who and where they wanted to live and better accomodation and food was supplied first the bantams went broody and then the Marans. I didn't take their eggs. Each tribe had a rooster. There was plenty to eat. They built nests all over the place despite the very high predator load in the area. The environment they were living in changed and that was enough to make the difference.

Lots of pictures for @BY Bob.
We are sub~tropical. Temperatures rarely go over 32C in summer & rarely dip into single figures in winter. Humidity can be pretty awful in summer so plenty of shade. Very few predators.
This is the run under construction.
There were 4 big trees: 3 iron bark, a flame tree, & then a weeping ficus that the girls liked to hide under in summer. The small coop was used for broodies & integration.

The front yard had palms & a large elkhorn they liked to get under.

From the front porch.

Ha'penny's 1st feral nest. She had hidden 10 eggs.

Her 2nd attempt.

The big coop.

Aoife. She had 1/2 a dozen eggs under her.

Ceres [Japanese Bantam] hidden nest. She'd only laid a couple of eggs when she went broody & disappeared.

​

 

[Shadrach]

Last to bed.
That's Lima on the ramp and the stop out I have now named Dusk on the right of the feeder.

 

[BY Bob]

I definitely crashed this party too!
And it has occurred to me that it was a bit rude of me to just show up uninvited and not even pay any tax!!!!!!!
So, in order to rectify my uncouthness….
View attachment 2927898View attachment 2927899View attachment 2927900View attachment 2927901View attachment 2927902View attachment 2927903

It's really nice to see Blanche again.

 

[NatJ]

To read that their chickens eat more commercial feed when they free range than they do when confined is surprising to say the least.

If that is what you thought I meant, then I must have said it wrong.

I was trying to compare how much commercial food is eaten in the winter (more) and summer (less). The chickens were free ranging at all seasons. I was not trying to compare ranging chickens with confined ones at all.

 

[Solanacae]

I forgot to mention that the film Chicken Run is based around the story of Wilma Steel who is the farmers wife in the film.

I didn’t know that the farm’s wife was based off of an actual person. That’s a fun tidbit to know. I’m a musician and I think the music for the movie is brilliant. I always thought the storyline was basically The Great Escape told with chickens, rather than POW’s. There are many nods in the Chicken Run sound track to Elmer Bernstein’s fabulous sound track for The Great Escape.