Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

It rained here today as well, and guess what? The coop roof still leaks.

A small tarpaulin might do the job.

 

[Shadrach]

I bet. Do any of the girls have it? I've heard castor oil on the legs is good both for its medicinal properties and smothering the dang mites.

Nope, none of the hens have it. Matilda, Henry's daughter got it bad as well.

 

[Shadrach]

A better day all round then yesterday which was really miserable.
The sun shone, that always helps. It was about 7C.

The geese were out when I arrived.

Finally had enough of the state of the pond. Everybody was drinking from it.
As it was.

I still have to tidy it up. I forgot to take something to cut the net with.

About two and a half hours today. It would have been longer but I had things to do in the city on my way to the allotments.

Cleaning up a few sunflower seeds.

They've discovered a rubbarb plant. It's not very good for them. They've got the runs. I'll fence it off.

At 6pm the rain came back. We went under the coop extension. Henry took one look at the rain and went to roost.

 

[no fly zone]

A small tarpaulin might do the job.

I was hoping to not have to purchase anything else.

 

[kcan2]

They've discovered a rubbarb plant. It's not very good for them. They've got the runs. I'll fence it off.

At 6pm the rain came back. We went under the coop extension. Henry took one look at the rain and went to roost.

Henry is smart! Sorry to hear about the disruption in their normal digestive processing due to unsolicited rhubarb access I tend to ask my chickens a list of predictable questions every day. One common question is, "Who is pooping?" No one ever answers directly, but the question usually elicits a hard look from my rooster.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Henry has got live SLM again. There must be some genetic predisposition. I'm going to use Ivermectin again. Not overly happy about this.

I feel dumb asking, but how do you know they're live? Are the mites actually visible, or is it just the raised scales, inflammation, etc.?

SLM are still a mystery to me. Stilton has had slightly raised scales since he's had visible scales, even before he left the brooder (which was a sterilized plastic tub in a clean home, so parasites seemed unlikely to be the culprit). But the internet has had me side-eyeing his legs for years because everything says chicken leg scales should be perfectly smooth.

He was treated with Ivermectin in the Great Mitesplosion of 2020, and the scales didn't change appearance. Nor do his legs look much different years later.

Tax: Merle flexing. With pecs like this, we should've called him Arnold Schwarzen-egger.

 

[Shadrach]

I feel dumb asking, but how do you know they're live? Are the mites actually visible, or is it just the raised scales, inflammation, etc.?

You need a magnifying glass. I have never seen the mite responsible but with the magnifying glass you can see the mite poop and the dead stuff they throw out behind when burrowing.

The scales do not go down when the mites are dead. They have to be shed and new scales grown.

 

[Shadrach]

Henry is smart! Sorry to hear about the disruption in their normal digestive processing due to unsolicited rhubarb access I tend to ask my chickens a list of predictable questions every day. One common question is, "Who is pooping?" No one ever answers directly, but the question usually elicits a hard look from my rooster.

There is a bit of a debate about whether chickens should be eating rubbarb. From what I've read it is in fact toxic but to reach a level of toxicity to be life threatening they need to eat an awful lot. I haven't managed to find out exactly what an awful lot is. I know some chicken keepers use it to combat internal parasites. Other keepers report no ill effects apart from a runny bum if the chickens have eaten a lot. In the past, some days they've eaten a bit and moved on to other things. Two in particular have been doing some very watery poops and are eating more than the rest. I'm going to err on the side of caution.

 

[kcan2]

Tax: Merle flexing. With pecs like this, we should've called him Arnold Schwarzen-egger.

What a mighty flex!!

 

[kcan2]

but I can't help wondering why people come back month in month out to read about the not so nice side of chicken keeping.

Why I enjoy this thread:
In addition to the obvious reason of hanging out and keeping up with Henry & Co., it is also special that this particular flock is primarily cared for by Shadrach, whose insightful articles & posts basically graduated me through "Rooster School" as a new chicken owner.

When first learning about horses (horses came before chickens), I remember finding the most helpful teachers to be the ones who demonstrated that man's understanding of the animal predicated the animal's cooperation with the man. Since understanding can generally only come with experience, a beginner's best hope of bridging the gap (especially with roosters) can only be individuals like Shadrach, whose wealth of wisdom gained from hours of flock observations got me through all of the behavioral "burps" encountered with my first rooster in his first spring during my first inexperienced year.

Armed with a good understanding of what constitutes a good rooster, I look forward to many more harmonious (and sometimes entertaining) hours of future flock enjoyment!

All the above also hopefully distracts from the fact that I may or may not be woefully behind in taxes.