Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[pennyJo1960]

Good morning X Batts. Being a old lady long grey hair not often loose Smudge gives me wider berth if it is loose. We have rain just now too.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

They were all my friends. I know they were my friends because they were who I chose to spend my time with.

A sentiment as true as it is poetic.

 

[Shadrach]

Does the driver not understand that people riding the bus didn't get there in a car kept out of the rain in a garage?

I think it was the knee height mud spatters that bothered him.

 

[Shadrach]

It rained a bit this morning then the sun came out this afternoon and it didn't start raining again until I got back into the city.
Everybody came out. Henry found another spot he wanted to sit in.

Fret

Inspection.

 

[saysfaa]

Could you give an analysis of what is going on with the hen that is in the first picture under "inspection" section? The one with the half plumed feathers

 

[MaryJanet]

Could you give an analysis of what is going on with the hen that is in the first picture under "inspection" section? The one with the half plumed feathers

And I'm curious about the dilated pupils of the second hen in the inspection section.

 

[Shadrach]

Could you give an analysis of what is going on with the hen that is in the first picture under "inspection" section? The one with the half plumed feathers

That's Lima. She's an Ex Battery hen. She has patches like that and I don't really know what causes them.

 

[Shadrach]

And I'm curious about the dilated pupils of the second hen in the inspection section.

It's interesting. Her puplis do reduce a bit in size but they are larger than the other Legbars. She's come in out of bright sunshine. I don't know how much of an impact that has.

 

[BDutch]

Shad I’m shocked they didn’t eat the rice. My chickens go crazy if there’s a little rice leftover for them. C’s must have been awful!

My chickens go crazy for rice too. Yesterday I noticed they even prefer rice over black eyed beans .

Reading on BYC I noticed that my chickens won’t eat things other chickens like a lot. Recently I noticed that they do eat raw potato , carrot and other veggies if cut into very small pieces, about the size of pellets.

Preference of food goes the other way around too. Someone told me their chickens don’t even like yummie mealworms and grasses.

PS @ManueB , had to laugh because you say French rice.
Maybe try a bit more quality rice like Basmati or Jasmine. And follow instructions or buy a rice cooker (about all people from Asia use steam rice cookers) .

 

[BDutch]

Surprisingly those that don't mind getting wet don't seem any the worse for it the next morning.
There is a very important exception to this; mother hens with young chicks. In a sudden downpour the mother may not be able to get the chicks to shelter Bear in mind that a chicks feathers give zero protection from the rain. If the mother can't move them, then she will shelter them where she stands. This means opening her wings and both sides of her body underneath her wings tends to get wet. This is the one place you do not want a chicken to get wet and cold.
I almost lost a hen called Tan for exactly this reason. She had stood in the open with her three chicks under her for over an hour before I found them and she could hardly stand.

The first time I let my broodies hatch chicks, they got into nasty weather and a few chicks got a cold. Within a few days all the chicks were coughing but the mothers were unharmed.
Some chicks cured (without medication) within 2 weeks. The last one took 6 weeks to recover and got behind in growth. But they all got through it.

Btw, people on the Dutch forum gave me advice what to do. Most members said I needed to go to a vet and ask for antibiotics.
A few said that I shouldn’t if I wanted strong chickens. Giving antibiotics to the chicks could help fast but they would get very vulnerable for other diseases afterwards. I new I was risking they would die one way or the other. But Black and Pearl are still around , almost 8 years old now. There was a 3th pullet I sold at 5 years old with 2 chicks. The cockerels went to hobbyist who sells chicks/chickens at point of lay. He had incubated a large group of white layers and were about the same age (so my my cockerels were smaller). He planned to give the cockerels to people who like to have a rooster with their flock.

Black and Pearl.