Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[ManueB]

The few injured pullets that I dispatched tasted great.
It's more of an emotional reason. I know people want pullets and I feel bad dispatching a perfectly good one. They don't cause any problems. The boys cause lots of problems and make it easy. The 16 wks boys dress out around 5 lbs, (10k) and girls below. The cockerels will feed me for the week, but I need 1 and a half girls. So I have to take another life.

Thank you for explaining, I didn't see it this way at all. You seem to have given much thought to the ethical aspect ! I suppose when you do your own dispatching you can't escape it.

Thanks for asking but still fatigued after an hour or less. Trying to plant potatoes this week. I work a half hour and my back complains. Then I take a break.

I'm sorry that you are not feeling better. It must be hard morally as well. I hope you take confort in what you still can do which is more than many.

Derailing the thread about potatoes : I usually plant them with my partner. He digs a line with a fork hoe, I put the potatoes in and add manure + compost, he digs a second line to cover the potato, then we start over. When I'm on my own, planting this way kills my back, I can do only less than an hour at a time as well.
Last year I helped a single friend plant her potatoes and she uses a different tool, a hoe with a very long handle meant for earthing up (not sure what it's called, tool on the right below), to simply draw a line, then put the potatoes in, and cover them by hand. It's much, much less tiring for the back. ( But it doesn't give the soil a good dig like my partner's method does).

Janeka is 4 years old today hooray!
View attachment 3474509

Happy birthday Janeka! I hope you gave her birthday treats "with moderation" !

Théo, potato tax

 

[Shadrach]

I've got 11 cartons of eggs to sell today (a week's worth from 15 hens, 4 of them over 3 years old, and ignoring the dozen eggs we've eaten), and that's without whatever's laid today
That is a record for me, and I think will do as a conclusion to my little experiment on avoiding commercial feed entirely, from hatch.

The pullets who have never eaten commercial feed survived to maturity better than any before, and are laying better than any pullets I've had before. And the old girls are laying well too.

The feed debate is yet another. I estimate I'm at around 60% commercial feed and 40% forage and alternatives on the days the chickens get onto the allotments. If I didn't have so much other stuff to do I would put more effort into researching a non commercial feed. I have seen absolutely no signs of negative effects on health or egg production at these percentages.
However, the non forage extras are expensive and for some cheap feed providing cheap eggs and meat is the sole aim of keeping chickens.

 

[Perris]

Thank you for explaining, I didn't see it this way at all. You seem to have given much thought to the ethical aspect ! I suppose when you do your own dispatching you can't escape it.

I'm sorry that you are not feeling better. It must be hard morally as well. I hope you take confort in what you still can do which is more than many.

Derailing the thread about potatoes : I usually plant them with my partner. He digs a line with a fork hoe, I put the potatoes in and add manure + compost, he digs a second line to cover the potato, then we start over. When I'm on my own, planting this way kills my back, I can do only less than an hour at a time as well.
Last year I helped a single friend plant her potatoes and she uses a different tool, a hoe with a very long handle meant for earthing up (not sure what it's called, tool on the right below), to simply draw a line, then put the potatoes in, and cover them by hand. It's much, much less tiring for the back. ( But it doesn't give the soil a good dig like my partner's method does).
View attachment 3474541

Happy birthday Janeka! I hope you gave her birthday treats "with moderation" !

Théo, potato tax
View attachment 3474597

there's an old adage here that potatoes 'clear the ground'. I think it is not the potatoes per se but the amount of earth moving which standard potato cultivation techniques here demand

 

[Shadrach]

Janeka is 4 years old today hooray!
View attachment 3474509

Here's to another 6 years to bring her to what was the expected average life span 30 years ago.

 

[Perris]

for some cheap feed providing cheap eggs and meat is the sole aim of keeping chickens

but why let the tail wag the dog?

and btw, I'm sure I spend less on whole foods and human foods (sardines) than I would on commercial feed.

 

[Perris]

potato tax: Amadeo getting in the way when I was trying to get a photo of the birthday girl:

 

[Perris]

I hope you gave her birthday treats "with moderation" !

 

[Shadrach]

I'm still learning about this mostly confined to coop and run style chicken keeping. It seems like an incredibly expensive and work intensive way of keeping chickens to me. Before. looking after free rangers feed just wasn't an issue. I provided commercial feed and they ate it if they wanted. Some days they hardly ate any.
The allotment crew just don't have the same opportunities despite now getting out for a few hours daily.

 

[BDutch]

People are the same. That's why you can't convince people about the egg song/ escort call etc. and I have such a hard time with the nutrition argument. Most people don't question received wisdom.

The pullets who have never eaten commercial feed survived to maturity better than any before, and are laying better than any pullets I've had before. And the old girls are laying well too.

I would be obliged if you make an article to set this kind of wrong ‘received wisdom’ straight for people who can truly free range their flock/tribe.

I researched a bit if such an article exists, but the only one I found about fermenting feed by our one and only Shadrach. There are many more myths in this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/chicken-myths-rumors-true-or-false-please-share.1508403/

Interested in more myths?
This is for beginners/ children and really needs a part II for the more advanced chicken lovers.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/chicken-myths-and-truths.67711/

 

[bruceha2000]

Théo, potato tax

Outstanding picture!

Amadeo getting in the way when I was trying to get a photo of the birthday girl:

I quite like this one as well.