Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[ManueB]

Thank you! I just found it and uploaded my story.

Thank you for sharing it first. I also enjoyed reading it!
And I thought the story contest is a great idea, I really like reading what other people write. Wish there were more chicken stories !

I really respect people who dispatch and eat their own birds. Once I get to know them, I just can't bring myself to it. Now I won't eat chicken at all. For sure, I could never have a pig because I'd probably feel the same way and wouldn't want to eat pork chops or sausage. And then life just wouldn't be as good.

I feel exactly like you. My partner's mother's husband, pépé Chichou, used to work slaughtering animals both in local households and at the slaughterhouse. He keeps telling us to fatten a pig for winter and that piglets grow to be really sweet and fun to have around before you eat them . I tell him I would keep the pig as my best friend ! He would do any processing we need, so I try to make fun of it when he insists.

Another dry sunny day.
Started on the shade structure for the run. I think it's going to do what I'm after. Probably need some experimentation to get it right.

I may have missed it. Will it be a permanent or temporary structure ? If permanent will it serve to shelter from rain ?

They all settled down on the extension roost bar again. Looks like this is going to be the norm until the coop gets moved and I get the door on the extension. Never mind, it gives me a chance to handle Henry which he seems quite happy about and any of the hens who don't take the hint.

I was trying to explain to someone at the allotments today about what gets called the overmating problem; something almost inevitably gets blamed on the rooster. It's not his fault, it's our fault.
If a hen only lays say 50 eggs a year then she doesn't invite or accept a roosters attention for the period she isn't laying. Reasonably enough a hen wants each egg she lays to be fertile. The more eggs she lays, the more she mates with the rooster. Carbon for example isn't laying at the moment. Henry doesn't bother her. The odd thing is Lima isn't laying and I don't think she ever has but she still crouches for Henry and it seems as far as Henry is concerend, Lima is a laying hen.
The roosters in Catalonia didn't bother non layers either. Also, they knew when a pullet was about to strat laying and started courting before the pullet had laid her first egg. The pullets also knew when they were about to lay and many would crouch for their rooster before they laid their first egg. They seem to have all this worked out. The main problem seems to be the more eggs they lay the harder the rooster works to ensure the eggs are fertile.
It's us humans that are responsible for hens laying more and more eggs. It's not the hens fault and it's not the roosters fault for trying to ensure all the hens eggs are fertile.

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I wonder if it works as well in a confined/semi-confined environment.
Both my roosters still try to mate with the hens that don't lay (except the ones that are showing broody inclinations).

What have other multi roos keeper that are not completely free range seen ?

I did notice that when he was a cockerel Gaston began mating with the hens only once they were about to lay. Each time I saw him mating with a pullet for the first time, she laid her first egg within a week.

 

[BDutch]

Another dry sunny day.
Started on the shade structure for the run. I think it's going to do what I'm after. Probably need some experimentation to get it right.
They all settled down on the extension roost bar again. Looks like this is going to be the norm until the coop gets moved and I get the door on the extension. Never mind, it gives me a chance to handle Henry which he seems quite happy about and any of the hens who don't take the hint.

I was trying to explain to someone at the allotments today about what gets called the overmating problem; something almost inevitably gets blamed on the rooster. It's not his fault, it's our fault.
If a hen only lays say 50 eggs a year then she doesn't invite or accept a roosters attention for the period she isn't laying. Reasonably enough a hen wants each egg she lays to be fertile. The more eggs she lays, the more she mates with the rooster. Carbon for example isn't laying at the moment. Henry doesn't bother her. The odd thing is Lima isn't laying and I don't think she ever has but she still crouches for Henry and it seems as far as Henry is concerend, Lima is a laying hen.
The roosters in Catalonia didn't bother non layers either. Also, they knew when a pullet was about to strat laying and started courting before the pullet had laid her first egg. The pullets also knew when they were about to lay and many would crouch for their rooster before they laid their first egg. They seem to have all this worked out. The main problem seems to be the more eggs they lay the harder the rooster works to ensure the eggs are fertile.

I wonder, if a hen is becoming fertile, she wants attention/seed from a rooster. If the system doesn’t work up to 100% (Lima) and she doesn’t lay eggs, she still has te urge to want the roosters attention and get mated.
The behaviour of the hen, the looks and feromonen probably makes that the rooster wants to mate (imo). Not the actual fertility.

It's us humans that are responsible for hens laying more and more eggs. It's not the hens fault and it's not the roosters fault for trying to ensure all the hens eggs are fertile.

You mean farmers (and some humans) and the industry that comes with it who want to profit more.

If you don’t like to have chickens that produce that many eggs then you can choose otherwise. There are still old heritage breeds with chickens that lay about 60 eggs a year. Rescuing ex-batts just doesn’t fit in the picture of wanting a more natural tribe.

Oh and for the record. My Dutch really cooperate as broodies/mama’s. There is no competition between them. Originally Dutch are a very old breed that have been styled for shows and probably a bit of egg laying too. (selective breeding)
Dutch produce approx 120 eggs a year according to the characteristics list I found. But there are large individual differences of course. Also depending on the colour.
Other heritage breeds I was interested in like the Groninger Gull, is listed for 60 eggs a year. This was too little eggs for my taste. And I like to have chickens that lay in the winter period too. Because I don’t like to buy eggs in the shop. Not even the organic ones since they are all cooped up with the bird flu restrictions.

 

[MaryJanet]

I used to eat chickens I had looked after in Catalonia and I would here as well in the right circumstances. I didn't eat many and from what I've read here I doubt many would think there was a decent meal for one on them. Even Fat Bird, contrary to her name was solid muscle.
If you are like me and believe that hens should sit and hatch and it's such a major part of being a chicken for both males and females, and given the hens in the tribes all went broody at least once a year. Even with predation and old age there were still more chickens each year than I could house and feed. I was left with either rehoming, which I did when I could find suitable people, or eating a few each year.
I also believe that having multi generation tribes is the way to keep chickens and this can only be properly achieved by letting broodies sit and hatch. I've had broody mums lose half their offspring when juveniles and from what I could see they accepted this as the way of nature for want of a better term.

I recall the trio adopted by the circus.

 

[Shadrach]

I may have missed it. Will it be a permanent or temporary structure ? If permanent will it serve to shelter from rain ?

It depends on how well it works and if the chickens will use it. Last year the heat wave we had here in the UK was dangerous. The weather people are predicting similar this year. There isn't any deep shade in the run bar underneath the coop. It's an experiment really. The science says it should work but whether it manages to reduce the air temp enough remains to be seen.
No, it won't be waterproof.

I don't know what others have observed apart from the few keepers I know who free range and have multi generational tribes.

 

[Shadrach]

The behaviour of the hen, the looks and feromonen probably makes that the rooster wants to mate (imo). Not the actual fertility.

Don't you think the two are related?

If you don’t like to have chickens that produce that many eggs then you can choose otherwise. There are still old heritage breeds with chickens that lay about 60 eggs a year. Rescuing ex-batts just doesn’t fit in the picture of wanting a more natural tribe.

You can choose otherwise but the breeds in the egg laying range you've mentioned are few and difficult to get.
How often does one read "I'm looking for a breed that lays as few eggs as possible."

It doesn't but in my case it isn't possible to have more natural tribe chicken keeping; I'm a few acres short of land.

This was too little eggs for my taste. And I like to have chickens that lay in the winter period too. Because I don’t like to buy eggs in the shop.

As I was saying, it's the humans fault.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Thank you for sharing it first. I also enjoyed reading it!
And I thought the story contest is a great idea, I really like reading what other people write. Wish there were more chicken stories !

I feel exactly like you. My partner's mother's husband, pépé Chichou, used to work slaughtering animals both in local households and at the slaughterhouse. He keeps telling us to fatten a pig for winter and that piglets grow to be really sweet and fun to have around before you eat them . I tell him I would keep the pig as my best friend ! He would do any processing we need, so I try to make fun of it when he insists.

I may have missed it. Will it be a permanent or temporary structure ? If permanent will it serve to shelter from rain ?

I wonder if it works as well in a confined/semi-confined environment.
Both my roosters still try to mate with the hens that don't lay (except the ones that are showing broody inclinations).

What have other multi roos keeper that are not completely free range seen ?

I did notice that when he was a cockerel Gaston began mating with the hens only once they were about to lay. Each time I saw him mating with a pullet for the first time, she laid her first egg within a week.

Strangely, Im ok with processing the meat. Even with animals that obviously are what they are (like whole rabbits). I'll even do the gnarly bits like clean and stuff sausage casings (intestines) and cut away the connective tissues and blood vessels and such. My great uncle was a butcher and I spent days as a kid in his basement meat locker "helping." I just can't (or think I can't) kill the animal. Perhaps if starvation were a factor, but then the pig would most certainly make a meal of me if it were a one and one scenario. Killing a pig is no small task.

Based on my limited observations, I'll second that I've noticed when the rooster begins to mate with a pullet, she comes into lay within a week or so.

@ManueB how on earth do you get the text to break up so nicely into these sectioned quotes do you can address parts of the broader thread in one post? That's pretty neat.

 

[BDutch]

Don't you think the two are related?

Compared to humans: there are lots of woman ,who are (temporarily) infertile, but it doesn’t mean they don’t want to mate. It just depends on many things how much they are in to it. And individual behaviour differs a lot.

You can choose otherwise but the breeds in the egg laying range you've mentioned are few and difficult to get.
How often does one read "I'm looking for a breed that lays as few eggs as possible."

It doesn't but in my case it isn't possible to have more natural tribe chicken keeping; I'm a few acres short of land.

Yes I understand that you are comitted to the flock at the allotment and you don’t have much choice. I was talking in general. Sorry if I wasn’t clear.
Within a few years probably a few older chickens die, I think it is worthwhile to choose a breed of your wishes in the future if the woman in charge agrees.
I’m sure there are breeders /organised groups in England that have a breed you would like.

As I was saying, it's the humans fault.

Yes. Fair enough. My family of the former generation even contributed in this industrialising proces.

But I don’t like it at all that humans use livestock/animals and breed to change the genes for extreme production as they do nowadays. If you dive into livestock history you find similar results in breeding to extremes with pigs, cows and other livestock too.
Humans even breed extreme looking cats and dogs just for the looks.
(Some)) humans are very capable in creating unhealthy monsters and animal abuse.
So sad.

 

[BDutch]

Strangely, Im ok with processing the meat. Even with animals that obviously are what they are (like whole rabbits). I'll even do the gnarly bits like clean and stuff sausage casings (intestines) and cut away the connective tissues and blood vessels and such. My great uncle was a butcher and I spent days as a kid in his basement meat locker "helping." I just can't (or think I can't) kill the animal. Perhaps if starvation were a factor, but then the pig would most certainly make a meal of me if it were a one and one scenario. Killing a pig is no small task.

I grew up on a farm and every year my parents asked a butcher to come to our house to kill a pig. I hated it. The pig screening and seeing him later on a ladder in two halfs. If I new what was going to happen, I was hiding myself in a closet upstairs and sit between clothes for sound isolation. I had to help to make sausages and such too. This part wasn’t too bad, but I never liked it.

When I left to live on my own I stopped eating meat for at least 10 years. I’m a bit hardened (harsher) in in the meantime .but still eat very little meat.

Based on my limited observations, I'll second that I've noticed when the rooster begins to mate with a pullet, she comes into lay within a week or so.

@ManueB how on earth do you get the text to break up so nicely into these sectioned quotes do you can address parts of the broader thread in one post? That's pretty neat.

If you put the cursor in a quoted post and enter, you break the quote into sections.

 

[TropicalChickies]

It depends on how well it works and if the chickens will use it. Last year the heat wave we had here in the UK was dangerous. The weather people are predicting similar this year. There isn't any deep shade in the run bar underneath the coop. It's an experiment really. The science says it should work but whether it manages to reduce the air temp enough remains to be seen.
No, it won't be waterproof.

I don't know what others have observed apart from the few keepers I know who free range and have multi generational tribes.

Well, mine are both free ranging and multigenerational, but when it's super hot and humid (as it has been here lately), they all gather in one place and stay there, not moving very much, throughout the hottest part of the day: under the thick shade cover of a clump of plants next to a trench and drainage pond that carries the torrential rainwater past our structures and downward to a stream. (I dug out the pond as temporary hold for the rainwater for the plants to filter anything coming down from the road and our kitchen sink -- it's a "natural greywater system" in eco-friendly talk. So it never stays full enough for a chicken to drown in).

Anyway, it stays remarkable cool under there. I checked with a thermometer a few weeks ago. The ambient temperature in direct sun was 34 °C, under this vegetation clump, it was 28°C.

Your allotment set up is very different, of course, but I can offer a few tips to creating a cooler microclimate based on the general premise of what's working here.

1. There's at least three layers of vegetation creating the chickens preferred shade spot. Young shoots of plant about half a meter from the ground, mature stalks and leaves about 1.5 meters off the ground, and taller stalks of another plant with big wide leaves that provide the canopy about 3 meters high.

2. Different layers of different heights don't only deepen the shade, each later transpires water from the soil into vapor at a different height, creating a micro-fine cooling "mist."

3. The presence of water and or damp soil nearby (in the trench and drainage pond) helps this evaporation and transpiration of vapor along greatly.

The temperature is greatly influenced by the presence of moisture and well as shade. So you are correct not to make the canopy waterproof.

So I would plant a few layers of plants around your shade canopy if at all possible. You have temperate plants of course, but perhaps something like comfrey for a tall plant, yarrow or bee balm for a mid-level plant, and some groundcover that holds moisture like clover. Ajuga and ferns can grow in the shade. Whatever plants you have that coexist on different levels is fine. Broader leafed plants will be more effective than, say, rosemary.

Some clay or stone flowerpots with a few inches of water in them at ground level will help the transpiration process. The more mossy the water gets, the better for coolness, but not for the chickens, so a screen tied on top of the pots would keep them from drinking it.

Perhaps you've thought of these things, but that's what I can offer in this area of "eco design" (really, just using plants and landscape features to do what nature does anyway).

 

[TropicalChickies]

I grew up on a farm and every year my parents asked a butcher to come to our house to kill a pig. I hated it. The pig screening and seeing him later on a ladder in two halfs. If I new what was going to happen, I was hiding myself in a closet upstairs and sit between clothes for sound isolation. I had to help to make sausages and such too. This part wasn’t too bad, but I never liked it.

When I left to live on my own I stopped eating meat for at least 10 years. I’m a bit hardened (harsher) in in the meantime .but still eat very little meat.

If you put the cursor in a quoted post and enter, you break the quote into sections.

Well, we've lived off grid with just a small solar power set up for over three years, and for three years before that, we didn't even have the solar. I haven't had a refrigerator in six years, just a cool storage spot dug into the ground for some occasional cheese we buy from a neighbor. We grow cassava, taro, sweet potato, plantain and breadnut so that takes care of our carbohydrate staples, and we rely mainly on legumes and eggs for protein. Meat is "treat" that I buy from the butcher when we go into town once (or twice, max) per week. So when I eat meat, I really enjoy it, and usually will choose the most nutrient dense parts like the liver or or a nice blood sausage to make it more worthwhile.