Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[TropicalChickies]

The growing season is a bit odd here. Because we get mild winters in the South West the growing season runs into winter with the right crops. It's what you grow when and the effort one puts into keeping up with the seasons. Last year a couple of plots down they had brussel sprouts growing right through the winter.

Rutabaga, parsnips, and Russian Kale are also fabulous mild winter crops. The roots are improved with a light frost. I lived in the mid Atlantic US for many years -- also has mild winters many years -- and would harvest these right out of the snow. As long as the ground doesn't freeze hard, they will grow the whole winter

 

[Shadrach]

A lovely dry and sunny afternoon then one of the plot holders turned up with some children who ran around waving sticks and screaming. Why it isn't acceptable to have children on leads, preferable tied to the main gate is beyond me. We ask people do it with dogs.
Well, that spoiled the chickens allotment time. Henry looked very nervous as did the hens. I'm not allowed to take the brats down with a slingshot apparently so it was back into the allotment run for all of us. Fortunately the allotment run has plenty of room and there is always the coop run and coop extension if the chickens feel under threat.
Henry the intrepid exploring the grass in the orchard.

Ella making her way to the feed bins. She does this most days just on the offchance there has been a major spill. The fact that it's the same stuff tha's in the feed tray doesn't seem to diminish the excitment of finding the odd pellets.

Fret and Carbon pretending they are weeding while grabbing the fruit berry buds when they think I'm not looking.

Sticking close to the gate for a hasty retreat.

Clean coop.

Good night.

 

[TropicalChickies]

A lovely dry and sunny afternoon then one of the plot holders turned up with some children who ran around waving sticks and screaming. Why it isn't acceptable to have children on leads, preferable tied to the main gate is beyond me. We ask people do it with dogs.
Well, that spoiled the chickens allotment time. Henry looked very nervous as did the hens. I'm not allowed to take the brats down with a slingshot apparently so it was back into the allotment run for all of us. Fortunately the allotment run has plenty of room and there is always the coop run and coop extension if the chickens feel under threat.
Henry the intrepid exploring the grass in the orchard.
View attachment 3511547
Ella making her way to the feed bins. She does this most days just on the offchance there has been a major spill. The fact that it's the same stuff tha's in the feed tray doesn't seem to diminish the excitment of finding the odd pellets.
View attachment 3511545
Fret and Carbon pretending they are weeding while grabbing the fruit berry buds when they think I'm not looking.
View attachment 3511546
Sticking close to the gate for a hasty retreat.
View attachment 3511544
Clean coop.
View attachment 3511543
Good night.View attachment 3511541

This made me spit out my tea from laughing. I have a bad habit of asking children who screech and thrash around in public, "Hey, where's your owner?" Gets me some looks from parents, but whatever. I have no problem with children actually as long they remain sequestered somewhere else.

 

[RoyalChick]

Great stuff. This sort of information should be easily available to people in the USA and prominant on BYC.

Before everyone gets too excited I tried them when I was first looking to get more chickens and they had nothing.
They are currently listing 53 chickens in the whole of the US spread across 6 States.
Petfinder has 150 chickens listed. They are not ex-bats - more like ones removed from owners and looking to be rehomed.

 

[TropicalChickies]

None seen here local.

Well that's good. We have some fierce falcons but they are really only a threat to small chicks -- they aren't big enough to take on a full grown hen. They mainly prey on snakes, which is good.

 

[TropicalChickies]

It's noticable isn't it. I've had tribes without a rooster occasionally and the hens were all over the place.

That's interesting. In the two years I didn't have a rooster, the hens could be so indolent. They would loll about under the shade clump all day long. They are more brisk and active with the young rooster around.

 

[kcan2]

A lovely dry and sunny afternoon then one of the plot holders turned up with some children who ran around waving sticks and screaming. Why it isn't acceptable to have children on leads, preferable tied to the main gate is beyond me. We ask people do it with dogs.
Well, that spoiled the chickens allotment time. Henry looked very nervous as did the hens. I'm not allowed to take the brats down with a slingshot apparently so it was back into the allotment run for all of us.

Hilarious - reminded me of a time I was at a turkey farm and wondered why all of the turkeys suddenly began to swarm closely around me, including some pretty big toms. Made me nervous until I realized they were seeking refuge from a screaming child who was yelling and mock charging them. The kid seemed surprised I wasn't scared of the turkeys, and when I told him that I have chickens, he declared "Turkeys aren't chickens!" before running away. Nice kid
Henry & Co are smart to hug Shadrach and safety!

*edited to add turkey tax

 

[BDutch]

One has to bear in mind that chicken keeping in a coop and run environment often requires a different approach. I fell foul of this a lot when I first joined BYC.
I just could not understand why so many people were having the problems they had. It gets to the point where one wants to suggest that maybe some of these people shouldn't be keeping chickens at all given the conditions.

What do you mean by conditions here?
Do you mean anything that makes keeping chickens a lot more difficult than for the fortunate? Such as: a big problem with predators, a very harsh and difficult climate, a tiny garden, not enough money to buy good stuff?
Or do you mean they have a small coop and a tiny run because they think that is good enough to keep chickens healthy and sane, bearing in mind that chickens in the industry have much less space to live?
I can remember that when I started to keep chickens I was told/have been reading that 0,25m2 indoor and 1m2 outdoor space is just fine to keep chickens and was surprised that this is not even enough space for tiny chickens like my Dutch. -> social problems bringing in younger chicks when I kept them in a tractor and the soil getting unhealthy (smelly) by keeping 6 chickens in a 9m2 run.

 

[BDutch]

Great stuff. This sort of information should be easily available to people in the USA and prominant on BYC.

You can such info post in this section: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/animals-in-need-of-free-re-homing.16182/

 

[BDutch]

It's noticable isn't it. I've had tribes without a rooster occasionally and the hens were all over the place.

It probably depends on the hens. My hens stay together quit well when they free range, except for Pearl. She is often on her own.

btw: free-range here means that the chickens can walk freely to a "green strip" of the municipality and the gardens of our neighbors.

Behind the cherry tree ends our garden and begins the green strip/ municipality land. They mow it once a year. Between the high grass and the bushes behind runs a small stream.