Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[notabitail]

New Jersey recently banned single use plastic shopping bags (also paper I think).
My mother never threw anything out so plastic shopping bags were kept and reused and as needed they were used to wrap the smelly rubbish.
Like mother like daughter.
So initially I didn’t understand what a single use plastic bag was!
I had to laugh because I have inherited enough plastic bags to last me a lifetime.
I will use and reuse them wisely!

"Single Use". Most people don't realize those can be used for other things, like the little trash can in the bathrooom, or giving a gift to someone. Nope, straight to the trash, or, here in El Paso, the non functioning drainage ditch in the middle of the street, clogged with rocks, weeds, and litter. It used to be concrete and actually drained then. Now it is a spot for litter to live.
Oh, we have flying single use plastic bags here.

 

[notabitail]

I save everything and reuse it as much as possible. Both my parents and my in-laws were Great Depression children, and experienced want, and learned how to make do with what they had.

I use plastic grocery bags for cleaning out the cat box and scooping up after my dog. Most cardboard and paper goes into the compost pile with leaves and yard clippings. Some cardboard is laid down on the ground as a weed barrier, covered with mulch from the compost pile. My Millennial son still rolls his eyes when I save plastic produce containers or bags, for reuse, but he doesn't try to change me!

Oh, and I invested in a gravity-fed water purifier/filter, no more plastic water bottles!
And the water tastes GOOD.
View attachment 3540248

In case you're interested:
https://mypatriotsupply.com/products/alexapure-pro-water-filtration-system

I save packaging for almost everything I buy. It works to keep the chooks from eating my plants.

We have a similar filter. It works really well. And the water is drinkable. The water here is so nasty when I was sick and didn't have the filter I could hardly drink any without getting worse.

 

[notabitail]

Yes. Depression era parents will do it. I am sure like me you have pieces of string that are older than you are.
Interesting filter. Why do you filter the water? I have a well and I drink that. I get it tested every few years to make sure I am not likely to kill myself or my animals.

All the bad stuff they put in the water.

 

[notabitail]

We don't have a well, we are supplied by a local water company. They use chloramines to disinfect the water, and it's NASTY.

The water table here is very high, so drilling a well is probably not our best option. When we get a lot of rain our septic system gets sluggish. No sewer system available, yet.

Visit El Paso. Ask someone if you can drink a bit of sink water. Soooo nasty.

 

[Iluveggers]

I have a full size Speckled Sussex named Abigail, the one in my profile photo. I love those things. She hates me picking her up but is fine with being on my lap after being paid with a mealworm.

I love my Speckled Sussex, also. Don’t tell the rest, but she’s my favorite!

 

[notabitail]

I love my Speckled Sussex, also. Don’t tell the rest, but she’s my favorite!

Mine knows her name. She was dozing off. I said "Abigail". She looked at me with "the look" and made a noise that I think means "whaaat? I'm tired".

 

[Shadrach]

And they're at ground level. I think she's got a lot of game-type genes in her background (Penedesenca). She's certainly breaking new ground here on living as nature intended.

Penedesencas are pretty good free rangers if you've got the genuine article so to speak. I used to see tribes of them on the farms when I travelled North towards the French border. The Catalan ones still go broody and make good mothers I'm told.

 

[Shadrach]

@Shadrach I think I made the Chicken Guard work again. The flange that prevents the wire from falling off the axle , the string is wound around, fell down in the box.
After a fairly quick repair I put it back together and now the calibration did what it was supposed to do.

Excellent. Having one myself and thinking of getting another naturally I'm interested in any problems.

 

[Shadrach]

Is chick behaviour a reliable guide to gender? Here's Fez at tea tonight.
View attachment 3540497
Dining with 3 aunties (and next to Maria the head hen here, but they all move round a lot during mealtime so I put no store by that); mum was at one of the other bowls. I'm gonna stick my neck out and guess that this behaviour at 14 days old indicates male. There's no comb or wattle development or colour yet btw.

I think it can be if you have a mix of male and female chicks to observe.

 

[Shadrach]

Returning to the topic of chicken coops...

This morning about 11am I spotted an ad for a 2nd hand Green Frog aka Nestera medium size coop like 2 of my existing, posted by someone about 1.5 hrs away. With bread in progress I couldn't leave immediately, but I was there by 3pm, it was disassembled and in the back of my car (a regular Ford hatchback, seats 4) by 3.30, home, washed, disinfected, dried and reassembled by 7, and 6 chickens have chosen it for bed tonight. The ease with which it can be disassembled to create a flat pack for transport in an ordinary vehicle is another big advantage of this brand of plastic coop, imo, besides the obvious ease and speed of cleaning and disinfecting smooth flat plastic sheets.

And during the course of the day (the afternoon, essentially) I've gone from capacity on the coops to space to accommodate anyone else who goes broody this year Chicken math is like gravity; gets us all in the end

Lucky you. I've been on the lookout for another second hand recycled plastic coop and while the omlets appear reasonably frequently I don't like them much.