Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

@BDutch
Better to comment on the link on this thread I think.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/byc-café.948525/post-22071698

Thanks Shad, but I still haven’t figured out how I got lost in that cafe thread.

Did you build this earth house in Catalonia?
It’s really wonderful. Please tell us a bit more about the build.

Apple Tax:

 

[MrsNorthie]

Hollowed out bamboo pushed deep into the ground down which one pours water does apparently work to encourage the plant to develop deep roots which gives them resilience in times of drought

We will have to try that in our ground beds. We have corn, green beans, zucchini, pumpkins and melons growing in ground beds and I bet that would be brilliant! We need to get some big water barrels too.

 

[Shadrach]

Did you build this earth house in Catalonia?
It’s really wonderful. Please tell us a bit more about the build.

Yes I designed the house and some local builders and I built it.
I'm not sure what else to write about it. The pictures in the link tell the construction story.
What is it exactly you want to know?

 

[Shadrach]

And now for something different...

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/is-this-the-proletariat

In case the link gets missed...

 

[TropicalChickies]

Hi folks, I'm in need of some guidance from the experienced rooster keepers here. Lucio, my seven month old cockerel is growing up. He's quite a large and powerful looking bird already -- and I'm a pretty small human -- and I want to approach handling him in a way that doesn't scare the bejeezus out of him and make him avoid me. I handled him a few times when he was younger, and even treated him for a impacted crop brought on by eating a very big lizard, but it's been a few months since I last picked him up and held him.

It is important that I'm able to handle him regularly. It's getting to be sticktight flea season here and these nasties will be around for the next 2 months. They are awful critters that actually burrow in and "stick" to their combs, wattles, and faces, sucking blood. I need to be able to check and treat when needed.

We have quite a good relationship so far. I do the things the rooster killers warn about not doing and he doesn't seem to mind at all. I squat down next to him "on his level" and he just regards me curiously for a few moments and walks away. He doesn't "herd shuffle" me or attempt to fly up to get at the feed bowl. He tried that once and (as @Shadrach recommends) I caught him quickly under the belly with my palm and tossed him away. He never did that again, and to be fair, I probably wasn't quick enough that day at giving him "first peck" with the little chicks underfoot and all. He has never shown any of the terrifying rooster tendencies I've read about and while he is sometimes ornery with the mama hens who won't squat for him, he seems to respect me.

For the past few days, I've been encouraging him to come close to me, practicing the "closed fist" approach. He comes close enough to eat from my hand, but still in a darting, wary way. I'll keep doing this until he's more relaxed.

I guess at some point I'm just gonna have to make a grab for him and there will probably be some struggle the first time.

What's the best way to do this? To make a grab and hope for the best? Or should I wait until he roosts at night? I'm not afraid of him at all. I'm more concerned about him becoming afraid of me and undoing the work I've done so far. With these sticktight fleas around, I need him to comfortable being picked up, checked, and treated.

This is my first time caring for a cockerel from hatch to roosterhood and I want to do a good job.

Thank you
@Shadrach
@Perris
@GregnLety

^that white stuff on his head is dried plain yogurt. Don't ask me why he stuck his head in the bowl...

 

[MrsNorthie]

Hi folks, I'm in need of some guidance from the experienced rooster keepers here. Lucio, my seven month old cockerel is growing up. He's quite a large and powerful looking bird already -- and I'm a pretty small human -- and I want to approach handling him in a way that doesn't scare the bejeezus out of him and make him avoid me. I handled him a few times when he was younger, and even treated him for a impacted crop brought on by eating a very big lizard, but it's been a few months since I last picked him up and held him.

It is important that I'm able to handle him regularly. It's getting to be sticktight flea season here and these nasties will be around for the next 2 months. They are awful critters that actually burrow in and "stick" to their combs, wattles, and faces, sucking blood. I need to be able to check and treat when needed.

We have quite a good relationship so far. I do the things the rooster killers warn about not doing and he doesn't seem to mind at all. I squat down next to him "on his level" and he just regards me curiously for a few moments and walks away. He doesn't "herd shuffle" me or attempt to fly up to get at the feed bowl. He tried that once and (as @Shadrach recommends) I caught him quickly under the belly with my palm and tossed him away. He never did that again, and to be fair, I probably wasn't quick enough that day at giving him "first peck" with the little chicks underfoot and all. He has never shown any of the terrifying rooster tendencies I've read about and while he is sometimes ornery with the mama hens who won't squat for him, he seems to respect me.

For the past few days, I've been encouraging him to come close to me, practicing the "closed fist" approach. He comes close enough to eat from my hand, but still in a darting, wary way. I'll keep doing this until he's more relaxed.

I guess at some point I'm just gonna have to make a grab for him and there will probably be some struggle the first time.

What's the best way to do this? To make a grab and hope for the best? Or should I wait until he roosts at night? I'm not afraid of him at all. I'm more concerned about him becoming afraid of me and undoing the work I've done so far. With these sticktight fleas around, I need him to comfortable being picked up, checked, and treated.

This is my first time caring for a cockerel from hatch to roosterhood and I want to do a good job.

Thank you
@Shadrach
@Perris
@GregnLety

View attachment 3545247
View attachment 3545248
^that white stuff on his head is dried plain yogurt. Don't ask me why he stuck his head in the bowl...

View attachment 3545249

He is a handsome boy! All but one of my lovely boys eat, very gently out of my hand. Our Dominant is still a bit of a bugger, but getting better. It seems like it takes one wrong move and we end up back at square 1, or worse. @Shadrach is the most pro-rooster advocate that I have seen on the forums, so this is probably a good place to ask without getting inundated with "the only answer is t kill them" brigade.

 

[Perris]

I don't handle any of my flock unless necessary, but sometimes it is necessary and then what works for me is the both hands holding the wings initially, shifting to under one arm so the other arm is free to do whatever needs doing. I've had to start doing this with ex-dom Chirk (who I never held before) recently, and it worked with him as it has with others including other roos before. Typically they're agitated first time, but they're not daft, and if what you do during holding them results in them feeling better then or soon afterwards, they're less agitated next time, and so on.

Lucio looks like a smart lad; I'm sure he'll get it that in this case you'll be trying to preen him. If you've ever seen a hen preening a roo round the neck, you'll have noticed that occasionally they get a sensitive bit and the roo jerks his head away, but then represents for her to carry on, because he knows it's good for him even if it does hurt occasionally.

 

[GregnLety]

I don't handle any of my flock unless necessary, but sometimes it is necessary and then what works for me is the both hands holding the wings initially, shifting to under one arm so the other arm is free to do whatever needs doing. I've had to start doing this with ex-dom Chirk (who I never held before) recently, and it worked with him as it has with others including other roos before. Typically they're agitated first time, but they're not daft, and if what you do during holding them results in them feeling better then or soon afterwards, they're less agitated next time, and so on.

Lucio looks like a smart lad; I'm sure he'll get it that in this case you'll be trying to preen him. If you've ever seen a hen preening a roo round the neck, you'll have noticed that occasionally they get a sensitive bit and the roo jerks his head away, but then represents for her to carry on, because he knows it's good for him even if it does hurt occasionally.

Well said Perris. I avoid handling them. I've only handled roosters who have been injured in fights with other roosters. Typically I will hold them restraining their wings while Lety cleans and dresses their wounds. I imagine if I had to do it alone I would catch them on the roost if it was not emergency first aid type of treatment.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Thanks folks, much appreciated. I'm definitely not wanting to over-handle him or make him cuddly. I respect his rooster-ness. These sticktight fleas are a real bother -- like red mites, enough of them will actually make a bird anemic and then die from weakness and susceptibility to infection. It's happened here to one of my hens before I knew the signs. Unlike mites, they don't live in the coop, they are everywhere, in the ground, and are carried by wild birds so no amount of coop cleaning or spraying does anything. Thankfully, they only hatch en masse twice per year and live for about a month, but the only thing to do about them is remove them from the chickens once they start attaching.

Lucio was brought up under my older hens so he's quite deferential and I have no desire to get rid of him. I want fertile eggs for hatching. I just need to be able to treat him as needed.

I'll wait for Shad to weigh in as well if he's inclined to do so.

 

[BDutch]

Yes I designed the house and some local builders and I built it.
I'm not sure what else to write about it. The pictures in the link tell the construction story.
What is it exactly you want to know?

Thanks.
Is this the house you lived in yourself in Catalonia?
How long did it take to build?