Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[no fly zone]

Skeksis is still with us. The vet office opens in about 20 min. I should call to inquire status of that culture.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Update on handling and treating Lucio, my big bruiser 7mo cockerel for parasites--

After reading and considering everyone's input here, I decided it would probably be easiest and most effective to try and inspect and treat Lucio in the late evening once he was on the roost. One of the downsides I guess about my birds having so much space and freedom is that I literally have no where to corner them. No door on the coop, no fenced run, and Lucio can jump and fly quite high. The image of me with my short legs and arms trying catch an agile and athletic rooster during the day is laughable.

Fortunately, the roost bar he prefers is right about at the height of my shoulder and I can walk inside the coop, so I figured I wouldn't even have to take him off the bar.

It went quite well! I had the sulfur soap prepped (melted to a gooey liquid) in a squeeze bottle and a small paintbrush to slather it on in my pocket and quietly approached the coop when there was still just enough light to make out his outline on the roost. He didn't move. I quickly slid one arm around him and hugged him in to my side ribs without compressing his wings or taking him from the roost. All fine. With my other hand, I flipped on my headlamp to see him. His eyes were wide but he wasn't twitching or struggling, so I used my wrist on the arm holding him to tilt his head back so soap solution wouldn't drip into his eyes and began slathering it into all the gaps and nodes of his big comb to smother the fleas (they need oxygen and they hate the sulfur smell). Then I gobbed on some Vaseline for good measure and wiped off the excess with a cotton ball. Most of the fleas hadn't embedded deeply and came off with the goop. The embedded ones will suffocate under the soap and Vaseline film I left on.

The only difficulty was that his feathers are so silky it was like trying to hold onto a bundle of satin sheets! And the whole time I'm thinking, wow, what a magnificent animal. I love hens and chicks, but a rooster is something else.

Lucio was pretty relaxed. Either he was petrified or the relief from having the bloodsuckers removed was so great he just went with it. Then I dropped the paintbrush. Lucio was being so good I hugged him into me a little closer and gently removed him from the roost bar so I could squat to retrieve the paintbrush. I finished the treatment with him standing on my thigh while I was in a squat close to the ground. (Finally, the yoga comes in handy...)

It was only when I started to stand back up to put him back on the roost that he started to squirm and resist, so I just let him go, stepped outside and pointed the light in a way to let him see the interior of the coop without blinding him and he made his way back up to the roost. He walked back and forth several times, looking for the strange entity that entered and held him captive, satisfied himself that all was safe, and settled back down.

The next day, he didn't regard me suspiciously and came up for "first peck" at breakfast, so I don't think he knows it was me. I'm glad it went well and I'm more confident I can keep these nasty bloodsuckers off my fine young man.

Lucio, showing off his flea-free comb and waddles.

 

[no fly zone]

 

[fuzzi]

Go, Skeksis!

 

[Shadrach]

Six hours today. Mostly sunny.
Lima is struggling. She ate a little(wholemeal bread soaked in kefir with an egg white cooked and chopped) and drank a lot. I got some Ibuprofene into her and some Rooster Booster. She spent most of the afternoon by or under my chair. I stayed with them all until 10.45pm. We all sat on the extension roost bar until it had got properly dark. Lima managed to get on to the roost bar in the coop without help.

I washed out the inside of the coop and used a borrowed cooking blow torch to do the roost bars and supports. That should be it for the mite problem. I should have my own blowtorch by the weekend.

I've found something suitable to replace the wooden roost bars.
https://www.kedel.co.uk/battens/RG0...MI2oHylNTM_wIVi9LtCh330wKFEAQYBSABEgJR9PD_BwE

I'll round off the top edges a bit more when it arrives.
Heavy going today. Not much else I can write. Hopefully Lima will get a decent nights miteless sleep and make it to see another day.

 

[RoyalChick]

Six hours today. Mostly sunny.
Lima is struggling. She ate a little(wholemeal bread soaked in kefir with an egg white cooked and chopped) and drank a lot. I got some Ibuprofene into her and some Rooster Booster. She spent most of the afternoon by or under my chair. I stayed with them all until 10.45pm. We all sat on the extension roost bar until it had got properly dark. Lima managed to get on to the roost bar in the coop without help.

I washed out the inside of the coop and used a borrowed cooking blow torch to do the roost bars and supports. That should be it for the mite problem. I should have my own blowtorch by the weekend.

I've found something suitable to replace the wooden roost bars.
https://www.kedel.co.uk/battens/RG0...MI2oHylNTM_wIVi9LtCh330wKFEAQYBSABEgJR9PD_BwE

I'll round off the top edges a bit more when it arrives.
Heavy going today. Not much else I can write. Hopefully Lima will get a decent nights miteless sleep and make it to see another day.

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Poor Lima. Sounds like she derives comfort from being near you so that is good.
The substitute for wood you linked to is the same product as I have used extensively in building the Chicken Palace (limited only by cost as they certainly don't give them away).
It is a fantastic product and works like wood.
A couple of things to note:
- It is quite a lot heavier than wood lumber of equivalent size
- It is also harder on saw blades and the like
The main issue I see with it for roosts is that it is quite slippery. I don't think there is anything you can do about that. It just is. So I would worry a bit about the chickens losing their grip on the roost.
You might want to put it out in the run on a couple of blocks and observe how they handle jumping up and down on it.

 

[TropicalChickies]

I love you all the way from Ecuador, Lima.

Lima is struggling. She ate a little(wholemeal bread soaked in kefir with an egg white cooked and chopped) and drank a lot. I got some Ibuprofene into her and some Rooster Booster. She spent most of the afternoon by or under my chair

 

[Shadrach]

Poor Lima. Sounds like she derives comfort from being near you so that is good.
The substitute for wood you linked to is the same product as I have used extensively in building the Chicken Palace (limited only by cost as they certainly don't give them away).
It is a fantastic product and works like wood.
A couple of things to note:
- It is quite a lot heavier than wood lumber of equivalent size
- It is also harder on saw blades and the like
The main issue I see with it for roosts is that it is quite slippery. I don't think there is anything you can do about that. It just is. So I would worry a bit about the chickens losing their grip on the roost.
You might want to put it out in the run on a couple of blocks and observe how they handle jumping up and down on it.

I had wondered how slippery it might be. I can probably fix that with slots along the length if necessary or even a butile sheet fixed over the top. Given the red mite seems to be a major problem in the area, (I have no idea why some areas seem to get lots and others not so much) wooden roost bars with the fixing option I have are not a great idea.

 

[RoyalChick]

I had wondered how slippery it might be. I can probably fix that with slots along the length if necessary or even a butile sheet fixed over the top. Given the red mite seems to be a major problem in the area, (I have no idea why some areas seem to get lots and others not so much) wooden roost bars with the fixing option I have are not a great idea.

with some dedication you can score it. So you could carve some cross-cross pattern into it.
But I would watch them first. It may not be an issue.
Some of my littles were perching on a narrow piece of it most of this afternoon and they did fine.

 

[Shadrach]

with some dedication you can score it. So you could carve some cross-cross pattern into it.
But I would watch them first. It may not be an issue.
Some of my littles were perching on a narrow piece of it most of this afternoon and they did fine.
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I think you would be right when they have muddy feet which is likely to be the case here in winter. I'm making a few changes regarding feeding and watering. The hard plastic washing up bowl it seems I bought only a few months ago has a split in it.
I'm going to try these. One for feed and one for water. 5 litres for water should be plenty for five to ten chickens given I change the water daily. The washing up bowl holds far too much and is too tall.
https://www.tanks-direct.co.uk/5-litre-black-gorilla-tub/p5759