Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Not so much running out of space as running out of decent ground for foraging. I'll rough weed the patches in the background and that will help for a few days. I'm looking for temporary fence posts. I've got a roll of orange highway plastic fencing. I'll open up on the right of the picture in sections.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I have not had allot of photos posted your right @Shadrach. But never felt like I wanted to. Do like the tax system you and @BY Bob thought of .. Always enjoyed your work and thoughts.
Here is Tax just many on the way in for treats.

 

[Perris]

I have theories as to why the breeds and related stick together but in the short term what is important is to get people to realise that this is how chickens are.
If and once people accept this then perhaps they might take some care in choosing what breeds they keep and in what circumstances rather than go about choosing like a kid in a sweet shop.

but landrace/village 'breeds' are notoriously variable. Standards, so they all look alike, is a human invention and product of artificial selection over the last 100 years or so. Isolation is what causes speciation, so that they look or sound or smell different from the original stock. Deliberately limiting the gene pool is not a good idea to my mind.

 

[Ribh]

I have theories as to why the breeds and related stick together but in the short term what is important is to get people to realise that this is how chickens are.
If and once people accept this then perhaps they might take some care in choosing what breeds they keep and in what circumstances rather than go about choosing like a kid in a sweet shop.

Guilty as charged. In my defence I have been careful about which breeds I've chosen as I've learned. No High production hybrids. I have generally chosen breeds with reputations for being fairly calm & docile, not for their egg laying capacity. As you know I have a calm tribe that gets along well but I do have a licorice allsorts. My experience says bantams are hardier & longer lived than standards ~ as we've discussed they were bred for different reasons.

 

[MaryJanet]

Guilty as charged. In my defence I have been careful about which breeds I've chosen as I've learned. No High production hybrids. I have generally chosen breeds with reputations for being fairly calm & docile, not for their egg laying capacity. As you know I have a calm tribe that gets along well but I do have a licorice allsorts. My experience says bantams are hardier & longer lived than standards ~ as we've discussed they were bred for different reasons.

I'm guilty of that too. But I'm not terribly worried about it because there's so much enrichment in the hen's environment I'm pretty sure they're contented and living a good life.

 

[Nksg75]

Hello Nksg75. I haven't seen you around for a while. I know you can pay tax.

Yes, your right! Good to know your paying attention! I believe I may owe back taxes as well! just trying the find the best pic!
not sure if you remember your advice to me awhile ago regarding “One eyed Willy”, he is doing great, and has figured out a way to stay in the coop each night with the other alpha/beta roosters. Sneaky little guy gets inside early and roosts amongst the hens, and somehow manages to blend in. I will have to take a few more pics to pay the full amount!

 

[Ladies-Eight]

How did she lose her comb?!

I really don't know how it happened.

I went out as usual to see my chickens and her comb was just dangling.

I brought her in to the screen room and crated her.

I then cut the appendage off and use cornstarch as a clotting mechanism.

It did not seem to bother her.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Rehomed as in took in or moved out?

I moved them out.

I could not get the new birds and ISA Browns to integrate.

I needed the space for everybody and they were laying sporadically.

It was hard to let a couple of them go as they were from my first eight chickens that I started with.

The young girl that took them was very happy with them.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

The temperature is 61 and cloudy.

Have a great day!

 

[Sally PB]

Guilty as charged. In my defence I have been careful about which breeds I've chosen as I've learned.

I'm guilty of this too. My first birds were "the breed names I recognized at TSC when I got my first chicks," Buff Orpington and Black Australorp. My second were the same breeds (I thought), but different colors.

I'm thinking of other breeds, and dreaming about chicks in the spring, but it might not happen for another year. I want birds that lay a decent number of lg-xl eggs. I want birds that work with what I have for space and habitat, so no feathered legs. No poofy boofy (I love to look at them in pics, though), no silkies (ditto), and no high production breeds.

I am responsible for these animals, their feeding, housing, welfare, just the same as any dogs we welcome into our home. I know how much time and effort I am likely to put into them, so I need to choose chickens that I have the time and energy for.

Would I love to cross breed some of the birds I have now, "just to see what colors I get?" Sure. Will I? Maybe, if hatching eggs becomes part of my plan.