Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MaryJanet]

So are you saying that it would be better for the chickens if a flock was all the same breed?

I’m guilty of picking and choosing a wide variety of feather patterns and egg colors. The reason I did that was so I could track who was laying and how often to keep better tabs on their health.

The two chicks I have are ISA Browns - though they were supposedly Buff Orps when I bought them - that I never would have bought except I had a single Brahma chick that needed company, and those two were the youngest I could find. The Brahma chick ended up dying - abandoned by mama hen because it was a week-ish younger than the ISA’s and couldn’t keep up with them, so I can only guess that mama decided to put her energy into the more active chicks. I noticed that she was less attentive to the Brahma one afternoon, decided I needed to keep an eye on the behavior, came back that night from a performance I was in, and the little Brahma was dead from exposure outside the coop. After that, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to keep the two ISA’s (still on the fence about them actually) but I feel a certain responsibility to give them the best life I can since they are here.

If I had known they were production birds, I don’t think I would have bought them. It was my first time hatching eggs and I didn’t know how good a mom my broody would be, or how long she would stick with her chicks. The chicks are 9-ish weeks old now, and she’s still with them. I still wonder if I made the right choice.

Yes, colour-coded eggs are a huge support for people who are learning to keep chickens!

 

[Perris]

I've got a mixed flock too. I wanted heritage breeds with good reputations for disease resistance, foraging skills, and predator awareness, to suit the open conditions here. I chose different breeds to get different coloured eggs, and it helped me know who was laying what, but only for the 1st generation. It's very difficult to tell apart the eggs of the home grown hybrids, as they're mostly various shades of off white to light brown

Besides the home grown chicks, I've acquired either pullets (first 3 years) or hatching eggs (more recently) in groups of at least 2 and at most 7, depending on broody and available coop space at the time. But predation and other issues have reduced the numbers of each type to between 1 and 5 of a pure breed kind. In either case the clutch grew up together within the flock, and separated themselves as juveniles, then mixed on reaching maturity. That's true of the home grown hybrids too of course, who all look different from one another and their parents. There is room for subflocks here, and they do form, but they're always temporary. Roosting is the real giveaway: there's no consistency in who roosts with whom or where on any given night. I know because I look into each coop each night when I close up. I think it might change if the flock grows bigger than 20 ish; that seems to be a threshold for a flock before it splits.

As I grew more knowledgeable about chickens and their offspring, I thought more about what genes to add to my flock's mix, explicitly with a view to increasing its diversity. My flock now consists of breeds that developed, at least originally, in England, France, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and South America. I have endeavored to source them from breeders with prize winning stock when I can, and I'm happy to take stock they don't want to grow on as breeding stock. Of course with very rare breeds beggars can't be choosers, and I've been disappointed with some; I think there's a good reason why some of these rare breeds are rare. Others may simply have been inbred too long. Those constitutionally fit for this environment thrive, and reproduce. The offspring are different sizes and shapes and colours - one even has one green toe on an otherwise yellow leg! - which is fine, because I'm not trying to develop a breed, just a flock that does well here. It won't be RJF, but hopefully it will be something suited to temperate woodland, with a broad range of genetic resources to face whatever challenges are thrown up here.

 

[Perris]

I think some tax must be due after all that; I give you 2 Swedish Flowers, a Norfolk Grey, an Araucana, a Rhode Island Red, and two hybrid chicks, mixing nicely

 

[Ribh]

I think some tax must be due after all that; I give you 2 Swedish Flowers, a Norfolk Grey, an Araucana, a Rhode Island Red, and two hybrid chicks, mixing nicely
View attachment 2934921

@Perris : How do you find the Swedish Flowers? That's a breed I've been interested in Though not sure if they are available out here..

 

[Ribh]

TAX.​

 

[Pippin quail]

@Perris : How do you find the Swedish Flowers? That's a breed I've been interested in Though not sure if they are available out here..

Not who you asked, but I bought 3 Swedish Flower Hens this fall and so far they seem to be some of my most flighty/skittish chickens. But the lady I bought them from didn't seem to be the kindest when handling them, so that could be part of it. Also almost her entire flock had been picked off by a fox, so they may just be wary because of those factors.
The ones I have lay huge eggs. The biggest eggs in my bunch here are SFH eggs.

Here's some SFH tax

This one is Tuva (beside my grumpy Flax)



The 3 SFH's Svenska, Ingaburg and Tuva together. And here's Tuva giving Moonshine curious look
Back when my chickens were actually laying eggs regularly. Look at that huge one bottom left! That's Tuva's.

 

[Shadrach]

Henry contemplating the wider world.

 

[Shadrach]

Lima has learn't how to dig. Sounds strange I know but the Ex Batts scratch the ground and move on if nothing interesting appears. I know it's not much of a hole but she kept at it and got rewarded by some tiny roots which she ate.
Matilda who does dig noticed Lima had found something interesting and took over. Matilda is senior to Lima.
There are now two diggers in the Ex Batts. Dusk started to dig rather than scratch last week but I haven't been quick enough to get a picture of her doing it yet.

 

[Perris]

@Perris : How do you find the Swedish Flowers? That's a breed I've been interested in Though not sure if they are available out here..

I love them. Easy going, great foragers and predator aware. Sven is a wonderful roo. But Venka's never gone broody (and she's 4 now) and her son Chirk is her only surviving offspring to date; a daughter died without warning after a very good first 18 months, cause unknown. V lays ivory coloured eggs, about 65g, about 150 per year. Which is very respectable I think. And they are real eye candy, her as well as the boys; it's always a pleasure to see them in the garden.

 

[Ribh]

Not who you asked, but I bought 3 Swedish Flower Hens this fall and so far they seem to be some of my most flighty/skittish chickens. But the lady I bought them from didn't seem to be the kindest when handling them, so that could be part of it. Also almost her entire flock had been picked off by a fox, so they may just be wary because of those factors.
The ones I have lay huge eggs. The biggest eggs in my bunch here are SFH eggs.

Here's some SFH tax

This one is Tuva (beside my grumpy Flax)

View attachment 2934962

The 3 SFH's Svenska, Ingaburg and Tuva together. View attachment 2934965 And here's Tuva giving Moonshine curious lookView attachment 2934964
Back when my chickens were actually laying eggs regularly. Look at that huge one bottom left! That's Tuva's.
View attachment 2934963

Thank you. Flighty & skittish is not a problem for me. I have Campines...