Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ladies-Eight]

I better not be!

Funny1

 

[Ladies-Eight]

And what there is to do costs money!

And lots of it.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good evening one and all!

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!

 

[MrsNorthie]

There are lots of us who are not social butterflies.

I am like a hermit, don't bother me, don't try to take me out, and just leave me alone.

I don't have to dress up in Florida, as I wear shorts all the time.

I work from home, so wear shorts or leggings all day, except when doing chicken chores. I kind of have that trapped on a tropical island hobo look going..lol

 

[kcan2]

Alas, I wish I had been camera-ready today when my rooster indulged in a dust bath, managed to do a complete frontal headstand, and then got momentarily stuck that way.

Given, this was a newer dust bath location on a bit of a hill, where I was trying to plant some grass, but noticing the relative baldness of the sunny spot and the invitingness of freshly upturned and mossy grass clods, my chickens turned aside to improve upon any presumptuous human progress in that specific area of the yard.

Having achieved his gymnastical head/wing stand of previous unbeknownst possibility, my rooster seemed temporarily content to remain in his unorthodox position of feet-to-sky-tail-aside, despite appearing quite undignified to a nearby hen, who was attempting to dust bathe in what little room he left her to maneuver.

After giving him a moment to discover that he was in fact upside down, I started saying his name a few times, during which it must have dawned on him that if this was a moon landing, vertigo had claimed the upper hand.

Before I could get up from my nearby chair to offer assistance, he suddenly launched himself backwards and evacuated the dust bath premises in favor of the relative familiarity found in closer proximity to my legs. I did ask him what happened, but he was quite busy looking down at his own legs as if to ensure they were in their rightful place again.

A photo depicting his reaction when I asked him why he messed up my grass clods, anyway:


If anyone has ever played the game "pass the pigs" this was probably the closest rendition of his dust bath position

 

[Perris]

My Russian friend send me these.

Very nice; but who are those chickens?

 

[ManueB]

I was expecting the same with outdoor tomatoes and basically the same weather here, yet I ate my first red tom yesterday and another is orange on the plant that was bought started and went in first. So sunshine and warmth are not essential it appears. Those I grew from seed are about the same stage as yours, and I've got my fingers crossed for them. They're a Czech variety called Stupice that is supposed to be good for outdoor conditions. The bought one is Gardener's delight.

Sunshine plays no role in ripening. Temperature needs to be between 10c/50 and 29/85, and ideally between 20c to 25 .
We pick and ripen the october tomatoes in huge kraft bags, adding either an apple or banana skin, it works very well. It is said that hanging banana skin on the tomato plant helps them ripen with ethylen - I don't know if it really works.

I'm in USDA Zone 8a...we have on average 48" of rain annually, a very long growing season, and it's very humid. Our first frost is usually around November 1st, last frost date is usually around April 1st, or seven months of frost-free gardening.

I'm also in the equivalent of zone 8a but very dry and 3500 feet altitude. Our first frost is 15 October and last beginning of May. We take off the polytunnel in winter for two reasons. The first is the snow, which definitely shortens it's life time. The second is that the polytunnel is watered with drip irrigation. If you want at some point to enrich your soil with manure, compost or whatever, allowing it to get some rain or snow will make a huge difference. It's hard to keep the soil under the polytunnel healthy if it never gets watered completely.

I am hoping to hatch some more pure barred rocks this season, although I personally prefer my mixes. I have had a lot of trouble getting them to hatch, the physical egg quality is not as good as my mixed breeds and auracana hens lay. I'm unsure why this is, but they definitely hatch at lower rates. I have 3 pure barred rock hens, of which only 2 lay eggs of a quality I'm willing to set, and of those 2 hens, they still don't hatch as well as any of my blue or green eggs.

The only thing I can think of is a lot of people hatch with incubators so hatchability/egg quality wasn't selected for. I select for this trait when choosing eggs to set, and obviously natural selection comes into play, only chicks that hatch get to contribute their genes! Egg quality is a big selection factor for me, some hens lay eggs that are just better than others.

Very interesting point! I always read about the quality of the broody, the importance of the temperature and weather, the nest... but I don't think I ever saw mentioned the egg's hatching quality.
It really makes sense.

Tax for non chicken talk : petit blanc.
He has had a small black spot in his eye since he was a baby. I've tried picking and rinsing it but it just doesn't come off.

 

[Perris]

Sunshine plays no role in ripening. Temperature needs to be between 10c/50 and 29/85, and ideally between 20c to 25 .

Thanks for that very useful information! So our disappointing temps are not ideal but OK

We pick and ripen the october tomatoes in huge kraft bags, adding either an apple or banana skin, it works very well. It is said that hanging banana skin on the tomato plant helps them ripen with ethylen - I don't know if it really works.

Thanks for that very useful tip! I will try it and report back

I don't think I ever saw mentioned the egg's hatching quality.

It's discussed in some of the old poultry handbooks, e.g.
"All eggs selected for hatching should be of the fair ordinary size usually laid by the hen or pullet, rejecting not only the small ones, but also the very large. They should also be firm and smooth in the shell; a very rough shell showing something wrong with the hen, and usually causing ill-success. Eggs unusually long, or, in fact, differing much in any way from the usual character of those laid by that particular bird, should also be rejected. That eggs be only saved from the best stock, even if the fowls are but common barn-door birds, is of course taken for granted" Lewis Wright's Illustrated book of poultry
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn4kga&seq=61&q1

While searching for this I was reminded of another passage from the same book, published in 1873, which contradicts a US pamphlet from 1900 or thereabouts, often cited by 3KillersBs as evidence that chickens of today are very different from those of pre-industrial-agriculture days, claiming something like 100 eggs a year was good for laying breeds at the time:
"Hens of the better laying breeds, properly managed, should lay about 150 eggs per annum. Individuals will do much more than this, and have been known to exceed even 300; but some will hardly come up to it, and we speak of what can be done with a whole stock, if properly chosen and looked after"
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn4kga&seq=56&q1

That was better than many modern hens manage.

 

[fluffycrow]

It's interesting to me that egg quality isn't being mentioned much, because I've seen it going around quite a bit among Greek poultry keepers, and poultry keeping books, many of which are really old English poultry keeping books that got translated in the last 15 or so years. Even the manual on a really popular incubator here has a small chapter in selecting good eggs for hatching

 

[BDutch]

… My husband was looking at Ecuador, but just concerned with the political climate, not that it is good anywhere other than, possibly Hungary, the enemy you know, seems easier to deal with.

I know I should not get political, but needed to respond on your statement about Hungary. Hungary is not a real democracy anymore. The government controls all media and influences the minds of the people that way. Much the same as Russia and many other autocratic countries.

Off-topic tax.