Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

Sunny and warm. One chick was visable when I got there. The other appeared an hour later.
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Fret has pushed one egg out from underneath her so I take it that one isn't going to hatch.
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Henry keeps going around the back and listening under the nest box.
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Waiting in the sun while Fret gets on with it. Reminds me of waiting in the wating room at a hospital.
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Is Carbon going to have a go? In my experience broodiness spreads through hens. At least she isn't trying to lay in Fret's nest anymore.
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Chicks and rippening tomatoes. What more could one ask for.
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Congratulations

 

[BDutch]

Two Lightbars now and I think one more is on the way.

congrats for mama Fret, Daddy Henri, Auntie Carbon, Bucket boy and family and all the people Allotment!

There isn't much point in them getting off the nest to eat because there is nothing to eat in the run unless they get up early enough to get whatevers left in the feed tray I prepare each night after the wild birds and rats have had a go. Far from ideal.

Maybe a special feeder can do the trick.
Like this one Feed-o~matic.
In general that is, not handy for the chicks of course.

 

[Shadrach]

Needless to write I'm delighted. Mainly I'm delighted for Fret and Henry. It's been a rough couple of years for me and rougher for longer for them. They've been starved, overcrowded, lost their friends through death and/or mismanagement and generaly abused since C's husband died.
For me it's a quiet triumph because so many people have believed this couldn't be done.
Fret is now going to be top hen; who would have believed it at the start of this thread.
The next bit is going to be interesting. There are 4 Crested Cream Legbar eggs under Fret and I estimate they are three days behind. Will Fret sit it out. I don't mind either way but I will do what I can to make her life as easy as possible should she decide to carry on sitting.
I'll be down there in the morning with chick feed plus alternatives (I'm going to offer bread soaked in kefir as well) and I'll get the cage built in the coop so they can all have food available day and night.
I may stay at my eldests for a few days.

 

[BDutch]

Three days is tricky as you know. Wil you be there at dawn every morning? Do you have a plan if Fret is leaving the nest?
Could you take all 4 home if necessary?

I’m a bit concerned because last hatch I had one egg that didn’t hatch easily.
The chick was 2 -3 days later than the first hatchlings and very weak. The broodies didn’t stay put until he was strong enough to follow. I noticed him peeping and struggling and this is what I did: I took him inside in a ‘kangaroo’ bag with a shawl wrapped around to keep him warm. Gave him water with electrolytes. In the evening I put him under a broody and the next day he was fine.

 

[Shadrach]

Three days is tricky as you know. Wil you be there at dawn every morning? Do you have a plan if Fret is leaving the nest?
Could you take all 4 home if necessary?

No I wont be there at dawn. I will be there in the morning for the next few days though.
I do have a plan which will be a lot clearer when I've got things set up.
I could take them home if necessary but I wouldn't want to if at all possible.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Well, this has been my first hatch, and Cruella sat through grueling temperatures. She handled the heat way better than some birds that were not brooding. That being said, the nest was/is in a cool place, she's tiny, and it was shaded 24/7

I think heat really depends on what the birds are acclimated to, to a certain extent. Our temperatures are usually fairly temperate, then they can spike for a period. I haven't got a spot that would be in all day shade. I've got deep shade all over the place but as the sun moves parts of it get into the sun. It's not really the heat but the humidity, even shade doesn't help that much. Last summer we had weeks on end of 80-90% humidity constantly all day and night. I was working outside in it, it only got to about 30 degrees but add that with the humidity and I was getting pretty heat addled. I came home feeling half drunk. Probably shouldn't have been driving!

I've done hmmm maybe 8 summer broods now and all of them have been very poor, some complete no-hatch.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Needless to write I'm delighted. Mainly I'm delighted for Fret and Henry. It's been a rough couple of years for me and rougher for longer for them. They've been starved, overcrowded, lost their friends through death and/or mismanagement and generaly abused since C's husband died.
For me it's a quiet triumph because so many people have believed this couldn't be done.
Fret is now going to be top hen; who would have believed it at the start of this thread.
The next bit is going to be interesting. There are 4 Crested Cream Legbar eggs under Fret and I estimate they are three days behind. Will Fret sit it out. I don't mind either way but I will do what I can to make her life as easy as possible should she decide to carry on sitting.
I'll be down there in the morning with chick feed plus alternatives (I'm going to offer bread soaked in kefir as well) and I'll get the cage built in the coop so they can all have food available day and night.
I may stay at my eldests for a few days.

So so so happy for everyone involved!

 

[MrsNorthie]

Fret has hatched a chick! It's a light bar so Henry's a dad.

Congratulations!!That is Fantastic news!! Well done Fret! So exciting, with your care and excellent mother hen skills, your allotment tribe will as a new generation!!

 

[Perris]

Henry keeps going around the back and listening under the nest box.

that is so sweet; priceless photo

Waiting in the sun while Fret gets on with it. Reminds me of waiting in the wating room at a hospital.

here the flock all mulls around and about when the cheeping really starts, all keen to meet the new members

 

[Perris]

So, shouldn't all females have the same development Cruella's chicks have?

no; there's lots of possibilities with chicken genetics

They have the exact same genes running through them, and it would be a one in a trillion coincidence that all the chicks in the brooder were the ones that had the fast feathering gene.

I'm sure they don't have the exact same genes. You might find this site interesting
https://sorrychicken.com/chromosomes-chickens-have