Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

I haven't been giving any treats because we just cut back the overgrown vegetation and pruned trees, so there's bugs galore out there. But I'll try the giving him the treats to share with the hens thing. I read somewhere that's a way to show him that you are not a hen. And I am not a hen, goshdarnit

LOL You should get that made into a t-shirt.. "I am NOT a hen!".

It was an idea that I am 99.9% sure that I got from @Shadrach. If I give the food and treats to the girls, then I am competing with him. When I feed them, I do not put food in the feeders until Blue joins us, I call him over and wait until he is there and I put the first scoop in front of him, he checks it out and starts calling the girls to eat, I then proceed to fill the trough. He even occasionally tests my resolve to defer to him by taking his sweet time to wander over.

The other 2 boys have always, very gently taken food out of my hand, but Blue would often miss and give me a nip (accidentally on purpose...), not hard but a "So whaddya gonna do about" thing and I keep my hand there presenting the treat or food to him and he has started taking food from my hand as gently as the other boys, so I have hope that he is understanding that I do not want to take his job and that I value his importance to the well being of the tribe.

 

[Perris]

If he runs at you from a distance, wings outstretched and head down and pulls up a couple of feet from you, then he's just happy to see you

This behaviour isn't confined to roos, and the pulling up may be much closer - Janeka does it daily when she sees me, chicks pursuing as fast as they possibly can, in case I have a pocketful of mealworms (which I usually do, in an old camera film roll canister, just for them)

 

[Perris]

Lima would forage in cleared patches and she found a lot to eat and looked much like Fret feeding her chicks regarding effort.
Some of the bugs are less than 0.5 millimeters in length. Root shoots close to the trees are also very small. Every now and then I see one of the chicks dart away with something too large to just peck and swallow but the majority of what Fret finds for them are peck and swallow size.

The is apparently a feast down there and the chicks are constantly eating while Fret forages.
So why aren't the adults eating all these bugs? Carbon and Henry will wander over from time to time and eat a few bugs and wander off. If I call them for some grain, they're over like a shot.

All my hens forage like Lima and Fret. The roos are more particular or discreet about where, what and when they forage. Most of the times I've tried to see what exactly the birds are eating, they're too quick or my eyesight is too poor to resolve it. I've never caught the right moment to resolve it with the camera either. There are idiosyncrasies of course; Zimmet prefers in-flight meals, and zips across the lawn like a demented cartoon character in pursuit of them. Uppsala likes berries and squeezes into tangled plant material in search of them. Maria likes mushrooms, and so on.

One result of this and the current discussion is that I've begun to wonder if we are falsely maligning the roos sometimes with 'pretending' that they've found something tasty, just because we can't see it, and especially if the hen that rushes over first is a bit dismissive and thus feeds our bias. If their foraging of plant material is a good guide, I think they must ignore a lot of the micro- meso- and macro- fauna they find in the litter and soil.

As for coming over like a shot for what you're offering, when you offer it, that's about hierarchy and pecking order, and known treats rather than less certain morsels in the ground, rather than satisfying hunger or meeting nutritional needs isn't it?

 

[BDutch]

Watching Fret show the chicks what's edible and what isn't has got me wondering. In the patch I've cleared of nettles and weeds is a mass of rotting vegitation. Listening to Fret making I've found food calls is almost a continuous sound; she digs, she calls, she digs again she calls. The is apparently a feast down there and the chicks are constantly eating while Fret forages.
So why aren't the adults eating all these bugs? Carbon and Henry will wander over from time to time and eat a few bugs and wander off. If I call them for some grain, they're over like a shot.
Are all these little bugs and roots too small for them to bother with. Too much like hard work to make it worthwhile perhaps.
Lima would forage in cleared patches and she found a lot to eat and looked much like Fret feeding her chicks regarding effort.
Some of the bugs are less than 0.5 millimeters in length. Root shoots close to the trees are also very small. Every now and then I see one of the chicks dart away with something too large to just peck and swallow but the majority of what Fret finds for them are peck and swallow size.

Same experience with my broodies and chicks here. Every time I had chicks.

 

[BDutch]

One chick has worked fine for the hens I've known in the past.

Shad, @ManueB and others,
I have been wondering about past singles within a flock and interfering in roosting preferences.

I had a problem with one young pullet (Janice) who was bullied after her two brothers (about 12-14 weeks old) went to another family. She turned into a very flighty hen. Behaved extremely protective towards me when she was a broody and mean to the chicks after she left them at about 7 weeks.

The lonely hen I took over from a girl that couldn’t keep her (Kraai) . She is behaving mean and bossy towards the others. Doesn’t tolerate the pullets around her. But is friendly towards me and not flighly.

And even Katrientje is behaving less friendly after I kept her apart for a while because she was horribly broody. She chased the chicks away from the nest-boxes when they were still young (about 8 weeks) and never stopped chasing them afterwards if they came near. The 2 pullets I have don’t dare to come anyway near her because she is really mean to them.

These 3 mean hens are the reason I dare not to interfere in the preference of the pullets to sleep in their own small coop in the run. I don’t want any more hens that are psychologically damaged because I forced them to sleep somewhere else as they prefer. They probably know better.

Only sleeping in trees and broodies sleeping in nest boxes are a no go at the moment.

I’d like to hear you opinion on this matter/roosting. Interfere towards wanted behaviour or let the chickens choose were they want to sleep.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

I still like a real book. With a topic like this, I feel like having a real book let's you take your time and absorb, without staring at the screen for hours. The hardcover is out of stock, so I have opted for the paperback.

What iss the exact name of the book?

 

[Ladies-Eight]

LOL mine is getting worse..When I went back to college in my late 30's, I never studied, just did my assignments and took notes, and managed a 4.0, despite also working and raising 2 boys, I could not do that now.

Amazing what we are able to do when we're young.

 

[fluffycrow]

Today I was so close to letting them both out. Kept Big Red's door open for a minute or so, but then I said "nope" and closed it. Anyways, good day all

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

I've been out and about for the last two days so I'm having to catch up.

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!

 

[TropicalChickies]

All my hens forage like Lima and Fret. The roos are more particular or discreet about where, what and when they forage. Most of the times I've tried to see what exactly the birds are eating, they're too quick or my eyesight is too poor to resolve it. I've never caught the right moment to resolve it with the camera either. There are idiosyncrasies of course; Zimmet prefers in-flight meals, and zips across the lawn like a demented cartoon character in pursuit of them. Uppsala likes berries and squeezes into tangled plant material in search of them. Maria likes mushrooms, and so on.

One result of this and the current discussion is that I've begun to wonder if we are falsely maligning the roos sometimes with 'pretending' that they've found something tasty, just because we can't see it, and especially if the hen that rushes over first is a bit dismissive and thus feeds our bias. If their foraging of plant material is a good guide, I think they must ignore a lot of the micro- meso- and macro- fauna they find in the litter and soil.

As for coming over like a shot for what you're offering, when you offer it, that's about hierarchy and pecking order, and known treats rather than less certain morsels in the ground, rather than satisfying hunger or meeting nutritional needs isn't it?

Ahhhh ... I'm surely not maligning Lucio for the quality of the rocks and weeds he offers me. I'm sure they have excellent mineral content and digestive biome enhancing potential -- for a hen.

And I, repeat, am not a hen!