Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[ManueB]

28th and 29th August.

Everybody is fine apart from Henry who has developed a red featherless patch just past the end of his wing tip on the underside of his body. I had a brief look and couldn't see anything obvious but hell need picking up in daylight to get a proper look which we will attempt with minimum drama I hope tomorrow.

The chicks seem disgustingly healthy to the point that other plot holders have mentioned just how disgustingly healthy they look under Fret's irresponsible care and my obvious incompetance.

Having trouble getting a dry afternoon. It doesn't rain hard, but it rains on and off and we all head for the coop extension.

I saw Henry tell one of the chicks off for the first time today. They were all foraging as I weeded in the allotment run when one of the chicks (the one with least grey) dived under Henry's beak to get a bug Henry had dug up. A quick peck from Henry which hardly disturbed the chicks feathers was enough. Fret was entirely calm about the whole business and didn't even bother comforting the chick when it flew back to her. Don't try to nick dads food was the lesson I think.

But, much to my amusement I got this picture later in the day.

"Mum, dad is eating our food!"
View attachment 3622734

Long necked, foul mouthed, sweary chickens.
View attachment 3622732

The same chick that got told off by Henry and then whinged at mum about dad eating the chick feed is also the one in this picture.

"I'm camping out tonight mum"
View attachment 3622730


A few moments after Carbon had gone in the chick thought better of the whole idea and made the jump from the roost bar to the pop hole look easy as they made their way in to join the others.

Fret has been trying to get the chicks to roost on one of the bars in the coop. She can get one up beside her but not the other. They have settled on this corner for sleeping.
View attachment 3622729

I leave a bowl of food and water with them overnight.

Both chicks forage and dust bathe independently and I hear much fewer I've found food calls from Fret. The chicks are still not sure about fruit, or eating spiders.
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Fret looks great, motherhood suits her well.

 

[Perris]

I got this picture later in the day.

adorable. A chick poking its head out from under a broody is guaranteed to lower blood pressure and melt away any troubles . They should try it on the NHS

 

[BDutch]

Fret looks great, motherhood suits her well.

adorable.

Totally agree.

A chick poking its head out from under a broody is guaranteed to lower blood pressure and melt away any troubles . They should try it on the NHS

Beautifully described!

No wonder all the allotment gardeners come by to enjoy this spectacle.

 

[Shadrach]

I believe you said that wild birds have landed on you while hanging out with Henry & Friends - that is a very high accomplishment and compliment to your sitting!

I have noticed that wild creatures in general are much more tolerant of my presence when I am in close proximity to the chickens. If I remain still, chipmunks and wild birds will come quite close (although no birds have landed on me yet!)

Not sure if the critters deem me trustworthy via association with the chickens - or if they just overlook me completely. The former would seem to prove that social networking can provide some opportunities for advancement, whereas being completely overlooked is something already experienced since middle school

It would be lovely to believe the wild birds consider me to be one of those special humans at one with nature and unlikely to harm them; or even a scarecrow as BDutch suggests below.
I think it's far more likely that they realise that the scarecrow means food. I expect that my fairly regular presences means I'm a normal feature of the environment too slow and stupid to catch them. I'm pretty sure if I sat still enough for long enough it wouldn't be long before the crows in particular started testing my edibility.

 

[Shadrach]

Fret looks great, motherhood suits her well.

I'll be interested to see how long she mothers the chicks for. Given their current level of independance and Fret's observed personality traits seen in the past (remember the pictures of Fret standing on Henry's back and knocking others off the perch to ensure she roosted bedise him?) I'm not expecting a long and affectionate mothering period.
Fret has taken the chicks the entire normal ranging area now bar the area around the compost heap. If it wasn't for the need for warmth I believe the chicks would fare well enough without Fret now. Teaching has been fast and efficient. The chicks also have Carbon and Henry to observe and they are both fairly steady in their behaviour. They must also observe me. What they learn from this would be interesting to know. What has been obvious is they know I am in some way different from other humans by their reaction to relative strangers. They are not human affectionate chicks. Running accross my boots to grab a particularly tasty bug is one thing; sitting on my lap for cuddles is not on the agenda. Taps on the bum are accepted by them and Fret and Fret seems unconcerened that the chicks are often within easy grab reach when I'm weeding for example. If I move my hand in a manner that looks like I may be deliberately trying to catch them, Fret becomes a lot more attentive to the situation.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

If I provide you with a hammer and a nail you will eventually work out that driving the nail into a piece of wood with the hammer works better than trying to use your hand, or a rock, or a blade of grass. For each given challenge we have a predictable response within a fairly small range. It's why advertizing works. It's part of how society manages to hold together. We as a species are not as some believe infinitely capable and entirely different from each other as those who advocate the view that we are all individuals. We're a species, with species limitations and given reasonable data we are pretty predictable.
There are only so many ways to achieve a successful outcome to many problems and those proven ways are what we adopt and tend to stick with.

Some people here on BYC with obvious political and indeological views can often be read saying for example that chickens are all individuals and no one can predict what they will do. If this was in fact the case one would have constant chaos, but we don't; generally we have order and conformity with the occasional outbreak of different, which oddly, is usually shunned and despised by those who fall under the bell curve of normal, that is, predictable behaviour.

Just an obsevation. Not a topic I wish to debate at length.

Oh but its a great topic! Debate on!

 

[TropicalChickies]

I'm pretty sure if I sat still enough for long enough it wouldn't be long before the crows in particular started testing my edibility.

Reminds me of a time I took a little nap under a tree while taking a break on a hike through the Appalachians. I awoke to find a crow standing on ribcage staring most intently at the tip of my nose. Another one was off to the side, eyeing my earlobe. I have no illusions about what they were thinking.

 

[TropicalChickies]

As Lucio, the ten month old senior male here, has simmered down the past four days, I've been able to pay a bit more attention to the broody mums and their chicks. He has introduced himself to the chicks and while not the fatherly type-- at least not yet -- he does seem more focused on watching the sky for aerial predators and giving warnings than chasing the Food Lady.

There are two mums. Each has two chicks.

It's interesting to see how the different personalities of the mums are reflected in their mothering styles. Of course, they do all the same species-relevant things for the chicks: warm them, teach them, show them how to find food, get under cover, and stay out of the way of their elders. But with quirks unique to the mum's character too.

This is Dusty. She is only 11 months old herself. This is her first brood and she's doing a capital job. Dusty is the most human friendly chicken I have right now. Here she is standing right outside the gate to the kitchen wondering if I have snacks.

Her chicks are 13 days old and follow mum's amiable ways.

Tina, the senior hen at 2+ years, is much more stand-offish. She's not nervous or skittish, just more feral. Her chicks are 12 days old. She takes them directly into the forest for shelter and forage. I rarely see them. I leave them food as close as I can get to them and she waits until I leave before calling the chicks to it. When she does bring them closer and I move to snap a shot, she shoos them away.

This is the more the distance I usually see them maintaining.

The two mums have met several times with their broods and there's been no fighting. You can see them sitting close to each other in this photo above. This is in contrast to the last time there were two mums with chicks (Tina and Patucha) and they were a few melees when they both brought their chicks out. I attribute the peace to a few possible reasons: Tina is more confident in her seniority and this is her second brood.
Dusty is the most agreeable and low-key hen I've ever had.
More importantly probably, they are housed separately with their broody apartments in coops 80 meters apart so there's no territorial dispute.

A note on the chicks diets, which is not conventional. Re @Perris article on homemade feed many of you have read:

I bought a small bag of the starter chick pellets (not medicated) because they hatched during a busy week for me and I wasn't sure what else to feed them. I fed them the starter stuff for the first 4-5 days, but dampened it with liquid from the fermented feed I make for the juvies and adults. I also gave them scrambled egg and they were out foraging by day 4 after hatching.

I don't have a mealworm farm. Mealworms and all sorts of other small wiggly things congregate in here under chopped banana trunks, around the compost bins etc. The chickens have access to these areas all day every day. I think I do enough for this gaggle of raptors without serving them what they can easily get for themselves.

Anyway, once I had seen the chicks were eating all sorts of things the mum's produced in forage, I started adding in some soft boiled rice, crumbled cornbread (no sugar), and oatmeal to their diet. The interesting thing to observe was how much more excitedly the mums clucked "come n get it" when I gave them something that wasn't the store bought crumble. I mean, they eat that stuff, but not with the same gusto.

The other day I bought some corn ground a bit finer than the usual I put in the adult feed, and some more finely milled oats and pounded barley along with whole wheat berries (I found a local source) and fermented it all. The chicks love it. They left the wheat berries the first two days, but now they "process" them by pecking and mashing against some gravel until they can extract the germ -- after watching mum do it first.

The chicks seem perfectly healthy, they are bright eyed, active, well formed and feathering well. Normal poop, no diarrhea, no signs of coccidiosis or anything like that, and in a rainforest, the soil is almost always wet.

It kind of reminds me of how my own mom didn't give me pre-proccessed "baby food" -- she just mashed up whatever she made for dinner. And I grew up eating and liking a much wider variety of foods than kids who are Gerber's. Amazing how living things can do so much more than slurp up bland pre-proccessed "food."

 

[Shadrach]

As Lucio, the ten month old senior male here, has simmered down the past four days, I've been able to pay a bit more attention to the broody mums and their chicks. He has introduced himself to the chicks and while not the fatherly type-- at least not yet -- he does seem more focused on watching the sky for aerial predators and giving warnings than chasing the Food Lady.

There are two mums. Each has two chicks.

It's interesting to see how the different personalities of the mums are reflected in their mothering styles. Of course, they do all the same species-relevant things for the chicks: warm them, teach them, show them how to find food, get under cover, and stay out of the way of their elders. But with quirks unique to the mum's character too.

View attachment 3623207
This is Dusty. She is only 11 months old herself. This is her first brood and she's doing a capital job. Dusty is the most human friendly chicken I have right now. Here she is standing right outside the gate to the kitchen wondering if I have snacks.

View attachment 3623208
View attachment 3623209
Her chicks are 13 days old and follow mum's amiable ways.

View attachment 3623210
Tina, the senior hen at 2+ years, is much more stand-offish. She's not nervous or skittish, just more feral. Her chicks are 12 days old. She takes them directly into the forest for shelter and forage. I rarely see them. I leave them food as close as I can get to them and she waits until I leave before calling the chicks to it. When she does bring them closer and I move to snap a shot, she shoos them away.

View attachment 3623219
This is the more the distance I usually see them maintaining.

View attachment 3623217
The two mums have met several times with their broods and there's been no fighting. You can see them sitting close to each other in this photo above. This is in contrast to the last time there were two mums with chicks (Tina and Patucha) and they were a few melees when they both brought their chicks out. I attribute the peace to a few possible reasons: Tina is more confident in her seniority and this is her second brood.
Dusty is the most agreeable and low-key hen I've ever had.
More importantly probably, they are housed separately with their broody apartments in coops 80 meters apart so there's no territorial dispute.

A note on the chicks diets, which is not conventional. Re @Perris article on homemade feed many of you have read:

I bought a small bag of the starter chick pellets (not medicated) because they hatched during a busy week for me and I wasn't sure what else to feed them. I fed them the starter stuff for the first 4-5 days, but dampened it with liquid from the fermented feed I make for the juvies and adults. I also gave them scrambled egg and they were out foraging by day 4 after hatching.

I don't have a mealworm farm. Mealworms and all sorts of other small wiggly things congregate in here under chopped banana trunks, around the compost bins etc. The chickens have access to these areas all day every day. I think I do enough for this gaggle of raptors without serving them what they can easily get for themselves.

Anyway, once I had seen the chicks were eating all sorts of things the mum's produced in forage, I started adding in some soft boiled rice, crumbled cornbread (no sugar), and oatmeal to their diet. The interesting thing to observe was how much more excitedly the mums clucked "come n get it" when I gave them something that wasn't the store bought crumble. I mean, they eat that stuff, but not with the same gusto.

The other day I bought some corn ground a bit finer than the usual I put in the adult feed, and some more finely milled oats and pounded barley along with whole wheat berries (I found a local source) and fermented it all. The chicks love it. They left the wheat berries the first two days, but now they "process" them by pecking and mashing against some gravel until they can extract the germ -- after watching mum do it first.

The chicks seem perfectly healthy, they are bright eyed, active, well formed and feathering well. Normal poop, no diarrhea, no signs of coccidiosis or anything like that, and in a rainforest, the soil is almost always wet.

It kind of reminds me of how my own mom didn't give me pre-proccessed "baby food" -- she just mashed up whatever she made for dinner. And I grew up eating and liking a much wider variety of foods than kids who are Gerber's. Amazing how living things can do so much more than slurp up bland pre-proccessed "food."

I followed Perris's thread on the shortfalls of commercial feed with interest. I have always fed some commercial feed, but also haven't worried about what percentages of what the chickens have eaten. I had some reservations about my ability to provide sufficient quantities of the necessary nutrients for the Ex Battery hens at the allotments. With so many hens at one point it was difficult to monitor any health effects of their diet, or even the basics like egg shell strength given the eggs looked very similar. Since the death of Lima I have fed less and less commercial feed and a much wider variety of seeds, nuts and whole grains. The chickens preference for the alternative foodstuffs is obvious. I intend to move on to a fermented mash similar to Perris's but containing more methionine provided by Brasil nuts and a higher protein nut than the usual peanut butter adding almonds instead. I have given up trying to find a suitable dried fish meal but I may do as someone I know does and that is to get a local fishmonger to save fish trimmings for me.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

The hurricane at a cat 4 is about to make land fall around Cedar Key on the Gulf.

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!