Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

My predators hits are usually crimes of opportunity.
Black chicken 15 ft from house in poultry yard, hawk attack but lived when I ran out and chased it off.

Barred outside of fence attacked but lived. BR inside fence also lived. Both juvenile hawk I chased off.

White chicken chased by racoon in the middle of day. Lived because I chased racoon with shovel up a tree.
White chicken outside fence going after her chicks, hawk.found dead . White lame chicken inside fence, Found feathers assumed dead and coyote.

 

[Shadrach]

Do you know how foxes, polecats and other mammal predators are catching their preys? Is it likely that they kill white preys more often?

I don't really. I only know a bit about hawks because I've had so many problems with them.
I know foxes and weasels see in colour and I assume scent has lot to do with their hunting. The weasels in Catalonia were ambushers and while they tore a lot of feathers out of various chickens backsides the only fully grown chicken I know for certain got killed by a weasel was Cheepy. I used to see them from time to time and I've seen a couple or more hanging onto the rear end of a hen as she ran and eventaully shook or knocked it off. They probably were responsible for many of the missing chicks and juveniles.
Cillins missing rear end in this picture was the result of a weasel attack when he was still a cockerel. A couple of stitches and a few reasuring words and he was fine. Weasels are in general (European) reluctant to take on a chicken head on because of the position and vunerability of their eyes. Every weasel attack I know of and saw was from behind.
I will never forget the sight of Geddit, who was a large and steady hen running down the edge of the sheepfield track with a weasel attached to her arse. She got to the edge of the bank just before the bamboo clump and took off. The weasel hung on in the air momentarily, the clump of feathers it had in his mouth pulled out and he fell to the ground as Geddit disappeared into the bamboo. Nothing has every followed a chicken into the bamboo. A chicken can turn in there and instead of being faced with a lovely soft rear end one could well end up facing a stabbing beak with no room to get out of the way.

 

[Shadrach]

I seem to have a lesbian couple. I have seen Kraai mounting upon Janice 4 times in the last month. Never seen my other hens do so. And didn’t see Kraai mounting on another hen.
Also weird: these two like to spend the night together in the pear tree. The other hens didn’t try to this summer. But when it comes to roosting in the coop they rarely stick together. Janice prefers to sleep alone in the small coop. And Kraai prefers to sleep in the extension with the other hens.

Have any of you noticed such behaviour with your chickens too?

View attachment 3629600
In front: Ini mini
Standing: Janice
Lying: Kraai and Katrientje.

Also weird: Ini mini sleeps with the pullets every other night.
View attachment 3629611

Yes, but not a permenant arrangement. I think it's quite common, even in mixed sex groups. I don't think it's anything to worry about. It may be inconvenient should one want one of the pair to sit and hatch.
I've had hens that didn't lay eggs behave almost exactly as a junior rooster would, Geddit mentioned in the above post was one such. She was and stayed senior hen and ran the tribe with and without having a rooster in the tribe.

 

[BDutch]

Yes, but not a permenant arrangement. I think it's quite common, even in mixed sex groups. I don't think it's anything to worry about. It may be inconvenient should one want one of the pair to sit and hatch.
I've had hens that didn't lay eggs behave almost exactly as a junior rooster would, Geddit mentioned in the above post was one such. She was and stayed senior hen and ran the tribe with and without having a rooster in the tribe.

Kraai lays very little eggs. Maybe even no eggs at all in the last month. But I’m not sure because her eggs look the same as the eggs of Black and Pearl. Janices eggs are a bit larger. Katrientjes eggs are the largest and have a light brown colour.

Here you see two small Dutch eggs, Janices egg and a fairy egg of Katrientje.

 

[MrsNorthie]

I have other reasons why I don’t want them to sleep outside and lock them up in the coop. A live outside 24/7 is too dangerous and inconvenient with neighbours living nearby. I never had any chickens who wanted too sleep outside in winter (after the leaves had fallen).

If its getting cold and can’t find enough shelter outside , the chickens probably go into the coop by themselves.

Because the summer was very hot and humid and even with the fan and the ventilation, it felt hot and uncomfortable in there. The run is covered with netting, I let them roost on just outside the coop under the motion sensor flood lights, and checked them regularly, but recently, they started roosting towards the entrance of the run, away from the lights, so I have had to encourage them to move. Last night they were in the coop when I went down to do my first night checks. Next year, they may have a little a/c unit in case of extra hot days just to bring the temp down 10-15 degrees.

 

[MrsNorthie]

I offer all the food I give to the chickens to Henry first. His reaction to this has changed over time. At first he sampled everything. He would take some and drop it for his hens often eating a bit first. I didn't put the food down until he had obviously lost interest.
Now, unless it's non standard feed, I show him the feed, he looks and walks away.

I started with the feed, a month or so ago. I won't put a bit of food down until Blue comes over for inspection and sampling. The last 2 nights, he comes over, stands over the trough and looks up at me, then down to the trough and makes a variation of his tidbit call, so I take that as a "Hey, put the food down already!"

Previously, I was giving him treats to share with the girls and feeding Goldie and Spud a couple by hand, Blue would look, but he was busy with the girls. After the comments from you and @TropicalChickies, I offer Blue a treat or two, by hand, before giving him enough to share out to everyone. Last night was a sardine night, and I kept a couple of really nice specimens separate and offered them up to him, which had him clucking away, then he shared most of them with the girls. I am so relieved to be making progress with him.

 

[MrsNorthie]

He's much better. I think the combination of losing an older hen (Butchie) and the lice I treated had really made him extra edgy for a week or so. I repeated the lice treatment a few days ago to kill any hatched nymphs and gave the coop are a cleaning and sulfur dust treatment as well.

I'm extra busy foreman-ing a building project so to break the two broodies I had to completely close off their laying area (which was in a really stupid spot right behind our outdoor shower anyway). Yesterday Lucio gallantly showed Frida, the only layer right now), where she could put her eggs, in a much more appropriate spot -- the nest next to their coop I provided! Thank you, Lucio!

But with four hens of his harem not mating with him right now (2 mothering 3 week old chicks and 2 broodies I'm trying to break), in the early mornings he's quite desperate to mate. There's a lot of chasing and running about at the crack of dawn, and at this point I know if he doesn't get one of them, I'm next...

He hasn't flown at me or tried to flog or shown any real aggression since I treated his lice and he stopped looking for Butchie. But in the mornings I'll sometimes get a mating charge. Which I understand is not aggression, but it's not really the first thing Im looking forward to at 6am. So the best deterrent I've found is an empty plastic water bottle. When he charges me, I stand still and make a racket beating the empty bottle against the palm of my hand. This seemed to register to him that "hens don't make that sound."

I felt sort of absurd being so noisy, but it worked. Now he just sees the bottle and walks away.

I am so glad that he is doing better! Getting bit and itching makes me grumpy! Ours get seem to be more determined to mate in the evening.

Yesterday Lucio gallantly showed Frida, the only layer right now), where she could put her eggs, in a much more appropriate spot -- the nest next to their coop I provided! Thank you, Lucio!

That is the sweetest thing! They really do works so hard at taking care of their ladies!

This seemed to register to him that "hens don't make that sound."

"I am NOT a hen!"

 

[TropicalChickies]

That is the sweetest thing! They really do works so hard at taking care of their ladies!

I really get a kick out of watching him sitting and pretending to be a hen laying an egg. Reminds me of Dustin Hoffman in "Tootsie."

 

[MrsNorthie]

My predators hits are usually crimes of opportunity.
Black chicken 15 ft from house in poultry yard, hawk attack but lived when I ran out and chased it off.

Barred outside of fence attacked but lived. BR inside fence also lived. Both juvenile hawk I chased off.

White chicken chased by racoon in the middle of day. Lived because I chased racoon with shovel up a tree.
White chicken outside fence going after her chicks, hawk.found dead . White lame chicken inside fence, Found feathers assumed dead and coyote.

The hawk's circuit found him here last week, but the chickens don't seem to be on his radar, with so many plump bunnies running about. He has been visiting us since he was a little guy. This week it was the vultures. We have 2 types here, Turkey vultures which seem to be only interested in carrion, and black vultures which have been known to kill baby goats, sheep, cows, etc. when I see them circling, I go on guard duty and noticed Blue got everyone in the covered dust bath box while I patrolled outside.

 

[MrsNorthie]

I will never forget the sight of Geddit, who was a large and steady hen running down the edge of the sheepfield track with a weasel attached to her arse.

Funny, since she got away!

Do you know how foxes, polecats and other mammal predators are catching their preys? Is it likely that they kill white preys more often?

I always assumed that fox were attracted by scent and/or sound and while they can see well at night and are not colorblind, I don't know that chicken colour has much to do with their preference. I have heard many people say that they will wipe out the entire tribe in a frenzied attack and may not even take one for food. :-(

I always scan around the property with my bright torch, several times a night to let the night predators know they are being watched. So far, we have not had any come near the run. We look for scat all the time. Last night, I did see forward facing green eyes reflecting in my light, staring back at me... We went to chase it off, it meowed and rolled over to show us his belly..lol, but my heart was in my throat for a couple of minutes.