Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

it's a lovely day here and Paprika has them out and about, 3 days old
View attachment 3636012
just to explain the scene, that curtain of dead day lily leaves is like a vending machine for moths; she taps near the top and moths drop out at the bottom, where they're hoovered up by whoever's there

Adorable! They are so clever! Since the weather is cooling down a bit, we are getting more moths and watching my fluffy little girls chase after them is so entertaining.

 

[BDutch]

It's a delightful hobby, I don't feel stoic about it, I mostly obtain great joy and satisfaction from spending time with the hens. The success rate isn't too bad for six years of chicken keeping, especially if you deduct the one fox raid and the lipidosis, which were my mistakes. When it's read in one short post it seems awful, but it reads worse than it really is.

True, In my 9 years of keeping chickens I had a lot of casuaties too, if you put them all in a few sentences.
The first year I had a lot of dead chicks. The first batch came with an unknown sickness (4 death). There was a stupid escape (the grid of the fence was too wide) and one chick in the second didn’t grow well and didn’t survive the first cold night. The next year I had 2 chicks who got predated by a rat.

I suppose it was a learning curve too. It was a relief that after those starting years After that I had no deaths for several years.

Unfortunately, 3 years ago it started again. Predators (4 different occasions), a badly infected chicken, a sudden death. All together 6 chickens died in 3 years.

Sad of course. But every con has its advantage. I can buy hatching eggs again next year because there is room for a few more chicks.

Shady tax. Chickens occupied the the terrace floor:

 

[BDutch]

Oh, if you don't mind me asking, what's your process for making them last so long?

The fairy eggs simply didn’t go bad. Because there is (almost) no yolk inside, it doesn’t rot but dries. A sort of mummification .

 

[fluffycrow]

The fairy eggs simply didn’t go bad. Because there is (almost) no yolk inside, it doesn’t rot but dries. A sort of mummification .

This is so strange! Has anyone tried preserving the eggs?

 

[Molpet]

This is so strange! Has anyone tried preserving the eggs?

Usually people put a hole in the ends and blow the egg out.

 

[Shadrach]

it's a lovely day here and Paprika has them out and about, 3 days old
View attachment 3636012
just to explain the scene, that curtain of dead day lily leaves is like a vending machine for moths; she taps near the top and moths drop out at the bottom, where they're hoovered up by whoever's there

Chicks and mum look great Perris. Four is a good hatch number.

 

[fluffycrow]

Usually people put a hole in the ends and blow the egg out.

I've heard of that one before. I'm a visual person, it's late, and I'm sort of a kokoromialos (it translates to dumb, or air headed, the literal translation is rooster brained) so I still don't get it

 

[Shadrach]

It's a delightful hobby, I don't feel stoic about it, I mostly obtain great joy and satisfaction from spending time with the hens. The success rate isn't too bad for six years of chicken keeping, especially if you deduct the one fox raid and the lipidosis, which were my mistakes. When it's read in one short post it seems awful, but it reads worse than it really is.

That isn't so bad, especially if one give the chickens any amount of freedom.

 

[MaryJanet]

, you lost soo many chickens that I wonder how many chickens did you buy/hatch and do you have 7 hens now?

btw: I used a natural sort of paint. Its a fungi coating that blackens the wood. The preservative coating is kept ‘alive’ with linseed oil.
The coop smelled like a just painted oil canvas
View attachment 3636312

Really? If you deduct the fox raid it's 4 deaths in 6 years. 2 ISA Browns who died of reproductive health disorder. The chick. The pullet.

Yes, I remember about the fungi paint. I've read maybe 3 of your posts about it and have replied to a couple of them. The last time I checked was maybe 18 months ago, so the info is very out of date, but it was not available in Australia.

 

[MaryJanet]

True, In my 9 years of keeping chickens I had a lot of casuaties too, if you put them all in a few sentences.
The first year I had a lot of dead chicks. The first batch came with an unknown sickness (4 death). There was a stupid escape (the grid of the fence was too wide) and one chick in the second didn’t grow well and didn’t survive the first cold night. The next year I had 2 chicks who got predated by a rat.

I suppose it was a learning curve too. It was a relief that after those starting years After that I had no deaths for several years.

Unfortunately, 3 years ago it started again. Predators (4 different occasions), a badly infected chicken, a sudden death. All together 6 chickens died in 3 years.

Sad of course. But every con has its advantage. I can buy hatching eggs again next year because there is room for a few more chicks.

Shady tax. Chickens occupied the the terrace floor:
View attachment 3636359

Everything born dies.

For every hatch of 10 chicks, 10 will die. Not immediately, but guaranteed.

It's what happens in between that counts.