Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MaryJanet]

True of course. But very few chickens die, or get sick from a disease related to an old age problem. This is very different with the experience people have with cats and dogs.

I think the large number of predation and sickness/dying young is not something newby chicken keepers realise when they buy their first chicks / chickens.

No chickens of mine died of old age yet.
For me my 3 oldest are the living proof chickens can get 8-9 year old easily, and be healthy and very much alive. I even read that an exceptional 20 is possible.

imho/statement: Chickens who die before they are 7 years old might have died from some kind of health problem or an inbreed problem but didn’t die from an old age problem.

My personal summary apart from the first unlucky batches with bought chicks: 3 reached old age, 2 died too young, 6 got lost/predated.

If I had confined them in a run 24/7 the numbers by predation would have been fewer, but the number of chickens that would have died with a health problem was probably higher. And even more important : if chickens are confined in a run 24/7, without a lively soil and lots of greenery, their life isn’t as joyful as with free ranging time.

Yep. I agree on all points.

 

[Perris]

some may find this interesting - it's about a lifelong study of bird behaviour on the island one of the chicks here is named after
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ecret-life-of-skomers-guillemots-tim-birkhead

 

[L-plate chicken mum]

Well you know a true chicken person, when you are telling us you got injured, but the story starts and ends with how well the cockerels are behaving. I hope your arm heals quickly, and is not too painful.

X2
Ouch! Hope you have a speedy recovery.
Shows how much more complicated roosters are than their all too frequent characterisation of aggression & only good for freezer camp But then I guess all of us on this thread already knew that & that they & the hens repay our efforts many fold

 

[Shadrach]

? There are 6.

Six is a good number too...

I must get some new glasses sorted out.

 

[Shadrach]

But very few chickens die, or get sick from a disease related to an old age problem.

While this is in fact true if one includes all chickens, the majority being commercial layers and meat birds, I think it's slightly misleading when it comes to small hobby groups.
Part of the problem is old age comes at different ages for chickens depending on their provenance and breed. The last two Ex Battery chickens that died at the allotments did die of diseases related to old age; it's just old age for them is about four years old rather than ten or twelve years old.
I think the vast majority of chickens I've know that have died at what I would call a good age for a chicken have died from a disease/health problem. Disease is what kills most creatures who reach old age, including humans. In theory if we didn't have diseases in their various forms we would live forever.

 

[MaryJanet]

some may find this interesting - it's about a lifelong study of bird behaviour on the island one of the chicks here is named after
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ecret-life-of-skomers-guillemots-tim-birkhead

When I eventually visit the puffins, I'll have to go see the guillemots too

 

[fluffycrow]

So, with all the issues that I have had with my Blue, I think he is really starting to accept me. We were doing some coop modifications today and I got my foot caught in the cart handle, fell over and smashed my arm, while my husband ran for the first aid kit, I set the bone back in place (it didn't break the skin, was just slightly displaced.) and it really hurt, so I sat down and was crying, all 3 of my cockerels came over to see if I was ok, and Blue just gently pecked my leg to make sure I knew he was there too, they surrounded me until my husband got back. They really are special.

Blue and Spud were not best pleased with the egg thief taking over bucket duties, and kind of attacked him, but he handled it like a pro, talked to them gently and they calmed down.

Hope your arm feels better soon, wow, that's some story

 

[fluffycrow]

I must get some new glasses sorted out.

Same

 

[TropicalChickies]

Perhaps not Navi and Migos. Navi is 10 pounds lighter than her brother and kicks his butt on a regular basis. Migos is only 35 pounds but has the husky and bulldog buffaloed. Women rule the world, lol. In truth they protect each other. Not many of the bigger dogs mess with either. Sorry for the dog talk but just learned today that our Lab has cancer. Treatment will be given with the utmost regard to her quality of life. Bella, the lab is our first dog, Navi and Migos is our second and third.

So sorry

 

[TropicalChickies]

Everything born dies.

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

It's what happens in between that counts.