Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

A problem that I don't have an answer for is C keeps putting bird seed in the feeder and they prefer this to the pellets.

In other aspects of chicken-keeping you seem to trust the chickens to make the right decision for themselves. Why not in this one?
(Incidentally, you call it bird seed, but when you showed a photo [who knows how many pages back?!] it looked like mostly grain to me, with a variety of seeds added.)

Apart from my natural curiosity, I ask because I received a copy of Katie Thear's Free range poultry for Christmas, and she reports a record kept by a utility breeder in 1993 wherein Wyandottes had free access to both wheat and layer's mash, and in both pens they chose to eat 3-4 times more wheat than mash. (They laid average 244 eggs in this year BTW.)

 

[Perris]

I don't want to fall behind with the tax man, so here's Chirk strutting his stuff to pay for the last posts

 

[Shadrach]

Maybe you can get something high protein, like gamebird starter or turkey starter, and give them a dish of that as wet mash when you arrive. Most chickens will gobble that up quite happily, and it can help balance the lower-protein birdseed.

(I don't know what you have access to there. In the US, I can often find chick starter at 18% to 20% protein, layer feed at 15% to 16% protein, and the turkey/gamebird starter ranges from 24% protein up to 30% protein. That makes it really handy as a protein supplement, and when I figure the cost per pound of actual protein, it's a much better deal than buying mealworms or cat food or any of the other commonly-suggested protein sources.)

The range of feeds available here doesn't seem to be anything like as extensive as those in the USA or Spain. Add to this there isn't an obligation to give a detailed nutritional analysis so I'm never quite sure of what I'm buying.
Chick starter may be an option.

 

[Shadrach]

Well, they were for laying. Then they turned into males

So yeah, they were for eating since I can't really justify a 4th male with currently only 10 females for the mixed flock (there's an Orpington and mosaic in the cull pen with them not pictured). But then it went down to -8F today and the snow has just been piling up, so we can't set up a butcher base

-8 isn't the weather for standing outside plucking feathers.

 

[Shadrach]

In other aspects of chicken-keeping you seem to trust the chickens to make the right decision for themselves. Why not in this one?
(Incidentally, you call it bird seed, but when you showed a photo [who knows how many pages back?!] it looked like mostly grain to me, with a variety of seeds added.)

Apart from my natural curiosity, I ask because I received a copy of Katie Thear's Free range poultry for Christmas, and she reports a record kept by a utility breeder in 1993 wherein Wyandottes had free access to both wheat and layer's mash, and in both pens they chose to eat 3-4 times more wheat than mash. (They laid average 244 eggs in this year BTW.)

A few reasons.
If the chickens were to free range over the entire allotment then I would be far less concerend over their diet. A couple of hours out in the allotment run isn't enough in time or variety to balance poor feed.
Henry and Matilda and the Legbars are bit skinny but the Ex Battery hens are seriously underweight and not very good at foraging when they do get out. It's the Ex Battery hens in particular that need a higher protein diet.
Much of what is okay for healthy free range chickens just isn't suitable for Ex Battery hens if one wants to maximise their life.
There is putting on fat and then there is putting on muscle. To put on muscle one needs to exercise as well as be minndful of what one eats. The chicken in Catalonia were very fit but carried very little fat. They didn't get mealworms or scratch.

 

[Perris]

The chicken in Catalonia were very fit but carried very little fat. They didn't get mealworms or scratch.

I suspect that may be a correlation rather than causation, as mine are also very fit with little fat, and they get mealworms and scratch!
PS Of course your point about ex-batts is well taken.

 

[DobieLover]

They also need to be prepared to and capable of killing a hen, or having fast access to someone who will if they can't.

This applies to any chicken.
As you know, I have a problem with killing my chickens. I have never killed anything. I now have 4 different people I tap when I need a chicken euthanized. Last night was Una's time.
Fabio's oldest daughter started to exhibit signs of reproductive issues about 3 months ago and I've been watching her. Her biological mother was a WLH. I made the decision that yesterday would be her last day. I found her roosted next to her father when I took her from the perch last night. For me, that was another sign that she was feeling poorly. She was always a little spitfire and the hens that currently crowd around Fabio at night are the more meek birds who act more insecure than the others.

 

[Shadrach]

https://www.propublica.org/article/...processed-at-a-large-industrial-poultry-plant

 

[Perris]

This applies to any chicken.
As you know, I have a problem with killing my chickens. I have never killed anything. I now have 4 different people I tap when I need a chicken euthanized. Last night was Una's time.
Fabio's oldest daughter started to exhibit signs of reproductive issues about 3 months ago and I've been watching her. Her biological mother was a WLH. I made the decision that yesterday would be her last day. I found her roosted next to her father when I took her from the perch last night. For me, that was another sign that she was feeling poorly. She was always a little spitfire and the hens that currently crowd around Fabio at night are the more meek birds who act more insecure than the others.
View attachment 2941817

You're so right. Sad but true. RIP Una.

 

[Shadrach]

I suspect that may be a correlation rather than causation, as mine are also very fit with little fat, and they get mealworms and scratch!
PS Of course your point about ex-batts is well taken.

You are probably right but it was the easiest way of making a general point about the type of weight I would prefer these chickens to put on.