Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MaryJanet]

They started to develop the Barnevelder around 1850-1875 and ‘improved’ the laying capacity over the years. Broodiness and laying throughout the year are not a good combination and somehow they managed to breed chickens that stopped being broody.

The Barnevelder breed as we know nowadays and all other breeds that lay over 200 eggs a year are developed after 1900. As far as I know all the high production breeds are not the best broodies.

I take your point, however there are always outliers. The specific Barnevelder I described laid 3-4 eggs a week in Summer, Autumn and Spring. None in Winter. She's in retirement now.

 

[lightm]

Meimei is doing well with an empty crop in the morning (not quite empty yesterday morning). She is also eating pretty regularly.

However, during her time being sick, she got bullied by others, especially Foxy, who is right below her. Meimei has been standing/sitting at the top of the coop to avoid others :-(

Two big fights broke out yesterday and today. Today's fight was briefly: Foxy started a fight with Meimei, and then Wendy the alpha beat the crap out of Foxy (Good job Wendy) while other hens joined in a little bit. It seems like Meimei was able to eat more freely after the fight.

Speaking of molt+broody, my very limited experience is in line with others. We only have one hen Inky who's gone broody multiple times. Maybe 3 times in 2022 and twice this year. She molts after done being broody and is fairly soft molt. She is the most healthy hen we have. She lays strong shelled egges when she is not taking her break.

What is this? Do we like it?

Oh yeah

Inky is the gray hen.

 

[lightm]

Some halfwit has laid geo textile cloth over the plot and it's just been lft there making digging almost impossible. I'm ripping it out bit by bit. Of course the chickens are helping.

I have been ripping apart weed block fabric in my yard, put down by my previous owner. I hate this stuff. A nice layer of soil has been built up on the fabric where weeds are growing anyway ... so it takes a lot of work to take it out.

I am not fond of the traditional American way of home landscaping. Too much fighting against nature. When I walk around to see the other 16 houses in my community, they are all so tidy and manicured. No wonder the complaint when they could see my chicken run from the road.
(So later we moved the run and I built some fence. It appears to look acceptable for the neighbors now.)

Tax (left of the picture: I put together the arbor and put in the fence poles, built gates, painted them...)

 

[no fly zone]

I have been ripping apart weed block fabric in my yard, put down by my previous owner. I hate this stuff. A nice layer of soil has been built up on the fabric where weeds are growing anyway ... so it takes a lot of work to take it out.

I am not fond of the traditional American way of home landscaping. Too much fighting against nature. When I walk around to see the other 16 houses in my community, they are all so tidy and manicured. No wonder the complaint when they could see my chicken run from the road.
(So later we moved the run and I built some fence. It appears to look acceptable for the neighbors now.)

Tax (left of the picture: I put together the arbor and put in the fence poles, built gates, painted them...)View attachment 3661929

Neighbors who worry about yards that aren't theirs are the absolute worst.


@Shadrach hope those foxes go hungry

 

[Sally PB]

Some halfwit has laid geo textile cloth over the plot

I have been ripping apart weed block fabric in my yard, put down by my previous owner. I hate this stuff. A nice layer of soil has been built up on the fabric where weeds are growing anyway ... so it takes a lot of work to take it out.

Weed block fabric, O weed block fabric, how do I love thee?

Not at all, you misnamed bit of crap.

Ok, I do actually have a use for it, since it's black: I laid it on the tables in the green house this past April to help keep the tomato plants warm.

Tax:

This is the look I gave weed block fabric when I realized what a ripoff it was.

This is how I looked when I cussed it out.

My thanks to Pip and Widget (respectively) for providing the visuals.

 

[Perris]

on historic laying abilities, and the breeds that were then kept, readers may find another thread I started interesting
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-many-eggs-were-laid-by-hens-150-years-ago.1593024/

 

[Perris]

The question of a possible relationship between moulting and broodiness prompted me to look up the topic in Storey's Guide to raising chickens (an excellent resource if you don't already know it), and there is much of interest. It does not directly address a relationship with broodiness, but it does highlight the differences in moulting patterns between good layers and poor layers, and broodiness makes a hen functionally a poor layer in a year when they are broody, irrespective of their rate of lay in a year when they're not broody, so biologically the two states may be equivalent.

"Under natural circumstances, a chicken molts for 14 to 16 weeks during the late summer or early fall. The best layers molt late and fast. They...take only 2 to 3 months to finish the molt. The poorest layers start early and molt slowly...the molt may take as long as 6 months...molting may occur out of season as a result of disease or stress...a stress-induced molt is usually partial...since feathers are 85% protein, a chicken's need for protein increases during the annual molt...a little supplemental animal protein will help them through it... animal protein can come from any of the following:

• high quality cat food...
• raw meat from a reliable source...
• fish...
• molting food sold by pet stores for caged song birds (it's expensive but avoids potentially toxic pet foods and bacteria-laden meats)
• mashed, scrambled or hard-cooked eggs
• sprouted grain and seeds especially alfalfa and sesame (sprouting improves the quantity and quality of the proteins)
• mealworms
• earthworms."

Although not mentioned in that list, yogurt is 7th in the top ten list of high protein foods on my food data, https://www.myfooddata.com/articles/foods-highest-in-protein.php#list-of-high-protein-foods

 

[BDutch]

on historic laying abilities, and the breeds that were then kept, readers may find another thread I started interesting
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/how-many-eggs-were-laid-by-hens-150-years-ago.1593024/

Thanks for starting this thread. I made a contribution with some facts from the Dutch wikipedia (they always check reliability before posting).

Although not mentioned in that list, yogurt is 7th in the top ten list of high protein foods on my food data,

I give my hens chick feed (often mixed with layer feed) during autums/winter. It has more protein too. And less Calcium.
PS
All flock is not avaiable here. The feed for ornamental chickens also has les calcium but is very expensive, not high in protein and not organic.

 

[BDutch]

This is the look I gave weed block fabric when I realized what a ripoff it was.

Nowadays weed fabric is available as a degradable fabric made from natural fibres. Its more expensive but not such a nuisance in the future.

Translated info:
Bio ground cloth plus is a 100% organic non-woven brown geotextile. It is made of PLA fibers produced from agricultural raw materials and hemp fibers that provide a natural look.
Source

With this biodegradable root cloth you say NO to plastic in your garden! After 7 years, this root cloth breaks down, meaning it has achieved its purpose before it is broken down. It consists of a water-permeable thick cloth of PLA (natural) fibers.
Source: https://ecotuintje.nl/product/biologisch-afbreekbaar-worteldoek/

 

[Sally PB]

Nowadays weed fabric is available as a degradable fabric made from natural fibres. Its more expensive but not such a nuisance in the future.

I could be all over that, except... the dang stuff DID NOT WORK!

I could hear it laughing at me. "Ha ha, fooled you! And it worked brilliantly! And I worked not at all!"