Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

In what way is this one sick Shad?

I'm not certain. She's been on the watch list for some time now.
There is nothing obvious wrong with her. She is having a very slow moult and she does have SLM but it's mild and being treated.
I think she may have some kind of cancer. It is not uncommon for chickens dying of cancer to live what seems to be a normal life to the casual observer until very close to the point of death. Humans can be very similar suffering from bouts of pain but otherwise manage basic activities.
All I can do is watch and wait and when it is apparent that her quality of life has deteriorated badly kill her as quickly as possible to keep her suffering to a minimum. At the moment that would seem to be some time away but some go downhill ver very fast.

 

[Shadrach]

You discovered a new treatment maybe?

I would rather a run in good condition and a few nights out in the weather coating their legs with Vaseline.

 

[Shadrach]

Chirk is regularly managing 17 here; it's really quite impressive. Sadly I have yet to manage to get a photo of it, because as soon as someone spots me, the real mealworm addicts come shooting over in the hope of a treat and then the group is no longer collected

Despite what I wrote, I'm rather proud of Henry. He hasn't had very much practice at this pro roostering business and he does seem to know what he should be doing but hasn't quite worked out how to do it.
He'll fetch a few stray hens and he'll guard those if in a group at the limits of the allotment run.
I've always favoured a ratio of less than five to one. I found in Catalonia that given a large territory the tribes senior rooster spent too long away from the main group when escorting hens. Once a junior rooster gets hatched, the junior rooster takes on much of the escorting duties while the senior stays with the hens. However, this only works well while a junior rooster is prepared to stay junior. Some were hhappy enough in this role, others not so much.

 

[Shadrach]

I have one of those unfortunate headless Legbars.
A word of advice from my hard earned experience of this breed - somehow even without a head they can peck your ankles pretty badly.
I give you a headless Dotty as prime suspect.

View attachment 2946446View attachment 2946447

They're a strange lot are the Legbars on the allotment. Difficult to get decent pictures of them I've found because they're on the skittish side and are usually where the others are not.

 

[Shadrach]

Got it. So you are used to seeing them with adequate roosters to keep them together in their tribes. Whereas, in the ex-batts and rescues situation, there aren’t enough roosters, or maybe Henry isn’t experienced enough, and at my house, there aren’t any roosters.

If you think of it, or anyone else on here does, and you can capture some footage of a rooster gathering/herding his hens, I’d love to see it.

The Ex Batts don't understand the importance of sticking close to Henry it seems to me. The Legbars seem to know and if he isn't close by they have a much more sensible approach to finding cover until he turns up.
The Ex Batts are all over the place by comparison and have zero idea about what makes good cover and why they should use it.

 

[Shadrach]

Don't mind if I do.

Going to try sharing a video:

Here's a screenshot in case that didn't work. It's Stilton shaking off 2021 (in slow motion).

View attachment 2946471

Apart from Stilton being a very striking looking rooster the film clip is wondeful.

 

[Shadrach]

I don't think there are too many hens, but those who are not laying/still molting often avoid being near the rooster as they don't want him to mate them. So this will change as soon as they begin to lay again.

We shall see I hope.

 

[Sortacountrychicken]

I'm not certain. She's been on the watch list for some time now.
There is nothing obvious wrong with her. She is having a very slow moult and she does have SLM but it's mild and being treated.
I think she may have some kind of cancer. It is not uncommon for chickens dying of cancer to live what seems to be a normal life to the casual observer until very close to the point of death. Humans can be very similar suffering from bouts of pain but otherwise manage basic activities.
All I can do is watch and wait and when it is apparent that her quality of life has deteriorated badly kill her as quickly as possible to keep her suffering to a minimum. At the moment that would seem to be some time away but some go downhill ver very fast.

I have a hen that I believe has cancer somewhere in the reproductive tract. She hasn't laid an egg in over a year. She has slowed down quite a bit but she only occasionally has a bad day. She still enjoys scratching and digging and chasing the young birds. I don't think she will make it through summer.

 

[Ribh]

Got it. So you are used to seeing them with adequate roosters to keep them together in their tribes. Whereas, in the ex-batts and rescues situation, there aren’t enough roosters, or maybe Henry isn’t experienced enough, and at my house, there aren’t any roosters.

If you think of it, or anyone else on here does, and you can capture some footage of a rooster gathering/herding his hens, I’d love to see it.

@ present I am running about 18 hens on 1/4 acre. They have the use of the entire back yard from 1st light till they put themselves to bed in the evening. 1/3 of the tribe is bantams. No rooster. While foraging the girls spread themselves over the entire 1/4 acre but when resting or sheltering from rain they tend to huddle together in a large group. They don't need to be terribly predator savvy but most of them aren't fans of the open ground & much prefer to wander the perimeter where there is plenty of shade & shelter.

 

[Shadrach]

Two and ahalf hours in the allotment run today. The ground is soft due to the rain and it's been warm enough for some bugs and worms to move closer to the surface. Even the scrapers rather than the diggers got the occasional bug.