Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

Did it look like this? Stilton/Mr. November post dustbath:

The video is a couple years old but seemed appropriate. Lots of substantial soil chunks falling off of him, which might be hard to catch without the slow motion.

Funny, the hen Lorraine ogling him in the background still maintains a little crush on Stilton, and he still grooms her through the fence.

She chooses to stay with Merle Hagbird despite having the option to move over with Stilton, possibly because Lorraine and Merle get along quite well...but also maybe because Lorraine's a boss with Merle's Girlz but would have to fight Unquestioned Head Hen Brahma Donna for a good rank among Stilton's Hens.

Wonderful video and a magnificent bird!

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Temperature is in the 60s with rain.

Have a great day!

 

[RoyalChick]

Three hours. Cold and dry with sunny spells. It didn't get much above 4C at the allotments.
I put 100 grams of spelt in this mix to try and bring the protein level up given they won't eat the peas; no worries, I'm eating them and the fava beans.
I've cooked up some strange brews with what the chickens are reluctant to eat.
I've made some very acceptable soup/broths/stews using what l bought to try out on the chickens and the last of the veg from the allotments.
Split green peas, fava beans, leeks, potatoes, onion and garlic with roquefort cheese and lots of black pepper. Even used my whizzy stick blender thingy.
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Another load of rocks. I've done the worst of it on one side of the fruit bushes now. The top half of the plot I deep dug earlier in the year.
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I have an undoubtedly ignorant question spurred by your stew/soup but also by the back and forth between you and @Perris about peas.
What do you all define as a pea when looking to add them to chicken feed?
I think from a plant biology perspective there are a lot of pulses from legumes ranging from green ‘garden’ peas to kidney beans, chickpeas and peanuts (and many more). Are they all considered peas from a nutritional perspective?
I eat a lot of pulses mostly bulk supply dried which I soak and cook. I give my chickens table scraps which includes those pulses and I have never noticed them turn their beaks up at them, but until you all started talking about how the chickens won’t eat peas, I had not really paid much attention.

 

[Perris]

I think from a plant biology perspective there are a lot of pulses from legumes ranging from green ‘garden’ peas to kidney beans, chickpeas and peanuts (and many more). Are they all considered peas from a nutritional perspective?

Feedipedia revised their pea entry to include this: "Pea taxonomy is complex and debatable. In particular, there is no authoritative and definitive way to classify arvense (field) and hortense (garden) peas. They used to be considered as separate species (Pisum arvense, Pisum hortense) but they are now seen as separate varieties or subspecies of Pisum sativum (Pisum sativum var. arvense, Pisum sativum var. hortense, Pisum sativum subsp. hortense) or as separate varieties of the subspecies Pisum sativum subsp. sativum (Pisum sativum subsp. sativum var. arvense, Pisum sativum subsp. sativum var. sativum) (Martin-Sanz et al., 2011; USDA, 2011)."

But they vary a lot in nutritional content. Generally legumes are high in protein (but low in methionine; meanwhile most grains are rich in methionine, so when they're eaten in the same meal with legumes a complete protein is formed, akin to the quality proteins in meat, dairy and fish). The red/yellow/purple/black coloured ones are usually more nutritious than the green ones; and those varieties grown to dry usually have more phytonutrients than those sold fresh. There are other differences; e.g. lima beans, pigeon peas and kidney beans stimulate more gas production than other varieties (not that I've ever seen or heard a chicken fart!) - rinsing away the soaking liquor helps with that.

 

[RoyalChick]

Feedipedia revised their pea entry to include this: "Pea taxonomy is complex and debatable. In particular, there is no authoritative and definitive way to classify arvense (field) and hortense (garden) peas. They used to be considered as separate species (Pisum arvense, Pisum hortense) but they are now seen as separate varieties or subspecies of Pisum sativum (Pisum sativum var. arvense, Pisum sativum var. hortense, Pisum sativum subsp. hortense) or as separate varieties of the subspecies Pisum sativum subsp. sativum (Pisum sativum subsp. sativum var. arvense, Pisum sativum subsp. sativum var. sativum) (Martin-Sanz et al., 2011; USDA, 2011)."

But they vary a lot in nutritional content. Generally legumes are high in protein (but low in methionine; meanwhile most grains are rich in methionine, so when they're eaten in the same meal with legumes a complete protein is formed, akin to the quality proteins in meat, dairy and fish). The red/yellow/purple/black coloured ones are usually more nutritious than the green ones; and those varieties grown to dry usually have more phytonutrients than those sold fresh. There are other differences; e.g. lima beans, pigeon peas and kidney beans stimulate more gas production than other varieties (not that I've ever seen or heard a chicken fart!) - rinsing away the soaking liquor helps with that.

I feel a bit better about my ignorance after reading ‘complex and debatable’ and ‘no authoritative and definitive’!
I knew about the complete protein from mixing the two, and some variation on beans and rice is something I eat often and the chickens get the plate scrapings.

 

[Molpet]

not that I've ever seen or heard a chicken fart!) -

They do.... I had bottom third of a bag of mash that was mainly soybeans. Gassy assy birds

 

[MrsNorthie]

I have never noticed them turn their beaks up at them, but until you all started talking about how the chickens won’t eat peas,

I lightly cooked split peas and barley and added that to the fermented grains. They love it! They seem to love green stuff.

 

[Shadrach]

Did it look like this? Stilton/Mr. November post dustbath:

The video is a couple years old but seemed appropriate. Lots of substantial soil chunks falling off of him, which might be hard to catch without the slow motion.

Funny, the hen Lorraine ogling him in the background still maintains a little crush on Stilton, and he still grooms her through the fence.

She chooses to stay with Merle Hagbird despite having the option to move over with Stilton, possibly because Lorraine and Merle get along quite well...but also maybe because Lorraine's a boss with Merle's Girlz but would have to fight Unquestioned Head Hen Brahma Donna for a good rank among Stilton's Hens.

I can only imagine how much back problems would be reduced if we could do that!
Great video.

 

[Shadrach]

I have an undoubtedly ignorant question spurred by your stew/soup but also by the back and forth between you and @Perris about peas.
What do you all define as a pea when looking to add them to chicken feed?
I think from a plant biology perspective there are a lot of pulses from legumes ranging from green ‘garden’ peas to kidney beans, chickpeas and peanuts (and many more). Are they all considered peas from a nutritional perspective?
I eat a lot of pulses mostly bulk supply dried which I soak and cook. I give my chickens table scraps which includes those pulses and I have never noticed them turn their beaks up at them, but until you all started talking about how the chickens won’t eat peas, I had not really paid much attention.

In my case I'm writing about dreid green split peas that have been fermented.
Nobody liked them.

 

[Perris]

In my case I'm writing about dreid green split peas that have been fermented.
Nobody liked them.
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perhaps you want to try a little experiment? So when I was reading up to reacquaint myself with the pea issues, to answer Royal Chick's question, I was reminded that a squirt of lime juice makes peas more digestible (something to do with vitamin C). Not having a lime to hand, but a lemon, I added a few drops of lemon juice to the bowls before serving tea. There are definitely fewer peas left tonight. Maybe that was because we had cold drizzle all day long so the flock did a lot less foraging than usual. Maybe it was because they prefer them with a dash of lemon. Could/would you test it sometime while you've still got peas in the mix?