Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

Ok, having major anxiety. The Egg Thief and my son got me tickets for Rock the Country music festival for my hatch day, it is today and tomorrow.. we are only going in the evenings for the bigger and big named acts, but this will be the longest I have been away from my fluffy butt babies...(we are never gone at night, and never for more than an hour or two at the most..) *sigh

My son is going to shut the coops up at night, we did a walk through and he is amazing with animals, but I have a gut ache. I am really worried about the 19 newer hooligans, that do not like to go to bed on their own yet, with an inexperienced mum that indulges them.

 

[Molpet]

Have I shared my new coop here? This one is an Ecoflex by New Age Pet. Was pretty straightforward to build and easy enough to attach to my current setup. Hubby is a BIG fan of plastic coops now, he says maybe we'll get a Nestera in the future.
View attachment 3901693
View attachment 3901692
My broody hens are incubating their eggs in there now. Tomorrow will be 14 days. must say, having a hen do all the work is definitely a plus!

How's the ventilation?
I thought about for a broody/sick bay

 

[fuzzi]

Ok, having major anxiety. The Egg Thief and my son got me tickets for Rock the Country music festival for my hatch day, it is today and tomorrow.. we are only going in the evenings for the bigger and big named acts, but this will be the longest I have been away from my fluffy butt babies...(we are never gone at night, and never for more than an hour or two at the most..) *sigh

My son is going to shut the coops up at night, we did a walk through and he is amazing with animals, but I have a gut ache. I am really worried about the 19 newer hooligans, that do not like to go to bed on their own yet, with an inexperienced mum that indulges them.

I had the "pit of the stomach" feeling before I went on vacation, but my sitter did a good job and everyone was fine when I returned.

Cleaned out the wet stinky litter from the back of the coop today. We've had rain daily for two weeks and I think the bacteria went anaerobic.

 

[Shadrach]

You're a good "dad", blueberries and roast beef for Carbon!

If the smaller chick turns out to be a pullet would that be 2 and 2 from the hatch?

If only...blueberries and roast beef for everyone!

 

[Shadrach]

I do miss a bantam Fred here. Hope to keep a bantam Amrock cockerel.

The bantams in Catalonia were an absolute dream compared to the crosses that came after, apart from the fact that they were all pro tree hugers. Didn't matter what I did, Harold would call up and up they all went. Not one single bantam didn't go up the magnolia tree as an adult.

What I found. The bantam males were fine with large breed hens such as a Marans hen. What this lot were not fine with were full sized roosters.
In general, the bantam hens were really not keen on advances from full sized roosters. Even Major, who really fancied Harolds partner could not get anywhere near her despite Major being respected by all, bantams, crosses, pure breeds and even the Catalonian version of the top production breed.

There are often posts on what breed would you like/choose. Old English Bantams would be high on my list. Some believe bantams are easy prey for predators because they are small. Thing is they're fast and in my experience more predator aware.

 

[Shadrach]

Have I shared my new coop here? This one is an Ecoflex by New Age Pet. Was pretty straightforward to build and easy enough to attach to my current setup. Hubby is a BIG fan of plastic coops now, he says maybe we'll get a Nestera in the future.
View attachment 3901693
View attachment 3901692
My broody hens are incubating their eggs in there now. Tomorrow will be 14 days. I must say, having a hen do all the work is definitely a plus!

If I may, a tip.
Make a frame for it and get it off the ground, a couple of feet is minimum.

Which reminds me. I must finish the article on the Solway Recycled coop I have. I've got a very long list...

 

[Shadrach]

It really is!! I had two hatchlings that didn’t make it past their first week (appeared squashed/smothered—that doesn’t happen in the brooder!) but otherwise the broody experience for the surviving two keets has been a delight.

Was that your first time for a broody hatch?
I was so pleased when I got the people I worked for in Catalonia to dump the incubater.

 

[Shadrach]

Ok, having major anxiety. The Egg Thief and my son got me tickets for Rock the Country music festival for my hatch day, it is today and tomorrow.. we are only going in the evenings for the bigger and big named acts, but this will be the longest I have been away from my fluffy butt babies...(we are never gone at night, and never for more than an hour or two at the most..) *sigh

My son is going to shut the coops up at night, we did a walk through and he is amazing with animals, but I have a gut ache. I am really worried about the 19 newer hooligans, that do not like to go to bed on their own yet, with an inexperienced mum that indulges them.

A good chicken sitter is worth their weight in gold.

 

[Sally PB]

A good chicken sitter is worth their weight in gold.

Yes.

My chicken sitter is unable to do it anymore. (She's the neighbor who had a heart attack last December.) I won't be travelling in the foreseeable future. I'll probably be missing a friend's wedding in Colorado in October.

 

[SimpleJenn]

How's the ventilation?
I thought about for a broody/sick bay

Adequate for now. After the babies hatch I will be adding more. We are in a pretty breezy area right next to the windbreak (ironically)

If I may, a tip.
Make a frame for it and get it off the ground, a couple of feet is minimum.

Which reminds me. I must finish the article on the Solway Recycled coop I have. I've got a very long list...

Good idea! We have some metal shelving units hubby was eyeballing for supports. We set this up and the next day plopped some broodies and eggs inside so lack of planning on our part. He brought some nice wooden crates from his job as well, we're building a chicken trailer park of coops haha.