Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

I could do with some of those bushes at the field. Great cover for chickens.

 

[BDutch]

Lots of bushes are cheap to buy/easy to get as seedlings and grow fast.

My chickens often sit under a Portuguese laurel (seedling) in the run when it’s hot or just for shelter.

Janice + chicks in the run (2023).
The fresh green leaves are from a white berry and the dark leaves behind it is the Portuguese laurel.

 

[Perris]

I had read years ago that feeding mainly wheat causes light colored yolks. So light a person though her fried eggs were just whites.

Carotenoids are what give the colour to yolks; they're available in lots of fresh plant leaves, e.g. grass, as well as the petals of marigolds etc., so that's just a myth.

 

[BDutch]

Carotenoids are what give the colour to yolks; they're available in lots of fresh plant leaves, e.g. grass, as well as the petals of marigolds etc., so that's just a myth.

I don’t t recommend this. But what colour do the yolks get if they only get wheat and not anything fresh?

The commercial feed factories add corn and other things to obtain yellow yolks.

 

[BDutch]

I found some answers https://www.eieiei.nl/dit-zegt-de-k...r van de dooier,eieren met een donkere dooier.

Translated;

Spoiler: Pale and white yolks

HOW DOES THE EGG YOLK GET ITS COLOUR?

But how come there is so much colour variation in egg yolks? The colour of the yolk simply depends on the chicken's diet. If she is fed a lot of wheat, the chicken will lay eggs with a pale yellow yolk. A chicken that is fed different types of food to which, for example, corn or alfalfa has been added, will lay eggs with a dark yolk. Corn and alfalfa contain carotene, the same substance that makes carrots orange. Carotene contains a lot of pigment, which makes the egg yolk darker. Sometimes artificial carotene is also added to chicken feed to achieve the same effect. Incidentally, there is no more absorbable beta-carotene in eggs, it is only the pigment of the carotene that makes the egg yolk darker. The chicken has 'used up' the vitamins.

KOMETSUYA: EGGS WITH WHITE YOLK

Kometsuya: eggs with white yolk

Although egg yolks are almost always somewhere between light yellow and orange, there is one exception: in Japan you can get kometsuya eggs; eggs with a white yolk. These eggs come from the Takeuchi poultry farm in Hokkaido, which feeds its chickens pigment-free food. The result is a very light yellow yolk, which turns bright white when fried or boiled. What do these chickens eat? 68 percent rice from Hokkaido, 15 percent fish, 8.8 percent bran, 8 percent mussel shells from Lake Saroma in the same region and finally 0.2 percent vitamins, salts and other supplements. It is said that these eggs have a sweeter taste, but to experience that for yourself you will have to go to Japan.

 

[fluffycrow]

Eldest sent me these picture of feral chicken in Minorca.View attachment 3974001View attachment 3974002View attachment 3974003

It amazes me how similar these birds look to the "village chickens" we have over here. Same goes for the flora observed in those photos.

If you hadn't shared the location, I would have confidently said these photos were taken in the Peloponnese .

One very common plant here (and one I think is present in your photos) is the Pistacia (lentiscus) or as I've known it my whole life, "σχίνος". When I was little I was taught how to make egg baskets out of its twigs, which was apparently a pretty common use for this plant, given how abundant it was.

It's also a great source of cover for the chickens, as showcased by Kolovos and his girls in this photo

 

[Ladies-Eight]

I was up all night (shingles) Finally felt like sleeping at 6.30am and slept through, on and off until 2pm which of course made me late getting to the field. We got an hour out.
View attachment 3973835View attachment 3973836

I am at 7 and a half months with my shingles which still cause me many sleepless nights.

I have decided they are never going to go away.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Tea is ready.

Temperature is in the 60s sunny.

Have a great day!

 

[Perris]

But what colour do the yolks get if they only get wheat and not anything fresh?

I have no idea; I imagine they'd not be laying or indeed living long if they ate only wheat. But the pale yolks that result if they do not get any food with carotenoids in, are a consequence of *the absence of carotenoids*, not of the type of low- or no-carotenoid food (wheat, barley, oats, rice or whatever). So attributing pale yolks to wheat feed is to mistake the cause.

 

[Perris]

Tax for carotenoids: HQXZ are 11 weeks old today, and Quincy is looking a lot more lively (and cute) than she did during the cold snap (the weather's lovely today). Both broodies are still with them btw, despite both being novices and young themselves (Rhondda in the photo, turned 1 on 12th Sept.)