Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Tea is ready.

Temperature is in the 70s partly sunny.

Have a great day!

 

[Canadian Wind]

they aren't here. They don't divide into 'tribes' either.

this happens here to superannuated roos and birds ill with something contagious. Birds with non-communicable diseases are left alone or even kept company.

My point exactly. They are not in 'nature'.

 

[Perris]

My point exactly. They are not in 'nature'.

true, but (they live much more naturally than most other backyard chickens on BYC, and) they can be driven off, so the fact that the young aren't is significant. There are no fences here. Nothing keeps the birds in or out except their own volition.

Shad's 'tribes' were steered into smaller groups by his positioning apart of the coops and thus the creation of different tribal territories. RJF flocks apparently get to about 30 before they hive off.

 

[Molpet]

culling is hard for me likewise, and I rationalise it the same way. I also find that I get more attached to birds that I nurse back to health, and it's much harder to end their lives then than it would have been when they were injured or seriously ill. But sometimes it seems necessary for everyone's or the majority's good.

I no longer nurse birds back to health for those reasons. Although I have a jake that got beat up a few weeks ago and I separated because I wasn't feeling well enough to harvest that day...I told myself by the time he is 6 months old on Nov 10th, the bruising should be gone ummm I think I should have harvested then anyway... I have one on one interaction and this isn't good for wacking him.

 

[Perris]

To illustrate the young staying, I was reminded of and posted this this morning on another thread. It was taken in May. The dom is in the right middle and his younger lieutenants are at the sides.

It's poor quality because it was a misty day and it was taken through a window. I didn't see the threat but assume a fox.

 

[notabitail]

Maybe still moulting?
The new feathers seem to hurt when picked up.

She is still moulting.

I only pick her up for the sole purpose of weighing her. Otherwise I wouldn't bother her.

 

[Perris]

Items that popped out to me:

- On foraging: “It was often observed that they fed in open areas early in the morning and late in the evening. During the rest of the day they fed around the oil palm trees and within the Nephrolepsis biserrata (fern) and in the stacked [sic] of the oil palm cut fronds. They were never observed feeding for a long period of time at a spot while foraging.”

- On plants vs. animals in their diets: In this and a study in India, the diet observed was 81-90% plant matter, and females eat more animal proteins than males.

“The Red Junglefowl breeds throughout the year, therefore, the hens need a lot of energy (protein, calcium) for egg production throughout the year.”

- On water intake: They appear to glean moisture from what they forage rather than seeking out water, which makes you wonder how much we complicate their lives by feeding dry cereal that forces them to consume so much water separately.

Something else that popped out to me was the relatively small number / variety of plants foraged - only 14, and that was apparently more than another study, in a different area. My current list of forage in the garden eaten by chickens has 19 different species just in the A-C section! But the study linked was conducted on a palm plantation (explaining the dominance of palm fruit in the results) and was explicitly focussed on agricultural land, so not really representative of jungle fowl in a jungle environment anyway.

 

[fluffycrow]

We, chicken keepers and I think people in general, have lost touch with the purpose of death through predation and maybe death in general. It's all fallen out of balance.
In our attempts to make life safe for the creatures we keep we often not only make matters worse but upset what should be a natural balance.
It's a complicated topic on which people, depending on their culture and their own sensibilities, often with no logic or rationality, have vastly different views.
As an example, I could not have managed attempting to keep free range chickens in Catalonia, with all my views of freedom to reproduce and freedom of movement without the aid of predators. It wouldn't have taken many hatchings before the population became completely unmanageable.
A further problem is the view that we own the lives of the creatures we keep and a threat to those lives, or the taking of those lives by others becomes a personal affront. There is nothing personal in natural predation. It's just other creatures trying to eat and survive much as we do.
Sometimes it's the view that we own lives and are responsible for them that compounds the problem. Lock creatures up in a prison for their own safety and our own peace of mind and have a predator break into that prison is often more devastating than having a predator pick off one or two free rangers.
It is a complicated topic which I try not to over simplify but predation is necessary if any sort of natural balance is to be maintained.
The above is part of the reason I don't do the sorry for your loss type posts.
The poster may in a few cases have lost a friend but mostly they've lost a possession. It's the dead creature that's lost something, their life and my empathy goes to their relatives.
Not very well expressed I'm sorry to write and not a view shared by most here.

I agree. After all, the predators most of us are dealing with came here long before we, or the chickens did That, however, goes both ways.

When we brought chickens to their land, we (or at least, most people on this thread) made a conscious decision to let the birds have free access to it, accepting the losses that might come. I myself, accept that risk every morning when I make the conscious decision to open the coop door. We would not be making that choice if we thought it wouldn't benefit them, and that by itself, means that we have a certain respect towards them. I would have rather not lost Lady Gaga. He was such an amazing bird, I could talk about him all day (although I can do that for most of my birds). Still, I made the choice to let him and his girls out, because I thought that being in a free range environment was the only way his tribe could reach its full potential. Unfortunately nature had other plans. I accepted those the day I let him out. Still, I was responsible for letting him out, and as such, there is some guilt attached with every predator loss we (me and the birds, that is) experience. At the same time, with every loss, I feel like I've lost a friend. Of course, that can never compare to what the other chickens are feeling.

That is why I type these "I'm sorry" posts. Because all the people here, like @HiEverybirdy , feel the guilt of having a chicken get taken under their care, and at the same time, mourn the loss of a friend, something clearly visible from their heartfelt posts.

I know you are not opposed to the idea of "I'm sorry" posts, but rather explain why you don't do/type them (again, I agree with the reasons you stated), but the reasons above is why I like to, and because I know it helps me to read them when I'm dealing with a loss of my own. Is the latter selfish? Perhaps

 

[fluffycrow]

Such handsome boys.

Thanks! They think so too

 

[BDutch]

We, chicken keepers and I think people in general, have lost touch with the purpose of death through predation and maybe death in general. It's all fallen out of balance.
In our attempts to make life safe for the creatures we keep we often not only make matters worse but upset what should be a natural balance.
It's a complicated topic on which people, depending on their culture and their own sensibilities, often with no logic or rationality, have vastly different views.
As an example, I could not have managed attempting to keep free range chickens in Catalonia, with all my views of freedom to reproduce and freedom of movement without the aid of predators. It wouldn't have taken many hatchings before the population became completely unmanageable.
A further problem is the view that we own the lives of the creatures we keep and a threat to those lives, or the taking of those lives by others becomes a personal affront. There is nothing personal in natural predation. It's just other creatures trying to eat and survive much as we do.
Sometimes it's the view that we own lives and are responsible for them that compounds the problem. Lock creatures up in a prison for their own safety and our own peace of mind and have a predator break into that prison is often more devastating than having a predator pick off one or two free rangers.
It is a complicated topic which I try not to over simplify but predation is necessary if any sort of natural balance is to be maintained.
The above is part of the reason I don't do the sorry for your loss type posts.
The poster may in a few cases have lost a friend but mostly they've lost a possession. It's the dead creature that's lost something, their life and my empathy goes to their relatives.
Not very well expressed I'm sorry to write and not a view shared by most here.

I tend to go a long way with your view on keeping chickens.
Of course (chicken) life is not always what we have in mind.

Until now, saying ‘sorry for your loss’ is literally what is says*. The one who receives the message can interpret whatever they want to hear in the message. Condolences are something else for me. I do not give my condolences to someone who lost a chicken/pet.

But now I understand ‘My condolences’ and ‘Sorry for your loss’ means exactly the same. So I need to reconsider.

*Maybe it’s because Im not a native speaker and tend to take more in foreign language literally? Translated to Dutch it meant: i'm sorry you lost something/ someone.