Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

QnA are out again - in the middle of a cold snap and hard frosts! They both chose to roost in coop when the (accurate) forecast was for high winds (how do birds forecast the weather so well?), but they don't seem to mind either the rain/drizzle or the cold.

 

[Perris]

I asked for this series of art books to be saved from the house

Do you have a favourite period/style/artist? I'm a bit eclectic/erratic, and I really don't understand why I like what I do. For example I like some 15th cent Italian, Leonardo's drawings, Corot, Cezanne and some Impressionists, some Picasso but not most of his oeuvre, and I just can't get my head round the handful of art installations I've seen, or see any point to things like a banana stuck to a wall with duck tape A fool and his money are soon parted is the only response I have to that

 

[Shadrach]

Do you have a favourite period/style/artist? I'm a bit eclectic/erratic, and I really don't understand why I like what I do. For example I like some 15th cent Italian, Leonardo's drawings, Corot, Cezanne and some Impressionists, some Picasso but not most of his oeuvre, and I just can't get my head round the handful of art installations I've seen, or see any point to things like a banana stuck to a wall with duck tape A fool and his money are soon parted is the only response I have to that

I don't know much about fine art. As a child my parents did expose me to a lot of art and literature but not a lot sank in.

Later I became interested in science and technology and I stuck with them for work and entertainment for many years.
Similar to yourself, I know what I like when I see it, but don't know jack about the artists, the techniques used, or even the name of the painting more often than not.

I like most other arts, dance, sculpture, real hand crafts and rural skills, music of course, some of the comic art, especially some of what came out of France 40+ years ago and not often mention as art, gaming maps on computers.
I had a bit of a go at being an artist when I was making wooden sculptures and lamps; I began to apprciate why some paintings were worth their price just for the hours the artist put in. Not much of that in some modern art such as your example and quite few more from what I've seen in the galleries.

I'll know more about what I like when I've gone through this series of books.

 

[Perris]

Similar to yourself, I know what I like when I see it, but don't know jack about the artists, the techniques used, or even the name of the painting more often than not.

I've seen a few episodes of a series on lost art in UK museums/ private houses/ public collections etc. and it's been very educational on the techniques used, and even more so on the range and scope for attribution and interpretation that remains at the discretion of the art historian. These pictures are 'lost' in the sense that they're sitting in stores or hanging on walls but it's not clear who painted them, when, what the subject is, what the title was, and how it got to where it currently is. So if you get a taste for looking at art, I know you don't have a telly but there's about 30,000 of such works in search of an artist/title etc. on this website https://artuk.org/discover/stories/bendor-grosvenor-on-the-2017-series-of-britains-lost-masterpieces

I spent a few happy hours once searching it for paintings of chickens. I don't have a one-track mind, really I don't

 

[BDutch]

I've seen, or see any point to things like a banana stuck to a wall with duck tape A fool and his money are soon parted is the only response I have to that

Some art has the intent to please or shock the eye. Other art has the intent to please or shock the mind.
Sometimes these two come together and make magnificent art.

I just love the idea of the banana taped to the wall. The peanut butter floor of Wim T. Schippers.
Even more the copper plates that were urinated by Andy Warhol. And of course the shredded girl with red balloon by Banksy.

 

[no fly zone]

Some art has the intent to please or shock the eye. Other art has the intent to please or shock the mind.
Sometimes these two come together and make magnificent art.

I just love the idea of the banana taped to the wall. The peanut butter floor of Wim T. Schippers.
Even more the copper plates that were urinated by Andy Warhol. And of course the shredded girl with red balloon by Banksy.

I feel the exact opposite.

 

[BDutch]

I feel the exact opposite.

Please explain.

Tax (not art)

 

[Shadrach]

In spur news, Merle Hagbird shed his right spur this summer (if I recall) but not the left one, a curvy affair that looked impressive. There it is a few months ago:

View attachment 4017927

Two things about Merle:

1. He has a lot of foot problems, either due to foot feathers or his hobby of kicking a fence to bug his brother Andre.

2. He's a mama's bird. He follows me around when he doesn't feel well. He has faith I'll fix what's bothering him, usually with a warm foot soak and spritz of Vetericyn.

He started following me this morning, so I bent down for a closer look. His left spur was gone! No limping. The new spur probably just felt strange.

View attachment 4017928

He and Andre had been doing their morning "hello" a few minutes before, so I quickly went to look for the spur in the spot they do the most head bobbing. My hypothesis was that he snagged the spur on the fence, and it popped off.

There were 2 leg scales on the ground but no spur, so it was time to review tape, and the chicken cam proved me right. At 9:06 a.m., Merle's spur hooked neatly on the fence.
View attachment 4017935

Luckily he didn't pull something, because he'd never let a little thing like a trapped leg keep him from antagonizing Andre.

The camera shows him free a few seconds later. The spur was likely ready to pop off anyway.

What it doesn't show is the Speckled hens spiriting the spur up the hill in their yard, where I was tickled to find it later, after thinking about where on earth it could be. I figured it was somewhere in their yard or in Miss Peck, and Peck seemed too comfortable to have a 2" claw in her crop!

It's hollow, no blood. Only a little bigger than the one Merle shed months ago, but more sturdy. Pretty neat.
View attachment 4017930
View attachment 4017929

It's interesting that the outer casing broke away rather than the spur breaking off at the leg join. I've had a few roosters and hens break off spurs due to fighting or getting struck badly on a rock or brick and they invariably break at the leg.
Those roosters that have shed cases shed without trauma as far as I've been able to tell. Maybe a slight tap in the cases of Henry and Twitch who I ma fairly certain weren't involved in any fighting at the time.
So, it's reasnable to assume that there is a point at which the case will come off rather than breaking the whole spur from the leg. It would be handy to know if there are exterior signs of imminent case shed.

 

[Shadrach]

I feel the exact opposite.

So do I. At least someone, quite a few infact it seems, appreciate the message the artist is try to convey. My view is it's a waste of a banana.

 

[Sally PB]

My view is it's a waste of a banana

And the duct tape.