Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

Tomorrow I'm going to meet up with and go to my friends place where he keeps Light Sussex chickens. That will cheer me up. He's just reached the age where he can take a lump sum pension payment and he's going to add another fenced acre for his chickens. I think he has four acres in total a third of one acre he uses for his vegetable growing and garden. The rest is largely unmanaged ground bar some copse work and bush planting just for the chickens.
His eldest male (Ten and a half years old) died of a heart attack during a fight with a challenger leaving one tribe without a male.

Sounds like a plan! I hope you have a good visit, and maybe share some photos of your friend's flock.

 

[RoyalChick]

Backyard chicken keeping has in effect been defined by sites like this.
The model is 4 square foot per bird in the coop and ten square feet in the run per bird. Add to this the hatchery system, the delivery system (seriously, how can anybody think it's a good idea to put day old chicks, hatched in an incubator in a box and chuck them in the post) the highly processed feed they get given and the heritage breeds from a hatchery (make I larf!) and still, the breeders are trying to squeeze even more eggs out of a bird that were built/evolved to lay around 30 eggs a year.

Someone tell me, what is there to recommend such a system?

It doesn't even serve those who keep and care for their chickens as creatures rather than egg machines, because they don't get to see what chickens are really like when allowed a more natural existence.
I've been shocked by my experiences with the field chickens. So shocked that I've invested a few thousand pounds and some 8000 hours over three and half years on what are not my chickens.
Before the field my chicken keeping experiences were much much different and naturally my view of chickens has been largely formed by my experiences.


I had a conversation with someone who commented that their rooster didn't act anything like my description of roosters should act on hearing "the escort call." I enquired about the keeping conditions: single coop in a run of about 100 square feet. The coop was at one end of the run. I pointed out to this person that no matter where their rooster stood in the run he would be able to see the hens at the coop pop door. He also knows that if he can't get out then other creatures are going to have difficulty getting in; definitely not expecting to see another rooster making a B line for one of his hens. In short his and the hens natural behaviour is severly curtailed by the conditions they are kept in.

Aren't we all agreed that chickens should be able to carry out natural behaviour, or are there some things (a lot of things as far as I can see) that the chickens will have to sacrifice because we can't, or wont, provide them with adequate resources and freedom?

While the ExBattery hens were alive I felt like I was improving their lives, now I feel more like a jailer.

No BDutch I have no intention of stopping caring for the field chickens. I'll be doing it until i'm not physically capable.

But don’t you yourself often say that in reality the majority of BYC members don’t actually keep their chickens that way.
Many free range or at least range (a term I believe you coined that describes my arrangement).

 

[MrsNorthie]

My Dad wakes up if the chooks get loud at night. We had a earthquake and I would have never woken up if he hadn't gotten me up to go check the chooks. Last two earthquakes the Bigs have gotten terrified and I had to go put them back to bed. Turns out they know where my door is and can navigate there in the dark.

They know who their safe-person is!

 

[Perris]

Aren't we all agreed that chickens should be able to carry out natural behaviour, or are there some things (a lot of things as far as I can see) that the chickens will have to sacrifice because we can't, or wont, provide them with adequate resources and freedom?

the response I have had in similar circumstances is that the chickens must be housed for their own protection, from real or imagined predators or real or imagined diseases.

But they don't imprison their children, where they recognize that excessive protection is not healthy and can even be a form of abuse.

 

[RoyalChick]

the response I have had in similar circumstances is that the chickens must be housed for their own protection, from real or imagined predators or real or imagined diseases.

But they don't imprison their children, where they recognize that excessive protection is not healthy and can even be a form of abuse.

Not sure about that.
Kids now do seem a lot less free range than they were when us oldies were growing up.

 

[BDutch]

Not sure about that.
Kids now do seem a lot less free range than they were when us oldies were growing up.

You are right Royal. Kids are often protected too much too nowadays. Not just by their parents who drive them everywhere. But also by the municipality who acts on requests and more rules and regulations for safety.

Eg. We had a tree in our neighbourhood on an empty plot. Children loved to climb in it and had the time of their life. Someone asked to take it down bc she thought it was dangerous.The municipality did on request.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Not sure about that.
Kids now do seem a lot less free range than they were when us oldies were growing up.

Mine gets to do all the feral child stuff I did at her age.
Benefits of moving back home to the woods. The only real issue is the ticks are way worse now!

Tax, some cute chicks who will be moving outside as soon as they're fully feathered. Brooding indoors is not very fun for me.

I have 4 about ready, another 5 that might need another week or two, and then 16 teeny fluffs that won't head out for another month I think.

 

[Shadrach]

But don’t you yourself often say that in reality the majority of BYC members don’t actually keep their chickens that way.
Many free range or at least range (a term I believe you coined that describes my arrangement).

I do and the poll bears this out. But, about a third ranged from dawn till dusk, the others do what I'm doing and let them range for a couple of hours or so, usually supervised.
I don't think two hours a day is enough. Also, it's not just the amount of time, it's when during the day they get out to forage etc. Evening before going to roost is a good time but equally important is the morning forage. My experience tells me being locked up at mid day is propbably the least restrictive. The ranging chicken I've cared for ( fed twice daily) tended to rest undercover for quite a few hours, depending on season and weather, at mid day. Mornings and evenings were the high activity time slots.

 

[ChaosMom]

I do and the poll bears this out. But, about a third ranged from dawn till dusk, the others do what I'm doing and let them range for a couple of hours or so, usually supervised.
I don't think two hours a day is enough. Also, it's not just the amount of time, it's when during the day they get out to forage etc. Evening before going to roost is a good time but equally important is the morning forage. My experience tells me being locked up at mid day is propbably the least restrictive. The ranging chicken I've cared for ( fed twice daily) tended to rest undercover for quite a few hours, depending on season and weather, at mid day. Mornings and evenings were the high activity time slots.

Interesting! The three pullets who are training me definitely seem to do extended napping from noon to three or so. I was starting to wonder.

Once we get the gaps under the backyard fence fully blocked, I’ll make sure that they get out most mornings.

 

[BDutch]

The reason why I restrict my chickens is also bc they tend to go further away and start to free range more often in the gardens of our neighbours if I let them free range the whole day. We have open structures in between, fences with ivy and other climbing plants, all kind of bushes . So I dont see my chickens if they visit the neighbours gardens.

The neighbours say they don’t mind if they trespass, but I don’t think they still like it when they start to demolish their garden’s. Beside that I don’t feel comfortable if they vanish for a long time, and I cant see where they are.

The necessity to lock them up was the main reason I build a larger run for the 8 bantams I had 7-8 years ago. I believe its the right combination of run space and free range time that can make a difference.