Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

Even though my flock is contained I still find interesting behavior exhibited.

I offered my flock weedy clumps from garden bed preparation, and they dug right in (literally!)

But look at Zacchaeus, watching, not eating even though Silas is. Good boy!

I will be watching also for changes in dynamics when I split the flock, which will be once the second coop is finished.

 

[Shadrach]

Shad, I think you’ve posted this recently, but I don’t remember: how old do you think Henry is? I know he was already there when you discovered the allotment flock.

I think he's 9 years old but this estimate is from limited information. C's deceased partner was the chicken person and he would have know exactly, not C who doesn't really like chickens, or themselves come to that.

 

[Shadrach]

Tax for lurking for a while. I haven't posted cause my pictures are so bad, but but just wanted to say that I'm sorry to hear that Henry is failing. I know he's older and can't last forever, but he will be missed. Some shots of my 3 new girls that I adopted from a rescue group after Willa and Nevada both passed this summer. Edith, speckled sussex, Barbara ( aka Barbie) light sussex, and Maeve, EE.

I've developed a major soft spot for Light Sussex chickens.

 

[Shadrach]

yes; I notified them as soon as I spotted it. They sent an inspector already. He said yes they'll fix it. Then the lady who phoned to say when, said that they have to give their contactors 4 working days' notice, so they won't be here to fix it until its been running for a week essentially There is no issue with water shortages in Wales - far too much rain here for that! - but I still think this is a poor show. How much soil will wash down the hill in that time?

Thanks; I have assumed responsibility for cutting back enough above ground level to make them enough space to dig their hole (it was like someone dug a grave last time!), and I've already found one ground-laying branch that has roots, so I'm hopeful that at least half the plant will survive, and I might get some cuttings as well as one or two rooted branches to put elsewhere.

It's the choisya, Mexican orange blossom, and it's just about to burst into magnificent flower and wonderful odour. Sod's law. This was it last year.
View attachment 4077572

I hope the water board don't make too much of a mess.

 

[townchicks]

I've developed a major soft spot for Light Sussex chickens.

Me too, thanks to Henry! He's the reason I picked her.

 

[ChaosMom]

Tax time - nighty-night!

The flash woke up Trudy who immediately asked, “Food??”

 

[MrsNorthie]

The reason the pipe is leaking is because it was a temporary fix around the time of WWII.

"Temporary fix" LOL That truly was the greatest generation!

 

[MaryJanet]

I've developed a major soft spot for Light Sussex chickens.

Every Sussex I've encountered has been delightful.

 

[RoyalChick]

@RoyalChick are you letting Tassels sit on some of her lovely taupe-coloured eggs? or would they be infertile? (you have no roo if I remember aright). Or purchased hatching eggs? or do you refrain because of Mareks or other reason? If the latter, do you break her or just wait till she tires of it herself?
(sorry, didn't mean to come over like the Spanish Inquisition )

Oh I have been agonizing about that for the last 48 hours and spent a good part of this evening going over research papers on survival of vaccinated chicks based on interval between vaccination and exposure to Marek's.
I was thinking that I would get vaccinated chicks and tuck them under her at night and hope she accepts them as her own.
If I can keep chicks quarantined for 5 days after vaccination I have a good chance they will survive Marek's. But will she accept a 5 day old chick as a new baby?
Her behavior as a broody would suggest she might - she is not aggressive when I retrieve eggs from under her - rather she seems to want to tuck my hand under her like she plans to hatch more fingers for me - but you never know until you try.
If she rejects them I can of course brood them myself, but that doesn't let her be a mother and presumably won't break her insane broody cycles. Last summer she went broody after every 5 eggs.
I could tuck them under her earlier than 5 days and accept that more will die of Marek's. The research data suggests I would lose between 20-30% of them by day 56 if I exposed them to Marek's earlier. The experimental design though is a single dose of exposure - putting them under a hen who may be shedding virus is a sustained exposure. That scenario has never been studied but presumably means the 20-30% loss would be my best case.
And I can be very clinical about it and say that isn't such a bad bet, but I am not sure how I would cope with the losses from a disease that I had knowingly exposed them to.

Sorry for long answer - I am sure you are now regretting that you asked - but it is very much my problem of the moment. Though I actually don't need to solve it right now because I have some travel coming up so I absolutely cannot give her chicks this time and will eventually have to break her - but she will be back broody within a few days so I need a plan.

 

[Shadrach]

Three hours today. Warm and sunny. Everyone got onto the field for about two and a half hours. Henry went to roost about twenty minutes before the hens.