Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Mother of Chaos]

Make the pieces smaller! Almonds are quite hard.

They’re very, very thin slices. I’d say it would take at least 8 stacked one on another to reach the thickness of the original almond. But I will break them up; good point!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

This is why I suggest to people that they buy a pet carrier or three and leave them open, with nesting material in them. Big advantage for management of the sick and the broody in my experience. Not many of the tribes were overly stress by being in one of the pet carriers because they were something they had become used to from laying eggs in them.

Great idea! The Orp especially will probably be happier in a carrier.

Wait till the next time the cat goes to the vet and discovers that we brought the girls home in her carrier. Bwah hah hah

 

[Molpet]

This is why I suggest to people that they buy a pet carrier or three and leave them open, with nesting material in them. Big advantage for management of the sick and the broody in my experience. Not many of the tribes were overly stress by being in one of the pet carriers because they were something they had become used to from laying eggs in them.

Yes I have them in every coop, great for broodies. Every size.

 

[Shadrach]

Yes I have them in every coop, great for broodies. Every size.

There have been quite a few times when I've needed to take a chicken to the vet or bring them into the house for some reason or other and waited until the particular hen went to lay an egg, walked up and closed the carrier gate and walked away with them.

 

[Shadrach]

Back to the hens for a moment. The keepers I knew in Catalonia (free rangers mostly) would say that a hen making an outside nest will make it within 50 metres radially from the coop or feeding station. I found this to be largely true. It also fits in with the natural territory estimations of one acre to one and a half acres for each tribe.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I’m not about to go back into the kill-your-chickens-with-grit thread, but while I was watching the girls in their dust bath orgy, it was obvious that they were eating *something* in the soil. Since they were down to (and below) the actual soil level, and not eating seeds etc., I’m satisfied that they were eating grit.

They also visit the human-designated dust bath area, which includes builders sand, so I assume that they know what they need and are getting it.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Back to the hens for a moment. The keepers I knew in Catalonia (free rangers mostly) would say that a hen making an outside nest will make it within 50 metres radially from the coop or feeding station. I found this to be largely true. It also fits in with the natural territory estimations of one acre to one and a half acres for each tribe.

50 metres isn’t far at all! (quick US conversion: a yard or so longer than half an American football field.)

Does this vary by terrain and number of potential nesting spots?

 

[fuzzi]

What kind of office work do your chickens do?

Hunt and peck typing...

 

[fuzzi]

I’m not about to go back into the kill-your-chickens-with-grit thread

I'm glad I missed that one...

 

[fuzzi]

This reminds me of one of those simple wooden toys...

It was dried out cat food.