Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

I enjoyed watching a video in which a Shop Vac is used to suck up the yellow jackets.

 

[Shadrach]

@Shadrach when you let them out into the "field" is that an area that includes other people's allotments or somewhere separate?

It does include other peoples plots. I'll mark out a map. It's difficult to keep track.
There is the coop.
There is the coop extension.
There is the coop run.
There is the extended run.
Finally there is the field.
All the above are within the field boundary.
The field is just over an acre.

Have there been any issues like them getting onto people's plots and eating their veg, or other plot holders with dogs that want to chase the chickens when they're out?

Oh yes. We have had a few problems, probably less than one might expect I'm pleased to write.
It's analogous to the disputes in the USA between the cattle ranchers and the crop farmers. The cattle ranchers are usually the bad guys I'm led to believe from the books I've read and the films I've seen. I'm the bad guy with the ranging livestock.
It was one large field with the orchard taking up around a third of the acre and a single large growing plot in most of the rest. Some years ago, before I joined the group it was decided to make individual plots. These plots were rented out, cost based on size. Interestingly this is one of the primary "you may not do" in the lease. Technically it's sub letting and that is strictly forbidden. That's why I drew up the field membership agreement. You join the group. You are not guaranteed a plot. I think everyone who has wanted a growing plot has had one so far.
New members are warned that we have livestock. They are told very clearly that the field is not an allotment and that we, the group, are responsible for the entire field. Unfortunately lots who come to the field are really after a council allotment and are not interested in cooperative growing and field maintenance and some behave as if it were a council allotment. People are told to protect their crops. Of course this requires some though on where one grows what. It also involves some extra expense.
A few have welcomed the chickens on their plots and haven't really cared if the chickens ate some of what they've grown. There are others, the ones who really should be on council allotments, that complain about every beak full and want their plots looking like carefully manicured show gardens.
It's a constant battle. Yes it has gone seriously wrong when the chickens have hit a particular plot and stripped a few plants. This is my fault rather than the chickens. I haven't kept a good enough eye on where they are and what they are doing.

All the above leads to what I am trying to do now which is to increase the size of the extended run, plant hedge and other shrubs, bushes and plants that the chickens can eat, or which provide a habitat for things the chickens can eat. With this done and fenced I can leave the chickens in the extended run while I do stuff and when I've done what I need to, then I can take the chickens onto the field and supervise them properly. Thankfully this arrangement only applies in the growing season. Over the winter months the chickens have the entire field to themselves most days.

Hopefully I haven't confused matters further.

 

[kattabelly]

It does include other peoples plots. I'll mark out a map. It's difficult to keep track.
There is the coop.
There is the coop extension.
There is the coop run.
There is the extended run.
Finally there is the field.
All the above are within the field boundary.
The field is just over an acre.


Oh yes. We have had a few problems, probably less than one might expect I'm pleased to write.
It's analogous to the disputes in the USA between the cattle ranchers and the crop farmers. The cattle ranchers are usually the bad guys I'm led to believe from the books I've read and the films I've seen. I'm the bad guy with the ranging livestock.
It was one large field with the orchard taking up around a third of the acre and a single large growing plot in most of the rest. Some years ago, before I joined the group it was decided to make individual plots. These plots were rented out, cost based on size. Interestingly this is one of the primary "you may not do" in the lease. Technically it's sub letting and that is strictly forbidden. That's why I drew up the field membership agreement. You join the group. You are not guaranteed a plot. I think everyone who has wanted a growing plot has had one so far.
New members are warned that we have livestock. They are told very clearly that the field is not an allotment and that we, the group, are responsible for the entire field. Unfortunately lots who come to the field are really after a council allotment and are not interested in cooperative growing and field maintenance and some behave as if it were a council allotment. People are told to protect their crops. Of course this requires some though on where one grows what. It also involves some extra expense.
A few have welcomed the chickens on their plots and haven't really cared if the chickens ate some of what they've grown. There are others, the ones who really should be on council allotments, that complain about every beak full and want their plots looking like carefully manicured show gardens.
It's a constant battle. Yes it has gone seriously wrong when the chickens have hit a particular plot and stripped a few plants. This is my fault rather than the chickens. I haven't kept a good enough eye on where they are and what they are doing.

All the above leads to what I am trying to do now which is to increase the size of the extended run, plant hedge and other shrubs, bushes and plants that the chickens can eat, or which provide a habitat for things the chickens can eat. With this done and fenced I can leave the chickens in the extended run while I do stuff and when I've done what I need to, then I can take the chickens onto the field and supervise them properly. Thankfully this arrangement only applies in the growing season. Over the winter months the chickens have the entire field to themselves most days.

Hopefully I haven't confused matters further.

No that all makes sense, thanks for taking the time to type it out.

It sounds fairly similar to the community garden here - people can rent individual plots but we also have some communal growing space and members are expected to join in with work days to take care of those and the whole site. Someone was keeping chickens here a few years ago but as far as I can tell they spent the whole time in their run and never got let out to range. I've taken over the abandoned chicken plot, started doing it up and already have a few birds in the less falling-down bit but don't want them spending any more time locked in a run than they absolutely have to - technically site rules say they have to be contained within my area but we're generally not that strict about the rules unless people start complaining. There's a larger, somewhat fenced, area next to the run that makes up part of the same plot so I think I'll end up trying to do something quite similar to what you are.

 

[Molpet]

If you write German yelowjackets as 3 separate words its gets lost in translation.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_germanica
vs

And spell check doesn't like yellowjackets as one word.

I disagree with how far they are in USA. I am the blue dot. Wicki says the red area. They have been here since the 1980s. We also have native ones that are bigger and not quite as aggressive.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

We have the southern ones, Vespula squamosa, and they are bad enough. Ugh.

Incidentally, if you’re not actually allergic, as in needing an Epi-Pen, Pepcid (and some other OTC H-2 blockers) can help knock down some of the hives and itching.

Source: Poison Control Center after former husband ran the lawnmower over a yellow jacket nest. 17 separate stings, if I recall correctly. It wasn’t pretty.

 

[Perris]

I moved the coops more than a few feet yesterday, to a spot with more shade now that summer's finally arrived, and there was the inevitable wariness about going in at roost time among the younger, and the more skittish, flock members. Long story short, one hen and two chicks from different broods were waiting at the feed station this morning.

Cadle (older chick) has been roosting in the beech hedge for weeks now, and surprisingly stays dry in the spot she finds in there no matter how hard it rains overnight; the other chick, from the youngest brood and pulling their first night out, thankfully not only survived but managed to find somewhere dry too, in a border by the house. I hadn't realized Quincy was not in a coop (too distracted trying to round up the errant chick), but she chose a less good spot and is very bedraggled this morning; hopefully that'll be enough encouragement for her to roost in coop tonight!