Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

discombobulate (love that word)

I think we need 3 words for that one: door elkaar husselen: rearranging randomly.

I bought a few multifunctional coffee tables for our terraces last week. They can be used as a footstool or to sit on as well.

The chickens love them too.

 

[Molpet]

I think we need 3 words for that one: door elkaar husselen: rearranging randomly.

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I bought a few multifunctional coffee tables for our terraces last week. They can be used as a footstool or to sit on as well.

The chickens love them too.

I picked up some plastic ones that were set out for the garbage a couple years ago. I put food bowls underneath to help keep dry.

 

[BDutch]

I picked up some plastic ones that were set out for the garbage a couple years ago. I put food bowls underneath to help keep dry.

I have two very old, ugly, plastic ones I use for my chickens. One to put a food bowl and oyster flakes underneath to keep it dry. And the other one is used to hop on and of the roost bar more easily. My mother gave them to at least 25 years ago.

The new ones are not meant to poop on.

My mother always gave a lot of love and things. My father gave me money and memories.

 

[L-plate chicken mum]

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.

That all sounds eminently reasonable to me. Have found many people don’t want to help out for the greater good on allotments or anywhere else for that matter - worked for many years on public open space and most people were only interested in what they wanted from the space and signs were meant for other people! You could legitimately call me a cynic