Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ladies-Eight]

More than a little concerned about finding this on my path I think it is agathas

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What is it?

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good evening one and all!

The temperature is 55 and clear.

Have a great day!

 

[GregnLety]

I changed jobs so I could come home to my wife and our babies every night and it's the best thing I've ever done. We have 11 dogs, mostly rescues, about 30 chickens with a few more fixing to hatch, and 7 ducks. I love pulling up to our gate and seeing all 11 pups lined up to greet me. Some days the ducks join them and it's a joyous commotion. I have never felt so much love

 

[Solanacae]

@Shadrach, I took your advice about giving meat scraps to the chickens a few times a week. My family has some land where they harvest a couple elk or deer each fall. I made a pot roast yesterday with a neck section that turned out to be really fantastic. (I’d always used it for stew meat previously.) The two neck vertebrae were tricky to get the meat off of completely, but I didn’t feel badly because I was planning on giving it to the chickens. I took it out to them this morning and they were a little scared of it at first, not used to that sort of thing finding it’s way into my compost bucket. But my usual brave one, Desdemona, gave it a taste and started wolfing it down, so pretty soon everyone was hunting out the little bits from among the vegetable peelings and picking off the bones. Later, the dogs snuck into the chicken yard while the chickens were out roaming around and stole the bones, but they had been thoroughly cleaned off by then. I don’t eat tons of meat, but I’ll definitely be saving more scraps for them in the future.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

The sick hen died last night. I hope the Metacam helped to make it less painfull.
She was a lot cleaner than she is in the pictures above when I put her in the broody coop and I made sure she had clean bedding and enough to keep her warm.
19 left now from 26 in last September.
Wendy has found other things to do apparently and will no longer be helping out; not that she did much.

I must confess that I often wonder if I'm making enough of a difference. Then I get there (it takes at least half an hour from my new flat) and see them expectantly crowded around the gate. The gate is hardly open before they are trying to push their way out. Just watching them run, stumble and fly a bit up the allotment run to where there is still forage in the not so well explored end puts a smile on my face. After 15 to 20 minutes I call Henry and give the treat containor a shake and they all rush back to see what I've got. Henry gets first dibs out of my hand while some of the more fiesty hens try to jump up and grab a bit. Henry drops bits once he has tested the offering and then I throw most of the rest in small amounts in various directions hoping that everyone gets at least something. Henry stands back a bit while the melee ensues, and then comes in close to take some for himself from my hand. After he's had his own special hand feed he joins the hens.
I clean the worst of the poop out of the coop and put in clean bedding, checking the poop as I clean. Making sure the roost bars are wedged in properly is next; no roost in the right place and Henry won't roost in the coop.
Next it's check out the eggs. I'm looking for thin shells and misshapen eggs.
Then I go and sit in my chair and watch them all for a while. This is when I look for a chance to get a couple of half decent pictures. Some of the hens and sometimes Henry gather around me while I sit on the chair. This is my best opportunity to check a couple of the hens over for any obvious problems. I also see those hens who are a bit off and make a note of who I need to capture and check more thoroughly.
I'm there an hour and a half most afternoons. It's usually pretty cold. The westerly wind that is infamous for making exposed areas of Bristol feel a few degrees colder than anywhere else is usually blowing. The chickens don't seem to mind. They just love being out.
I do the water and commercial feed last. I take a kilo of commercial feed there each day. On the better days C has fed them enough so that there is still at least some feed left in the trays. Today al the trays were completely empty and the chickens were hungry. A kilo in the evenings means they can fill their crops before roosting. C doesn't seem to understand the importance of this. It's breakfast and supper that's important for chickens.
Last is to change the water and washout the water containor which gets covered in mud both inside and out.
On these cold evenings most go to roost when Henry calls them apart from Dusk and now two or three others who forage right up to the last moment. If I'm in a bit of a hurry to catch the bus I have to go and encourage the stragglers to go to roost. Once I've seen the last hen go up the ramp into the coop I clean off my boots and head for the bus stop.
As the evenings get longer and hopefully the weather warmer I intend to spend longer there.
Having done it, I leave the allotments with no doubts about making a difference any more and for me that's enough to bre going on with.

I am sure you are making a difference. And sure that your poor hen had some good days at the end of her life because of you.

Just what I was going to say. You are certainly making a difference.
I certainly think the end of life stage of that sick hen was a much better experience because of you.

Here's looking forward to Spring and Summer.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

More than a little concerned about finding this on my path I think it is agathas

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Deana had the membrane of a shelless egg hanging from her vent once. I carefully wet it down and removed it and she was fine and showed no lingering effects.
I made sure she had calcium supplement and crushed eggshells but she was at the end of her laying life I think and didn't lay much afterwards.

Spoiler: Deana's bottom with egg membrane

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

The temperature is 44 and sunny.

Have a great day!

 

[ManueB]

We had a hawk attack tonight . No one's hurt but it took me half an hour to find Blanche and I really thought he got her.
I was baking inside when I heard little Théo sounding general alarm. Through the window I saw a huge grey bird running around our massive laurel tree. I ran outside screaming at the top of my lungs to frighten him, and he flew away. Under the laurel trees I found 4 of the ex batts huddling on one side, the lady bantam and another ex-batt huddling on the other, Théo on the other side. After a long search finally found the last hen, Blanche, very well hidden inside the coop in a corner.

It took me another half an hour to get them out of the laurel tree. Théo kept sounding the alarm each time a girl came out, he didn't want them to go in the open. They were all in shock, I had to carry them back to the coop.
It's the second attack since January, I have to think how to make things more secure.

Blanche hiding.

 

[ManueB]

Just what I was going to say. You are certainly making a difference.
I certainly think the end of life stage of that sick hen was a much better experience because of you.

Here's looking forward to Spring and Summer.

So right. You certainly bring a little joy in their life and I'm sure they bring some joy in yours even if things may feel hopeless sometimes.

 

[BY Bob]

We had a hawk attack tonight . No one's hurt but it took me half an hour to find Blanche and I really thought he got her.
I was baking inside when I heard little Théo sounding general alarm. Through the window I saw a huge grey bird running around our massive laurel tree. I ran outside screaming at the top of my lungs to frighten him, and he flew away. Under the laurel trees I found 4 of the ex batts huddling on one side, the lady bantam and another ex-batt huddling on the other, Théo on the other side. After a long search finally found the last hen, Blanche, very well hidden inside the coop in a corner.

It took me another half an hour to get them out of the laurel tree. Théo kept sounding the alarm each time a girl came out, he didn't want them to go in the open. They were all in shock, I had to carry them back to the coop.
It's the second attack since January, I have to think how to make things more secure.

Blanche hiding.
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Hawks are awful. I'm glad everyone is OK.