Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[pennyJo1960]

Morning x batts.
Okay started 14 in the incubator because I can ...
Our weekly auction is back running.

 

[Shadrach]

@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.

The allotment lot and the tribes and the free rangers at my uncles farm all loved a bit of meat.

 

[Shadrach]

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.
View attachment 2990742

It's very difficult to protect against hawks. In time the tribes learn't how not to be seen in the first place and how to move from place to place using best cover. Ex Batts learn the hard way. Most Bantams are better at the outset and generallly more predator aware. Pleased to read everyone survived. Do check any over very thoroughly if there is any sign that they may have taken a strike. Sometimes they look fine but on close examination I've found talon tears under wings and on the back and chest that were hidden by feathers.

 

[Shadrach]

Someone threw this pile of corn and dust over the fence last week. They threw another lot into the geese enclosure. This is a major problem with people who mean well but don't think and don't know much about the species they are dealing with. Firstly geese won't eat corn from damp ground. No I don't know why, they just don't. Next, the corn meant for the chickens is outside the run so I have no idea how this person belives that the chickens will get to eat it. Next that is far too much corn. The final and most important point is the rats love a bit of corn and when I got there the rats had already visited.

 

[Shadrach]

Henry today.

 

[Shadrach]

That bum stuck up in the air belongs to one happy and adventurous hen. It isn't often one can write with confidence that a hen is happy but if you watched this young Ex Batt for a while you would be convinced. Of course, this is Lima. She is an absolute joy to watch.

This is the other Golden Comet. When her friend Slip died it looked for a while that Slide (in the picture) was likely to join her in the not to distant future.
I wormed her, treated her for mites and lice even though she had very few and gave her vitamins for a week soaked up with small pieces of tinned haddock.
She's looking pretty good now. She's alert and forages and grooms. She is a bit lonely perhaps, she's the last of the Gplden Comets and looks noticably different from the rest. She's quite friendly to me now. I can inspect her while she stands on the ground without a major fuss although I'm sure she wishes I would keep my hands off her.
She still has a minor SLM problem which I am dealing with but overall she is a different hen from a month ago.

 

[Sortacountrychicken]

It's good to see both of them doing better

 

[pennyJo1960]

Mine enjoyed the slighty freezer burned meat I handed out today.. Three packages in 8 years is not allot.
From time to time I will buy full birds or roasts cut to bits for them..
Shadrach you take great photos !

 

[BY Bob]

That bum stuck up in the air belongs to one happy and adventurous hen. It isn't often one can write with confidence that a hen is happy but if you watched this young Ex Batt for a while you would be convinced. Of course, this is Lima. She is an absolute joy to watch.
View attachment 2990941
This is the other Golden Comet. When her friend Slip died it looked for a while that Slide (in the picture) was likely to join her in the not to distant future.
I wormed her, treated her for mites and lice even though she had very few and gave her vitamins for a week soaked up with small pieces of tinned haddock.
She's looking pretty good now. She's alert and forages and grooms. She is a bit lonely perhaps, she's the last of the Gplden Comets and looks noticably different from the rest. She's quite friendly to me now. I can inspect her while she stands on the ground without a major fuss although I'm sure she wishes I would keep my hands off her.
She still has a minor SLM problem which I am dealing with but overall she is a different hen from a month ago.
View attachment 2990942

And you thought you had no impact on their lives. Don't ever doubt that they know and appreciate your kindness.

 

[sourland]

And you thought you had no impact on their lives. Don't ever doubt that they know and appreciate your kindness.

Look at the early flock pictures and then at the most recent. The flock improvement is very evident.