Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Are you going to share it with us? Or just tease?

I'll share some...

 

[Shadrach]

To be fair some of the time that's in response to something like "my chickens will only eat this one treat food and nothing else, how to I get them to eat their regular feed?"

Which opens up a whole other can of worms about what's classed as a treat and how much is ok to give, of course, but I do think that's something that needs to be done differently and more carefully for chickens that are kept in a fairly sterile run and don't have access to a range of plants and other foods to choose from themselves.

Yes, the keeping circumstances have a major impact on what I would and wouldn't feed chickens.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I took Sylph off the perch a few days ago after roosting time to do her legs.
With most of the coops I've had one has to lean in and ones face is at beak height for a moment. Not a good time to find a rooster or cockerel thinks your trying to murder his hens!

I had a moment similar to this today—I have a hen that isn’t doing well and usually I can’t catch them but she felt so awful I managed to scoop her up even with the rooster standing a foot away watching. He’s complained before when I’ve done it but not today. I was happy with that. So far my new rooster has proven to be a great guy and has done nothing I would consider naughty. He gets out of my way before I get to him, tidbits for the hens and wing dances, etc. I haven’t tried feeding him out of my hand but I’m not really interested in his being friendly with me because I have grabbed him at night for a long foot soak and he was lovely about it even though he did give me a look that said “you know dudes don’t get pedicures, right?”

 

[no fly zone]

Two and a half hours this afternoon. A little bit of rain early evening. Warmer than yesterday. What we did have was a nearly constant 25mph wind from the South West, which cuts accross the field largely unobstructed. The chickens didn't like that much.
I ran a few Glais tests this afternoon; a couple inadvertent.
Mow and Sylph were under the coop. I had some cooked pasta and plain cod left over from the last couple of dinners. I showed Glais the green container; he knows what that means. He came and stood on my foot almost with his head in my lap. I gave him a chunk of cod, he dropped that. I gave him a whole cooked fussili pasta piece, wholemeal of course. He dropped that. we did a couple more. He dropped them all. Then I gave him some cod crumbs on my upturned palm. He ate all of those and his touch is almost as gentle as Henry's was.

I gave his beak a stroke each time I fed him. I got more of a why is he doing that look than anything else.
He was in my way eating grass when I wanted to go through the gate. I gave his tail feathers a tap. He wasn't startled, he just moved over.
I'm fairly confident I could catch him in daylight hours if I needed to and that's really all I'm after.
He spent more time with Mow and Sylph this afternoon than he did with me, or halfway between. This is an improvement. Ideally I want him to come to me when he wants something, not because he isn't sure of who he should be with. Roosters that like one are lovely, for a while but in the past they got under my feet a lot or followed me into another roosters territory and either stood around whining or attempted to face off the other rooster.

Glais grabbed Sylph by the back of her neck. Sylph screamed at him and broke away. One feather lost so not that firm a grab. Glais walked away and didn't bother her further. This is a picture taken directly after. Glais went off to do some more eating.View attachment 4244797

The above is important. Grabby insistent cockerels and roosters aren't the end of the world and often a large senior hen will sort the worst of that out. It's just one of those things that put the ball in the keepers court and one ends up asking oneself, is this acceptable behaviour and at what stage it isn't. I don't like being in that position. I don't mind eating a cockerel if I've marked him down to be eaten from the outset. Really annoyed when I have to kill one because of his behaviour towards the hens. In the past, with a lot of work, I've kept other cockerels on the right side of that line but one needs to there almost full time.

Glais likes the coop and the run to enough of an extent to make me feel less guilty about depriving him of the environment he had with Perris. Glais will go back to run a few times while I'm there. They are all keen on the corner just outside the coop gate and the other chickens that have lived here were as well. The nettles and grasses are growing back after I dug them out when I was doing the fence and they now provided some shelter from the wind and from sight. I've posted lots of pictures of that corner in this thread.

Glais is wary of people he hasn't met before. Also good. I haven't had the opportunity to see if he would try and herd the hens away from a stranger yet or put himself between them and the stranger. When I sit the stranger down (Sometimes difficult to explain to people if they just sit down quietly and stop jiggling about on their feet, everyone will relax a bit .

Glais went to roost first this evening. He settled down in his spot immediately. Sylph followed next, slightly cautious have turned down his advances earlier, but she got up right next to him. They were touching at one point which is great because some of his body heat will help keep Sylph warm while she moulting.

I took Sylph off the perch a few days ago after roosting time to do her legs.
With most of the coops I've had one has to lean in and ones face is at beak height for a moment. Not a good time to find a rooster or cockerel thinks your trying to murder his hens! When I took Sylph off the perch Glais stood up, but nothing threatening or whines of distress. Some roosters whine when they're not pleased. I took Mow off the perch after roosting tonight. Glais didn't even get up. Mow is pretty calm after the first touch for both a foot lift and an body hold. She grumbled once and that was it. She even stood still while I did her legs provided one foot was on my hand.

I've been digging out the cage in the extended run for the fruit bushes I plan to plant there. I'm tired of the pigeons eating my gooseberries and raspberries! They put chicken wire on the floor inside the cage. It's taking extra time to untangle the grass clumps form the chicken wire. I could understand it if they'd laid it around the outside.

Well that lot needs some tax.
View attachment 4244793View attachment 4244794View attachment 4244795View attachment 4244796

Spurs are coming on.
View attachment 4244798View attachment 4244799

I am glad to hear the whole Glais thing is working out well.

 

[SimpleJenn]

When I sit the stranger down (Sometimes difficult to explain to people if they just sit down quietly and stop jiggling about on their feet, everyone will relax a bit .

My dog is like this! I tell people they need to be seated before Fenix will even consider peace.

 

[BDutch]

Oh come on - I haven’t seen anyone say that!

Joking?

but I do think that's something that needs to be done differently and more carefully for chickens that are kept in a fairly sterile run and don't have access to a range of plants and other foods to choose from themselves.

Very true.

No, it's appropriate. Chickens deserve to have a feast.

Once a week. Preferably on a Sunday. Not every day.

This is what you get if you feed mixed grains:

On bag the seller printed an advice: mix 1 part mixed grain with 2 parts laying pellets.

maybe more feed insights coming up tomorrow (2 pages behind)

 

[RoyalChick]

Joking?

Very true.

Once a week. Preferably on a Sunday. Not every day.

This is what you get if you feed mixed grains:

View attachment 4244967

On bag the seller printed an advice: mix 1 part mixed grain with 2 parts laying pellets.
View attachment 4244968

maybe more feed insights coming up tomorrow (2 pages behind)

I wasn’t feeding mixed grains.
The meal they got was all party leftovers/plate scrapings:
- cheeseburger with bun
- corn on the cob
- roasted red peppers, zucchini/courgettes, mushrooms and haloumi
- buckwheat salad with cucumber and herbs
- peach slices
This was a summer BBQ party and I froze the food scraps into pots for the chickens and then forgot I had them. Freezer clear out day.

 

[Perris]

I'll share some...

 

[Perris]

This is what you get if you feed mixed grains

I assume that's a joke, as that bird is obviously going through a hard moult.

And I think everybody knows that mixed grains are not enough on their own; the issue is what else does one offer. Some prefer the convenience of processed feed in one form or another (e.g. pellet, mash, organic, cheap, smelling of roses or whatever) and some prefer to mix the grains up with other real foods like peas, dairy, fish, meat, fruit, table scraps and so on. The idea that it is difficult to provide an adequate (or better) diet in this way is oft cited but rarely examined. Most people don't assess what they feed themselves, and it doesn't seem to bother them, they just assume it's adequate, so I'm not sure why we should tolerate a double standard with chicken feed.

 

[Perris]

Glais likes the coop and the run to enough of an extent to make me feel less guilty about depriving him of the environment he had with Perris. Glais will go back to run a few times while I'm there.

There are other compensations living with you, Mow and Sylph (and no other roo competition ). I wouldn't have let him go had I thought he wouldn't like it.

I haven't had the opportunity to see if he would try and herd the hens away from a stranger yet or put himself between them and the stranger.

That's how he's been educated here. When we've had strangers in the garden, fixing water leaks or tree pruning for example, barely a chicken has been seen for hours. It's amazing how the flock suddenly materializes as soon as they've gone