Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

I feel so sorry for those birds standing in ankle deep water after the storms you've had.

I notice in these and other pics of the allotments that there are perfectly good building materials just lying around. I am the type of person who is always building something and it gives me OCD to see these materials just being useless when there is such a need for better quarters for the chickens. I sincerely hope that one of the developments that you are hinting at will include you getting paid to build something better for Henry and his girls!

None of what is lying around is fit to build a decent coop with unfortunately.

 

[Shadrach]

That’s s lot of rain! Is it just me or are Henry’s feet completely buried?

The mud is about an inch deep in places.

 

[Shadrach]

Heh, those only LOOK like beautifully manicured flower beds because it is spring. I'll have to get another pic from ground level. All plants along that wall are old, tough shrubs or 10"+ diameter fruit trees trimmed fairly high with just dirt and weeds underneath. When I had chickens, I left a lot of leaf litter, wood chips, dropped fruit, and interesting logs under there for them and would do so again. The bantam cochins didn't dig it up too much (as far as chickens go), just a few dust baths.

I am beach-city urban. 1/4 acre lots with 6' privacy fences are the norm. The 12' x 3' predator proof, open air coop/run combo is in the shade house for nighttime predator protection. I was just wanting an unsupervised daytime foraging area instead of only giving them the whole yard for a few hours per day.

The hawks are my only worry during the day. I know where their nest is, about 1/2 mile away. There are scores of pigeons around and I've seen the hawks drop out of the sky onto the pigeon flocks. I was thinking the bantams under cover would be so much less obvious a target, but yes, it is riskier than what I was doing with my past hens.

Shad's philosophy seems to be to let chickens be chickens and forage, and learn to be predator savvy.

The drawback is, while they learn to be predator savvy some die.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

While I'm on the subject.
The "getting" of other creatures is probably the greatest mistake most people who have this dream of a smallholding and self sufficiency make. It doesn't seem to matter whether they have farming experience or not in amny cases.
As soon as livestock are introduced the level of commitment and management changes drastically. There are no days off. The needs of the other creatures have to be met and their needs are many; housing, feeding, health care, at the bare minimum. This all costs money and requires a skill set not many people who wish for this dream have.
The problem was much the same in Catalonia; dreaming and reality are worlds apart. Someone has to take care of the livestock 24/7. In the UK it's mostly the middle classes who have never sunk a fence post, built a chicken coop, or a sheep/goat shed/milked a cow or goat who fall for this dream unfortunately. Most that I've come accross want a social life to go with their non manual jobs, take holidays, have the ability to come and go when they please. All that stops when you have other creatures to care for; or at least it should if the creatures are not to be neglected.
Some people do get chickens for example, build a coop and run and then do little more than collect the eggs and provide feed and water.
To make full use of chickens say, they should be able to get on the land you intend to grow on. They'll turn the soil, eat many of the pests and manure the ground. Many people think eggs and no further when it comes to chickens but on the well run small holdings eggs are just a bonus. It's all the other benefits of keeping chickens and all the ways to reduce the cost of keeping them that get overlooked. It's very hard to make just the eggs a profitable concern with chickens. I've read that people do, but I have my doubts that the full cost, including time, health care, and coop and run building and maintainance are taken into consideration.

Hubby and I are heading off for 10 days holiday tomorrow.
Our kids (mid 20s) will be looking after the chooks, cats and dogs while we are gone. They have gone over everything with us and put a checklist up on the fridge.

I think they will be fine.

 

[Marie2020]

Lima now a pro digger and forager.
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Henry, "I just can't cope with them all."
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Lima. On the go as usual.View attachment 3000877
Cloud.
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Matilda. There is something under there and later Cloud came along and dug it out.
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The Legbars.
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Careful or the council will want to employ Lima, they are always looking out for a good digger

You can cope Henry

 

[Marie2020]

The drawback is, while they learn to be predator savvy some die.

Sadly it's the price of freedom.

 

[Marie2020]

They do eat everything. First one I killed wondered Into a thicket and didn't die as soon as I prefer so I backed out and came back the next morning to find that his comrades devoured him during the night.

Ruddy cannibals

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Tax

Alice before her moult.

 

[Marie2020]

None of what is lying around is fit to build a decent coop with unfortunately.

There's a broken tree down the road here and I so want a branch for the chicken run

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

There's a broken tree down the road here and I so want a branch for the chicken run

Quick! Grab it before it goes to landfill! Maybe grab two!