Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Marie2020]

Wait. Don’t we go with them?

I wish

 

[BY Bob]

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.

10 days without ACM. I don't think I will make it.

 

[Ribh]

To free range successfully one needs everything you can see in the following pictures. Don't just concentrate on the environment, look at who's in it and where they are.
Really simple things can make a huge difference. Note the fences for example. Rather than a solid wall the fences have stock net on them and a horizontal bar chickens can get under. These bars with the net have saved quite a few chickens from hawks.
Note the chicks pictures. One word from mum and thos chicks will just disappear into the undergrowth. You can't kill what you can't see.
It's all about layers of cover. Trees above and heavy duty shrubs and bushes under them.
Not a lot of point in free ranging if everytime one loses a chicken one has to bring in another one or two to replace it. One needs the chickens to be able to reproduce themselves. That means roosters and broodies.
Chickens can turn a small plot into a desert within weeks left to range on it. One needs space, roughly an acre per pair if one intends them to forage for the majority of their food.
Even after all the above, someone needs to be there outside with them. Chickens thrived on farms and smallholdings not just because of space and cover but also because people worked on the land, pretty much from dawn to dusk and the chickens tended to gather where the humans worked.View attachment 3001445View attachment 3001446View attachment 3001447View attachment 3001448View attachment 3001450View attachment 3001451View attachment 3001452View attachment 3001454View attachment 3001456View attachment 3001458View attachment 3001459

Lovely to see all this again!

 

[Shadrach]

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.

Have a lovley break AC.

 

[Shadrach]

Ah that darn auto correct is at it again. I meant do any of the hens groom him?

Matilda will but I don't see her doing it often. The Golden Comet, Slip who died recently would as well. I've yet to see any of the RSL's do it.

 

[Shadrach]

Of course. How's a rooster supposed to impress his hens otherwise. All they're interested in is eating!

 

[T-R-O-U-B-L-E]

Poor Slip. I liked her.

 

[Shadrach]

This is Henry visiting me dropping hints about a few treats for his hens. As you can see I was sat down and Henry likes to get the treat bit over with in case I doze off and forget.

He's taken himself and few hens over to where my rucksack hangs and in human terms is now standing there tapping his toes with impatience. Obviously he doesn't want to be seen to be making false promises.

After a bit more foraging they usually come and keep me company as I sit in the chair and get down to some serious grooming.

 

[Shadrach]

Poor Slip. I liked her.

I liked her as well. I think the Golden Comets are lovely looking hens. Slip was very relaxed and quite friendly. Slide not so much but not hysterical either.

 

[Shadrach]

Someone grew some stuff. It's been left to rot.

This shows what I call the broody coop; it's about all it's fit for size wise. The hens lay most of their eggs in there.

If you kept going down tis path you would with a lot of stepping over brambles come to where the allotment fox lives.