Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[bruceha2000]

In places where forage is good they'll forage in the morning for a couple of hours and then look for cover and rest, making occasional trips out to find a bit more. Then in the late afternoon they'll attempt to fill their crops for the night.

That describes my flock other than in the winter. Snow isn't very nutritious and my girls don't go out in it.

The advice to always have feed available comes from an understanding of a chickens digestive system but ignores the keeping circumstances. So yes, for chickens confined in a coop and run having feed constantly available is necessary but for free range chickens it's often not necessary; they will forage enough to keep food in their digestive system.

In the winter they have a full feeder in the coop. Their auto door opens with daylight so the have access to the lower part of the barn until I open the outside door. In the non snow months I toss a jar of layer pellets outside when I open the barn and they go at it. Then they forage as they like all day. Mid-late afternoon the get another jar of layer pellets tossed. They put themselves in the coop (well most of them do) as it starts to get dark and once I know everyone is inside (some with assistance) I close up the barn.

I have had hens lay in the middle of the night but not from the roost.

I get the occasional "from the roost" egg. They usually survive the 4 foot (1.2 meters) drop, I've got "deep bedding".

 

[ManueB]

I can open the main coop door and rearrange the hens and Henry if necessary without causing a panic. Seems a small thing but it means I can count the chickens at night and see who is sleeping where. This helps a bit for poop inspections.
Because they don't have the keep close to the rooster instilled in them going to roost is a bit of a trickle and the learning to be pro foragers like Lima and Dusk tend to stay out until twilight and this makes them hard to spot if they're in the undergrowth.
This evening Henry gave the bedtime shout and headed off to roost with Matilda, the Legbars and cloud plus a couple of the Ex Batts. I counted them as they went in and then counted those still out and I was one missing!
It took me seconds to work out it was Lima. I opened the gate and looked down the allotment and there she was about halfway down, bum in the air, head halfway down some hole she had dug. I don't know how she got out. She could have slipped past me when I opened the gate to bring in the fresh water but I don't think so. I think she flew over the fence. It's not high. The Tribes wouldn't think twice about going over.
I went and escorted her back to the gate. She wasn't any trouble really even if she was a bit reluctant to leave her freshly dug crater. If this flying business catches on I could be in trouble. She did try to go through the fence at one point!
What the problem is, is the hens, most anyway head for the coop okay at dusk but they try to take the most direct route and of course there is a fence in the way. When chickens decide they want to roost, that's pretty much what they do and for example,if their coop is closed then they'll head for the nearest safe spot off the ground. That's been my experience with the Tribes and others anyway. If a hen heads off into the hedge area where there are lots of easy off ground perches I'll be hard pressed to find them.
It's going to take time, not much probably, for them to work out they need to go through the gate. But in failing light they'll panic a bit if they can't get in.

Lima loves her freedom it seems, more than she does Henry.
Do you have a headlamp in case someone stays in the hedge area at dusk? I find mine really handy to have both hands free and handle the chickens.

 

[ManueB]

I get the occasional "from the roost" egg. They usually survive the 4 foot (1.2 meters) drop, I've got "deep bedding".

Vanille and Caramel that were laying at night began to do so as young pullets and where they slept there was only 30 cm under them. Then they moved to roosting on the ladder, so that there was about a 1.80 m. (6 feet) fall for the hen roosting on top, but the eggs almost never broke. The ground is beaten earth covered in hay. We wondered for weeks if there was a way to force them to change their laying hour but eventually one stopped and the other a month after her.

Two years ago pullets roosting

She knows she should have been born a hen.

 

[no fly zone]

Dang bobcat showed up again early this morning.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

The temperature is 65 with rain coming.

Have a great day!

 

[Marie2020]

Hey back from Dr. appt .. Going to be around to continue life .. whatever it may bring ..

That's very good to know

 

[pennyJo1960]

Dang bobcat showed up again early this morning.

Did you get it?
Morning Ex Batts it is cold here.

 

[no fly zone]

Did you get it?
Morning Ex Batts it is cold here.

No. But there is zero chance it gets any of my chickens.

 

[Shadrach]

Lima loves her freedom it seems, more than she does Henry.
Do you have a headlamp in case someone stays in the hedge area at dusk? I find mine really handy to have both hands free and handle the chickens.

I do. Two in fact. They are extremely useful and are on my list of must have chicken care items.

 

[Shadrach]

Vanille and Caramel that were laying at night began to do so as young pullets and where they slept there was only 30 cm under them. Then they moved to roosting on the ladder, so that there was about a 1.80 m. (6 feet) fall for the hen roosting on top, but the eggs almost never broke. The ground is beaten earth covered in hay. We wondered for weeks if there was a way to force them to change their laying hour but eventually one stopped and the other a month after her.

Two years ago pullets roosting

View attachment 3020122
She knows she should have been born a hen.
View attachment 3020121

Is that an outhouse attatched to the main house?