Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[no fly zone]

I

Remember now! 1/4th field artillery B battery. Gunner then crew chief. Loved shooting the m198. It was a beast!

I was a 13F back then. Retired as a 35F.

 

[no fly zone]

Sky is broody. I removed 10 eggs from under her and she still can't cover the remaining ones because she is so tiny.

 

[micstrachan]

Another lovely day. The ground has dried up.I can stand up in the coop run without hanging on to anything.
They were out this morning apparently and got another couple of hours this afternoon. I found four with mites this afternoon. Safe to assume some if not most of the rest have mites too.
No sign of the Kite that C saw the other day. A Kite is unlikely to make a succesful strike on a chickens or even bother unless chicks are there.

There are people at the allotments! I saw a new person today. Not just new to me but new to the allotments. Seems a pleasant enough man.

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So wonderful to see them out and about. Nice to meet a new, seemingly pleasant person!

The chickens are looking good. I cannot tell which is Lima anymore! (unless, of course, she’s escaped and is way off yonder with her arse in the air)

 

[micstrachan]

Another sunny day.
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Henry getting ready for bed.
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You would not believe the fuss the hens make over who gets to roost next to Henry. Matilda gets one side almost without fail. The strange one is Fret. She's the youngest hen here, yet she often gets to roost next to Henry and has this habit of getting right under one of his wings.
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I find it adorable that they fuss over sleeping next to Henry!

 

[micstrachan]

Shad, you’ll be happy to hear, with the lengthening days, my birds are getting close to two hours if free ranging daily on weekdays (after work) and most of the entire day in weekends.

I also wanted to share some cool, yet basic behavior I got to witness today. First just some background, Bridge is the only six-year-old and the alpha hen. She also reacts in different ways when I handle the other hens. Sometimes she seems jealous, sometimes indifferent and other times, protective?

Excuse me getting side tracked… back to what I witnessed today. So Bridge is the alpha, and Flo is a junior hen. Flo has always been VERY assertive. Usually, Bridge seems to tolerate Flo just fine.

Today, I saw Flo stand up tall and get in Bridge’s face. Bridge was having none of that, and I love how she put Flo in her place. There was no pecking. Bridge just stood up even taller than Flo, flashed her hackles, and gave Flo a firm look. Immediately, Flo dropped her head and shoulders below Bridge’s chest. It was not a squat, but it was definitely submission. I know it’s just part of how they communicate and keep order, but still fascinating to see.

 

[micstrachan]

Sorry if you mentioned it before, Royal chick, but are Diana, Maggie and Minnie also hybrids and / or rescues ?
I wonder if breeds like Leghorn that lay a lot but aren't hybrids like the ISAS also have those kind of troubles.



It has happened once to one of my ex batt and I checked her vent right after and could see nothing. I think it comes from further up.

Ok (not going to say thank you in case you think it's another of these strange hooman social convention!)

I have also noticed my lowest ranking hen pairing up with my alpha in some situations. Personally, though I feel I know very little about chickens, I am convinced that thinking their interactions only in term of hierarchy is far too reductive. I think they also have some kind of affinities and dislikes, and also, some intelligence of what social behaviour is most appropriate for their interest in different situations.

Definitely Leghorns have these issues. Anecdotally, I’ve only had two… a Brown Leghorn and a California White, which is 3/4 Leghorn and 1/4 Plymouth Barred Rock. The Brown Leghorn (Margo) died of a chronic egg yolk peritonitis infection that went septic. She also showed a background Marek’s infection, which likely compromised her immune system per UC Davis necropsy write up. She showed signs of a reproductive infection about a year before her death, but never had soft eggs and laid frequently.

The California White, Dorothy, battled soft eggs on and off for about a year. She slowly got less active over time, but seemed mostly healthy (except for the soft eggs, which made her feel lousy and were exhausting to pass). Until, suddenly one morning she seemed miserable and was hiding. She had the same too-deep-of-a-red colored comb Margo had before she died. Poor Dorothy died that evening.

Because of the timing of her death, I was unable to send her for necropsy. She is buried under the giant walnut tree you can see hovering over the run in the background.

 

[Perris]

I was up early this morning, and this was my reward

I guess it's the saharan dust that turned the moon red. Note to self: must get a tripod for occasions such as this!

 

[ManueB]

I was up early this morning, and this was my reward View attachment 3036831
I guess it's the saharan dust that turned the moon red. Note to self: must get a tripod for occasions such as this!

Must have been such a magical moment!

 

[ManueB]

Definitely Leghorns have these issues. Anecdotally, I’ve only had two… a Brown Leghorn and a California White, which is 3/4 Leghorn and 1/4 Plymouth Barred Rock. The Brown Leghorn (Margo) died of a chronic egg yolk peritonitis infection that went septic. She also showed a background Marek’s infection, which likely compromised her immune system per UC Davis necropsy write up. She showed signs of a reproductive infection about a year before her death, but never had soft eggs and laid frequently.
View attachment 3036800

The California White, Dorothy, battled soft eggs on and off for about a year. She slowly got less active over time, but seemed mostly healthy (except for the soft eggs, which made her feel lousy and were exhausting to pass). Until, suddenly one morning she seemed miserable and was hiding. She had the same too-deep-of-a-red colored comb Margo had before she died. Poor Dorothy died that evening.
View attachment 3036805
Because of the timing of her death, I was unable to send her for necropsy. She is buried under the giant walnut tree you can see hovering over the run in the background.

They were both beautiful and seemed like lovely birds, not skittish at all like I've heard some say about leghorns.
I'm wondering what kind of hens to get after our ex-batts and I guess I will be excluding any breed that lays so much.

 

[ManueB]

There are some breeders trying this. Unfortunately they are a very very small minority. For many breeders if they wanted to go that route, getting chickens with good genetics is a major problem. It's very expensive to import chickens. Ideally one needs to go to that breed's country of origon and find the right chickens if one was planning a long term breeding project..

I recently read Gail Damerow's guide to raising chickens ( which I definitely should have been reading before getting them, not after). She discusses how breeders chose to emphasize either esthetics, productivity, or longevity when developing a particular strain. I was quite surprised by her statement that the breeders who had constantly put longevity and hardiness as their first goal, were the one who raised game birds.
She also says this isn't so true nowadays as cockfighting is strictly forbidden (fortunately I would say but I'm not clear that's her point of view) so they are now bred for showing and esthetics.