Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[ManueB]

Sunshine, Sunday, mothers day and Spring turned the allotment into a hive of activity. People have crept out of their homes, armed with farming implements and proceded to attack the ground!
It must be a contagion because I did it as well for a bit.
C cleaned out the chickens today and by the time I arrived the chickens and geese had been out for a couple of hours. C put the geese away shortly after I arrived; there are some broody problems. More geese is not an option.
The sick hen is not looking any better. I had a much better look at her this afternoon.
No mites or lice. Clean vent and mostly clean feathers below. Her comb is still good. Eyesight and hearing fine. Mobility not so much because she hunches when she stops. I can't feel an egg stuck. Her crop is a bit squishy; I'll check again tomorrow. The most concerning thing is her rear end is a bit squishy.
I spoke with C about her. We both agree she's not well and unfortunately whatever is wrong is likely to be terminal. If so that would make a rough average of a death a month since last September when I started. I don't know if one death a month is a good average. or a bad average with Rescues and Ex Battery hens.
This hen may be coming up to 4 years old.

However, they and she are still living and had most of the afternoon out.
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It looks like Cloud has had a hard day. She got on the perch, stuck her head under her wing and didn't even budge when checked Henry and Matilda's crops.
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There were seven people here today.
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However you enjoy making fun of nice weather gardeners, you have to admit a bit of sunshine does make gardening a much more pleasant activity . I'm sure the chickens are happy with this weather too!

I'm beginning to thing 4 years is pretty good for an ex-batt. My step father and his bunch of strange relations who keep getting ex-batts because they're so cheap say he usually keeps them for two years after getting them a year old.

I also think the ones you are seeing now are pretty tough to have survived before you arrived in their life, without you letting them out and checking they have a sufficient amount of food.

Henry and his sleeping beauties are quite a charming lot .

 

[ManueB]

Or simply have no desire to even spend time with someone who thinks differently than them. You can have a civil conversation, learn something from the other person, and still walk away with the same opinions you had before.

I completely agree with you but to be honest, I find I have more and more difficulty to do this as time passes.
I do tend to get upset and even angry when people don't agree with me on things I feel very strongly about.
Now I just try to listen without voicing my own opinion, which I find a tad less difficult, and still better than just throwing definitive angry statements at each other.
Even that requires a conscious effort for me sometimes.

 

[ManueB]

I took everyone again in the garden yesterday, after we had locked them up for a few hours going to a family event.

Next to the sheep manure pile's always a great place to dig

Freedom makes Vanille the sick hen forget pain. Ten minutes later she looked like death again, though.

The bantams didn't go very far but enjoyed themselves more than the other day as Théo wasn't trying to check on all the ex-batts location

 

[ManueB]

They are certainly interesting & from my limited understanding more like wild fowl than many other breeds. They are independent birds, very predator aware but also complete lunatics. I call them my clowns.

Curious to know : what do you if you really need to check on one? Get them at night ?
My lady bantam Chipie still runs screaming away from me though I have been trying to hand feed her every day for three months .

Have a look around the local farms if you're not intent on having a "proper" breed. Fortunately a lot of farm stock has been free ranged and unmanaged with regard to breeding. One often finds that if the chickens are left to make their own decisions on this matter, predation and environment will move forward the most suitable genes.

That is definitely going to happen as the old farmer that gave us the couple of bantams is very keen that the girl should get broody so he can give us a handful of eggs for her.
His chickens are backyard mix grown at his place for generations.
However I don't see how Chipie could go broody for the moment since she spends her days running for her life from the ex-batts.

 

[MaryJanet]

Curious to know : what do you if you really need to check on one? Get them at night ?
My lady bantam Chipie still runs screaming away from me though I have been trying to hand feed her every day for three months .

That is definitely going to happen as the old farmer that gave us the couple of bantams is very keen that the girl should get broody so he can give us a handful of eggs for her.
His chickens are backyard mix grown at his place for generations.
However I don't see how Chipie could go broody for the moment since she spends her days running for her life from the ex-batts.
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What a beautiful hen!

 

[Ribh]

What a beautiful hen!

Isn't she just!

 

[Ribh]

Curious to know : what do you if you really need to check on one? Get them at night ?

That's the thing, I can actually handle my girls if need be. If they know I really want them for something they will usually submit. If not I wait till dark & nab them off the roost. I prefer to do them in daylight though as my eyes are no longer the best.

 

[Ribh]

We have our 2nd rain bomb in a month hitting us with subsequent flash flooding & associated ills. My biggest concerns are my little frizzles who are not made for really wet weather.
Olivia... inside for a quick dry.
She's something of a snuggle~buggle & enjoys her people time.

Titania.
You'd never know she was a frizzle from this. Completely sodden bird.​

 

[ManueB]

What a beautiful hen!

Isn't she just!

I agree and so does Théo : she's a very pretty little wild thing that's a lot of trouble . I wish the big ex-batts would stop plucking all her feathers out.

 

[RoyalChick]

Curious to know : what do you if you really need to check on one? Get them at night ?
My lady bantam Chipie still runs screaming away from me though I have been trying to hand feed her every day for three months .

That is definitely going to happen as the old farmer that gave us the couple of bantams is very keen that the girl should get broody so he can give us a handful of eggs for her.
His chickens are backyard mix grown at his place for generations.
However I don't see how Chipie could go broody for the moment since she spends her days running for her life from the ex-batts.
View attachment 3040542

Wow. She’s a looker!