Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[pennyJo1960]

So here is the tax as I promised. M

y frizzle is absolutely miserable

 

[bruceha2000]

So "C" is becoming more and more responsible at the allotments?

 

[no fly zone]

So turns out Sky was sitting on 11 eggs. One was hidden under some straw (those bantam eggs are teeny and really blend in). I candled them, and 10 were showing development. 7 of the eggs are from Skeksis. So if I have the timing correct, April 15th should be hatch day.

 

[Shadrach]

I've been trying to catch up on By Bobs thread and I came accross this post from @cfonts and a couple on earlier pages.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-25507048

I am just completely staggered by the rank stupidity of this decision. I would have thought that the feral chickens were part of the attraction.
I just don't have printable words to describe what I think about this.

 

[Sortacountrychicken]

I had seen that as well. I'm amazed, not in a good way either, that something like this could go through. I have some words to describe it but none that should be on a public forum.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

The temperature is 59 and sunny.

Have a great day!

 

[micstrachan]

I've mentioned the huge role the fight cock breeders have had in chicken health and rooster knowledge in particular on By Bobs thread and a couple of others if my memory serves me.
I knew some of these trainers, or rather more often the sons of, who still keep game fowl and hens. I was often completely astounded at their depth of knowledge on matters of feeding, injuries as one might expect, but mostly their ways of ensuring that the healthiest genes get passed forward.

A bit of a story.
A hen from one of the tribes was having problems getting her chicks up the ramp to her tribes coop. She had been spending her nights with the chicks in one of the maternity units. I help on occasions; mainly out of impatience and knowing that some hens will leave the ones she has got into the tribes coop there and come back to the ground and her chicks and stay there overnight. This makes me very very nervous. Every feral creature around knows exactly where the coops are and some do a regular inspection in the hope that a door has been left open.
What the chicks tend to do once they are mobile enough is head to cover if there are roosting problems. There is lots of cover where tribe 2 and 3 have coops. II've spent hours searching for chicks that have gone to cover.
I was moaning about this to one of the game bird I knew. He told me to let the hens get in the coop, then take the rooster out and place him between the coop and the area you think the chick has gone to cover. He told me the chick would run out and stand close or under the rooster. There I can grab her/him.
I was more than a little dubious but that night I tried it. **** me if it didn't work! The chick came out of the bushes within a couple of seconds, ran straight over to the rooster and stood underneath him. You could have knocked me down with a feather.
I tried it once more the next year and it worked; not quite as quckly but the chick came out.
Now it may well not work in many other circumstances and what the chicks experience of roosters is, plus a lot more no doubt, will have an influence.
What it does show though is it can work and this has some interesting implications.

Fascinating!

 

[micstrachan]

Last night I mentioned the roosting shuffle that goes on now Henry is roosting outside the coop.
This is the start; Henry, Matilda and Cloud settled. Those grey feathers below Henry and Cloud belong to Fret.
View attachment 3038878
Fret is pacing up and down behind Henry and the other two.
View attachment 3038879
I wasn't quick enough to take a picture of the jump but suddenly there is Fret wedged next to Henry with Cloud about to give Fret a peck.
View attachment 3038880

Cloud gave Fret quite a few pecks and as mentioned before, there is Fret with her head buried under Henry's wing.
View attachment 3038881

Cloud gives up on the pecking and moves over leaving Fret next to Henry.
View attachment 3038882
Later on one of the Ex Batts jumped up between Cloud and Fret. They were all there when I left to go home.

So glad you captured this. Thanks for sharing! Dare I say the ex-batt seeking out a spot near Henry is a sign of her learning natural behavior?

 

[micstrachan]

C has found a dead rat by the chicken feeder a couple of times in the past few weeks. The rats have obviously been killed by a chicken, I found out who this evening. It's Lima. She maimed one as I watched. I didn't even see the rat until I saw Lima attack it. She jumped on it like a mongoose jumps on the back of a snakes back. Of course she couldn't keep it pinned but she got a few good pecks in before the rat got away.

Wow! I love Lima the more I learn about her and the more she learns about being a chicken. GO, GIRL!!!

 

[micstrachan]

I've been trying to catch up on By Bobs thread and I came accross this post from @cfonts and a couple on earlier pages.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-25507048

I am just completely staggered by the rank stupidity of this decision. I would have thought that the feral chickens were part of the attraction.
I just don't have printable words to describe what I think about this.

I was wondering when you’d see that and what you would think! I believe I even posted so!