Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[pennyJo1960]

My big birds have not gone broody I do not let birds sit in nests I will block the nests .. Okay you may not agree but heck.

 

[Shadrach]

I also feel like it's impossible to find perfect solutions. We have definitely decided we are not getting ex-batts again, but I don't regret having them.

Here individuals don't buy chicks from hatcheries, there are only a few of them, that are massive and provide mainly batteries and some breeders. As an individual you would most probably buy from a breeder : the last one that used to send live poultry through mailing has stopped doing it recently with H5N1.

Much like in Spain. Very few pro breeders and what hatcheries there were supplied the egg producing industry what there is of it. Most of the villages sold free range eggs from local farms.

 

[Ribh]

My big birds have not gone broody I do not let birds sit in nests I will block the nests .. Okay you may not agree but heck.

Was that for me, Penny? Yep, I get it. My big girls lay in the yard so the bantams have taken over the nesting boxes. They are incredibly stubborn broodies. Even if I manage to break them they are back @ it in a day or so, so now I just let them go for it. Most of the girls lay consistently in the same place & the eggs are no grubbier than if they were laying where they should. It's my Campines who provide the circus.

 

[Shadrach]

18 left now.
One I discovered has a slow crop. At least I can do something about this. I can feel the lump and managed to break it down a bit this afternoon.

 

[Shadrach]

Yup, I know it looks sunny but it was freezing. Well, a slight exageration; by two degrees C apparently. Close enough.

Miss I don't chew my food properly. I told her she should chew her food more. She gave me a really strange look. I can't imagine why that is.

It's the usual suspects. I don't think Henry read the weather forcast. I did put him in the coop but he came back out. Fair enough. Matilda is full on fluffed up. Cloud is as normal at this time it seems, fast asleep with her head in her armpit.
I'm glad now that I fitted the OSB wind break there now and the windbreak panel on the other side.

 

[Shadrach]

That's eight dead hens in the last seven months.
How do I feel about that you may wonder; as I do.
I don't know these chickens well and I don't have anything like the same relationship I did with the tribes. I saw members of the tribes from dawn till dusk. They spent time in my house. I had watched most of the hens sit and hatch chicks and then got to know the chicks.
I should feel less sadness perhaps at the death of an Ex Battery who I may only have seen for a couple of hours each day than a hen or rooster I had lived with for maybe eight years or more.
I'll tell you how it is. When one of the allotment chickens dies I don't just feel sad, I have to deal with anger as well. When one of the tribes died, especially one I had known a few years I felt terribly sad but not angry. It would be hard to find any chickens that led a better life and everything has to die at some point.
With the allotment chickens I feel that they've been robbed of the life experiences, good and bad, that the tribes had.
I'm begining to know this lot well enough to make a reasonable judgement on their state of health. I could, with what I know about the hens, pick out who is most likely to die in the next couple of months. I know the probability is it's not going to be sudden like a hawk strike or a weasel bitting a head off. I'll watch them dying and there won't be anything I can do about it.

I've learn't something from Ribh which has helped here. Ribh doesn't have an alternative than get them well, or let them die. She isn't in a position to have them euthanised, not by her, or a vet. A few of the dead here have died overnight, or in the early morning, in their home and with those they've lived with since their arrival. Euthanising, I believe the way we've been doing it hasn't spared the hen many days of sickness. Most are eating and drinking and getting until about five days before they die. They go very quickly downhill and die. Say C or I think that's enough at day three or four. Well is it worth killing the hen?
I have my doubts. I'm going to give them pain killing meds as soon as they start going down hill and let them die when they are ready.

 

[Ribh]

That's eight dead hens in the last seven months.
How do I feel about that you may wonder; as I do.
I don't know these chickens well and I don't have anything like the same relationship I did with the tribes. I saw members of the tribes from dawn till dusk. They spent time in my house. I had watched most of the hens sit and hatch chicks and then got to know the chicks.
I should feel less sadness perhaps at the death of an Ex Battery who I may only have seen for a couple of hours each day than a hen or rooster I had lived with for maybe eight years or more.
I'll tell you how it is. When one of the allotment chickens dies I don't just feel sad, I have to deal with anger as well. When one of the tribes died, especially one I had known a few years I felt terribly sad but not angry. It would be hard to find any chickens that led a better life and everything has to die at some point.
With the allotment chickens I feel that they've been robbed of the life experiences, good and bad, that the tribes had.
I'm begining to know this lot well enough to make a reasonable judgement on their state of health. I could, with what I know about the hens, pick out who is most likely to die in the next couple of months. I know the probability is it's not going to be sudden like a hawk strike or a weasel bitting a head off. I'll watch them dying and there won't be anything I can do about it.

I've learn't something from Ribh which has helped here. Ribh doesn't have an alternative than get them well, or let them die. She isn't in a position to have them euthanised, not by her, or a vet. A few of the dead here have died overnight, or in the early morning, in their home and with those they've lived with since their arrival. Euthanising, I believe the way we've been doing it hasn't spared the hen many days of sickness. Most are eating and drinking and getting until about five days before they die. They go very quickly downhill and die. Say C or I think that's enough at day three or four. Well is it worth killing the hen?
I have my doubts. I'm going to give them pain killing meds as soon as they start going down hill and let them die when they are ready.

Wow. I know I'm a woos but I do the absolute best I can for my girls & in all honesty I don't think a day or 2 either way makes much difference ~ except to the hens. The tribe has time to adjust. They often offer comfort & support & they often know before I do. The dying hen knows she is supported, safe & surrounded by family & whatever the chicken version of love is. Those times I've had no choice but to euthanise I've felt terrible ~ not for having it done but because the hen has been robbed of her tribe in her final moments.

 

[GregnLety]

T

Your English is better than many native English speakers.

That definitely includes mine. Lol. My wife speaks Spanish so I speak a mixture of English and Spanish at home.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Would have to go back to family farms for that to work. Too many people to feed and too many people needed for modern jobs (that aren't really needed, like fast food) . Have to go back 75 yrs in lifestyle.

Oh but wouldn't it be nice!

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good evening one and all!

The temperature is 64 and raining.

Have a great day!