Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Don't understand how roosters are banned, but annoying yappy dogs aren't. I'd much rather hear crowing than barking.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[Shadrach]

I have a peep in the banty coop .. Have not seen it.
I gave a white Silkie 2 eggs .. So may have 2 now.
Wind is blowing like the devil is causing it 40 to 50 MPH
just now.

How many eggs is the broody on?

 

[Shadrach]

Jackdaw picked a fight with Magpie today. Magpie has been his superior since day one. After ten minutes, Magpie retreated to the coop. He's a bloody mess and is missing half his comb. View attachment 3049691
Jackdaw went on to challenge his dad and was promptly put in his place. View attachment 3049692

I used Betadine gel for comb and wattle damage.
It's unfortunate that one can't let them be and stop all the fights. The tribes in Catalonia fought most days. It was very rarely that serious and fortunately one got to know the flashpoint areas so a certain amount of conflict could be avoided.
The sadest part was for me when it was quite apparent that an issue between two roosters was not going to be resolved without one of them dying.
You could rehome one if you were lucky. You would probably have to contain one until the other had gone.
You could just let them get on with it. That's okay but some of these battles go on for days. One of them usually just won't let it go.
If you kill the rooster it's over more quickly. The roosters still dead.

 

[Shadrach]

I'm going to have to adjust my eating habits now that roosting time is around 8pm. By the time I've finished inspections (and stroking Henry a bit) and checked everyone is there it's getting on for 8.15, half an hour of travel and it's getting late for cooking. My eating habits have become very sloppy. Main meal mid day from now on I think.

Grey with added drizzle although it wasn't cold enough for me to wnt to wear gloves.
They all came out.

That portly looking rear end belongs to Fret I believe.

Some are prepared to put up with less rain than others.

Once again in my hurry to get the picture I didn't have time to check the settings and the picture quality isn't great. Lovely picture of Henry and Matilda I thought.

 

[Sortacountrychicken]

I used Betadine gel for comb and wattle damage.
It's unfortunate that one can't let them be and stop all the fights. The tribes in Catalonia fought most days. It was very rarely that serious and fortunately one got to know the flashpoint areas so a certain amount of conflict could be avoided.
The sadest part was for me when it was quite apparent that an issue between two roosters was not going to be resolved without one of them dying.
You could rehome one if you were lucky. You would probably have to contain one until the other had gone.
You could just let them get on with it. That's okay but some of these battles go on for days. One of them usually just won't let it go.
If you kill the rooster it's over more quickly. The roosters still dead.

I'll definitely be keeping a very close eye on them. So far, Magpie has deferred to Jackdaw and Furio separates them if Jackdaw continues to go after him. He separated them no less than 10 times when they were fighting but they kept going after each other. I will be moving Magpie into my broody coop tonight. This is the first time they have had any serious scrap. They've never drawn blood on each other before. I have a tractor I could put one of them in if they can't settle down. If the issue persists one of them will go in the freezer.

 

[Shadrach]

Drained canned Tuna and cooked rice for chicken supper this evening. C brought in a bag of layers pellets. The bag had been left uncovered outside by the delivery person and it had got a bit wet. C almost got the lot into another bag when it just started to split everywhere. We spent the next few minutes on the grass with a dustpan and brush. We got most of it.

 

[Shadrach]

I'll definitely be keeping a very close eye on them. So far, Magpie has deferred to Jackdaw and Furio separates them if Jackdaw continues to go after him. He separated them no less than 10 times when they were fighting but they kept going after each other. I will be moving Magpie into my broody coop tonight. This is the first time they have had any serious scrap. They've never drawn blood on each other before. I have a tractor I could put one of them in if they can't settle down. If the issue persists one of them will go in the freezer.

I had a father and son fall out. You could see it coming. Father was pushing his son way too hard I thought. In the end father lost a few fight and I had to build him his own coop because his son wouldn't let him back in the tribes coop. We used to eat a couple of cockerels most years. It's unfortunate but keeping as many males as females is a costly business when they won't live together. The Bantams were much better at high male to female ratios than the Marans and bantam crosses.

 

[pennyJo1960]

How many eggs is the broody on?

I only gave them two eggs .. I will let them have more if I can get them to take a break.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I'm over 100 pages behind. I'll try to catch up in bits and pieces. Here's my penalty tax. This is Toby, my 7-mo old Dominique cockerel. He's a sweetie and I'm quite fond of him. He's still submissive to Rojo. I think he's quite handsome. I also have 5 Dom pullets. Perhaps I will hatch some of their eggs when they mature.

 

[Sortacountrychicken]

I had a father and son fall out. You could see it coming. Father was pushing his son way too hard I thought. In the end father lost a few fight and I had to build him his own coop because his son wouldn't let him back in the tribes coop. We used to eat a couple of cockerels most years. It's unfortunate but keeping as many males as females is a costly business when they won't live together. The Bantams were much better at high male to female ratios than the Marans and bantam crosses.

I believe the issue is that Jackdaw has been taking on escorting duties and Magpie has not. For winter, I had one hen that would reliably travel to the barn to lay and one that would intermittently lay in the barn. Jackdaw escorted them both. There were recently two more hens that started laying in the barn and Jackdaw escorts them as well. He has recently started standing guard over the nests as the hens lay (there are two nest currently in use in the barn). Now I didn't see the first couple minutes of the fight but what I imagine happened is Magpie attempted to mate one of these 4 hens. What I have been wanting to do since Jackdaw first started to show promise of being responsible enough the watch over hens of his own is build him his own coop. I simply have not been able to get my hands on the resources to do so. If these boys are anything like their father, they will be done after this big fight and they will get along well enough. If not, I will figure out what to do with Magpie. Magpie was allowed to roost in the main coop but I moved him to the broody coop at least for the night until I can get a better idea of how Jackdaw is going to behave.