Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Sortacountrychicken]

It seems we may have similar chicken keeping experiences.
The junior roosters in the tribes used to take on escort duties while the senior rooster would stay with the hens. Eventually the junior rooster would try his luck with a hen and the hen would kick off big time and this would bring an irate senior rooster to the scene.
I ended up with five coops and two maternity units in the end. I build very simple coops. Even then they need paying for and making.

Yes Magpie previously was staying with Furio and the hens during the day. Jackdaw goes back to the barn after escorting a hen until all the hens rejoin the flock. After that he would lurk around the edges of the group, not allowed to totally rejoin the flock. Jackdaw still forces the hens to mate with him but they are accepting enough to not make a big ruckus when he does. He will only mate with them in the barn because it is difficult to get into the barn in a hurry so he is done before anyone can get anywhere near him. Normally Magpie would intercept Jackdaw as he was escorting a hen back to the flock and force the hen to mate with him before Furio would be able to intercept. I think Jackdaw decided that these hens are now his and pummeled Magpie when he came to mate one of them. Today Jackdaw escorted the hens but rejoined the flock completely once they had all returned. Magpie was allowed the lurk around the flock today. I imagine he will be allowed to roost in the coop as well.

 

[Shadrach]

Yes Magpie previously was staying with Furio and the hens during the day. Jackdaw goes back to the barn after escorting a hen until all the hens rejoin the flock. After that he would lurk around the edges of the group, not allowed to totally rejoin the flock. Jackdaw still forces the hens to mate with him but they are accepting enough to not make a big ruckus when he does. He will only mate with them in the barn because it is difficult to get into the barn in a hurry so he is done before anyone can get anywhere near him. Normally Magpie would intercept Jackdaw as he was escorting a hen back to the flock and force the hen to mate with him before Furio would be able to intercept. I think Jackdaw decided that these hens are now his and pummeled Magpie when he came to mate one of them. Today Jackdaw escorted the hens but rejoined the flock completely once they had all returned. Magpie was allowed the lurk around the flock today. I imagine he will be allowed to roost in the coop as well.

It's around that point that I tried to make provison for alternative accomodation.
I rarely timed it right to the point of having chickens roosting up trees while they waited for me to make them a home.
The Bantams, as I've mentioned, were partularly good at having multi generation males in the tribe. The kept a 3 males to 5 or 6 females between them working well for years. The Marans on their own were good at it as well to the point of having three males and two hens. The Marans crosses and their later generations have not done so well on the multiple male bit.

 

[Sortacountrychicken]

It's around that point that I tried to make provison for alternative accomodation.
I rarely timed it right to the point of having chickens roosting up trees while they waited for me to make them a home.
The Bantams, as I've mentioned, were partularly good at having multi generation males in the tribe. The kept a 3 males to 5 or 6 females between them working well for years. The Marans on their own were good at it as well to the point of having three males and two hens. The Marans crosses and their later generations have not done so well on the multiple male bit.

I'm hoping that Magpie will roost in the broody coop if he is thrown out now that he has spent a night there. With 30 hens in the coop though, it is easy for him to slip in. Without putting up more coops, 3 males works well but with these two being the same age they don't have a clear hierarchy between them. Hopefully they can maintain this relationship until I can get a coop built for Jackdaw.

 

[Marie2020]

Tax. Not the beautiful pictures you guys post but my happy little ones having a great day a few days ago

 

[townchicks]

Whew! I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks, getting caught up from the very beginning. All 459 pages! Quite a saga. So I guess I owe some tax. Harper Lee's fuzzy butt, and Agatha Christie (RIP) my very first two chickens. Both EEs. Harper is still with me at 6 yrs old

 

[cfonts]

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 just noticed your post regarding the feral chickens. I have been absent on BYC for a while after they decided to move forward with the decision to "control" the feral chicken population here in Hawaii. This news hit me hard... all of the chickens I write about on here are feral chickens. I can't imagine a place without them. While I do not think that this pilot program will be successful, it makes me sad that they even want to try.

 

[ManueB]

Hopefully they can maintain this relationship until I can get a coop built for Jackdaw.

I hope so too as you seem fond of both, and they are still young.
I mean, human teenagers get into a lot of trouble too .

The rooster in my avatar was the head rooster not just of his tribe but of all the roosters. You didn't bother Major.

Seems like he must have been a very impressive leader. Did you write anything on him on BYC?

 

[micstrachan]

Everybody hungry.
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Luckily I had brought a new bag of layers pellets hence the shopping trolly minus the bag this time.
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After a bit of a scrum for food they all headed off to do a bit of foraging.
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ThatView attachment 3045983 bit bare bum belongs to the hen that ate something that made her ill.
What I couldn't clean up she pulled out in the end.
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Henry's legs are getting better finally. Most of the damaged scales are gone from one leg and the other is a lot better than it was.
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I love all the bums in the air!

Wow! Remind me again how you are treating him. What are you using, how often, etc. Both my Wyandottes have SLM, especially Lucky. A few others aren’t as smooth as I would like, either.

 

[ManueB]

It was grey and chilly at the allotments. There was food in the feeder when I got there so they didn't hang around to see what I had, they headed straight off to do a bit of foraging and running around.
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The Legbars are having some feather problems. They are losing feathers just above their chests. I don't know why this is. It doesn't look like the feathers have been plucked out.
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Lima of course. Lima is now one of the best at foraging. I think Cloud and Matilda would give her a run for her money in quantity of earth shifted per second.
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An interesting mix of cecal and ordinary poop. The chickens at the alotments produce a much more yellowy poop than the tribes.









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Lima could certainly figure in a before/ after commercial for Shadrach's ex-batts rehab project. I looked back at the first pictures you posted of her, it's incredible.
How about the other ex-batts, have you gotten around to naming some of them or developing more relations with them?

A new patch of blood on her comb maybe from a peck.

Most of mine get that all the time since this summer, should I worry about it? I do think it's a bit of pecking but it's always small patches that heal quickly, so I don't put anything on it.


I've been having small "educational" problems with my flock recently.
Since we've restricted their zone to let grass grow again we're taking them out in the garden every afternoon. As I should have expected (in fact I'm surprised it didn't happen before) the bantams discovered that if they are careful they can go through the poultry net that limit the chicken place. So now they are outside all the time : the problem is that they haven't figured out how to get back in, and indeed the ex-batts are so jealous that they do all they can not to let them back in. This could be a problem in case of hawk attack because they wouldn't easily find a place to hide. Maybe we'll put something that could be used as a shelter. I hope when we bring the chicken zone back to it's bigger configuration they will not be as keen to get out.
Yesterday we had an afternoon snack outside while everyone was out and Vanille behaved I thought very rudely. She just jumped on the table and kidnapped food from my plate. My partner then explained to me that he since she is very used to jumping on his arm or shoulder to get some treats, and since it's the first time they were allowed around us while we were eating, she certainly thought it was meant for her. I don't like sharing my food.

 

[micstrachan]

I can't remember who told me, or maybe I read it somewhere but I don't think Ibuprofen is suitable for chickens. I can't take it and I know quite a few others who can't either.

I actually had an avian vet prescribe ibuprofen.

0.8mL x 20mg/mL for 7-pound bird up to twice a day for 3 days, I think. Not for long term care.

She also noted that aspirin was the original anti-inflammatory. I have found it also sedmd to help with ascites.