Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[pennyJo1960]

All 15 went in.
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Wooooooohoooooooo!

 

[Perris]

I honestly believe she, and some of my other hens are morning his loss. He was a great rooster.

sorry for your loss
I think they sometimes grieve too.

 

[Perris]

I used to just sit in the chair by the nest box with the lights out and watch.

Did you actually see much? Does the broody stand periodically to see herself what's occurring, and to adjust things e.g. stack empty eggshells?

I hear the cluck cluck cluck of the hen talking to her hatching babies before I ever catch a glimpse of the chicks and I get so excited.

Same here. It's very rare I get a glimpse of any the day they hatch, so I'm on tenterhooks the whole day long!

Dusk seems to be rushing towards autumn.

So true, and beautifully put.

Both needed my help a little bit in this process thus far.

Tis early days. Your broody will now get on largely unassisted with the rearing process while you have to teach the incubator babies everything they know, as well as make provision of appropriate food, drink etc., - or are you expecting the broody to adopt the incubator chicks?

1 out of her 3 eggs hatched. The other two were clear.

I too have had unusually poor fertility this year with 2 of 3 hatches. (Thankfully the emergency Venka eggs clutch was the exception, and 3 of the seven have her lovely snow leopard plumage.) But those that were fertile were certainly robust; all chicks hatched this year are still with us, and all broodies are still with their chicks. The oldest will be 12 weeks old tomorrow. And incidentally I think it proves, to my satisfaction at least, that homemade unmedicated chick feed is fine.

 

[MaryJanet]

That is good you can supply chicks instead of the feed store. The whole concept of shipped chicks in a feed store just does my head in. We don't have this system here. Very difficult to get day-old chicks here.
I imagine I'll be cranking out the incubator if I want to get chicks come summer-time.

My head too!! I just can't deal with that thought.

 

[janiedoe]

I've never bought shipped chicks. (Other than the feed store chicks) I just can't bring myself to support that practice. I hear people saying that losses are to be expected, but that just seems so callous to me.

 

[janiedoe]

Do y'all think that there is any significance in early melting? Perhaps an early winter?
Our chickens don't generally molt until mid October, but they started last week.
Our weather has been strange. We had very high temperatures, starting in May, and lasting through July. A two month drought, then a week of floods. Now unseasonably cool (for us) weather. It's not cold, but it is cooler than average here.

 

[ManueB]

I've never bought shipped chicks. (Other than the feed store chicks) I just can't bring myself to support that practice. I hear people saying that losses are to be expected, but that just seems so callous to me.

I'm beginning to believe shipped chicks is an American / Canadian practice. It seems it's not done elsewhere ?
Here in France there were still one of two place that shipped adults chickens before COVID and they've stopped. It was made impossible for a while for sanitary reasons and they decided it was the right time to stop definitely and they made it clear it was because they thought it wasn't respectful of animals wellbeing.
Chicks are not sold at feed store either. What does happen is that breeders or farms will have stands at those stores on given dates and people can come to buy hens and more rarely chicks, in a agricultural store that's closer to them, on a given date. Some producer markets also do that. So the chickens would have to travel on that given day and eventually travel back again if they aren't sold but I feel it's still more humane, because they travel with the breeder, whose best interest is to have them in good health. Some breeders ask for a reservation to be made ahead so they are not traveling the chickens back and forth.

Do y'all think that there is any significance in early melting? Perhaps an early winter?
Our chickens don't generally molt until mid October, but they started last week.
Our weather has been strange. We had very high temperatures, starting in May, and lasting through July. A two month drought, then a week of floods. Now unseasonably cool (for us) weather. It's not cold, but it is cooler than average here.

I haven't experienced a sufficient number of molts to be helpful, but I do think the weather this year has been extremely strange in many places, and that it's too unusual to try to predict things based on what we're accustomed to see. Nature is disturbed, and so animal physiological reactions are also unusual.

 

[Iluveggers]

We did order chicks through the mail this year for the first time. 24 of 24 are alive and well. Our McMurray order arrived less than 24 hours later from Iowa to NY. No illness, weakness, etc. I was pleasantly surprised, and they are thriving and well taken care of now.

We placed the mail order because the “local” (90 minutes away) hatchery was a mess this year, didn’t have the day-old chicks we had ordered 4 months before, and we had to substitute 2-4 week old chicks, plus a few of the breeds we wanted he had none of. (My sons one choice of lavender Orpington….luckily he loves the buff I subbed instead.) I wish we had a better local option, although I did find a gentleman who sells heritage hatching eggs for $24/dozen and is only 20 minutes away, so we might just try hatching the breeds we really want next year.

 

[janiedoe]

I'm beginning to believe shipped chicks is an American / Canadian practice. It seems it's not done elsewhere ?
Here in France there were still one of two place that shipped adults chickens before COVID and they've stopped. It was made impossible for a while for sanitary reasons and they decided it was the right time to stop definitely and they made it clear it was because they thought it wasn't respectful of animals wellbeing.
Chicks are not sold at feed store either. What does happen is that breeders or farms will have stands at those stores on given dates and people can come to buy hens and more rarely chicks, in a agricultural store that's closer to them, on a given date. Some producer markets also do that. So the chickens would have to travel on that given day and eventually travel back again if they aren't sold but I feel it's still more humane, because they travel with the breeder, whose best interest is to have them in good health. Some breeders ask for a reservation to be made ahead so they are not traveling the chickens back and forth.

I haven't experienced a sufficient number of molts to be helpful, but I do think the weather this year has been extremely strange in many places, and that it's too unusual to try to predict things based on what we're accustomed to see. Nature is disturbed, and so animal physiological reactions are also unusual.

I like that many other countries are more humane, and have more interest in animal welfare. I wish we in the US did as well. I don't feel like people as a whole, can advance to a higher level, if we don’t begin to show empathy to other species.
I'm pretty picky about who gets my chicks.
I don't remove chicks, until the hen is done with them. I won't rehome one lone chicken, unless it is an older cockrel or Rooster going to a new flock. I request pictures of their coop and run. I ask a lot of questions. I would never be able to make a living selling chickens. But as long as I do it this way, I can sleep at night.

 

[RoyalChick]

I'm beginning to believe shipped chicks is an American / Canadian practice. It seems it's not done elsewhere ?
Here in France there were still one of two place that shipped adults chickens before COVID and they've stopped. It was made impossible for a while for sanitary reasons and they decided it was the right time to stop definitely and they made it clear it was because they thought it wasn't respectful of animals wellbeing.
Chicks are not sold at feed store either. What does happen is that breeders or farms will have stands at those stores on given dates and people can come to buy hens and more rarely chicks, in a agricultural store that's closer to them, on a given date. Some producer markets also do that. So the chickens would have to travel on that given day and eventually travel back again if they aren't sold but I feel it's still more humane, because they travel with the breeder, whose best interest is to have them in good health. Some breeders ask for a reservation to be made ahead so they are not traveling the chickens back and forth.

I believe it is all tied up in the history of the US Postal Service and a ruling by the Postmaster General in 1918.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/truth-behind-journey-mail-order-163945897.html

Prior to that believe it or not, they delivered human babies too!
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/mailing-babies-postal-service/