Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Sortacountrychicken]

It has been my experience that birds will gather with similar looking individuals. I have 3 black hens currently and they stick together. One is an Australorp, one is her daughter, and the third is a black sex link. The Australorp hen is going on at least 5 years old. The other hen, Serena, looks to be about 4 years old. The daughter, nicknamed the Recruit, is last year's chick. Her mother was not the one to raise her but she has joined the black chicken subgroup. There is a black pullet from this summer that I expect will join them when she reaches laying age. Last summer, one of the chicks grew into a handsome black rooster, Raven. For the time that he was here he would join the black hens. As much as they would tolerate a young cockerel anyways. He is no longer here as there were too many boys to keep last summer.

Here is Raven.

Here is the subgroup. Top left is Serena the black sex link. Bottom left is the Recruit, and her mother is to the right.

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

I've thought long and hard about the interactions of my flock. Before I break it down, and this could get long I should point out that my chickens are allowed to free range all day. They can be found in the yard, creek behind my house and the hillside so they have room to get away from each other if they choose. There is also 3 separate sleeping arrangements. I have 8 that sleep on the 2 different roosts in between the horse stalls. I have 11 that sleep in a winterized chicken coop. And then there is the 3 rebels, my former feral game hen that started it all and 2 9 month old pullets, one which she hatched and raised that sleep in the pine tree about 30 feet up just across the creek. I've tried breaking momma hen from roosting in the tree by locking her in the coop before she could cross the creek, that just resulted in her throwing everyone off the roost and a very nasty hen fight.

Ok, now as far as their interactions throughout the day while there is times when everyone comes together as a whole they will break off into their own little sub-tribes. In general you will find my 6 cochin girls off to themselves. Now I don't know if this will last as these hen just turned 2 years old and I received them in September. Before I got them they were never allowed to free range in their former home and were confined to a small coop. This resulted in feather picking and 3 of the girls looked more like a naked neck instead of a cochin. After some time to allow them to settle in and adjust I opened up the coop door to let them out. A hour and a half later one of the girls finally got brave enough to take a step outside. I went slow with these girls and increased their time out so now they are also allowed to free range all day and now greet me every morning ready to go.

My adult Marans hang out together along with my game hen and Buff Orpington.

I then have 4 Marans mix pullets, 2 are laying and 2 are currently free loaders. They spend about half their time as a group of 4 and half their time in pairs and the pairs is what intrigues me. The first pair in this little group is the 2 that are laying Squirrel and Creamy. While they look nothing alike they are actually full sisters and a mix between Marans x Buff Orp. Squirrel is 4 weeks older then creamy and she was hatched and brooded by my game hen. Creamy I hatched out myself in the incubator and brooded her myself. The other 2 are the ones I refer to as my double trouble girls and the mischief makers. Blueberry and Raven. Their daddy was my marans Drumstick. Raven's mother was my easter egger x Wyandotte hen Henrietta who I also lost to the coyote that got Drumstick. Blueberry is Henrietta's granddaughter. Again Blueberry was hatched and raised by one of my perpetually broody hens and Raven was hatched out in the incubator. In fact Raven and Creamy were hatched out and raised together.

Next I have 3 silkies and their hatch mate Bubba. These were raised by my hen Holly and will be 6 months old in 5 days. When they are not off as their own unit they effortlessly move in and out of all the other groups at will.

The last 2 are the young full marans pullets Corona and Frack. Corona is 3 months old and Frack is 3 weeks younger and is still being reared by her mother. Interestingly Corona is trying to incorporate herself with the Cochin girls and they don't seem to mind her. Time will tell if they will hang out together when Holly let's Frack go and if as they age if they will cement themselves as a full on member of the "pure" marans group.

Ok, now the boys I have 2 pure Marans and 1 black silkie. Basil is now the head rooster and spends his time going between all the groups but prefers to hang out with the Marans tribe. He is accepting and gets along well with the other 2 boys Bubba and Branch. Bubba and Branch work as a team and when they do leave their silkie sisters for a bit they mingle with the Cochin girls. I actually think the Cochin girls prefer Bubba to Basil as if both are in eyesight they gravitate towards Bubba.

Sorry it ended up being so long.

 

[pennyJo1960]

This is in my banty coop. Notice the frizzle she has her back to the Son that took the photos. She is vocal bird always telling me how awful it is how much fun she having but must she have the silkie cockerel .. She is now flattening to us .. Looks like we may have frizzle eggs

 

[Aunt Angus]

Imma further derail this thread, but only for a second.

My chickens don't separate by breed or color. They can't because I dont have any 2 that are the same (other than 2 Silkies who are, indeed, clique-ish). My 2 truly inseparable hens are a Buff Brahma and a Barred Rock.

It's mostly a generational thing here, I think.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

[micstrachan]

I'm here, following. Thank you for writing about this. Your threads are awesome.

Tax: View attachment 2908477
Our chief alarm clock, Stilton (looked like a hunk of blue cheese as a chick), just before shedding that last tail feather for this year's molt.

Absolutely gorgeous rooster and photo!

 

[micstrachan]

This afternoon at the allotment.
View attachment 2909388

They are looking drastically improved!

 

[micstrachan]

My tax View attachment 2909513

Oh my gosh, what is that rainbow of a rooster? Beautiful!

 

[micstrachan]

The underlying conditions usually are cancer and/or heart and/or liver/kidney failure.

Yep, I had one die who had had ascites repeatedly. She had extensive metastatic cancer. I wish the avian vet had told me that.

 

[micstrachan]

The day after the death of Volt, this is what her sister (?) Amp looked like. She didn’t look any sicker than some others I’ve been concerned about and if I was asked for an honest assessment I would, knowing how they spent the majority of their time together, say Amp was missing Volt. You can call it grieving, or whatever description you are comfortable with, but I thought it looked incredibly sad.
View attachment 2911366

Within a couple of days Amp looked much the same as Volt had in her last couple of days of life. Amp, on the other hand had no signs of Ascitis, and was parasite free. One night she did much the same as Volt had and showed no intention of going to roost with the others and stood in the allotment run as the rest made their way to roost. I waited with the coop run gate open until it was dark and Amp just stood outside looking sick, frail and lonely. I picked her up and put her in the small coop as I had Volt and early the next morning Amp’s life was over.

There is some good news regarding Volt and Amp. I have been told by C that both arrived together at least six years ago. Even if they were just a few months old when they arrived that is still six to seven years of life which for many chickens these days is remarkable.

Not really being able to judge the severity of a chickens discomfort or pain it would seem from what I have observed of their appearance in the last couple of months, they only looked and acted severely sick for the last few days of their life.

There is an article written by Two Crows in the BYC articles collection I’ve linked to below

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/do-poultry-mourn-over-the-loss-of-a-flock-mate.67429/

Sentimental anthropomorphism, or a view from someone who knows their chickens well and observes their behaviour?
Amp and Volt.
View attachment 2911364

Great article link. Yes, I believe the mourning is real!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Leaving aside that it is chicken wire and therefore not worth much of anything, I cannot fathom why someone would put it at the top and not the bottom of the fence.

I'm only on Page 2, but "you got me, Babe."