Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Sortacountrychicken]

My ex batts bathe but it took them over a year of watching the rest of the flock to figure it out. There was quite a while where they would go sit in the dustbath when someone else was in there but not really know what to do with themselves.

 

[GregnLety]

today's haul, this should give an idea of the variety of chickens that we have

 

[NatJ]

The most obvious things I've noticed about the Ex Batts is they don't seeem to know how to dust bath.
I've watched lots of broodies teach their chicks to bath so maybe this is learn't behaviour.

Chicks do not need a hen to learn dustbathing.
I've raised plenty of chicks from hatcheries, with no hens, and they all started dustbathing in the litter in their brooder at a fairly young age.

If the Ex Batts don't dustbathe, I might wonder if their age is an issue: it might be easier to learn as a chick, and harder to learn as an adult.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Okay tax time dirt bathes .. The way mine are kept is the same as Grandma then Ma and Dad did.. We do tables theory was better rest. Tribes as Shad calls them have their tables ..The feeder wood one was a plan I bought .. The plastic pvc ones I figured out. No waste of food. Had to add plywood on the bottom of them as Smudge could top them over. I was taught young not to name something you may one day eat.

 

[Ribh]

O.m.g!
She looks like a a perfect little stuffed toy. Did her chameleon state confuse/trick you?

No. She's a chronic fence hopper with a pechant for laying in odd places. If she can't find somewhere she deems acceptable she screams blue murder. She makes great hidden nests.

 

[Pippin quail]

I discovered this thread a few days ago and have been trying to catch up. Every time I've come back on to read there's more posts! But I finally did it! It's been fascinating. I'll pay some back tax for reading the whole thing first and for this off topic post.

The lavender Orpington roo is the main man in the coop, Moonshine. He's about 7 months and an amazing guy so far. Absolutely no aggression to us humans and pretty good with his hens, always clucking for them to get treats and showing the pullets to good nesting spots (not usually in the nesting boxes, of course!)

One of my 7 extra cockerels at the moment, Granite. He may get to stay if he can continue to be polite to Mr. Moonshine and the ladies.

This is Blackstar. He's a Salmon faverolles mixed with maybe Andalusian, not sure on his other half for sure. But he's gorgeous!


Just look at the tail! He's staying just so I can see what he looks like full grown, he gets more handsome by the day.

More of my boys!

And yes, I do have ladies too. 18 of various ages from 4 months to probably a couple years. Though this is my first year with chickens! Here they are after the first snow we got a couple weeks ago that left 2-3 foot snow drifts in their run. I opened up the storage end of the coop so they now have free reign to poop on everything when it's really cold.


And today the discovered the joys of straw bales!

Sorry for all the off topic tax! It paid for itself right?

 

[Perris]

they wont get to meet the opposite sex

they shouldn't, but some male chicks do escape the sexing sort process, and grow up within the batch, which is why supermarket eggs are sometimes fertile. I'm not sure whether to congratulate or sympathise with such roos Given that batches consist of tens of thousands, your point still holds for most of them I guess - a bit like the numbers that either never find the popholes or prefer to stay indoors and yet can still be labelled 'free range' because the option was there in theory.

 

[Windrider]

As a biologist (okay, technically a zoological illustrator), let me play devil's advocate for a moment. A biologist might argue that the only "true and proper" chicken is the Red Jungle Fowl, and all the others have been messed with by humans to a lesser or greater extent, it is just a matter of degree.

What I really think is that Ex Batts aren't inherently lesser chickens (if indeed the term "proper chicken" is even valid). If you took a day old chick bred and hatched for a caged life and somehow slipped it under one of Shadrach's Tribes' broody hens, it would grow up doing all the usual chicken things. How do we know? Because lots of people on this forum buy ISA browns, Amber Links, etc as day olds and have them running around their land being normal chickens. Sure, their life might be short due to reproductive issues, and perhaps they may not be as predator wise as a Jungle Fowl or Game (but that could also be said of many other breeds), but they would absolutely be "proper chickens."

Sadly, I am currently chicken-less and cannot pay tax. This has been an interesting read, so perhaps I can stay on, tax-free, as many impoverished people do. Or perhaps I can dig up my illustrations for an article on the smallest discovered adult dinosaur fossil, which was basically a chicken with teeth, a bony tail, and claws on its axials.

 

[AnnaWolf]

You sure she hasn't got Campine in there somewhere. She sounds like my mad women.

Yes, or do you have miniture campine?
Sho only ways 500 grams

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

I just found this thread! How is it possible that I did not know about this?

I’m in!!!!!

I imagine I owe some tax for being tardy.