Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[LaFleche]

Hee hee, our Andre* is working on a boss set of those. Reminds me of the brows on Sam the Eagle.

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*The Andre photo is also tax.

Love this! And their facial expression is very similar!

 

[Iluveggers]

Been lurking awhile without paying so…
Tax:
My ladies have been very friendly as they approach laying age…today Louise was on my lap & Basil jumped on my knee…usually they won’t visit if someone was already up there. Two squatted today as well for the first time! (No, I never pick them up forcefully, they visit on their own terms!)

 

[MaryJanet]

Tax for whatever needs paying:

Here's Jackdaw. He is growing bushy eyebrows.

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His mother, Falcon, was the only crested hen that I've had and was a favorite of mine.

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Amazing eyebrows!!

 

[GregnLety]

No name girl which is a mix white cochin and our Red EE rooster. Letting her sit some eggs for a friend of ours. Probably move her to our broader cage for privacy.

 

[Shadrach]

Has Henry shown any interest in finding nest sites while out and about?

No, and I doubt he will. If they ranged over the entire acre for long enough each day I would expect something like that to happen eventually but a couple of hours of relative freedom a day just isn't enough.

 

[Shadrach]

I really like Hurry's inquisitive look!

She grew into a fairly aggressive hen.

 

[Shadrach]

Okay I will pay tax for @shawluvsbirds
Raining today birds stayed in View attachment 2933225

Well done @pennyJo1960. I'm pleased you're postiing some pictures of your chickens. I don't think I've seen any on other threads.

 

[Shadrach]

Ex Batts good evening one and all!

The temperature is 67 and cloudy.

I rehomed 6 ISA Browns today.

I spent 6 hours going and coming which is very tiring.

Have a great day!

Rehomed as in took in or moved out?

 

[Shadrach]

Its nice to see tails on those Legbars. Are their "hats" as variable in size as they seem in the pictures?

Yes and that is part of the reason they are rescues. The breeder was trying to create Legbars with bigger crests who laid more eggs. These are a few of the rejects.

 

[Shadrach]

This has been knocking around in my brain more than I want to admit. Sitting with the birds this morning, some thoughts finally formed, mainly around the concept that a Legbar doesn't need to know it's a Legbar to know it likes how other Legbars act.

In our setup, brooder mates stick together, but thanks to this thread, I'm now hyper aware when birds-of-a-feather segregate. Like when our Legbars sneak away from their Marans brooder mates to forage.

It's easy to believe the Legbars segregate in that instance because they're leaner and more driven to forage while simultaneously realizing Marans are big enough to steal the best foraged treasures. The Legbars leave to satisfy hunger away from the prying eyes of the Marans.

The Legbars also segregate when there's a good sunbeam to nap in. The Marans are welcome to join in this case but usually don't. They're not as interested in hot sun, possibly because they're black and have more body fat.

On the other hand, our Legbars embed with the bodaciously fluffy Marans when it's time to preen, possibly because nothing says safety like a wall of Marans.

Genetics and physiology explain segregation in these situations, without breeds necessarily knowing they look the same to us.

Obviously, my observations are specific to the differences of 2 distinct breeds in a specific setting. Not sure how it holds up in other settings with mixed breeds, etc.

On another line of thinking, while Legbars might not identify specifically as Legbars, they can certainly see their own feathers as they preen, which may be enough to bolster the safety-in-numbers point that similar-looking beings are harder to pick off (brought up somewhere in this thread, but I can't seem to locate it--sorry).

Though when it comes to safety, our chickens appear to gravitate toward the bossiest hens or nearest rooster, no matter what they look like.

Lastly, the pheromones argument always rings true to me. We understand so little about smell. What those pheromones would signal to bring breeds together is a whole other rabbit hole.

I have theories as to why the breeds and related stick together but in the short term what is important is to get people to realise that this is how chickens are.
If and once people accept this then perhaps they might take some care in choosing what breeds they keep and in what circumstances rather than go about choosing like a kid in a sweet shop.