Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[micstrachan]

Here’s some tax as promisedView attachment 2947609View attachment 2947618View attachment 2947630View attachment 2947635View attachment 2947638View attachment 2947643View attachment 2947646
All 4-5 months old…except Reggie (b/w polish) he’s 7 months old. Weather here is currently raining..raining…raining

Beautiful! Especially that first rooster!

 

[micstrachan]

I am rolling my eyes but not because of the reasons you may think.
I had two Ex Battery hens crouch for me yesterday when I lean't down to give them a gentle bum shove to get them out from under my feet.
What sort of hen does that. Never in my years in Spain or on my Uncles farm have I had a hen crouch for me. They all knew I was not a rooster and I guess they all though I was one ugly SOB as well

None of the Legbars here show any real interest in my unless there is a possibility of food. That is how they should be. It should take months, maybe years for a chicken to trust you enough to want any form of physical contact.
We are after all by far the worst predator the chicken has ever had to deal with.

I have had a few hens jump onto my lap, or a leg,or even a shoulder but the rule is quite apparent. I can be a climbing frame, a place of safety, or even a place of warmth or somewhere handy to wipe a beak clean, but go to touch one of them and it quite apparent that they are far from impressed. It took me years before Fat Bird would show she wanted me to carry her from one place to another. Even so, it was all to be on her terms.

Haha! My laying hens tend to crouch for me. Currently only Sunshine is laying and crouching, but today Cashew was hiding between some chairs from the hawk, and when I bent down to carry her to a safer spot, she briefly crouched. She’s been looking gloriously healthy lately with a plump red comb and has been doing her adorably growly chatter, so I figured she’d be coming back into lay soon. Today she even visited the nest box.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Fortunatley I've only got a few months of the past to cover and then this thread will become more of a diary.
There is a bit to post on the background of how this place came to be and how the chickens and geese (I'll introduce you to them later) got here.
So this is the allotment plot. It is in fact a local council permitted small holding with a licence to keep livestock. The licence is owned by one person now who I'm going to refer to as C from here on.
The plot is about an acre in size. Looking North are a rwo of houses that seperated the plot from a very busy main road (A4) that runs from Bristol city centre to the docks at Avonmouth, Portbury and Portishead.
The plot is accessed by a narrow road. Not many people know this place exists it seems.
Looking East.
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North Eastish.
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Southish
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Beehives on the South side.
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Looking North East.
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More beehives.
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Looking Northish.
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Looking North.
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That's a good size chunk of land. Would C let the chooks over run the vegetable garden and orchard between plantings for weed control and fertilizing do you think?

 

[Perris]

Maybe they Intuit the nature of the sickness and shun infectious hens while supporting others?

I've thought that too to explain the variable behaviour towards unwell birds, but have yet to read anything about it - actually, I have to date found no discussion of illness working through flocks, perhaps because the advice is always to remove sick birds and isolate or cull them as soon as the issue is spotted, so no-one has actually studied it. If anyone reading this has read something relevant, do please share, because I would love it to read it

 

[HiEverybirdy]

I've thought that too to explain the variable behaviour towards unwell birds, but have yet to read anything about it - actually, I have to date found no discussion of illness working through flocks, perhaps because the advice is always to remove sick birds and isolate or cull them as soon as the issue is spotted, so no-one has actually studied it. If anyone reading this has read something relevant, do please share, because I would love it to read it

Our Langshan Pinkie earned the nickname "the ambassador" way back in the brooder because she'd go out of her way to visit with every chick and visitor.

I've started to realize Pinkie will come sit on my lap if I'm low. She visits occasionally when I'm happy, but by sloppy observation, I'll say her visits are only reliable on days I'm weary.

Over the summer, she befriended a Brahma hen who passed in October. They seemed to be together constantly until the morning Peep presented as ill and I bundled her off to the vet.

I didn't think about a connection until now, but it's believable Pinkie has some kind of caretaker/escort role in the group.

She's lowest in the pecking order from her brooder group, though pecking order doesn't figure conspicuously into their lives, maybe due to ample space/resources or the fact that we keep laid-back breeds.

Laugh if you want, but Pinkie looks like she cares. She's very comforting.

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Our Langshan Pinkie earned the nickname "the ambassador" way back in the brooder because she'd go out of her way to visit with every chick and visitor.

I've started to realize Pinkie will come sit on my lap if I'm low. She visits occasionally when I'm happy, but by sloppy observation, I'll say her visits are only reliable on days I'm weary.

Over the summer, she befriended a Brahma hen who passed in October. They seemed to be together constantly until the morning Peep presented as ill and I bundled her off to the vet.

I didn't think about a connection until now, but it's believable Pinkie has some kind of caretaker/escort role in the group.

She's lowest in the pecking order from her brooder group, though pecking order doesn't figure conspicuously into their lives, maybe due to ample space/resources or the fact that we keep laid-back breeds.

Laugh if you want, but Pinkie looks like she cares. She's very comforting.

View attachment 2948662

She does have a gentle look.
Those are the most vibrant comb and wattles I've seen on a chook. She just radiates healthiness in this photo.

 

[Perris]

Thanks for the link, I’m looking forward to reading it!

I don’t have a good way to separate the youngsters, I have feed available all the time. The more protein available, the sooner they lay, is what you’re saying? The hens are finishing up their molt, should I switch to a lower protein feed? I can get 16% “layer” feed, which is supplemented with calcium. That’s the lowest protein I can find. I’d love to eventually mix my own feed but I need to learn more about chicken nutrition first.

I'm still reading through it and evidently it's more complicated than just the protein levels. Do read it; there's lots of info and advice for different circumstances. I have't yet got to specific advice for delaying onset of lay.

 

[Shadrach]

Maybe they Intuit the nature of the sickness and shun infectious hens while supporting others?

The tribes certainly supported the sick and dying to the point where I had to be cautious with some of the roosters when wanting to handle a dying hen. I had a few step foreward and hackle flash me when attempting to pick up a sick hen who wouldn't batt an eyelid if the hen had been fit.

 

[Shadrach]

Very good information! Thank you! But a rooster will at least watch the sky more attentively, no?

Yes he will but the point I was trying to make is a good rooster often dies because he's a good rooster so getting one is fine while he lives but what happens when he dies? The rooster, should you get one becomes the focal point of the tribe and to make matters worse, the relationship you've cultivated with your hens changes when the rooster arrives. The hens will not be your hens anymore, they'll be his. This simple fact catches lots of chicken keepers out. Many of those activities that a keeper of a single sex group enjoy about keeping a few hens become much more difficult with the addition of a rooster.
Things don't get much easier until the rooster has firmly established his position in the group, and that includes him dealing with the strange relationship the keeper has with the hens. The next generation assuming males hatch is muchh easier on the group and thhe keeper if the keeper is prepared to back off and let the chickens sort the poitics out. This can be a couple of years during which the keeper has to make constant adjustments to the changes in the group.

 

[Shadrach]

That's a good size chunk of land. Would C let the chooks over run the vegetable garden and orchard between plantings for weed control and fertilizing do you think?

It's under discussion.