Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ribh]

The saddest part in all this is I think the vast majority of the people who keep chickens, including thjose that come on BYC on a more casual basis, and I can think of a few prominent regulars, keep chickens in much the same conditions.
C is in no way a minority I believe.
Many of the posts that come up in ER make it pretty apparent that the creatures in question are living in poor conditions with minimum care and even less knowledge.
I like to see the conditions a chicken is kept in. That means pictures of the run if applicable and some explanation of how often they are checked over, how much time their keeper spends with them and what they are fed. You don't often get this.
This is part of the reason for this thread. I want people to see how these chickens are kept in some detail. I also hope that readers will compare their keeping arrangments to those shown in the thread and pay attention to, for example, what a difference just a couple of hours a day on natural ground with foraging possibilities makes to the chickens overall welfare.

We are getting terribly monsoonal weather just now which means the girls foraging has been severely limited & the ground underfoot is really soggy. My girls aren't happy. They have been spoilt with as much foraging time as they like & want & suddenly we are all squelching.

 

[Marie2020]

We are getting terribly monsoonal weather just now which means the girls foraging has been severely limited & the ground underfoot is really soggy. My girls aren't happy. They have been spoilt with as much foraging time as they like & want & suddenly we are all squelching.

We have very soggy wet clay in my area.

The last year I have been using the wood chips out their run and started putting the used chips from the run onto the clay, my girls seem a lot more comfortable out on that than just the clay.
Another big plus is that it seems too attract more worms for them to forage, making life a little more interesting for them

 

[Marie2020]

The saddest part in all this is I think the vast majority of the people who keep chickens, including thjose that come on BYC on a more casual basis, and I can think of a few prominent regulars, keep chickens in much the same conditions.
C is in no way a minority I believe.
Many of the posts that come up in ER make it pretty apparent that the creatures in question are living in poor conditions with minimum care and even less knowledge.
I like to see the conditions a chicken is kept in. That means pictures of the run if applicable and some explanation of how often they are checked over, how much time their keeper spends with them and what they are fed. You don't often get this.
This is part of the reason for this thread. I want people to see how these chickens are kept in some detail. I also hope that readers will compare their keeping arrangments to those shown in the thread and pay attention to, for example, what a difference just a couple of hours a day on natural ground with foraging possibilities makes to the chickens overall welfare.

My run is not as roomy as I would like but I try my best too make it as comfortable as possible. They have the run beneath their coop and at the side with perches above.

A few days ago I added a thick branch as a makeshift perch and found that they are a lot happier inside the run now as they have another option besides the wood chips and perches. This morning they decided too stay in the run as it was really cold until the sun tempted them too go outside.

 

[Marie2020]

We may have to find alternative ways of feeding our chickens, if the feed becomes a problem. I think we are all aware of this conflict which doesn't bare thinking about

 

[GregnLety]

1 rooster to 3 hens is the ideal ratio if you have the room and can house the individual roosters and their hens seperately I've found.

Fortunately we have the space. I am working on a 4th coup and have about 1.5 acres fenced for them to free range. Fortunately my dogs keep most predators away.

 

[micstrachan]

No, the watch list is clear for once. There are treatments I need to attend to but nothing critical at the moment.

Best news ever. And a TRUE testament to what you are doing. Shad, I hope you know that I do take everything you say to heart. I am just limited in what I can do due to the fact that I still work full-time and my birds have been raised in a run and therefore cannot free range without supervision. I have no rooster, and they aren’t as predator savvy as true free ranging would require. However, I do give them as absolutely much as I can. I am a true believer that free ranging is the best path to health for them. So I hope you enjoy this. They have been out for almost 5 hours already, and they’ve got about an hour to go.

I won’t go into it too much here since this is your rescue thread, but my speckled sussex Millie’s health is failing a bit. I’m just very, very happy to see her on her feet. She has been sitting around for about a month and is a hearty eater, so I’m pretty sure she is very fat and she has ascites.

 

[micstrachan]

I linked to an article by Beekissed earlier. I know a lot of people rate this article. I also know that a lot of people haven't properly understood it. One can tell this from reading peoples comments in the threads and references to the article in general on BYC.
The really important part of the article is the first sentence quoted below.

"You really need the right breeds/birds, the right rooster or dominant hen, the right place, the right dog, the right perimeter fencing(if in town), the right hideouts/duck and cover places, and the right attitude."

You can't take a bit of "right" the advice and try to apply it to freerangers or even chickens in runs, if the rest of the set up is wrong. You need all the right ingredients to free range successfully. Just having one component missing can and often does lead to a disaster.
This is C's problem essentially. As a couple have mentioned, there is probably not a lot wrong with feeding chickens or geese with preferably stale bread. The stale bit is important. But, this is only fine if the fowl can access other foodstuffs of their own accord.
There is nothing wrong with feeding household leftovers. Lots of very experienced and competant chicken keepers do exactly this. But, their needs to be a nutritional balance in these left overs and/or the chickens can make up the shortfalls by foraging.
Trying to do this with high production hens confined to a coop and run is essentially cruelty through ignorance and neglect.

I LOVE Beekissed’s (one of my faves to learn from) advice and need to find what you linked.

 

[Perris]

You're right. He is a very dignified chap, not just in looks but in behaviour as well. He'll ask and then move on when it comes to food and mating his hens.
He does his best to keep an eye on all his hens but the RSL's are all over the place. I don't know how long it would take for them to understand they need to stay reaonably close to Henry.

show them this (the morning procession here from breakfast to the spa - and no foot glue used in the taking of this photo )

 

[Perris]

or they could do it in line instead of shoulder to shoulder

 

[ManueB]

Bread gets left by a couple of people who used to have plots on the allotment, or were at some point otherwise involved. They leave it out of pity for the geese and chickens. It's not just me that thinks C's animal husbandry skills leave a lot to be desired. To the best of my knowledge three people have reported C to the RSPCA.

That's hopeful in a way because it shows you are definitely not the only one involved aware there's a problem. Then again, if C. knows this and has not changed her ways, it probably means that nothing will make her change.