Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

So sorry about Cloud.We are expecting death announcements for the exbatts but not by predators. It must be so frustrating for you.

Unfortunately predators are part of keeping chickens.
Still sorry to hear about cloud

 

[Solanacae]

C found Cloud dead on the coop run floor this morning. We think a stoat get her.
17.
Sad. I liked Cloud even though she wasn't too keen on me.
It's happened before; it will probably happen again. My main concern is it's a mum with young to feed and she'll come back.
There is currently nothing to keep her out. I did two sections of the fence but the rest still needs doing and at my age it's going to take a while.
I watched to see if I could see any signs of distress or nervousness in the rest but I saw nothing that was obvious enough for me to notice and be sure.
They all came out and were out for a two and a half hours.
I've got a hen that roosts late. Often she is still out foraging when the others are at the coop or already in it. I go and stand with her and whinge about how my hands are cold and couldn't she manage to walk back to the coop without diving under ever clump of weeds she finds.
It's not a problem. I'm already too late for the 8.15pm train and the next one isn't until 8.50 pm.
I picked her up off the ground tonight. She made a couple of halfhearted attampts to avoid me and then just sat in my hand looking irritated. I put her in the coop tonight through the main door. I brushed past Major, Matilda and a couple of Legbars opening the coop door. They didn't budge. Put Miss Stopout in the coop. Not even a flap on ground contact.
View attachment 3053694View attachment 3053695View attachment 3053696
The grooming hudle around Bucket Boys chair.
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I'm a concerend about Matilda. She's laying every day. The eggs are a good shape and weight. The shell thickness is better than most. From what I've seen some stage of making the egg is causing her some discomfort.
View attachment 3053699

RIP Cloud. It’s hard when one you like dies.
It’s also unfortunate that Matilda isn’t comfortable, do you have any idea what could be the cause of it? It seems unusual to me that her eggs are looking well when she is not.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Rough for one had google the stout .. Weasle here just as deadly they kill for fun .. One gets in 20 birds dead ..
I am sorry you lost one there..

 

[ManueB]

Thank you.
Two of the cockerels and three hens got given away as a group. One cockerel wandered off never to be seen again. The two other cockerels grew up to be roosters, one of whome was still living when I left. One pullet got killed by a Goshawk. That left a hen called Dink. This was Dink recovering from a Goshawk strike; 9 stitches if my memory serves me.
View attachment 3053648

Dink was a very stubborn and determined hen.
Dink hatched two daughters after one of her sits and they became Donk and Dent.
Donk sat and hatched and produced a daughter called Knock who sat and hatched. Knock's two chicks didn't survive very long.

Pretty incredible feat to have engendered that family for an incubator orphan that thought for a time she would become a sheep or a donkey .

My main concern is it's a mum with young to feed and she'll come back.

Unfortunately, it seems likely that she will now she knows she can get in without being deterred. It's so frustrating.

It's not a problem. I'm already too late for the 8.15pm train and the next one isn't until 8.50 pm.

I was wondering if you are going to be able to stay until roost time this summer as the days grow longer. Does public transportation goes on sufficiently late?

The Ex Battery hens will keep dying. The chicken total will go down maybe one or two a month. A coop for 10/12 is a realistic proposition.

Do you know what is their intention regarding chickens in the future, keeping some on the allotments long term, or just wait until there is none left ?
It's a bit blunt to put it this way but I suppose building a new coop would not make sense to them in the last case.

 

[ManueB]

Rough for one had google the stout .. Weasle here just as deadly they kill for fun .. One gets in 20 birds dead ..
I am sorry you lost one there..

I had to look up the translation and googled it too. Still not sure which one it is , of these : https://www.osi-perception.org/Belette-Fouine-Martre-Hermine.html#ariane
We don't have any of those here, too many foxes I suppose.

 

[Perris]

C found Cloud dead on the coop run floor this morning. We think a stoat get her.
17.
Sad. I liked Cloud even though she wasn't too keen on me.
It's happened before; it will probably happen again. My main concern is it's a mum with young to feed and she'll come back.
There is currently nothing to keep her out. I did two sections of the fence but the rest still needs doing and at my age it's going to take a while.
I watched to see if I could see any signs of distress or nervousness in the rest but I saw nothing that was obvious enough for me to notice and be sure.
They all came out and were out for a two and a half hours.
I've got a hen that roosts late. Often she is still out foraging when the others are at the coop or already in it. I go and stand with her and whinge about how my hands are cold and couldn't she manage to walk back to the coop without diving under ever clump of weeds she finds.
It's not a problem. I'm already too late for the 8.15pm train and the next one isn't until 8.50 pm.
I picked her up off the ground tonight. She made a couple of halfhearted attampts to avoid me and then just sat in my hand looking irritated. I put her in the coop tonight through the main door. I brushed past Major, Matilda and a couple of Legbars opening the coop door. They didn't budge. Put Miss Stopout in the coop. Not even a flap on ground contact.
View attachment 3053694View attachment 3053695View attachment 3053696
The grooming hudle around Bucket Boys chair.
View attachment 3053697View attachment 3053698
I'm a concerend about Matilda. She's laying every day. The eggs are a good shape and weight. The shell thickness is better than most. From what I've seen some stage of making the egg is causing her some discomfort.
View attachment 3053699

Shame about Cloud; she featured in quite a lot of your allotment photos. I hope it was at least quick for her. I've not had to deal with stoat (touch wood); how small a gap can they get through?
I also have a Miss Stopout (one of the Penny pullets). As yet she's not been accidentally shut out the coops, but that's partly because I can leave one open while I'm doing other things and come back to shut it when it's practically dark; if I had to catch public transport it'd be a different matter. Maybe your girl is just testing you...?

 

[ManueB]

Maybe your girl is just testing you...?

You mean, like a teenager gal that doesn't come home on time on Saturday night? Or are you thinking of some particular way that hens test their keeper of which I'm not aware ?

 

[Perris]

You mean, like a teenager gal that doesn't come home on time on Saturday night? Or are you thinking of some particular way that hens test their keeper of which I'm not aware ?

great analogy for my gal, but I don't think it would apply to Shad's stopout

 

[Marie2020]

C found Cloud dead on the coop run floor this morning. We think a stoat get her.
17.
Sad. I liked Cloud even though she wasn't too keen on me.
It's happened before; it will probably happen again. My main concern is it's a mum with young to feed and she'll come back.
There is currently nothing to keep her out. I did two sections of the fence but the rest still needs doing and at my age it's going to take a while.
I watched to see if I could see any signs of distress or nervousness in the rest but I saw nothing that was obvious enough for me to notice and be sure.
They all came out and were out for a two and a half hours.
I've got a hen that roosts late. Often she is still out foraging when the others are at the coop or already in it. I go and stand with her and whinge about how my hands are cold and couldn't she manage to walk back to the coop without diving under ever clump of weeds she finds.
It's not a problem. I'm already too late for the 8.15pm train and the next one isn't until 8.50 pm.
I picked her up off the ground tonight. She made a couple of halfhearted attampts to avoid me and then just sat in my hand looking irritated. I put her in the coop tonight through the main door. I brushed past Major, Matilda and a couple of Legbars opening the coop door. They didn't budge. Put Miss Stopout in the coop. Not even a flap on ground contact.
View attachment 3053694View attachment 3053695View attachment 3053696
The grooming hudle around Bucket Boys chair.
View attachment 3053697View attachment 3053698
I'm a concerend about Matilda. She's laying every day. The eggs are a good shape and weight. The shell thickness is better than most. From what I've seen some stage of making the egg is causing her some discomfort.
View attachment 3053699

Poor Cloud . I hope you can figure out how to prevent further attacks.

Is Matilda laying one egg a day or more?

 

[Marie2020]

Rough for one had google the stout .. Weasle here just as deadly they kill for fun .. One gets in 20 birds dead ..
I am sorry you lost one there..

A chicken friendly ferret may help. I'm thinking of getting of getting a ferret as a deterrent for mice