Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[NatJ]

Healthy chicken pellets.

No human food.

But it is fine to make the chicken pellets wet with water, so they have the same texture as porridge, if the hen likes it better that way. The nutrition is what matters, not what texture it has when the hen eats it.

 

[Sally PB]

But it is fine to make the chicken pellets wet with water, so they have the same texture as porridge,

That's what I make for my chickens as their "snack." They love it. It's also how I use up the fine bits/dust that end up at the bottom of their feeder and the bin I store the food in.

 

[MaryJanet]

But it is fine to make the chicken pellets wet with water, so they have the same texture as porridge, if the hen likes it better that way. The nutrition is what matters, not what texture it has when the hen eats it.

That's how I provide evening chicken dinners! They love it when their pellets are softened with water.

 

[no fly zone]

Oh no!
It isn’t a genetic thing is it? Just luck if the draw infection?

Just bad luck. The one that died because the egg was broken open and/or fire ants appeared to be perfectly healthy prior.

 

[no fly zone]

This must be heartbreaking particulary given how you were hoping for Skeksis chicks.

I have 9 or 10 Skeksis eggs ready to go. Just need to thoroughly sanitize this incubator prior to setting them.

 

[Ribh]

We've been disscussing coops.
There's a problem. I can, would and have built a very solid, portable (with effort), off the ground coop but it is only big enough, by my standard, to house 10 chickens. Anything larger made in a decent thickness of plywood with legs and frame strong enough to support the coop itself becomes to heavy to move and more complicated to build because one has to start joining ply sheet together. The cost in materials would run to £300.00 maybe more given the way the price of quality plywood keeps going up.
Building it would be a headache. No power. Nowhere to leave tools. It would have to be assembled in the current coop run. No way to get a coop that size in without having to dismantle a fence that is only just holding up now. The option to leave a gap in the fence overnight isn't there. Basically it's mission and I'm past enjoying building missions.

A prefab plastic coop, while the matter is under discussion, seems like a sensible option, that might just get a fast result.


This is about the largest affordable plastic coop I can find.

https://www.solwayrecycling.co.uk/shop/pig-poultry/hen-arks/standard-eco-hen-ark

As you can read, it states it will house 10 to 15 larger hens and up to 18 bantams. The floor area is stated at 1.6 square metres. With 15 chickens this works out at about 1,4 square foot per chicken. Not exactly spacious is it.

However, at last September when I started there were over 20 chickens roosting in the current coop which has a floor area of less than 1 square metre, approximately 11 square feet. That's 0.5 square foot per chicken roughly.

It looks a bit different now. Almost three times the amount of space different.
If we could get the plastic coop opperational in the coop run then the pressure to rescue the smaller broody coop and possibly the run part of the main coop would be considerably less.

C spoke to the person the most recent additions had come from about buying their coop which is a Solway. Their coop is a tight fit for 8, never mind 20 plus they wanted too much money for it.

I've long been resigned to the probablity at some point a new coop was going to cost me money. I made C an offer to split the cost of the Solway in the link above 50/50.
I've known for a while that C has some money put away for the allotments. Today C said there was £500.00 in the fund. And didn't rule out the possibility of using some of it. C has to talk to the other allotment holders apparently.
I know three will vote money towards a new coop and they are the three most active members.
I see a light at the end of the tunnel I think.

That's pretty good. When I was looking the largest I found would house 10 standard hens ~ & I wouldn't put 10 standards in it. Could you sit it on besser blocks? You might call them cinder blocks... but they are heavy cement blocks & wouldn't necessarily have to be cemented in place. You could run a lorry strap over the top & secure it to a couple of blocks ~ bit like using stones to hold thatch down.

 

[Solanacae]

Healthy chicken pellets.

No human food.

But it is fine to make the chicken pellets wet with water, so they have the same texture as porridge, if the hen likes it better that way. The nutrition is what matters, not what texture it has when the hen eats it.

I agree with this. If a chicken is struggling, they need balanced nutrition and the best thing is pellets. Scrambled eggs would be a second choice if you can’t get her to eat the pellets, but it would be better to make a porridge with the chicken food and see if she’ll eat that first.

 

[ManueB]

Bad picture day. I think I may have messed up the camera settings. It wouldn't be the first time.
View attachment 3070160View attachment 3070161View attachment 3070162

Apparently the camera was set on taking pictures of your knees .

We've been disscussing coops.
There's a problem. I can, would and have built a very solid, portable (with effort), off the ground coop but it is only big enough, by my standard, to house 10 chickens. Anything larger made in a decent thickness of plywood with legs and frame strong enough to support the coop itself becomes to heavy to move and more complicated to build because one has to start joining ply sheet together. The cost in materials would run to £300.00 maybe more given the way the price of quality plywood keeps going up.
Building it would be a headache. No power. Nowhere to leave tools. It would have to be assembled in the current coop run. No way to get a coop that size in without having to dismantle a fence that is only just holding up now. The option to leave a gap in the fence overnight isn't there. Basically it's mission and I'm past enjoying building missions.

A prefab plastic coop, while the matter is under discussion, seems like a sensible option, that might just get a fast result.


This is about the largest affordable plastic coop I can find.

https://www.solwayrecycling.co.uk/shop/pig-poultry/hen-arks/standard-eco-hen-ark

As you can read, it states it will house 10 to 15 larger hens and up to 18 bantams. The floor area is stated at 1.6 square metres. With 15 chickens this works out at about 1,4 square foot per chicken. Not exactly spacious is it.

However, at last September when I started there were over 20 chickens roosting in the current coop which has a floor area of less than 1 square metre, approximately 11 square feet. That's 0.5 square foot per chicken roughly.

It looks a bit different now. Almost three times the amount of space different.
If we could get the plastic coop opperational in the coop run then the pressure to rescue the smaller broody coop and possibly the run part of the main coop would be considerably less.

C spoke to the person the most recent additions had come from about buying their coop which is a Solway. Their coop is a tight fit for 8, never mind 20 plus they wanted too much money for it.

I've long been resigned to the probablity at some point a new coop was going to cost me money. I made C an offer to split the cost of the Solway in the link above 50/50.
I've known for a while that C has some money put away for the allotments. Today C said there was £500.00 in the fund. And didn't rule out the possibility of using some of it. C has to talk to the other allotment holders apparently.
I know three will vote money towards a new coop and they are the three most active members.
I see a light at the end of the tunnel I think.

I think it makes a lot of sense for all the reasons you and @MaryJanet state.
In the beginning of this thread quite a few people asked if they could help with funds and you said it wasn't needed at the time. If money becomes a decisive question for getting a new coop I would be glad to contribute and I think maybe others would too. In case it's something you would consider there are a number of platforms for crowdfunding that allow one to collect money in relatively secure ways.

I have 9 or 10 Skeksis eggs ready to go. Just need to thoroughly sanitize this incubator prior to setting them.

Apparently it can in some cases come from the mother hen carrying e.colia, but if the first skeksis baby was healthy, it probably rules it out ?
This would however mean committing to two generations of chicks growing up at the same time...may be a lot to deal with ? (Although you already seem pretty much chick-obsessed ).

I agree with this. If a chicken is struggling, they need balanced nutrition and the best thing is pellets. Scrambled eggs would be a second choice if you can’t get her to eat the pellets, but it would be better to make a porridge with the chicken food and see if she’ll eat that first.

I also agree with this if one still hopes for the hen to recover. I made an exception when I thought it was an end of life situation, then I gave the hen anything she would eat. Turns out she didn't die in the end .

I don't believe sick animals let themselves die of starvation if they have access to food (except maybe in the situations where eating causes too much pain), I would worry more about dehydration which can occur much more quickly.

 

[Perris]

Cowls of some sort could fix this.

They are built in via a central axle; they can be rotated on the outside to whatever level you think appropriate.

The coop needs to be off the ground and stable. Wind problem again.

I was thinking along the same lines as Ribh.

Securing the coop to the frame might be a problem.

None of mine have ever blown over, and we get some some storms here (there's not much but ocean between us and America); we lose a tree or two most years. Although they are portable, the plastic is thick and they're heavy. A stack of 3-4 concrete blocks in each corner (laid flat) wouldn't pose a stability problem on good level ground, I'd have thought, and again the weight of the thing would keep it down.

 

[Perris]

The interior photo didn't show roosting bars.

you missed them; they're made of the same black plastic as the panels. Their ends protrude from the coop near the ventilation 'flowers'. On the inside photo some of the birds are ducking under the right roost.