Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

be aware @Shadrach and @Marie2020 that the Solways don't disassemble, and the whole back doesn't come off, so they are not as easy to clean as a Green Frog (now rebranded Nestera; why?).

Thanks Perris. Good call. I had assumed that despite them being sent assembled the various panels could be removed.

 

[Shadrach]

Unfortunately this second Skeksis baby will need to be culled. It is still in the incubator and the poor thing cannot even stand up. I am surprised it survived the night. I need to find a humane way to accomplish this, although that statement may be an oxymoron.

I think this has been mentioned later on but sharp pruning shears work well.
Cervical dislocation is bloodless but it is easy to pull the head off the body with chicks.

Sorry everyone but killing chickens is something we are all faced with at some point be it at our own hands or someone elses.

 

[Shadrach]

I went with decapitation. Sure was tough to do though.

The other Skeksis baby seems to be doing much better. The adominal swelling has decreased significantly.

I put some collidial silver in the waterer, since the whole thing is caused by infection.

It is hard.

 

[Shadrach]

Minnie will only study horticulture. Here she is inspecting the viability of the buddleja.
She tells me her brain is not able to grasp mathematics so teaching her geometry is out of the question.
My own observation however, suggests she has a very keen understanding of the concept of ‘more’. As in give me more of that. So I have not given up on her counting abilities quite yet.

View attachment 3071339

Oh don't worry. She can count allright. Up to 109 if I recal from the last study I looked at.

 

[RoyalChick]

Oh don't worry. She can count allright. Up to 109 if I recal from the last study I looked at.

I knew it! She has been holding out on me

 

[Shadrach]

One more question should I mix the sardines with fermented I have started today? Or just wet pellets

Do you have a mortar and pestle? A coffee bean or nut grinder?
One of them, or something similar, is handy.
You need to turn the pellets to dust basically. Then add warm water or as Ribh suggests above and make a sloppy paste.
It's also a great way of getting medication into a chicken assuming they'll eat the paste.

 

[Marie2020]

Did you look at the coop make Perris mentioned?
It's a problem with every prefab coop I've looked at; there is always something not quite right.

I'll come back to this soon. I have to think of size, and would want a run connected also perches are a very important factor plus I will only have 4 birds. I think

 

[Shadrach]

More dust bathing today.

Henry, much like every other rooster I've known knows there is a difference between treat food and the usual chicken feed. Seems obvious but it's the value he attatches to the two types that I find interesting. He gets hen points for finding food they like. If he turns up with say a beakfull of scrambled egg he's going to be mister poplular in seconds. Offer a layers pellet or two and he'll be sent to a corner somewhere.
So, when I offer Henry treat food before the hens, that's if I can prevent them from stealing it out of my hand, he used to take a bit first every time. If I'm walking past him with a food containor and there are quite a few shapes and sizes in use, he want's to see what's in it. I show him. If it's pellets he looks and walks away. If it's seed he'll look and walk away. Something more interesting and he'll take a bit and drop it for the hens. So, he's graded food by how many hen points he'll get for providing it. He caught a spider the other day. This must have been a spider on the tested and approved list because Henry did the full on head bob and call, he even started hopping about when the hens ignored him.
Anyway, got Henry set up and posing and look who stuck their beak in the lens.

 

[RoyalChick]

View attachment 3071697View attachment 3071698

More dust bathing today.
View attachment 3071699View attachment 3071700View attachment 3071702

Henry, much like every other rooster I've known knows there is a difference between treat food and the usual chicken feed. Seems obvious but it's the value he attatches to the two types that I find interesting. He gets hen points for finding food they like. If he turns up with say a beakfull of scrambled egg he's going to be mister poplular in seconds. Offer a layers pellet or two and he'll be sent to a corner somewhere.
So, when I offer Henry treat food before the hens, that's if I can prevent them from stealing it out of my hand, he used to take a bit first every time. If I'm walking past him with a food containor and there are quite a few shapes and sizes in use, he want's to see what's in it. I show him. If it's pellets he looks and walks away. If it's seed he'll look and walk away. Something more interesting and he'll take a bit and drop it for the hens. So, he's graded food by how many hen points he'll get for providing it. He caught a spider the other day. This must have been a spider on the tested and approved list because Henry did the full on head bob and call, he even started hopping about when the hens ignored him.
Anyway, got Henry set up and posing and look who stuck their beak in the lens.View attachment 3071701

I love that last picture!

 

[ManueB]

Skeksis Jr.

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Well that third picture solves the question of the naked neck genes. I'm not sure how much chance he has of surviving though .

Good morning or late day 1:30 here Ex Batts.
I am bulding a ark..
The floods to follow .. Not for real but tired of the constant rain.

Quite the opposite here, we may finally have two real days of rain and praying whoever is in charge of the weather for it. Most of the villages have already cut off fountains and limited use of the reservoir waters...groundwaters haven't filled at all during winter and there is no snow on the mountains to melt . If rain doesn't come it will be a disaster for farmers.