Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

I think one of the scissor beaks is now having trouble eating. I noticed she was crying earlier, and when I went to lock them up for the night, I felt her crop. It appeared to just contain water. I can't really house her separately to give her her own food dish. Maybe I'm wrong. Will keep an eye on the situation.

Soak the feed, they all can have it

 

[One Lucky Momma]

The new coop arrived this morning.

Congratulations.

Please do invite us all to the ribbon cutting. We’ll bring tasty refreshments and lovely housewarming gifts. And that massage therapist.

Seriously, I think we all grasp the significance of the event and we are deeply happy for you and the flock.

 

[LaFemmeKatia]

Not sure if i already posted these or not...
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So cute!!!!!

 

[ManueB]

There isn't a working wheelbarrow at the allotments.
No one to give massages either.

How is this even possible ?

Then I do seriously hope you get some help!

Congratulations.

Please do invite us all to the ribbon cutting. We’ll bring tasty refreshments and lovely housewarming gifts. And that massage therapist.

Seriously, I think we all grasp the significance of the event and we are deeply happy for you and the flock.

Shadrach's folly house warming party ! Where you get to hug chickens and offer wheelbarrows and welded mesh rolls !

 

[ManueB]

We're done with the structural work reroofing the old houses. The builders are gone and now we'll have to clear all the rubble, and do the plastering of the facades.

It's been stressful having my stepfather over everyday and having to cope with his hateful, racist, conspirationist constant ramble. I had two moments of glee when my partner told him he would sue him for libel and negationism if he didn't shut up. And when I didn't eat the supermarket battery pork ribs he brought for the end of work barbecue, and my partner explained very seriously to him I was converting to Islam . I'm glad to be back on my own with the chickens.

 

[Perris]

We're done with the structural work reroofing the old houses. The builders are gone and now we'll have to clear all the rubble, and do the plastering of the facades.
View attachment 3125426
It's been stressful having my stepfather over everyday and having to cope with his hateful, racist, conspirationist constant ramble. I had two moments of glee when my partner told him he would sue him for libel and negationism if he didn't shut up. And when I didn't eat the supermarket battery pork ribs he brought for the end of work barbecue, and my partner explained very seriously to him I was converting to Islam . I'm glad to be back on my own with the chickens.
View attachment 3125434

that's quite the transformation! Congratulations!
What should we bring to your shed-warming party? Hawk- and bigoted-relative-deterrents?

 

[Perris]

I have been rummaging around further in old poultry manuals for chick feed ideas.

Chopped up boiled egg + bread crumbs features in most of them. If the chicks are not out on grass from day 2, greenstuff is included in all of them. Milk in one form or another features in most of them. Oats (as meal) is clearly the preferred first grain.

The only real surprise, which features in 2, is free access to charcoal (as well as grit and oyster shell, so not as a substitute for either of them). Anybody know what's in charcoal besides carbon? Or is this just 'ash' in its original form, rather than as now produced and appears in analytical composition tables?

 

[ManueB]

that's quite the transformation! Congratulations!

Honestly if we could have kept it like it was I would have, but it was threatening to fall down.

What should we bring to your shed-warming party? Hawk- and bigoted-relative-deterrents?

That would definitely depopulate our village ! Everyone who doesn't come from the outside world is a cousin to some degree of my partner. Out of 110 voters for the last presidential election 70 voted for the extreme right.

I have been rummaging around further in old poultry manuals for chick feed ideas.

Chopped up boiled egg + bread crumbs features in most of them. If the chicks are not out on grass from day 2, greenstuff is included in all of them. Milk in one form or another features in most of them. Oats (as meal) is clearly the preferred first grain.

The only real surprise, which features in 2, is free access to charcoal (as well as grit and oyster shell, so not as a substitute for either of them). Anybody know what's in charcoal besides carbon? Or is this just 'ash' in its original form, rather than as now produced and appears in analytical composition tables?

Charcoal is still sold in France as a remedy for chickens. I believe carbon is the sole component though I lay be wrong, and the use are the same as for humans : gastrointestinal diseases and counter acting toxins. Mostly sold as activated charcoal which I think just means it's exposed to very high heat and oxygen to make it more porous.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15563650.2021.1961144

 

[Perris]

Charcoal is still sold in France as a remedy for chickens. I believe carbon is the sole component though I lay be wrong, and the use are the same as for humans : gastrointestinal diseases and counter acting toxins.

how interesting; many thanks for that link.

I add bonfire ash to the dustbaths as per tradition, and I have sometimes observed the chickens picking out specific bits of ash including charcoal and eating it. I have assumed they are acting on instinct, and that they somehow know that what they are eating contains something they need, but maybe in this case they're more specifically self-medicating.

 

[RoyalChick]

I have been rummaging around further in old poultry manuals for chick feed ideas.

Chopped up boiled egg + bread crumbs features in most of them. If the chicks are not out on grass from day 2, greenstuff is included in all of them. Milk in one form or another features in most of them. Oats (as meal) is clearly the preferred first grain.

The only real surprise, which features in 2, is free access to charcoal (as well as grit and oyster shell, so not as a substitute for either of them). Anybody know what's in charcoal besides carbon? Or is this just 'ash' in its original form, rather than as now produced and appears in analytical composition tables?

Interesting Activated charcoal is used to absorb nasty chemicals like if someone ingests poison. I think that is a cross species benefit - it acts like a sponge and mops them up.
I am not sure my mother’s translation of that to making me eat burnt toast if I had a tummy ache as a child has any scientific backing. But the poison one does.