Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Venka's back! Turned up at 5.30, looking none the worse for wear. Ate like a horse, and is now chilling with the flock under a bush by the back door I am so relieved she didn't meet a nasty end

Oh excellent. I'm very pleased for both of you.

 

[Shadrach]

Lovely afternoon and early evening here. Almost warm at times...for the UK that is.
A very bad moment here. It looked like Henry was going to blow holes the size of craters in my dustbathing theory.
In my estimation the soil was too dry to entice roosters to bath. You can imagine my horror when I saw this

I had a closer look. Not quite dust bathing. More sort of sitting with the hens.

I was just about to have alook and take a picture from the back when he got up and moved away.

A couple of minutes later the grey can't see above my head lot moved in, apart from Fret who due to her more sensible Marans genes has a comb in the right place.

 

[Shadrach]

He's so lovely.

Jungle style.

 

[Shadrach]

You may recall I gave Matilda Ivermectin to deal what was getting to be a serious leg mite problem. Well, not only have the mites gond but she has shed every scale on her legs. I have never seen this before. It is usually a few at a time. I had a look with a magnifying glass to see if I could see any leg damage but they look okay, just bare of scales.

 

[MaryJanet]

Venka's back! Turned up at 5.30, looking none the worse for wear. Ate like a horse, and is now chilling with the flock under a bush by the back door I am so relieved she didn't meet a nasty end

great news!!

Wow, she is a very accomplished hider!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Venka's back! Turned up at 5.30, looking none the worse for wear. Ate like a horse, and is now chilling with the flock under a bush by the back door I am so relieved she didn't meet a nasty end

Of that I am pleased for both of you !

 

[ManueB]

no I didn't either. She's not a tree hugger, and I have no idea where she was hiding. I had resigned myself to her loss last night, and was happy that another bird had gone broody while I still had some of her viable eggs. I've no regrets about setting her on Venka's eggs, but I am going to have to do something about accommodation here...

Buy another recycled plastic coop ?

I'm secretly wondering if maybe I could do that too to keep the four littles. If the coop just dropped on us, my partner couldn't say no.

Today they stay in prison (until this evening when the guards can watch where they are, from minute to minute.

Chipie and her four chicks escaped yesterday! I forgot to lock the door that closes both the pen where they are and the coop. They only had two small mesh barriers to cross and they discovered how to much quicker than I thought.
When Chipie got scared seeing me, instead of taking everyone back to safety just two meters away, she froze and hid them and herself on spot. They were very well hidden as you can't see them on the picture apart from one, but the cats would still find them.

 

[Perris]

Oh that is great news! And for those of us who were smitten by that photo of her can we see some more pictures. I think she is a really beautiful hen.

Thanks!
Ribh tagged me in a post in another thread re: your Minnie's crop, it is finally empty - that's fantastic news too; I'm delighted for both of you.

 

[ManueB]

Regarding posting hatching eggs, a small Canadian breeder I follow on Instagram reposted this on her account on the same day it was discussed here. I found it interesting as it shows how shipping eggs can be a problem for small, earnest breeders too.
(You can see it without having an account if you click no to all their pop up stuff)
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cd1Fm6rO_zf/

Edit: apparently you do need an account. I will ask her if I may paste part of the post here.

 

[Perris]

Buy another recycled plastic coop ?

I'm secretly wondering if maybe I could do that too to keep the four littles. If the coop just dropped on us, my partner couldn't say no.

You may want to consider an air drop if you go for the same make as Shad did - wouldn't want to struggle with one of those up your slopes!!!