Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[pennyJo1960]

The two white silkie are still not laying again .. Not actively broody but raised two big birds for me .. just have not started back. Frizz molted but lays a pretty little green egg.

 

[Ribh]

it varies; some hens go broody when they've barely grown up - Paprika, for example, others - like my Venka, who's 5 and who should have the genes for it given she's a Swedish Flower - have never gone broody

My Ceres, the splash Jap, went broody as soon as she came on the lay. Being a really juniour hen she made a nest outside the coop & run & had about 6 eggs under her . She's one of the hens I'm hoping to let sit as she's always been smart about her nesting & gets neither all bokky & aggro like Wrold, nor tranced, but manages her brooding really well. Wrold is another as she's quite an experienced & determined brooder & ultra protective.

 

[Perris]

I'm far from certain but I think they can.

she did it again this morning; I found her sitting on the roost, where she must quietly have watched them and their broody eat their breakfast-in-bed (I put it in the coop after the others have left, so that the chicks are not bowled over by big birds wanting to eat it) of blitzed boiled egg, bread, and (unblitzed) small mealworms.

Either she's going down with something, or she feels something for this brood. She's not done this with any previous brood here.

 

[Perris]

My Ceres, the splash Jap, went broody as soon as she came on the lay. Being a really juniour hen she made a nest outside the coop & run & had about 6 eggs under her . She's one of the hens I'm hoping to let sit as she's always been smart about her nesting & gets neither all bokky & aggro like Wrold, nor tranced, but manages her brooding really well. Wrold is another as she's quite an experienced & determined brooder & ultra protective.

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Well Paprika has certainly changed my mind about letting pullets sit. Like your Ceres, she 1st went broody when she'd barely laid a clutch, and she broke easily that time. 2nd time took a few days to break. 3rd time she went broody - and this is all within months of starting to lay at all - was days after Venka vanished, so I took the opportunity to preserve her genes and just hoped Paprika wouldn't mess it up. And she's been brilliant! And doesn't freak out when I come near, unlike the other Penedesenca hens. I think some are just natural broodies.

 

[Ribh]

Well Paprika has certainly changed my mind about letting pullets sit. Like your Ceres, she 1st went broody when she'd barely laid a clutch, and she broke easily that time. 2nd time took a few days to break. 3rd time she went broody - and this is all within months of starting to lay at all - was days after Venka vanished, so I took the opportunity to preserve her genes and just hoped Paprika wouldn't mess it up. And she's been brilliant! And doesn't freak out when I come near, unlike the other Penedesenca hens. I think some are just natural broodies.

Yep. Some hens are just really smart broodies. Others... not so much. Chavi, my little black Jap is a nut job. Sweet as can be but totally clueless. Titania, the splash D'Uccle frizzle & Alpia, the lighter of my Wyandotte bantams, allow themselves to be pushed around by bigger & more aggressive hens but Alpia is the only hen Wrold will allow to sit with her. Wrold is the beserker in the video. I have 8 likely to go broody not counting Ha'penny, my Golden Campine. She is a brilliant nest hidder but if she chooses somewhere reasonably safe I would let her try. The Japs & D'Uccles are social broodies & like to share ~ which could be problematic. Eggs went round & round depending on who could snavel it first.

 

[ManueB]

I'm dog sitting and chicken sitting this weekend so I'm not coming home in the evenings. By the time I've finished the allotmant lot and gone and locked up the other chickens it's just too late so I stay at my daughters.

Have you met some new chickens then ?
I'm sure your daughter must be glad you live close now. That way she can invite you for chickens sleepover and help you move coops around!
I don't really see my parents more than when we lived hundreds of km apart but it's nice to know I can go to their place and they to mine if needed.

This is the water that the geese are supposed to drink. The tubs are way too big and this means C can't carry and refill them. There is a rather sad human side story to this which I'll write about some time.
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So who actually changes the water, is it you ?
Everything about C. is sad it seems to me.

 

[ManueB]

Well Paprika has certainly changed my mind about letting pullets sit. Like your Ceres, she 1st went broody when she'd barely laid a clutch, and she broke easily that time. 2nd time took a few days to break. 3rd time she went broody - and this is all within months of starting to lay at all - was days after Venka vanished, so I took the opportunity to preserve her genes and just hoped Paprika wouldn't mess it up. And she's been brilliant! And doesn't freak out when I come near, unlike the other Penedesenca hens. I think some are just natural broodies.

Chipie has been and is still making some mistakes but on the whole it's been a wonder watching her interact with the chicks. I'm obviously not someone who believe it is essential to have children to give meaning to one's life as I'm so glad I don't have any, but in her case it's obvious she has found her calling. Yesterday I watched her explaining to the chicks that they shouldn't eat a lime sphinx caterpillar, it was incredible. I love how she's teaching them to hide and make no noise when the hawk flys by. It's completely fascinating to see how she's protecting them and at the same time preparing them for autonomy.
So it wasn't a very wise choice to have her sit as she just arrived six months ago and is hated by everyone in the flock, but I don't regret it up to now. I think she's doing her best.

 

[RoyalChick]

That was my thought when reading the article - we get a lot of clover up to mid may but none at all throughout the following months!
I would like to seed our chicken zone next year but we are very, very wary of invasive specie, which makes my partner hesitate. We have a huge problem with oxalis which we brought in ourselves, probably in seeds we bought or potted soil. The alternative to alfafa mentioned in the article, sericea lespedeza, is a also considered a very invasive specie. We have grass pea and Arabian pea which are native here so maybe we could seed those, but I'm not sure how nutritious they are for chicken.

You can usually find a native alternative to most plants. Everywhere has legumes of one sort or another - it just takes some research!
Clover is not native to the US but has become ubiquitous. Eradicating it now would be impossible so I will leave it be. Interestingly my white clover seems to survive most of the year. It must like it here!

 

[Perris]

You can usually find a native alternative to most plants. Everywhere has legumes of one sort or another - it just takes some research!
Clover is not native to the US but has become ubiquitous. Eradicating it now would be impossible so I will leave it be. Interestingly my white clover seems to survive most of the year. It must like it here!

clover is generally thought to be a good thing here - it's a nitrogen fixer, and the chickens (and bees) love it, so win-win in our garden!

 

[RoyalChick]

clover is generally thought to be a good thing here - it's a nitrogen fixer, and the chickens (and bees) love it, so win-win in our garden!

Yes. It is not native in the US so considered an invasive species. For me the native legumes (all legumes fix nitrogen) are mainly peas but also lupine.