Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

These are the new roost bars.
You can see on the right of the picture the plastic tube that is supplied as a roost bar. You can also see it is directly below the fan like vent.
It's also worth pointing out that if say Henry was to try and stand up on the plastic roost bar he would bang his head on the curved ceiling.
The holes where the plastic roost bars locate I will cover with UV resistant transparent plastic of some variety. I'm thinking of a way to fit cowls over the outside of the fan vents to prevent a direct stream of air.
I'll be drilling out roof vents later today.

 

[Shadrach]

On the bus heading East into Bristol.

 

[RoyalChick]

On the bus heading East into Bristol.
View attachment 3172637View attachment 3172638View attachment 3172640

Is that the Clifton Suspension Bridge?

 

[Perris]

Is that the Clifton Suspension Bridge?

Yes

 

[GregnLety]

I'm not a fan of Huskies mainly due to having a pair of completely out of control Huskies kill my lovely Ruffles and drag down a elderly ewe. These dogs were owned by someone I later found out was a dog trainer.
I had to drag one of the Huskies off the ewe by it's ears; reasoning being if I've got it's ears and hang on like grim death it's going to have a hard job turning and biting me.

I was outranked. I would not have brought Huskies here. I asked my wife why would you let a wolf in a hen house!? She didn't want the female turned into a puppy mill. I sincerely believe the young male is ok because he was brought up with chicks but I will never trust the female completely.

 

[ManueB]

I'm not a fan of Huskies mainly due to having a pair of completely out of control Huskies kill my lovely Ruffles and drag down a elderly ewe. These dogs were owned by someone I later found out was a dog trainer.
I had to drag one of the Huskies off the ewe by it's ears; reasoning being if I've got it's ears and hang on like grim death it's going to have a hard job turning and biting me.

I was outranked. I would not have brought Huskies here. I asked my wife why would you let a wolf in a hen house!? She didn't want the female turned into a puppy mill. I sincerely believe the young male is ok because he was brought up with chicks but I will never trust the female completely.

I think education is a more important factor than breed. If your daughter's dog has never seen a chicken it's out of question to bring it, even if it was a Yorkshire or a poodle!
I agree with you @GregnLety, better safe than sorry, if something went wrong you couldn't really blame your wife's dog as you know you can't trust her completely. I suppose if she was rescued she maybe didn't get a good education as a puppy.
That said my cousin's best friend is a musher working with two husky packs, and he has several very grim stories, two of them ending by him having to kill a dog on spot. They are kept and raised in very different conditions than most domestic dogs though.

 

[TropicalBabies]

~On the broody chatter~
As I have stated b4, we have a TON of wild/feral chickens. Broody happens in the natural state MAINLY pre-spring to to early summer and then again pre-fall to early winter. Seems when there is more access to food and their internal clock strikes but can also happen inbetween.
I have had my own share of mix ferals in my flock. They are very broody down to a 1/16th feral DNA. Their instincts seem very surface no matter how they were hatched and raised. I have done many, many hatches in all ways. I personally prefer incubator as it has the least chance of giving me an anti-social, flighty, hard to deal with chick or adult bird. Having the hella instincts is hard to deal with as they tend to hop fences, dig up/excavate EVERYTHING and put themselves out of my safe bubble frequently, sometimes to their demise.

With my bloody's I have noticed a personality change and flock dynamic and/or status change for the hen- usually not for the better. I quit keeping broody hens for the most part though not saying I would not have a broody again, they are beautiful and I am well set up for but it's just not always real practical to add to my flock when they want. My safe broody space- a small secured coop where she has easy access to food and water, a place to momster poop, no bullying or additional laying/adding to clutch and I can monitor her nest condition (mites &eggs). I open the door for her for a few hours everyday so she can do her business of spazzing and bathing. If I am not around to open for a day, she will be fine.

Maybe it is my inner control freak but I think it is part of my family planning. I need friendly hens and roosters as they will have a better chance at better care-

I spent a lot of time and effort thinking about healthy solutions for the wants and needs of my flock, my community, my circumstances. Heck if people wanted to hunt eggs and have unsocial chickens they need look no further than their own front door here. Part of me keeping and enjoying chickens is their friendly social nature and keeping their lives optimum.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning X Batts dry but cloudy mid sixty is what they say.
Love the tray of food @BDutch do you add snail killer to it ?

 

[micstrachan]

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!

My white clover LOVES my yard. And the chickens and bees love the clover.

 

[ManueB]

~On the broody chatter~
As I have stated b4, we have a TON of wild/feral chickens. Broody happens in the natural state MAINLY pre-spring to to early summer and then again pre-fall to early winter. Seems when there is more access to food and their internal clock strikes but can also happen inbetween.
I have had my own share of mix ferals in my flock. They are very broody down to a 1/16th feral DNA. Their instincts seem very surface no matter how they were hatched and raised. I have done many, many hatches in all ways. I personally prefer incubator as it has the least chance of giving me an anti-social, flighty, hard to deal with chick or adult bird. Having the hella instincts is hard to deal with as they tend to hop fences, dig up/excavate EVERYTHING and put themselves out of my safe bubble frequently, sometimes to their demise.

With my bloody's I have noticed a personality change and flock dynamic and/or status change for the hen- usually not for the better. I quit keeping broody hens for the most part though not saying I would not have a broody again, they are beautiful and I am well set up for but it's just not always real practical to add to my flock when they want. My safe broody space- a small secured coop where she has easy access to food and water, a place to momster poop, no bullying or additional laying/adding to clutch and I can monitor her nest condition (mites &eggs). I open the door for her for a few hours everyday so she can do her business of spazzing and bathing. If I am not around to open for a day, she will be fine.

Maybe it is my inner control freak but I think it is part of my family planning. I need friendly hens and roosters as they will have a better chance at better care-

I spent a lot of time and effort thinking about healthy solutions for the wants and needs of my flock, my community, my circumstances. Heck if people wanted to hunt eggs and have unsocial chickens they need look no further than their own front door here. Part of me keeping and enjoying chickens is their friendly social nature and keeping their lives optimum.

Interesting different point of view! Shows me that we maybe slightly idealistic when we hope to let things go as close to nature as possible. Your context is specific though. Do you think it is being raised by any broodies that make the chicks grow into chickens that will be more weary of humans, or the fact that their mama having part semi feral origins will teach them those ways?
We have wondered often on this thread whether ex-batts could regain the skills of "real" chickens and in how much time, but obviously it works the other way round too : being a domestic chicken mean acquiring a number of behaviours which may seem difficult for a chicken used to living in the wild. Much like with stray cats which we do have in my country.

Correct me if I'm wrong, are the ferals chickens in your islands not the descendants of freed domestic chickens ?