Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Morning X Batts We had drizzle fall in the night.
I think maybe I have rats in check right now? 29 killed by me.
Tax.View attachment 3211386

Good going on the rat hunting.

 

[Shadrach]

Frosty start to the morning here, which is a bit funny as yesterday I got prepared with setting up the 'trap' nests for any broodies. By this I mean I set up areas attractive for brooding in the hopes at least some of them pick this and not the main coop nesting boxes. Broodies seem more about the light length and not temperature though I find. I see my hens being more active and more foraging happening so I think the season will begin by the end of the month!

Tax - chickens in the garden beds.
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I found that at about three days before a hen went full on broody she ate a lot more.

Trap nests is exactly what the call them in Catalonia. Usually heavy gauge wire bottomless crates with a drop over front covered in brush. It didn't stop the hens making nests elsewhere but some hens did use them. My friend and I were trying to make a "drop over" version so once a nest was discovered the cage could be dropped over the nest and fixed in position. It's the fixing in position that proved to be a problem.
The idea is the broody hens in the cages would get shut in at night and opened up in the morning. They also needed to be dig proof. We didn't solve the problem

 

[MaryJanet]

I watched that video and subscribed to the channel - I really like her. It strikes me that Australia does much better than at least the US but maybe also UK on sensible chicken vet advice - and even the assumption that you can find an avian vet.

From what I see on BYC, I think that's probably true.

 

[MaryJanet]

Oooops!
Could go and correct original post Australia The Antipodes
Or does that make my crime worse?

Things are often the same in both countries, with some obvious exceptions (eg these days they like to say Aotearoa New Zealand but we stick to Australia). Until recently, there was an almost negligible border, with people on both sides moving back and forth with almost complete freedom. Maybe that's a factor in why both countries do so many things the same way, but Ol' Blighty's ways were a huge influence on both nations in the early days.

 

[BDutch]

A little tax for reading out loud:

Katrientje, my bantam RIR is starting to moult. Her first moult.

 

[Shadrach]

The geese were out in the allotment run when I got there this afternoon so I guess that answers one of your questions Perris.

I got some more holes drilled on both sides of the vents at the back of the new coop. I fixed the wire onto the wooden frame at the bottom with the P clips. I don't think the fencing is as stiff as the cattle panels Molpet used.
Waiting for the half inch mesh and some inspiration for the doorway.

It was pleasantly warm this evening at the allotments. A couple of people showed up to harvest and weed. Chickens while looking a bit tatty seem well enough. There are always problems and with this many chickens trying to address every problem would be a full time job.
I've got one laying large soft weak shelled eggs. The others are fine so there is enough calcium available. It's whether this one hen is getting enough.

The fastest way to make the most progress with their health is getting them all out of the old coop and run. Just by improving the odds against a night time predator by having them secure in the new coop and run improves their chances.

The new coop is easy. I can get at everyone when they're roosting. It's really easy to clean and with the back door open there is plenty of light in there so you can see what you're doing.
Lima is a funny hen. She's just not having this roost with the others stuff. It has to be with Henry. I pick her off the roost and she doesn't fuss. Just sits on my palm quietly. I carefully place her on a roost bar in the new coop, take my hand away and she jumps down and heads back out the pop door and round to where Henry is.

12 in tonight.

 

[Sequel]

Good going on the rat hunting.

For a while we were all waiting for PennyJo’s daily rat report! She is formidable!

 

[pennyJo1960]

I am good shot pistol or rifle .. We joke about it here between us three..
Tax one sex link.

 

[ManueB]

I’m really glad your camping trip was therapeutic for you, and I got a good laugh about the size of your zucchini’s. My parents are out of town and my brother has been doing most of the work looking after the house/garden, but he’s only one person and the amount of produce was getting away from him. I went over two days ago to pick what was ripe and came home with a big bowl full of beans, close to 2 dozen cucumbers, and 2 zucchini that were just massive. My daughter made some tasty zucchini bread and we dehydrated the rest to try making zucchini flour. Supposedly it’s good for adding in to muffins or pancakes in place of some of the flour. We shall see how it turns out.

Tax: Saoirse pigging out at the feeder

I freeze the extra zucchinis in ice cream boxes for winter. Before freezing put them 15mn in a pan with one or two tomatoes, garlic, and a slab of olive oil, to get most of their water out. They just need to be thawed and I use them in quiche, pies, on pasta, or any kind of cereals.

If the CaCo3/limestone appears just before the additives, it's a fairly safe assumption that the relative quantity is small. What worries me is when it appears very high up, even above soya in e.g. the breeder in post 8022 and the layer in post 8100. Bear in mind too that the dicalcium phosphate, which is widely used in the pharmaceuticals industry as an inert shape-able and press-able carrier to encase an active ingredient into a swallow-able tablet, and which I guess is added to make the feed ingredients into pellet or crumb shape, is presumably adding more calcium and phosphorus.

We just bought one of our usual brand of layer feed. We're switching back from all flock to layer, because even the rooster is eating the crushed egg shells all the time! Limestone is the 5th ingredient so that's pretty high on the list, soy being the first. I wish I could find an alternative with insect or whatever... but I haven't seen anything yet without soy. The agriculture coop we went to on the way back home did have an interesting mix of cereals to use as a base for making homemade feed, but it's too far for us to go there on a regular basis.

The others are fine so there is enough calcium available. It's whether this one hen is getting enough.

I'm sorry if you mentioned it before : do you let Henry eat the layer feed ?

I am good shot pistol or rifle .. We joke about it here between us three..
Tax one sex link.View attachment 3211900

Wow ! I thought you were trapping them which seemed already gruesome... but shooting all these rats...you are a tough lady on top of a good woman.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

I need @pennyJo1960 at my place! Haha saw a baby rat having a a sniff at my compost bin.

I haven't taken a chicken to the vet before, but I have spent a fair amount of time talking to the vet clinic about my chickens. I've always found them very helpful. And they dispense flock-sized amounts of wormer/coccidiostat for me, so I don't have cow or horse sized bottles sitting in my refrigerator. I live in a rural place where keeping chickens is just the way everyone used to do things and still is the way a lot of people do. The vets are very good here and I imagine they are in all small rural places here in New Zealand.

If anyone wants to follow my hybrid incubation thread you can find it here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/hybrid-incubation-feedback-please.1541686/

I didn't get any feedback on my plan yet, probably because I tend to ask complicated questions! I'll be posting updates as I go along. Should be educational at least.