Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Horticulture chatter and protective clothing tax

Looks like the hen in the middle picture has caught her foot on something.
If I see such cuts, and I often don't until a scab has formed, I put a bit of iodine on them.

 

[Shadrach]

If it wasn’t everywhere and crowding out my garden plantings, I wouldn’t mind it. But if it chokes out the vegetables I actually want to grow, then it has to go. Lol

Please keep us updated!

Wow, he is a big boy. Very handsome, love his coloring and leg feathering!

Would grit help prevent this? Although my ladies are out & about, I do have a small bowl available to them, and on occasion someone will take a few nibbles, I’m guessing because they need it.

Spoke to my local Menonite feed guy today. He usually doesn’t keep grower feed through the winter but said he will order a bag for me every few weeks. We were talking about protein content, and I explained that 21% protein year-round is important to me. I’ll add oyster shell and crushed eggshells once we get some eggs. That way I can supplement with fresh veggie scraps (we have a lot of them), without depleting the protein too much. He is a wonderful person to buy from!

Will get some tax pics when I run out to the garden, Shad, I promise!

I give the allotment chicken grit. There is none realy in the coop run and while they get get the grit they need in the couple of hours ranging they get in the evenings, I'm never entirely confident that they are getting enough. I don't leave it out as much as chuck a couple of handfulls in the coop and allotment run. The hens look extremely dissapointed when they find out I've thrown grit and not food, but the grit goes over two or three days.

 

[Shadrach]

It's a nice area to live in I live in Motueka, which is a country town about 45mins away from Nelson.


I had a whole collection of quotes to reply to I'd been grabbing as I read the thread yesterday. But I deleted them accidentally when I was replying, and it doesn't seem like there is an undo button?

Anyway, I mostly wanted to comment on the lavender gene feathers being more fragile. I've got two lavender araucanas and they always have the worst feathers. I'm not sure I'd call them brittle but they definitely get tatty fast. I also read somewhere it was a known issue with the colour.

I have just had a delivery of a large bale of linseed straw. I've not tried it before, but there was a guy delivering them from down south so I went for it. It's a large square bale, which is about the volume of 10-13 regular small bales. The intent is it will be coop and nest bedding, and garden mulch. I'll report back on how I find it.

Is linseed straw stiffer than say oat straw, or mixed grass?

 

[Shadrach]

He stands on either side of the smaller hens, but the necked necks, he mounts. They all follow him and squat. He does love the langshan, and a few of the younger brahmas. They don't have the same feather wear. I think the nn girls have such scant feathering, that it doesn't take much to destroy their feathers.
I have been putting an all natural sunscreen on one of my girls. She doesn't mind too much, but she looks like a muddy little pig after a dust bath.

I'm pretty sure, without being too intrusive, that Henry isn't hacking it for those hens he stands over, rather than on. The angles just don't look right. The hen needs to lift her tail in order for Henry to be on target and often the hens whose shoulders Henry can't stand on don't.
I need to have a better look I think.
The neck feather loss with these hens as I've mentioned before is because once Henry has his feet on their shoulders his balance is quite delicate. If the hen rocks, Henry rocks too. I've watched him fall off with feathers in his beak.
Matilda, Fret and the Golden Comets we get here who are larger and heavier than the Red Sex Links don't rock about and don't lose as many feathers.
My main concern is with the smaller hens his spurs are at body height. I've had hens with cut sides needing stitching. Do not want to be doing that again if at all possible.

 

[Molpet]

I've found the perfect gift for the seriously antisocial.
View attachment 3216215

My cousin gave me this lol

 

[Shadrach]

Proof...here's Cookie
View attachment 3218593
This is ButterBean. I rehomed him recently. He was so sweet and smart, but the hens didn't love him like they do Goliath. They are half brothers.
View attachment 3218595
These babies are Goliath's offsprings
View attachment 3218596
& Big Papa Doris, Goliath's & Bean's father
View attachment 3218605
I have a soft spot for roosters, but as you can see, Cookie is so pretty that she outshines them all.

Cookie is lovely; no arguement about that.
Big Papa Doris makes Cookie look plain.

 

[Sally PB]

I saw something I haven't seen before, in chicken behavior. My top hen, Little, had a bunch of mash (their regular food mixed with some water) on her beak. She presented it to the lowest or next to lowest hen, Widget. I was behind Widget, so I couldn't see where her eyes were looking.

Little stood there for about 30 seconds, looking at Widget. As if to say, "Well, preen me already, huh?" Widget did nothing, and eventually Little walked away.

Usually when I see one of the two year old hens offer their mash-covered beak to another, the other will pick off the bits of mash. So, what happened?

 

[janiedoe]

I'm pretty sure, without being too intrusive, that Henry isn't hacking it for those hens he stands over, rather than on. The angles just don't look right. The hen needs to lift her tail in order for Henry to be on target and often the hens whose shoulders Henry can't stand on don't.
I need to have a better look I think.
The neck feather loss with these hens as I've mentioned before is because once Henry has his feet on their shoulders his balance is quite delicate. If the hen rocks, Henry rocks too. I've watched him fall off with feathers in his beak.
Matilda, Fret and the Golden Comets we get here who are larger and heavier than the Red Sex Links don't rock about and don't lose as many feathers.
My main concern is with the smaller hens his spurs are at body height. I've had hens with cut sides needing stitching. Do not want to be doing that again if at all possible.

I'm certain that he isn't fertilizing the littler hens. I haven't had to worry about spurs yet. He is just over a year old and only has nubs.
I keep Doris' spurs trimmed. I'm sure Goliath won't be thrilled when I file his, but he'll get used to it.
I may eventually have to pen him with some big girls. I hate to do so, but we are cross fenced, so he can still range.
Cookie is closer to his size and they are very close. He also has two half sisters that are close in size.

 

[Shadrach]

I had company doing the chickens this evening. My daughters husband's mother is visiting from Poland. She's a Horticulturist (I think that's right) and she likes the chickens. I seem to have become uncharateristically talkative in my older years and ended up stopping there until full dark.

This is a strange hen. Notice almost perfect neck feathers. Not on Henry's favourite list or too quick for him.

This gives a better idea of what a mess her feathers are. But, her tail is up. She's quick and alert. Her wing looked a bit sore for a couple of days and I put a cream called Brulidine on it.

13 in this evening. One of the hens sleeping in the small coop went into the new coop but came back out again. It should all seem more attractive when the temperature drops to normal.

I think the small egg is from one of the Legbars. Matilda is the only hen that lays white eggs and Matilda's egg is next to the small one.

 

[Shadrach]

I saw something I haven't seen before, in chicken behavior. My top hen, Little, had a bunch of mash (their regular food mixed with some water) on her beak. She presented it to the lowest or next to lowest hen, Widget. I was behind Widget, so I couldn't see where her eyes were looking.

Little stood there for about 30 seconds, looking at Widget. As if to say, "Well, preen me already, huh?" Widget did nothing, and eventually Little walked away.

Usually when I see one of the two year old hens offer their mash-covered beak to another, the other will pick off the bits of mash. So, what happened?