Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Sally PB]

it is due to come down soon I sprayed the inside with Permethrin this evening. This will reduce them but I don't think one could ever get the coop mite free.

Do you plant to burn it when you get it out of there? That would do it.

 

[Shadrach]

Is it the heat affecting Matilda, do you think? She's quite a big hen.

It could be but she isn't panting or spreading her wings. For most chickens I think that is a sign that they are uncomfortable in the heat.
Chickens have a rather narrow range from okay to dying when it comes to heat.
Most I've known were fine up to 35C ish. Some looked hotter than others but I didn't see anyone struggling. Above 35C and it starts getting serious. At 41C they start dying.
Above 35C they need deep shade. Not just the sun off them. In Catalonia there was lots of deep shade, there isn't any at the allotments until one gets into the hedgerows.

 

[Shadrach]

Do you plant to burn it when you get it out of there? That would do it.

I plan to burn the coop but not the run. I want to put a new roof on the run part if I can rescue it and have it as a rain/sun shelter with a couple of low roost bars so they don't have to stand in the mud.

 

[Shadrach]

ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite series has measured "extreme" land surface temperatures of more than 45C (113F) in Britain, 50C in France and 60C in Spain in recent weeks.

 

[Sequel]

I owe tax for all the wisecracks. These are my two remaining “never batts “ Sex links who never saw a cage or confinement. They are incredibly mean to other chickens who aren’t the same color. They are afraid of nothing and nobody, and are good mousers.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I took salad that we had bought last part of the bag turned so it went to them lettuce, carrots.
Taking them to 4 boxes I have three more likely 2 to go in the little coop. De spidered it today will see who wants to go in tomorrow.

 

[ManueB]

Thank you for the compliments to Cookie and her family.
I hope your step mom is better very soon.

My partner's mom was told two years ago that she would die if she didn't quit smoking, and she didn't. She's a good woman and like most people of her generation from around here, has been through tough times. Would she make it out of intensive care, fighting off depression and addiction at the same time is too much for her. Long story short smoking still kills.

This was my rationale too. I have two ISA’s and two Sultans (my only breeds where there is a duplicate bird) were more tricky to figure out the difference between who was laying and how to spot the difference, but it’s been possible. Ginger lays extremely round eggs, where Goldilocks lays a slightly darker shade of brown. Peanut’s eggs are slightly larger and whiter, where Sophia’s eggs are slightly tinted and often have a little swirl in the shell in the pointy end. I may be a bit particular when it comes to knowing who laid and how many - if I am gone over the weekend and have a neighbor collect eggs, I ask them to take a picture so I can put the tally into the app I use to track their laying. They generally think I’m a bit odd but humor me.

What app do you use? I installed Flockstar, and can’t wait to track them there!

I've always been able to tell my ex-batts eggs apart except for an uncertainty between two and since I'm at home and a nosy body I always take a peak after they leave the nest.
This is my app. It works well for six hens and no tech issues .

Thanks Shadrach. If we are allowed to hate something let it be rats !

And mosquitoes .
The cats rid us of the dormouses for the 20 months they've been here but I just found out yesterday a small family moved back in the attics. I hate those almost as much as rats!

Supposedly one of the advantages of living in the UK is what the weather people call a temperate climate. My understanding of the term is one is unlikely to suffer from climatic extremes. It was 34C in partial shade at the allotments and was similar yesterday and will be the normal until Monday.

It's not just me that thinks it's a bit warm.
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There is something wrong with Matilda. She stayed close to me while I was in the allotment run and when I went to clean up, she went under my chair.
She's had off spells before. She hasn't been eating like she normal does. The last couple of evenings her crop has only been half full if that.
Both the Ex Battery hens continue to improve. I did both for SLM again this evening. In the new coop I can get at them much to their disgust so I can crop check all without major dramas. The two sick notes had bulging crops.
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Nobody was in a hurry to go to roost. A lot of sitting down in the cooler patches of ground and relaxing.
15 in the new coop. One of the hens that roosts in the small coop just moved hersel in while the other went into the old main coop. Nobody else in there and she looked a bit confused. I don't want anyone in the old coop. It's infested with mites and despite it is due to come down soon I sprayed the inside with Permethrin this evening. This will reduce them but I don't think one could ever get the coop mite free.
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I think they suffer all the more from the heat because they're not used to it but you're right, Mathilda would be panting and wing spread if it was the cause of her being unwell. Going to roost later and longer naps while it's hot is a way of coping! Besides shade, mine also used to stay for hours in their bathing holes and dig them even deeper when it was really hot.

I owe tax for all the wisecracks. These are my two remaining “never batts “ Sex links who never saw a cage or confinement. They are incredibly mean to other chickens who aren’t the same color. They are afraid of nothing and nobody, and are good mousers. View attachment 3220089

They're beautiful and look really sassy! Glad you're sharing those two !

 

[Solanacae]

What app do you use? I installed Flockstar, and can’t wait to track them there!

I know, right! I arrange them in the cartons so no two colors next to each other are the same…lol. Right now we get eggs from the family farm, and I can’t wait to go out and collect my own!

I use an app called Eggsact, I tried Flockstar but liked the setup on Eggsact better. The app maker also had a nice beekeeping app that I got bundled with it, so it was the only app I’ve actually been willing to pay money for.
@ManueB I like your egg tracker! There are some things I really prefer or have to have written down. My grocery list and to-do list are in that category. Other things I like digital. Kinda funny how that works.

Hey X Batt's I am back on the rat hunt as of yesterday..
ordered six more rat traps for plants in the garden.
Had one take my best roma green take a bit bite drop it!
War is on?

I hate mice and rats -they are awful to get rid of and make such a mess. My parents have a rat in their garden that’s devilishly smart and has managed to avoid getting trapped as of yet. I’ve been battling squash bugs. I’ve never had to deal with them before I moved but I get a ridiculous amount of satisfaction squishing them now. I have to use a stick or rock for the adults though. They’re just a bit too crunchy for me to pinch between my bare fingers.

I’m at the family cabin on a weekend getaway with my husband, but I promise I’ll pay my tax when I get back home.

 

[Perris]

Not wishing to offend (I've forgotton if you do or you don't) do you plan to eat those you can't keep?

No offence taken (my fuse is very long, and easily extinguished, but anyone who fans it to exhaustion should stand well back when I explode!), not at the moment. If push comes to shove and there are particularly obnoxious youngsters among them, I might

This is my app. It works well for six hens and no tech issues .

love it! It reminds me that during the space race, NASA developed the Fisher space pen with pressurized cannisters to make the ink flow in zero gravity (I have one; love it). The Russians used pencils

(and just in case this is thought political rather than humorous, I'll add that we Europeans, Antipodeans, et al didn't even get into space )

 

[Perris]

As a Catalan friend of mine pointed out; do you make the whole tribe sick because a predator may get one or two?
It's a serious consideration.

It's an interesting point of view. What is often said (about foxes at least) is that once a predator knows the chickens are there, it'll keep coming back till it's had them all, so you'd lose the whole flock anyway, but to predation rather than sickness. And that was my experience for the first 2 flocks, the first predated from trees at night, the second from the garden during the day. But the last fox attack here was May 2020; a neighbour with semi-free range production hens is still losing birds to foxes, so they're still around, but they're not bothering with us, even when, as a few nights back, someone(s) sleep(s) out. 5 roos on the premises no doubt has something to do with that, but I'm not sure I want to experiment with more sleeping out, even if there are more tree huggers amongst the youngsters (Amadeo has already shown his inclinations in that regard).

There is no such thing as a secure run and not many coops come to that. I'm trying to make a sleep in run that offers enough security to stop me worrying.

Do you plan to leave the pop door between coop and run open, or closed?

15 in the new coop. One of the hens that roosts in the small coop just moved hersel in while the other went into the old main coop. Nobody else in there and she looked a bit confused.

Have you noticed any temperature difference? Maybe that as well as the lack of mites is encouraging them to break the habit of a lifetime and roost in the new coop. Thankfully it's cooler here on the coast, max of 30 C expected today.