Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[ManueB]

watch out - having a broody is infectious!

Meanwhile in another coop there's another lot just starting; Maria has a clutch hatching under her as we speak

My partner wants more chicks !!

I mentioned before on this thread that bantams.are raised here by farmers for the sole purpose of brooding.
I also talked about that old couple who let their chickens free range on the village's road, watched over by their herding dogs, Collies and Crau shepherds.
Yesterday when my partner was driving to the hospital, this is the very blurry photo he sent me. A banty broody with an uncanny ressemblance to our Chipie and a clutch of 8 on the side of the road.

This is Chipie. Obviously they have some family link.

Now my partner wants to make Chipie sit on more eggs ! I told him he was completely irresponsible and it was out of question .
But, I think Chipie may agree with him, because she's changing her laying place every time she lays!

 

[ManueB]

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.

Fox are opportunists predators and will take the easy prey. I think that is part of the reason why they come back once they know the setting and what their chance of success is. However sometimes they will have a behaviour that contradicts this either because they are very hungry or because they need to feed their family, like the attack I mentioned on our neighbour farmer Gaston's chicks, where the fox passed through a dozen herding dogs and an Anatolian LGD.

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.

Our coop being a basement under our living room is secure from almost anything except rats, but I would say a big part of the security comes from sharing our house with the chickens. Though muffled when we're inside we hear what's going on in the coop and run. If we have our windows open it's like the chickens were in our room. There's no way a fox.would have the time to get in the run, which is not so secure, without us hearing it.

 

[RoyalChick]

Fox are opportunists predators and will take the easy prey. I think that is part of the reason why they come back once they know the setting and what their chance of success is. However sometimes they will have a behaviour that contradicts this either because they are very hungry or because they need to feed their family, like the attack I mentioned on our neighbour farmer Gaston's chicks, where the fox passed through a dozen herding dogs and an Anatolian LGD.

Our coop being a basement under our living room is secure from almost anything except rats, but I would say a big part of the security comes from sharing our house with the chickens. Though muffled when we're inside we hear what's going on in the coop and run. If we have our windows open it's like the chickens were in our room. There's no way a fox.would have the time to get in the run, which is not so secure, without us hearing it.

I wouldn't take confidence in that. My first chicken loss was a big chicken called Scary. She was taken by a fox. I saw the fox coming and ran to get there. I was maybe 20 seconds behind the fox. But the fox saw its chance, grabbed her and ran.
I don't think you would have time to get to the run in time to save a chicken if a fox got in.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

I'm late to the party, but I've read it all, and I am thoroughly invested now.

Ditto!

 

[ManueB]

I wouldn't take confidence in that. My first chicken loss was a big chicken called Scary. She was taken by a fox. I saw the fox coming and ran to get there. I was maybe 20 seconds behind the fox. But the fox saw its chance, grabbed her and ran.
I don't think you would have time to get to the run in time to save a chicken if a fox got in.

That is quick. I remember you mentioned this before .
But a fox couldn't get in the run without us hearing it before, not once it was in - it would have to go through a fencing first then dig or climb to get in the run. It's not as secure as the coop, but it's still relatively safe. We feel it's safe enough in regard to our environment to have left the hens several times alone at night.
Of course, it's very different from leaving the chickens alone at night for many nights in a row, not talking about every nights like at the allotments.

 

[GregnLety]

Gorda overheated again but this time she came to the kitchen door and when I opened it she was trying to get inside so I picked her up and brought her in until she was ok.

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Huh? Did someone say tax?

Ok then...here ya go...this is the best shape my tail has ever been in, so get a good look while you can



This is Valentino, EE, one of my sweet Roos

 

[Shadrach]

My partner wants more chicks !!

I mentioned before on this thread that bantams.are raised here by farmers for the sole purpose of brooding.
I also talked about that old couple who let their chickens free range on the village's road, watched over by their herding dogs, Collies and Crau shepherds.
Yesterday when my partner was driving to the hospital, this is the very blurry photo he sent me. A banty broody with an uncanny ressemblance to our Chipie and a clutch of 8 on the side of the road.
View attachment 3220262

This is Chipie. Obviously they have some family link.
View attachment 3220269
Now my partner wants to make Chipie sit on more eggs ! I told him he was completely irresponsible and it was out of question .
But, I think Chipie may agree with him, because she's changing her laying place every time she lays!

I find it interesting that many people start off with an aquired vision of chicken keeping, usually from internet sites such as this it seems and of course social media only to find after some experience that the model they've adopted isn't really suitable for the chickens, or the keepers changes in their perception of the chicken.

 

[Iluveggers]

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.

I actually prefer writing things down as well, I have notebooks full of notes & data and info to save…but I like the app because I don’t have to lug it around or worry about DH misplacing it with DS’s homework books.

 

[Perris]

As promised, Maria and her chicks, Hafod and Whitford

Chirk appears to have been firing a lot of blanks, and given he's in full moult now, that makes sense for 3 weeks ago. Poor Maria had been broken twice, and then watched 2 juniors-to-her have broods, so when she went broody again, I felt I had to let her sit even though the time of year was not ideal for it.