Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

@Shadrach how is the mood over there in the UK? My wife is a big fan of the queen.

It's raining, dark, the TV is wall-to-wall reminiscences, black suits and long faces, and there's a sombre mood among the vox pop who feature on said tv shows. I guess everyone here recognizes it's the end of an era, wherever they stand on the monarchy as an institution (Shad is not a fan) or anything else that's happening in the world right now.

 

[Shadrach]

why? I find it makes poo picking easier and more pleasant less unpleasant

We use shredded paper for bedding. It's free I think, I'm not resonsible for the supply and currently can't justify the expense of supplying an alternative.
Habit. The tribe coops in Catalonia didn't have bedding, except for the nest boxes, not did my uncles coops. Everybody roosted on bars.
We don't get a consistant size of shredded paper; some fat and long, some thin and short. The thin and short is better. I clean the coop every day and take out the bedding with poop on. 15 hens is a lot of poop. We get through a lot of paper.

The pastic floor is easy to clean with a paint scraper and I get a better idea of the quality of the poop. It's hard to tell in the paper mainly because when I get to the coop the hens have kicked a lot of it around.
I am more likely to clean the floor properly, sweep and scrub out if there isn't bedding to get out first.
The sweeping gets a lot of the dander and dust out with is healthier and a damp brush dipped in disinfectant and water helps to discourage mites. It doesn't need to be soaked every time but even a damp brush helps.

 

[Shadrach]

@Shadrach how is the mood over there in the UK? My wife is a big fan of the queen.

I don't know any royalists (bar on this thread it seems) so I have no idea.

 

[Perris]

We use shredded paper for bedding. It's free I think, I'm not resonsible for the supply and currently can't justify the expense of supplying an alternative.
Habit. The tribe coops in Catalonia didn't have bedding, except for the nest boxes, not did my uncles coops. Everybody roosted on bars.
We don't get a consistant size of shredded paper; some fat and long, some thin and short. The thin and short is better. I clean the coop every day and take out the bedding with poop on. 15 hens is a lot of poop. We get through a lot of paper.

The pastic floor is easy to clean with a paint scraper and I get a better idea of the quality of the poop. It's hard to tell in the paper mainly because when I get to the coop the hens have kicked a lot of it around.
I am more likely to clean the floor properly, sweep and scrub out if there isn't bedding to get out first.
The sweeping gets a lot of the dander and dust out with is healthier and a damp brush dipped in disinfectant and water helps to discourage mites. It doesn't need to be soaked every time but even a damp brush helps.

There's a few interesting points there; but I suspect a damp brush works better in sunny spain than damp britain - I fear the coop wouldn't dry by bedtime, in the winter at least!

 

[Shadrach]

It's raining, dark, the TV is wall-to-wall reminiscences, black suits and long faces, and there's a sombre mood among the vox pop who feature on said tv shows. I guess everyone here recognizes it's the end of an era, wherever they stand on the monarchy as an institution (Shad is not a fan) or anything else that's happening in the world right now.

Well, on the bright side it's wiped Truss's smug little face off the media which was begining to irritate me.
On the down side they've got another one to replace her. Given how we are still subjects of the monarchy and not citizens with a charter, or rights bill, we didn't get a vote on the matter.

What we have to watch out for now is the new Tory ministers don't slip some futher divisive and underhand laws through while the faithful are watching the TV.

 

[Shadrach]

Nifty Chickens posted links to these two videos. Really worth watching.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/primitive-skills-captures-wild-chicks-hen.1547377/

 

[Shadrach]

Shower dodging again today. I managed to keep dry.
Another few weeks and I'll be able to catch the fast bus which stops running at 7.30pm. Left the allotment at 8pm tonight.

We've had quite a bit of rain and the coop doesn't smell damp and stale even though the shredded paper soakes up the damp from the wet hens in the coop.
I'm going to put another set of holes in the sides just under the roof and then I'll block off the holes where the plastic roots bars were supposed to go. I doubt the pop door hatch will ever get used so that's quite a lot of air coming into the coop at ground level. I've built a solid front to the run and that will help shield the pop door from the wind.

 

[BDutch]

Dodge the showers again today. I was lucky and stayed dry.
The water container in the coop run has had a couple of splits in it around the top. I took a plastic bowl to replace it. The bowl is only 14cm deep and holds 15Litres. The most I've seen this lot drink is about 10Litres.

One of the things I was hoping for was given decent perches they would all stop sleeping on the floor. I've been researching (well, more sortof reading)this topic and it seems that some Ex Battery hens never perch. I've been putting a couple of the floor sleepers on a perch at roost time. Most just hop straight off the perch but one stayed on tonight.

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My thoughts on sleeping on the floor: the hens didn’t have a proper education when they were young. Often there are no roosts. And certainly no mama hens or humans to teach the chicks. The farmers don’t care as long as the hen lay an abundant load of eggs.
Sometimes it’s quit hard to change habits with chickens.

 

[BDutch]

why? I find it makes poo picking easier and more pleasant less unpleasant

My chickens don’t poop on the sand floor in the coop. I find this very pleasant.
They poop when they roost and in the run, where flies come to eat from the feast meal or the rain washes out the feaces. Sometimes there is a oops in the nestbox to clean.
And when free range they poop in the garden and on the terrace. So I do have to clean the terrace regularly.

 

[BDutch]

News on the British royals is a hot item in the Netherlands too. Today I’ve been reading about Charles and his achievements over the years. He’s a much better , ‘greener’ and social person than our king. And I So if you like to make a switch, I vote Yes!.

Tax for being a tiny ini mini bit political.