Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Is you’re hand or wrist getting any better @ManueB ?

This evening I went out around sunset (still light) to lock up and feed a little scratch before the end of the day. Two chickens already roosted outside above the run door.
I suspected Janice might be in the pear again, but I didn’t see her. Throwing the scratch only Katrientje and Pearl came from the coop. The others decided this was good enough to come down for. Janice was the first, then Ini mini and Black came down by themselves. Kraai was still missing so I decided to check the coop. Gladly she flew down too just before I would get nervous. Strange that the chickens suddenly want to sleep outside.

I checked the roost area for red mites. But couldn’t find any.
So I wonder; Why do 4 out 6 suddenly want to sleep outside?

Over half the allotment crew will sleep outside and I have no idea why some do and some don't. I'm sure part of the reason is Henry sleeps outside and the hens like to be close to him when roosting. I bet he's warm.

 

[Shadrach]

are they allowed to glean the plots once allotment holders have gathered in their harvests?

Depends.

instinctively, or did you help them along, like with the roost bars?

Nope, they do it all by themselves. It's a great thing to see. Matilda is far too sedate to do any of that running business. The legbars trot a bit but rarely flat out hurtle. It's the Ex Battery hens doing the flat out stuff.

 

[Shadrach]

Totally agree that they need another strategy to deal with infected farms. Here the rules are a bit different. I think they only kill within 1 km zone. But the numbers of killed poultry in our live stock dense country is enormous.

From levende have.nl:
In the Netherlands, almost 5 million million chickens, ducks and turkeys have been killed since October 2021 due to an infection with bird flu or a precautionary culling. This far exceeds the numbers of recent years. …
The situation is now disastrous. Many speak of a ticking time bomb. After each infection, the poultry industry in the Netherlands keeps bringing in new animals that do not have any immunity, to the next infection. A spokesperson for the poultry sector says about vaccination: "It is a utopia that within the next two years we will vaccinate all poultry in the Netherlands against bird flu." (Source: Pluimveeweb).
Interested? Read more
with translate on https://www.levendehave.nl/nieuws/update-en-kaart-met-besmettingen-vogelgriep and https://www.levendehave.nl/nieuws/waarom-wordt-er-niet-gevaccineerd-tegen-vogelgriep

In a large part of the Netherlands commercial organic farming and outside free range chicken farms are forbidden since.
And its ridiculous that real free ranging is forbidden too for for all hobbyist chickens for almost a year now (much hobbyist don’t obey this rule anymore).

It’s an interesting problem that even the lessons Covid should have taught us have been ignored.

I don’t agree with the slaughter the infected and any chicken they may have come into contact with policy. Most “backyard” chicken keepers don’t move their birds off the property and as far as I know, are not in the habit of visiting large commercial egg producers.

Part of this is in the UK the politicians aren’t thinking for the long term so as long as it sort of works while they’re in office, what happens as a consequence of their policies isn’t their problem.

Then there is the science problem. We saw this at the start of Covid. Ask a scientists what is the best way of ensuring minimum disease spread and they will tell you don’t let the infected come into contact with the clean. A simple problem with a simple answer. But, if you ask a scientist the above question and then add, and keep the economy running, the scientist would tell you to talk to an economist.

 

[Shadrach]

Thank you!

Inky just finished molting. Darker feather is new feather.
View attachment 3266261

She's lovely.

 

[lightm]

Wow - she is looking absolutely stunning!

She's lovely.

My dream is to sleep in her butt one day, a cloud of fluff.

 

[Shadrach]

My dream is to sleep in her butt one day, a cloud of fluff.

You would be hard pressed to find a better butt to dream of.

 

[Shadrach]

Look what someone dug out of an old plot. There are a couple of other panels somewhere apparently.

 

[BDutch]

Over half the allotment crew will sleep outside and I have no idea why some do and some don't. I'm sure part of the reason is Henry sleeps outside and the hens like to be close to him when roosting. I bet he's warm.

I don’t think there are lice or mite involved. Checked with a flashligt this evening. Nothing. Haven’t seen anything out of the ordinary at all.

What might be going on is a nest outside the coop. I have little eggs the last week, but I thought this might be the case because I had two broodies, from the start of autumn and the cold and rain.

Now this crossed my mind: maybe the chickens prefer to sleep outside because they are building a nest somewhere hidden in the garden.

Today I had the chickens free range early and when I gave the scratch as a reward to return the chickens all came in quickly. Except for one black hen (Pearl). She was nowhere. But a few hours later she walked near the backdoor and she was happy to go inside.

Edit: spelling.

 

[MaryJanet]

Look what someone dug out of an old plot. There are a couple of other panels somewhere apparently.
View attachment 3266461
View attachment 3266459View attachment 3266460View attachment 3266457View attachment 3266455

I have panels like that and they're very handy for chicken fencing. They would've come with some narrow gauge stakes that pass through the sides of the panels and be pushed into the ground - maybe a few of these will turn up too.

 

[BDutch]

I have panels like that and they're very handy for chicken fencing. They would've come with some narrow gauge stakes that pass through the sides of the panels and be pushed into the ground - maybe a few of these will turn up too.

Yes.I used them too for fencing for a blue Monday.
They sell them in the pet shop for temporary rabbit fencing. But they are quite useless for rabbits bc the rabbits escape. And chickens do so too.

Now I use them to protect new plants and seeds from the chickens. And to close the opening between the two runs if I need to separate chickens. Like integrating Kraai and the flock in July.