Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

Waiting for some kind of interesting commend from lurking @sourland .

PS tomorrow is another day, right now I need some sleep.

 

[ppruitt]

No it’s not a french drain and not an auger. This is a pic of the tool I’ve used.

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It obvious doesn’t work if you have a layer of sand on top of solid rock.
The verticals drains work great for me, because drilling deep gets me through a layer of dense clay that causes the stagnation.

I've never seen a tool like that. Looks interesting. We are about 80' above sea level and half our property is sand. The other half is clay. Drainage is good for our area, although I live in the middle between 3 swamps.

 

[Iluveggers]

Let the girls into our garden boxes today to help with end-of-season clean out before I rake them completely. Meant to do a bit more garlic planting but got distracted and hung out with the lady crew! Fenced off the kale & arugula although a few still got a few pecks at it through the fence holes!
They had a blast…

Although I love her, I won’t be getting another white chicken. The rest are much harder to spot in the fall leaves or against the dark soil…I feel like she’s a moving target and have seen a few hawks fly over, which unfortunately usually ends ranging time for a bit.

I had a surprise snuggle visit from Squeakers, guess my arm made a comfy perch!

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Long covid fatigue.
I'm slowly getting better. But I have a rooster and 2 toms I should have butchered last year. And now there's at least 6 jakes and 7 cockerels ready now and next week or before snow.
Meat getting low in the freezer, so that should help with motivation.

I did a couple cockerels in the spring. I was working on the 2nd when I had to lay down I was so weak.
Hopefully I can get 2 done without laying down lol

How long since you had Covid?

 

[Ladies-Eight]

That's Lima. She doesn't seem any worse for roosting on the new coop roost bar.
View attachment 3305231
Light rain this morning and a sunny afternoon.
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Poor Henry. Even Matilda won't roost next to him because she's moulting.
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Looks like Lima is happy with her new roosting location. She can see and hear the other hens.
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I see you have two more chickens making use of your chair.

Maybe you need to bring them their own chair.

 

[Solanacae]

So many things keeping me busy at the moment but I’ve enjoyed popping on now and then to keep up with Henry and his girls. I owe lurking tax, I’m sure. Sophia went broody at the end of July and refused to break, so I started thinking about getting some hatching eggs. I was hoping Caramel would go broody since she took such great care of last fall’s chicks. Saoirse went broody in the middle of September, right before I got the hatching eggs, so I divided 8 eggs between them. Then Caramel went broody 10 days into setting, so after candling the eggs, I had 4 viable eggs to divvy up. I was worried about Sophia quitting since she’d been broody for so long, so she got one. Saoirse had been so dedicated and careful the whole time so she got two, and Caramel got one because she was late to the party. All four hatched, despite a little drama with Caramel stealing Sophia’s egg multiple times, including the night the chicks hatched. Fortunately Sophia accepted the chick she’d brooded so well, and she and Caramel have been cooperatively raising their two chicks together. Caramel is my #2 hen and Sophia is near the bottom, so it is interesting for me to see them working together so well. Saoirse has been a fierce mama and protects her two very well, but there is no cooperation between her and the other hens. Her best friend as a juvenile was a cockerel I ended up rehoming, and she hasn’t made any other close friendships since. The black and chipmunk chicks were from an Ameraucana breeding pen but a Silkie rooster got in and managed to fertilize at least a few eggs, including these two, as they have dark skin, 5 toes, and feathered legs. I didn’t find this out about the Silkie rooster until after the eggs hatched and I asked the breeder how on earth these chicks have feathered legs and extra toes. The other two are Blue Australorps, and I’m suspecting that both are cockerels. I have loved watching these mamas take care of their little ones and teach them. They all tend to spend the middle of the day in the tall grass where they have some cover from the occasional hawk I see flying around. They’re three weeks old now.

 

[ManueB]

Many people I know and not just people of my age have had a hard time making a full recovery from Covid. My eldest had it, got back on her feet quickly, but it took months before she could manage to go mountain biking again. My elder sister (71) caught it and it layed her out for over a week, but she was back to speed within days.

It has indeed treated people very unequally. @Molpet I wish you will fully recover your health and energy in time.

That's Lima. She doesn't seem any worse for roosting on the new coop roost bar.
View attachment 3305231
Light rain this morning and a sunny afternoon.
View attachment 3305214View attachment 3305215View attachment 3305217View attachment 3305218

Poor Henry. Even Matilda won't roost next to him because she's moulting.
View attachment 3305220
Looks like Lima is happy with her new roosting location. She can see and hear the other hens.
View attachment 3305219

Lima has shown an incredible ability to adapt and try new things. Intelligence ?

Wow, I do hope you recover completely before the upcoming winter!

I was so carefull and lucky I didn’t get Covid so far.

Tax from Pearl for a little comfort.
View attachment 3305284
She’s not even half the size of a normal sized chicken, but she counts for 2 hens.

She is beautiful! Like all people on the small side .

Let the girls into our garden boxes today to help with end-of-season clean out before I rake them completely. Meant to do a bit more garlic planting but got distracted and hung out with the lady crew! Fenced off the kale & arugula although a few still got a few pecks at it through the fence holes!
They had a blast…
View attachment 3305341
Although I love her, I won’t be getting another white chicken. The rest are much harder to spot in the fall leaves or against the dark soil…I feel like she’s a moving target and have seen a few hawks fly over, which unfortunately usually ends ranging time for a bit.

I had a surprise snuggle visit from Squeakers, guess my arm made a comfy perch!
View attachment 3305344

Seems they enjoyed themselves! I'm very glad you made that comment on the white chicken. We will be getting some new chickens at some point this year and I was contemplating leghorns, since they are one of the breed that originated geographically not too far from where we are. Being a target makes them prohibitive. I don't know why I didn't think of it because we were told this many times for kittens- if you don't want them to end up as eagle's dinner don't pick white.

So many things keeping me busy at the moment but I’ve enjoyed popping on now and then to keep up with Henry and his girls. I owe lurking tax, I’m sure. Sophia went broody at the end of July and refused to break, so I started thinking about getting some hatching eggs. I was hoping Caramel would go broody since she took such great care of last fall’s chicks. Saoirse went broody in the middle of September, right before I got the hatching eggs, so I divided 8 eggs between them. Then Caramel went broody 10 days into setting, so after candling the eggs, I had 4 viable eggs to divvy up. I was worried about Sophia quitting since she’d been broody for so long, so she got one. Saoirse had been so dedicated and careful the whole time so she got two, and Caramel got one because she was late to the party. All four hatched, despite a little drama with Caramel stealing Sophia’s egg multiple times, including the night the chicks hatched. Fortunately Sophia accepted the chick she’d brooded so well, and she and Caramel have been cooperatively raising their two chicks together. Caramel is my #2 hen and Sophia is near the bottom, so it is interesting for me to see them working together so well. Saoirse has been a fierce mama and protects her two very well, but there is no cooperation between her and the other hens. Her best friend as a juvenile was a cockerel I ended up rehoming, and she hasn’t made any other close friendships since. The black and chipmunk chicks were from an Ameraucana breeding pen but a Silkie rooster got in and managed to fertilize at least a few eggs, including these two, as they have dark skin, 5 toes, and feathered legs. I didn’t find this out about the Silkie rooster until after the eggs hatched and I asked the breeder how on earth these chicks have feathered legs and extra toes. The other two are Blue Australorps, and I’m suspecting that both are cockerels. I have loved watching these mamas take care of their little ones and teach them. They all tend to spend the middle of the day in the tall grass where they have some cover from the occasional hawk I see flying around. They’re three weeks old now.

What an incredible story! That must have been a lot of wonderful moments, and some stress too. Did they all brood in the same nest ? And will it not get cold where you are before they get their adult feathers ? Will you be able to keep either of the cockerels ? I love the part about the silkie rooster sneaking into the ameraucana pen It seems like the breeder mustn't have been too careful about breeding to standards !

 

[Perris]

I was contemplating leghorns, since they are one of the breed that originated geographically not too far from where we are

brown leghorns wouldn't stand out - they come in more varieties than just white .

 

[ManueB]

Tax for ignorance : Théo, still molting

 

[Perris]

he's gorgeous, even when molting! from this thread https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/brown-leghorns-pics-info-and-resources.625966/ they might seem ideal for your circumstances