Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

This hen is near the bottom of the heirachy. She gets bullied a bit by two other Ex Battery hens. She waits until most have gone to roost and comes looking for me. She cam halfway up the allotment run to get me this evening. I put both my hands down slightly apart at her chest height and she walks into them. What she wants is for me to open the people door at the back of the coop and place her on a perch. I do it most nights now.

A different hen went to roost with Henry this evening.

 

[Perris]

Amadeo has finally found his voice, as have Fforest and Killay. They're all very squeaky, so it's quite the racket; I trust Chirk will start asserting his authority over them soon. On the other hand, they've taken to using the trampoline as their performance space, and he can't actually get up there - he rather embarrassingly clunked chest first into the metal frame last time he tried, so it's their safe space too

 

[Shadrach]

is Matilda still a bit under the weather? She looks very white and fluffy in her new feathers but is her face a little puffy?
The legbar looks very cross, though I'm sure that's completely beyond her control

As you have seen, Matilda is mostly fluff at the moment. She has some primaries growing out and her tail is growing out as well. Her hackle feathers should streak black later. She's doing well considering she's had quite a heavy, but slow moult.
The Legbars always look cross.

 

[MaryJanet]

This hen is near the bottom of the heirachy. She gets bullied a bit by two other Ex Battery hens. She waits until most have gone to roost and comes looking for me. She cam halfway up the allotment run to get me this evening. I put both my hands down slightly apart at her chest height and she walks into them. What she wants is for me to open the people door at the back of the coop and place her on a perch. I do it most nights now.

A different hen went to roost with Henry this evening.

The trust you've built up is extraordinary!

 

[no fly zone]

That's a lot of weight to lose.
I have that same sweet tooth but I don't put on weight easily.
What to buy here in the UK I have yet to sort out. I eat a lot of fish but more often than not I haven't bought organic vegetables and fruit.
I don't eat much meat.

I eat wild caught salmon for dinner just about every night. And i dropped that weight over the course of about 15 months or so. It was a gradual, sustainable, and most importantly- a healthy weight loss. My cholesterol levels went off a cliff. I am probably the healthiest i have ever been, not counting all the wear & tear from my military career.

 

[BDutch]

That's a lot of weight to lose.
I have that same sweet tooth but I don't put on weight easily.
What to buy here in the UK I have yet to sort out. I eat a lot of fish but more often than not I haven't bought organic vegetables and fruit.
I don't eat much meat.

With veggies is mainly the use of poisons that makes a difference.

With meat, diary products an eggs it’s also the space and other things that make the lives of the animals more natural / less cruel and less stressful. For as long as they live of course. Organic chickens live no /not much longer as most ordinary factory farm chickens.

I grew up on a farm. My family where farmers at both sides. I have seen the changes from small and diverse farming to factory farming with only one type of animal production from close. Hated it whenever I was confronted with the downside of factory farming. Efficiency and economics above the welfare animals and environment.

 

[ManueB]

I think free market for food had led us to crazy prices, crazy production chains, and crazy consumer behaviours. Food that comes from the other side of the world or that is massively refined and industrialized is cheaper than local, healthy vegetables or meat.
If the energetic cost of transport and the public health cost were integrated somehow into food prices, things would be very different.
We're lucky to be 99% self reliant for our vegetables and maybe 50% for fruits. I've made some food choices that cost me a bit, like giving up on bananas since they have a high environmental cost, and industrialized cheese which means we eat local cheese only six months of the year. Some things that I know are bad for the world's health (and mine) I'm addicted to and haven't been able to give up, like dark chocolate and coffee.

However when we lived in the city it would have been impossible for us to buy only local and organic vegetables and eggs. It would have meant spending a whole day to tour local producers, and we wouldn't have been able to afford it.

Dust bathe tax. On good days Chipie and Théo take a bath together and that protects her from bullying by my bigger ex-batts. When he's angry at her, he pecks her away and that means she has to hide to dustbathe.

 

[BDutch]

I think free market for food had led us to crazy prices, crazy production chains, and crazy consumer behaviours. Food that comes from the other side of the world or that is massively refined and industrialized is cheaper than local, healthy vegetables or meat.
If the energetic cost of transport and the public health cost were integrated somehow into food prices, things would be very different.
We're lucky to be 99% self reliant for our vegetables and maybe 50% for fruits. I've made some food choices that cost me a bit, like giving up on bananas since they have a high environmental cost, and industrialized cheese which means we eat local cheese only six months of the year. Some things that I know are bad for the world's health (and mine) I'm addicted to and haven't been able to give up, like dark chocolate and coffee.

However when we lived in the city it would have been impossible for us to buy only local and organic vegetables and eggs. It would have meant spending a whole day to tour local producers, and we wouldn't have been able to afford it.

Dust bathe tax. On good days Chipie and Théo take a bath together and that protects her from bullying by my bigger ex-batts. When he's angry at her, he pecks her away and that means she has to hide to dustbathe.View attachment 3321181

I need to stick to buying my food. A good veggie garden takes too much time and effort with 2 parttime jobs. Having money makes it possible to spend more than the bare minimum. Buying much organic. Growing my own is probably more expensive than buying anyway (with all the failures).

In the weekends we have our garden, hikes, visits and often help our daughter with her old house (now upgraded with mostly natural isolation, new windows and doors, better roof, ..) .

The chickens are a hobby that don’t take much time. And they provide enough small eggs from march - november. Now I need to buy eggs from indoor chickens the shop. Bc no chickens are alowed outside.

I prefer local food too. Eat rarely a little organic meat. But I’m too tempted to buy yummie and not processed food from abroad like ginger, avocado and bananas.

Yesterday we made litter from all the pruning with a new wood chip machine. We use the wood chips in the run and the garden as a soil improver.

 

[RoyalChick]

I too have stuff I cannot give up - avocado, chocolate, bananas, oranges - and of course I use sugar and flour in baking and neither of those is local.
But I am fortunate in that I live in an area with many small family farms. I can get eggs just a couple of miles away from a lady who has a farm stall. In season she also has the best tomatoes ever! I can also get local meat and cheese direct from the farm.

 

[Iluveggers]

I too have stuff I cannot give up - avocado, chocolate, bananas, oranges - and of course I use sugar and flour in baking and neither of those is local.
But I am fortunate in that I live in an area with many small family farms. I can get eggs just a couple of miles away from a lady who has a farm stall. In season she also has the best tomatoes ever! I can also get local meat and cheese direct from the farm.

Similar situation here. DH hunts venison which lasts usually until the next season. We have processed some of our farm roos or will by chicken from a local, ethical farmer who also has pork, beef & turkey for Thanksgiving. We grow 100% of our summer veggies plus some berry bushes, and added a few apple trees. I keep kale, cabbage, carrots & whatever else lasts in the late fall & winter, but we also belong to a local veggie farm to get winter boxes of greens, potatoes & other winter root crops through the winter. Breads I bake or buy from the sourdough shop around the corner. We have apple orchards everywhere around here, and I try to get apples & whatever seasona fruits they have there. I wish I could stop going to the grocery store, but we get most condiments & some other products (black olives, pastas, rice, oats, flour, sugar, almond milk, butter, cheese, coffee, seafood & one treat a week for the kids like pretzels or granola bars). I will also supplement any veggies or fruit we need, usually in the winter. Winter makes it really hard to eat 100% local. Next year I may try to invest in a pressure canner to make some condiments & preserve a little more. I wish we could fully homestead but the house isn’t zoned agricultural so just chickens here. Working full-time makes it more difficult, but I’m fortunate to have the summers off to keep up w the garden & help at the farm.

We all do our best. Any time you can provide for yourself or buy ethically, locally, it helps.