Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

On the subject of organic and chickens...
This year the family decided we would have chicken for Christmas dinner. We would need two chickens given there are going to be a few of us. Of course I insisted that they were proper free range chickens. Asking for them to be on an organic farm onlu eating organic feed would have made things even more difficult. We settled for properly free range.
The eldest found a butcher that advertises such a bird and has pictures of the free range hens on the farm he gets his birds from. We are going to visit the farm. I'll be interested to see if the media reflects the reality.

 

[Perris]

We are going to visit the farm. I'll be interested to see if the media reflects the reality.

me too; but don't the AI restrictions now in place in England prohibit visitors to poultry businesses with more than 500 birds? Whatever on that, I'll be very interested to get your feedback on whatever biosecurity measures are in place there, as well as the extent to which the marketing material buffs/pimps the reality.

 

[Shadrach]

me too; but don't the AI restrictions now in place in England prohibit visitors to poultry businesses with more than 500 birds? Whatever on that, I'll be very interested to get your feedback on whatever biosecurity measures are in place there, as well as the extent to which the marketing material buffs/pimps the reality.

You may be right about the AI problem.
I've seen a couple of the free range chickens they sell. They are about the right size and colour.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Morning to all X Batt's and folks.. 41 here painting boards, bought a dark moss color paint to go on.

 

[fuentemoon]

I am very blessed to live where i do as far as food availability goes. There is a farmer's market within 15 miles of me at least 4 days a week most of the year. Two days a week it's right downtown where they spent the last year building a year round facility to house it. Better yet i can find a good organic produce selection in most grocery stores. Many people I know have their own chickens and most grow at least some of their own food. I live in a city surrounded by farmlands. This area is very farm to table aware. That said cost is still an issue, i cant always make the organic choice, but I do when I can, both for me and my animals. I am very aware how good I have it.

Yes their water was filthy, it had been pouring rain, they had other options

 

[pennyJo1960]

I use buckets 5 gallon here. We have never had a hard enough freeze to freeze them.
Horizontal nipple have been my choice the others seemed to leak.

 

[BDutch]

I'm a collapsologist geek so I realize my pov is a little biased .

??? Sorry, but I need to ask what this means. Even Google translate doesn’t have a clue.

 

[Shadrach]

It's been raining on and off all day; quite heavy rain at times.

This is what I found at around 2.30pm but the two rats that were under it departed on my arrival. I took this pallet out a couple of days ago and explained to C that it would become a rat run and I will get some duck boards made. It also suggests that the food hadn't been down that long.

This isn't quite as bad because I placed the feeder above the concrete slab which can be swept/scraped.

Not raining.

Raining.

Night night chickens.

 

[BDutch]

The coop extension door connundrum.
The old coop used to have a door at the end of the run.
I have the coop extension run door frame ready.
The old coop door wasn't replaced or put back on at some point.
The reason given by C is because they worked shifts and couldn't be there to open them up. I'm sure there is some truth in the reason given.
Over the last year a few things about feeding have become apparent. If the chickens were fed early then by the time I get there they're ravenous. The closer my arrival time is to their last food the less hungry they are.
If there is any feed left in the trays then either they got given an awful lot of food early in the morning, or they got given it more recently.
My conclusion, with the aid of some other information is C is not getting up every morning at dawn and not getting out to the chickens until mid morning or later on some days.
So, if I fit the new coop extension door they will be confined to that area. This is not good. I don't trust C to adjust any tardiness to suit the better comfort and security the new door would give.
The fence around all the coops is not what I consider secure. My view is it's down to luck that more chickens haven't died from predation while in the run.
Obviously the door on the new coop extension would greatly increase night time security.
I'm having to think about this.

Next project: an automatic pop door?. Some clever people build such auto-doors themselves with a few rather cheap parts.

I've been seeing an auto-door on fruugo.nl . For this price it might not be necessary to build one. I think its affordable for allotment too. I don’t know if the quality is okay and if you can buy it in the UK.

 

[BDutch]

lovely! witch hazel also has those amazing and scented flowers. I once had one with spidery orange flowers, but sadly it didn't survive a tree falling on it in a storm

I have a winding hazel * (is that a correct name ?). It has little hazelnuts but a great look. A wild clematis grows in it. Every spring a pigeon tries to make a nest in it.
And last but not least, the chickens like to sit under it if it’s warm.

* Corylus avellana 'Contorta'