Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

Trying to improve the life of twenty or so chickens is about all I can manage. I could put the £50.00 per month they cost me towards buying organic produce for me to eat instead; if I could find much locally.
I would love to vote for prospective members of parliament who would take the necessary but highly unpopular measures necessary to make agriculture sustainable and poison free but like the organic food, there doesn't seem to be much on offer.
My party of preference is virtually identical to the party I would never vote for these days and when was the last time you read about organic agriculture in an election manifesto?
It's not that I don't agree with you on all your points. I'm just flat out doing what little I can for the sad product of a free market capitalist money driven society called spent hens otherwise known as ex batts.

I suppose we all do what we can that makes us feel comfortable (so to speak). And you’re work at the allotment makes up a million times for the things that you could do better if you where a rich old grumpy men (but not like Scrooge).

 

[RoyalChick]

I have a winding hazel * (is that a correct name ?). It has little hazels 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'

Sounds lovely! Corylus is a hazelnut tree and not closely related to witch hazel.
I am thinking hazel must mean something in the ancient world for it to get attached to two different plants like that.

 

[Sally PB]

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.

I hope you'll report on what you see.

 

[BDutch]

Sounds lovely! Corylus is a hazelnut tree and not closely related to witch hazel.
I am thinking hazel must mean something in the ancient world for it to get attached to two different plants like that.

I did some googling to find the witch hazel online. We have 2 in the garden too. We named them toverhazelaar -> magic hazel in NL.
Maybe hazel refers to the color of the young branches?

 

[pennyJo1960]

This is 4 boards today one side do the other tomorrow then 4 more both sides.

 

[ManueB]

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.View attachment 3323614

This isn't quite as bad because I placed the feeder above the concrete slab which can be swept/scraped.
View attachment 3323613
Not raining.View attachment 3323615
Raining.
View attachment 3323611
Night night chickens.
View attachment 3323610

I get it now I see the picture of the pallet, I think we have only the word pallet for both duckboards, and pallets.
Sometimes one gets the feeling C. is like a kid that will do on purpose the opposite of what you tell them .

I do have a question to all of you regarding food spilled. My chickens also spill a huge amount, because they don't like the fine and try to sort out the grains. Because of this, I got smaller feeders, and put some of them in buckets. I also give wet mash a lot but not all of them eat it. How do you handle spilling and waste ?

I end up throwing the waste just outside our property, I'm afraid it would rot on the compost and the chicken have access to it, and I don't want to attract dormouses to our place.

I did some googling to find the witch hazel online. We have 2 in the garden too. We named them toverhazelaar -> magic hazel in NL.
Maybe hazel refers to the color of the young branches?

Witch hazel is a terrible reminder of those pre-teen years and putting all sorts of lotions on my zits to try to make them disappear . I looked up the Persian ironwood and couldn't find it's rusticity zone, but it said it doesn't fare well in the heat. This surprises me as I suppose in Iran it must stand Mediterranean climate. Do you have any information on this , Perris and RC ?

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

It was a stupid private joke . Collapsology refers to a mostly french school of thought, geek is a socially inapt person obsessed by a particular subject, and pov is a short cut for point of view in role playing and video games.

 

[micstrachan]

Hi Shad and ex-batts. How many chickens are still alive at the allotments? They look great, and you’ve done a nice job with the coop!

 

[Perris]

I do have a question to all of you regarding food spilled. My chickens also spill a huge amount, because they don't like the fine and try to sort out the grains. Because of this, I got smaller feeders, and put some of them in buckets. I also give wet mash a lot but not all of them eat it. How do you handle spilling and waste ?

I get very little waste, partly because I tend to be parsimonious with what I put out (influenced by old handbooks about only giving what can be eaten in 20 minutes, and they have access to plenty of varied forage all day), and anything spilled around the feeding station when I remove the bowls has gone by an hour or so later, eaten either by the flock or the pheasants or other wildlife (not rats thankfully, since the new neighbour and her cats arrived ).

I looked up the Persian ironwood and couldn't find it's rusticity zone, but it said it doesn't fare well in the heat. This surprises me as I suppose in Iran it must stand Mediterranean climate. Do you have any information on this , Perris and RC ?

This is a very reliable source of info on plants that grow here https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/12341/parrotia-persica/details
and it confirms an Iranian origin (specifically, N Iran to Caucasus), so maybe it grows there at high altitude? It can stand really, really hard frosts, so that would point to a mountainous area too. Might suit your place well...?

 

[BDutch]

I get it now I see the picture of the pallet, I think we have only the word pallet for both duckboards, and pallets.
Sometimes one gets the feeling C. is like a kid that will do on purpose the opposite of what you tell them .

I do have a question to all of you regarding food spilled. My chickens also spill a huge amount, because they don't like the fine and try to sort out the grains. Because of this, I got smaller feeders, and put some of them in buckets. I also give wet mash a lot but not all of them eat it. How do you handle spilling and waste ?

I end up throwing the waste just outside our property, I'm afraid it would rot on the compost and the chicken have access to it, and I don't want to attract dormouses to our place.

Witch hazel is a terrible reminder of those pre-teen years and putting all sorts of lotions on my zits to try to make them disappear . I looked up the Persian ironwood and couldn't find it's rusticity zone, but it said it doesn't fare well in the heat. This surprises me as I suppose in Iran it must stand Mediterranean climate. Do you have any information on this , Perris and RC ?

It was a stupid private joke . Collapsology refers to a mostly french school of thought, geek is a socially inapt person obsessed by a particular subject, and pov is a short cut for point of view in role playing and video games.

You probably give them too much feed!

 

[RoyalChick]

I get very little waste, partly because I tend to be parsimonious with what I put out (influenced by old handbooks about only giving what can be eaten in 20 minutes, and they have access to plenty of varied forage all day), and anything spilled around the feeding station when I remove the bowls has gone by an hour or so later, eaten either by the flock or the pheasants or other wildlife (not rats thankfully, since the new neighbour and her cats arrived ).

This is a very reliable source of info on plants that grow here https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/12341/parrotia-persica/details
and it confirms an Iranian origin (specifically, N Iran to Caucasus), so maybe it grows there at high altitude? It can stand really, really hard frosts, so that would point to a mountainous area too. Might suit your place well...?

Was about to provide similar link. Climate in Iran is Continental not Mediterranean and even at low altitudes gets very cold in winter. Even more so in the winter.