Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[ManueB]

It is possible that the alcohol is acting as an irritant depending on which alcohol has been used. You can buy this in Spain so one can probably get it in France.
View attachment 3329570

It seems to be available in France, thanks a lot. You may be right about the alcohol, because today his legs looked a bit less rough.

Well this is it. The study I linked to points out that there hasn't been much in the way of studies on cold hardiness for want of a better description. But, type cold hardy breeds into a search engine and one gets a plethora of sites identifying cold hardy breeds. Something is badly wrong here.
My Finnish friend who works with Finnish land race breeds tells me that the Finnish land race breeds have adapted over hundreds of years, but he is not aware of any physiological changes.
In order to be a truely cold hardy breed I would argue that there must be physiological changes otherwise it's an environmental adaptation that in theory any breed of chicken could manage overtime.

My experience is limited so I don't know if what I've seen is a coincidence : I've noticed my ex-batts now dislike the cold much more than when they were younger (they are three now). The first two winters it didn't seem to bother them at all. This is true for the rain also, so I wonder if age plays some sort of role. Maybe the quality of their feathers is not what it was ?
Also, I've noticed just like with other species that there are individual differences in regard to cold weather within the flock, even if they are all the same breed.

All of those and then some.
Here are a few that I have attempted to tackle. Imagine the outcry if one could prove that keeping chickens out of their comfort range amounts to animal cruelty.
1) chickens are not flock creatures.
2) the egg song nonsense
3) why chickens dust bathe
4) the levels of calcium found in layers feed is fine for roosters
5) moulting prevents chickens from laying eggs
6) It's fine to cut a chickens beak

plus a few more I've got on the back burner.

When I first started looking for information on french sites I found the same things copied and pasted over and over. At least on BYC there are a number of different opinions expressed and one can get the sense that things assessed as evidence, may not be.

Of the things you mention, I'm happy to say I didn't come often upon 1,4 and 6 which could be really harmful.

 

[Shadrach]

It seems to be available in France, thanks a lot. You may be right about the alcohol, because today his legs looked a bit less rough.

You should be able to get everything on this list in France, even if you have to get it sent from Spain.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-chicken-keepers-health-armoury.75220/

 

[Solanacae]

Communication is a vastly overrated. Perhaps the solution is for you to learn how to build stuff. There is absolutely no reason why women cant construct things to an equal standard as men. There are plenty of women on this site who have excellent construction skills. Speaking as a man who has been making things most of his life, I'm not the slightest bit interested in communicating with someone who is critical of what I do but can't do any better themselves.

Chickens will pick at feathers growing on their legs. Chickens, being intelligent creatures know that having feathered legs is a very bad idea. It's a shame the breeders don't have the same intelligence.
Before and after treatment pictures would have been helpfull.
I can see no signs of irritation. Roosters legs and even more so young cockerels legs take on the red colour at sexual maturity. It's a bit like the colour change in a laying hens comb.
This is what SLM looks like. This is much improved from a few months ago and he is shedding scales now along with his moult.
View attachment 3329049
As you can see hopefully Theo's legs are far from awful.
What exactly did you apply to his legs? Make, strength etc.

I agree with the idea of what you’re saying, but men are generally larger/stronger than their female counterparts if one accounts for physical activity and age. I find my greatest shortfall in constructing things (which I have done plenty of) is that I lack the reach and upper body strength my husband does. I don’t consider myself weak, I’m able to carry 50 lb bags of chicken feed easily, but I’ve had problems with my wrists since a teenager and I can’t reach my arm up and drill in a screw one handed. It has to be chest height, maybe head height if I don’t want to strip out the bit. My husband also has a 7” advantage on me, which also is to his advantage. He can work much faster because he’s not having to fiddle with getting a ladder just so.

I second that. I can't imagine how much their feet feathers must have handicapped those Azerbajani pigeons trying to walk, let alone fly.

My Sultans are regrowing their feet feathers and occasionally one of the shafts will bleed because it got bumped against something. As if molting wasn’t bad enough, growing leg feathers probably makes it that much more uncomfortable.

Given the picture came from an article about the terrible poverty many Afghans are now living in primarily due to the sanctions the West has imposed on the country having tried to beat it and bomb it into submission I would assume the women iis going to hang the chicken by its feet and cut it's throat and eat it.

My husband lived in Ecuador for a couple of years. Occasionally he would see roosters manacled to an iron ball, exactly like the rooster in the Disney animated Robin Hood from the 70’s, only no lute or clothes. They did that to keep the rooster from wandering too far. While it’s entirely plausible that the chicken in the picture is about to become a meal, it could also be to keep the chicken from wandering off.

You mean something like feathered legs? (Your favorite )

Or rosecomb instead of a huge single comb that gets frozen easily.
Or 5 toes to avoid being slippery on ice.
Or a black skin to absorb more sunlight.
Or a nice fluffy hat to keep the ears warm and cozy?

I view both 5 toes and feathered legs to be a liability in the cold. Feathers on the legs will insulate until they get wet, and then they just make it more likely to give the chicken frostbite because they don’t dry as quickly as bare legs.

5-toed birds, in my experience, have thinner, more spindly toes, which get colder faster. It’s also just one more appendage that’s exposed to the cold.

When my two chicks that were supposed to be sired by an Ameraucana but had a Silkie for a father instead hatched, I wasn’t thrilled that I’d have more chickens with 5 toes and feathered feed. I’d been trying to avoid those traits after seeing what my Faverolles and Sultans went through one winter. (No frostbite, fortunately, but they didn’t like walking in snow and would avoid it as much as possible, where my other breeds would tromp around in it to their heart’s content.)

Tax: poor Peanut is going though a rough molt. She has been sleeping in nesting boxes or against the coop wall to try and keep warm. Cordelia will often cosy up on Peanut’s not-wall side. Cordelia will sometimes roost next to Peanut but generally prefers a flat surface to roost on rather than a bar. As Peanut’s molt has left her increasingly naked, I’ve seen Cordelia next to her at night far more often. Evidence in my eyes that chickens do make friends, and they are aware of the needs of others.

 

[Perris]

My Finnish friend who works with Finnish land race breeds tells me that the Finnish land race breeds have adapted over hundreds of years, but he is not aware of any physiological changes.

My Swedish Flowers, who can't be more than a couple of generations from native landrace stock, have no obvious physiological difference from other birds in my flock either. Southern Sweden is not as cold as Finland, but it's still a relatively cold environment for chickens, and that's where they evolved their distinctive and varied plumage so the same evolutionary forces ought to have facilitated other adaptations if they made a real difference to survival there.

 

[Molpet]

I agree with the idea of what you’re saying, but men are generally larger/stronger than their female counterparts if one accounts for physical activity and age. I find my greatest shortfall in constructing things (which I have done plenty of) is that I lack the reach and upper body strength my husband does. I don’t consider myself weak, I’m able to carry 50 lb bags of chicken feed easily, but I’ve had problems with my wrists since a teenager and I can’t reach my arm up and drill in a screw one handed. It has to be chest height, maybe head height if I don’t want to strip out the bit. My husband also has a 7” advantage on me, which also is to his advantage. He can work much faster because he’s not having to fiddle with getting a ladder just so.

I'm 5ft 2 and this is true.
I have lived alone most of my life and the biggest thing is needing a third hand.
Until 2020 I was repairing and building everything. I did have some buddies help replace the roof.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

I'm 5ft 2 and this is true.
I have lived alone most of my life and the biggest thing is needing a third hand.
Until 2020 I was repairing and building everything. I did have some buddies help replace the roof.

I'm 5' 2" and y husband is 6' 3".

We do pretty good working together most of the time.

When he gets frustrated with me he just goes in the house.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

63 cloudy 89% humidity feels like 62 rain 8%.

Have a great day!

 

[MaryJanet]

I'm 5ft 2 and this is true.
I have lived alone most of my life and the biggest thing is needing a third hand.
Until 2020 I was repairing and building everything. I did have some buddies help replace the roof.

For me, working full-time, volunteering, and living alone means all my DIY projects go at a snails pace, even when I know what I'm doing. And since the pandemic, it's been really hard to get good carpenters, painters etc where I live.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good Afternoon X Batts. I am 5ft on good day DH is 5'9.. I can pound a nail straighter !
He does have more body strength. Duh.

 

[Shadrach]

It's been chucking it down on and off most of the day. Despite the downpours the chickens were determined to get out of the run the moment the rain abated.

Sitting on the roost bar with the chickens waiting for the hail to stop.

The state of the run.