Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[micstrachan]

Sure proving her wrong did bring a wry grin to my face but what I want is for C to learn and adapt; and dontations form the other members of course.
Much of it is the same old problem of peoples perspective on chickens.
People have come onto the allotments over the year and not come anywhere near the chickens. It's like they don't exist for some people. I want to change that.
It's a lovely spot is the allotments. It's been a field for hundreds of years.
While people are growing stuff on it and keeping livestock it is likely to stay a field and one of the very few where roosters are accepted. Just for that alone the field is worth putting effort into. There aren't many such places left.

Maybe if you could get something published on the impact you’ve had there, it would help. Might there be a local paper that would be interested in the story?

 

[Iluveggers]

Do you have a run too where the chickens can go to during the day? 8x8 sqft for a coop is great but imho it’s little for 10 chickens if they cant get out more as you describe.
I would be afraid this may cause stress (and other problems).

My 6 small chickens in 2015 initially had a 3X3 m2 run. I extended it a few years later when I had another 3 chicks because I found it was quite small for 9 chickens.

Oh yes, there is a large predator proof run as well. They rarely go inside the coop except for the couple that are approaching laying age and keep messing up the nest boxes. I let them out in the garden for an hour on winter work days, and a few hours on winter days off. They have a lot more time to roam when the days are longer.

I’ve designed my run to keep them busy. I pile up dried leaves every night, so they can have fun scratching through them in the morning (I throw a sprinkle of cracked corn in and they’ll look for it for hours). There’s 10 feet of high perch, a dust bath bucket, 4 feet of low perch, and steps to climb up & down. I also will pull out full plants (zinnia, marigold, kale, cabbage) on work days so they can jump and pick at them. Once the snow comes, I have an indoor sprout setup, and I’m hoping to give them fresh sprouts sprinkled around on days I am working! I also have about 20 dried sunflower heads, and some pumpkins & winter squash in storage to take out of the weather is horrible and they need something new to occupy them.

If anyone has any other suggestions to keep them busy, I’m all ears.

Gleaning the tail end of the garden tax:

 

[BDutch]

Oh yes, there is a large predator proof run as well. They rarely go inside the coop except for the couple that are approaching laying age and keep messing up the nest boxes. I let them out in the garden for an hour on winter work days, and a few hours on winter days off. They have a lot more time to roam when the days are longer.

I’ve designed my run to keep them busy. I pile up dried leaves every night, so they can have fun scratching through them in the morning (I throw a sprinkle of cracked corn in and they’ll look for it for hours). There’s 10 feet of high perch, a dust bath bucket, 4 feet of low perch, and steps to climb up & down. I also will pull out full plants (zinnia, marigold, kale, cabbage) on work days so they can jump and pick at them. Once the snow comes, I have an indoor sprout setup, and I’m hoping to give them fresh sprouts sprinkled around on days I am working! I also have about 20 dried sunflower heads, and some pumpkins & winter squash in storage to take out of the weather is horrible and they need something new to occupy them.

If anyone has any other suggestions to keep them busy, I’m all ears.

Gleaning the tail end of the garden tax:
View attachment 3333953

Sounds a bit like my setup. I often clipp grasses and herbs too on working days. The soil is scattered with autumn leaves and fine wood cuttings (machine chopped branches). I throw scratch in it every day to keep them buzzy. They have several perches in the 2 runs. And a dustbath area under a 60 degrees angled window. To keep the sand dry and to protect the coop from rain and western winds.
Most winters we only have a few days with snow. If I know there are several days with snow coming this way, I have the cover of the party run to throw over the run. Never did had before, but I was sorry for not doing so 2 years ago when we had lots of snow and freezing temps for about 10 days in a row. I scattered a bale of straw in the coop and run to cover some snow.

Pic of the laurel, Ini mini and the wood/leaves in the 2cnd run.

The coop and run covered with snow 2 years ago in january. It gives a good view on the coop and first run (made from a simple party tent) and you can see the door to the second run just behind it.

Edited missing word/typo

 

[Marie2020]

There is as I have written before a Whatsapp allotment group. I have been very reluctant to join. I have never been invited to join.
I've been having some discussions with C; reality checks one might call these discussions. There is a general lack of trust in C on the group and the group chat has been for some time now C ranting and getting little or no response.
I have suggested that perhaps C is approaching the communication problems in the wrong manner.
The most recent discussion has been the state of the run. It's going to cost money to sort out and C doesn't want to spend any of their money or even what's in the allotment fund on the chickens. Apparently the allotment holders are in part responsible for the general upkeep and that includes the chickens and the geese. C says they won't contribute.
A couple of days ago desperately needing woodchip which it looked like I was going to have to pay for, I said to see get some donations from the allotment holders and if you can't do it then let me have a go. To reach the allotment holders I need to be in the Whatsapp group. I joined yesterday. I wrote a post explaning a bit about the situation and asked for donations saying I would match whatever anyone cared to donate. I have £40.00 of donations given to me at the allotments and a further £160.00 promised from groups members in the chat group. It's amazing what a few heart tugging chicken pictures can do.

What caring kind people. This is just great

 

[Marie2020]

It's odd I know, but I'm pretty good with technology usually. I can build a computer for example and I've been using computer technology since it first became available to industry.
Mobile phones, I just find them frustrating. I don't know enough about them to make them do what I want rather than what they want. There's the size factor and touch screen technology while good, isn't quite there yet.
I have an android based phone. The operating system is Linux. I use Linux on all of my computers but I can't find my way around the system on the phone!
As I wrote, frustrating little attention seeking machines that sit in the hands of a lot of people now and demand their attention.

Attention seeking that's a bit like our chickens

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

78 cloudy 81% humidity feels like 80 rain 30%.

In the run I have a branch out of a tree planted like a tree and they love it.

I also have two perches about 2 1/2 feet high.

There are cinderblocks standing on end they like to perch on.

There are some pallets leaning against the coop they like to perch on and they lay behind the pallet for the shade.

Have a great day!

 

[no fly zone]

Now that I have a day off and it's dry, I took another go at the one leaky spot on the coop roof.

That is 3.5 mil plastic. The wood is screwed in and the open areas were stapled down. I threw a few shingles (that Ian so kindly ripped off my garage) on top to weight it down a bit.

It is supposed to rain on Tuesday, so we'll see how this does.

I still cannot figure out how the roof is leaking on the north side though.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Good morning X Batts, Me thinks your pretty good talker as you know the birds.
Think we may get a few walls on the new coop. It is really starting to take shape.
New photos to follow this is tax for now.

 

[ppruitt]

I scan a variety of news sources on the web from the Tribune to the BBC.
I got sent a link to this. None of the news sites I read mentioned it.

This is going to be our future and as George Monbiot writes in one of the comments, it will wipe out intensive farming, possibly quite quickly. I expect there will be high consumer resistance initially but it is as they say a gane changer and an incredibly important news item. Far more important then most of the crap I read this morning. Why hasn't this featured in the British media?

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/nov/18/lab-grown-meat-safe-eat-fda-upside-foods

And if you believe anything the FDA says, I have a bridge to sell you. If anything, the last 3 years have shown that governmental agencies are not to be trusted.

 

[GregnLety]

So I have 12 roosters, not 11. After a recent molt a young lavender orpington pulled is actually a cockrell