Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

That's very kind Shad. Will you continue to visit?

I doubt it. I would really like C right out on the fringes of my life if they have to be there at all to be honest. They're not good for my head.

 

[Perris]

I had a long talk with C. I got to hear somethings that rang true based on what I already know. Whether because C knows how hard it would be to re-home Henry, or she's aware that he's too old to be re-homed, or she really wants to keep him and a few hens still we have come to an arrangment. C's original idea was to move the small broody coop into their back garden and keep Henry and some hens in the small coop. The small coop isn't fit to house more than two.

It seems that C did in fact use the groups money to pay for half the new coop.
This needs to be returned to the group. C has some money for this and maybe a couple of hundred pounds more. I've offered to finish the coop door and a few other small things and said I was prepared to donate the coop if they kept Henry and 3 or 4 hens. The feed bill would be manageable, the cleaning is easy and with the coop extension would provide enough room for Henry and three hens in both coop space and allowing a bit more than ten square feet of ground space per bird. C said they want to pay for the coop but couldn't raise enough money at the moment. The whole new coop with extension would cost close to £800.00 for materials. I offered to sell it to them for £300 paid at £50.00 per month.
This would mean Henry gets to stay with the remaining hens. Someone is bound to complain about Henry's crowing but the is no legal reason why roosters cant be kept as far as we know. It's worth the risk to me and as C said any complaint could be a long process.

well, I suppose this is a resolution to a difficult issue which appears to have no nice solution. Will you still have a role to play in their lives?

 

[Shadrach]

well, I suppose this is a resolution to a difficult issue which appears to have no nice solution. Will you still have a role to play in their lives?

It's the best solution all round. C's smallholding with livestock fantasy has to die. I guess my role is in part to put it to death before any more damage is done.
C's life will become easier. Feeding four or five is affordable. With the new coop life for the chickens would be as good as many other coop and run backyard birds. C will let them out when she can I'm almost certain of that. Hopefully she'll make that transition from livestock to pet at least.

My life obviously would become much much easier. To fully appreciate what traveling accross Bristol to stand in the wind and the rain for a couple of hours every day one has to do it. It's not nip out the back to see if the chickens are okay and scuttle back indoors in the warm and dry. I'm often sitting on the bus with my hands under my thighs trying to get them warm enough to roll a smoke while my overalls gently steam around me.

The rest of the allotment holders get a lot of pressure taken off them to do what C sees as their obligations in having a plot there.

The chickens should get a better life. Remember what you read here is a couple of hours of their day; the rest is pretty desperate.

I've enjoyed what I've done by and large but C is not someone I really want in my life. I know some lovely people and at soon to be 68 I feel I've earned the right to have people I care about and who care about me around me. I shall probably still go to the allotments; I've made a couple of sort of friends there and no matter how hard I try the country boy in me is always calling.

 

[Iluveggers]

I had a long talk with C. I got to hear somethings that rang true based on what I already know. Whether because C knows how hard it would be to re-home Henry, or she's aware that he's too old to be re-homed, or she really wants to keep him and a few hens still we have come to an arrangment. C's original idea was to move the small broody coop into their back garden and keep Henry and some hens in the small coop. The small coop isn't fit to house more than two.

It seems that C did in fact use the groups money to pay for half the new coop.
This needs to be returned to the group. C has some money for this and maybe a couple of hundred pounds more. I've offered to finish the coop door and a few other small things and said I was prepared to donate the coop if they kept Henry and 3 or 4 hens. The feed bill would be manageable, the cleaning is easy and with the coop extension would provide enough room for Henry and three hens in both coop space and allowing a bit more than ten square feet of ground space per bird. C said they want to pay for the coop but couldn't raise enough money at the moment. The whole new coop with extension would cost close to £800.00 for materials. I offered to sell it to them for £300 paid at £50.00 per month.
This would mean Henry gets to stay with the remaining hens. Someone is bound to complain about Henry's crowing but the is no legal reason why roosters cant be kept as far as we know. It's worth the risk to me and as C said any complaint could be a long process.

That is wonderful news, and a big relief!

 

[BDutch]

Did I understand correctly that C’s plan is to move coop , extension, Henry and the remaining hens to her backyard?
And how many hens are we talking about. I thought you described 4. But later you say 3?
(Sometimes I hate it my English is not good enough to grasp everything.)

Btw, I had a fall back with Corona today. Feeling more tired again.
Hear from relatives they had this too after about 10 days.

 

[BDutch]

Kraai, my one and only hen who prefers Dutch baguette over mealworms.

 

[no fly zone]

I do hope the best for Henry. Roosters always have a rough go at things because ppl suck.

 

[BDutch]

I do hope the best for Henry. Roosters always have a rough go at things because ppl suck.

Roosters suck too, because they make too much noise when people try to sleep.

But of course I wish all the best for Henry and his remaining flock too.

 

[no fly zone]

Roosters suck too, because they make too much noise when people try to sleep.

But of course I wish all the best for Henry and his remaining flock too.

Less noise than dogs.

 

[Perris]

I just Googled and found a description of their eggs as Teracotta - the breeder just said 'dark brown and spotted'.
Bernadette just said 'you can wait and see when I am ready'!

for what it's worth, my experience with brown egg layers is that they're very variable, individually as well as qua breed. Welsummers and Penedesencas both supposedly produce a relatively dark brown egg, but Puffin lays a much darker one than the other two Pennies here, and all of them are a bit variable depending on whether they are at the beginning or end of a cycle, and what they ate recently (one sometimes makes a plum bloom), and other unknown influences too. I still haven't worked out why Janeka's eggs are sometimes speckled (spotted) and sometimes not. And the first eggs are not always reliable indicators of how they'll settle down, so however exciting it is when Bernie finally gets round to it, don't get too hung up on the colour, because it may change!