Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

Rain most of the day. The only good news is the ground is draining where it's been dug over properly.
Cleaned them out. Fed them. Sat with them for an hour. Henry went to roost early as did Carbon and Lima.
I left early and went round to supper at the eldests.

I've learnt a lot since I've been taking care of the allotment chickens. It's been interesting to see how they define safe territory and their altered behaviour when theoretically free to go where they will.
Fret is the most alert in the allotments. Henry isn't bad at watching, but he isn't that great at keeping the hens in a bunch. He does have a major problem with Lima; she does as she please but not in a bratty way. Henry is left with the choice of following Lima and bringing the other hens with him or going to get her. Most of the roosters I've known would be hackle flashing Lima by now as well as trying to herd her. I've seen Henry hackel flash quite a few times but he doesn't to Lima. He stands there keeping guard. Usaully the other hens wander over; usually Ella is left behind. Henry will go and find Ella and then stand watch there.
Harold from Tribe 2 had herding from the back down to a fine art and that is what I think Henry would need to learn if they were properly free ranged.
Carbon has gone from a rather miserable looking hen with poor feather growth and a reticent attitude to quite a confident and healthy looking hen.
Lima hasn't changed much in looks or attitude and neither has Ella. She reminds me of a combination of Barking Bracket and Dink from the tribes in Catalonia.

I've found keeping chickens in a coop and run environment more labour intensive than free ranging form dawn till dusk.I don't know if it's because everything was in such a bad state of repair, including the chickens, or if that is the way it is.

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I do think that free ranging whole day is less work. But in many circumstances this is a no go. Too many losses. Too harsh winter when you need a good shelter without snow. Neighbours who complain about chickens in their garden or don’t want any rooster noises.
For me the lack of a (good) rooster is a reason too.

I keep them locked in most of the time. Because some like to brood in the wild if they are not used to stay in the run lots of the time. Hiding somewhere in the wild with infertile eggs is not okay imho. Too dangerous.
My chickens also lay eggs where I don’t want them /can’t find them if they free range a lot.

Conclusion/my idea: it depends what your purpose’s are with the chickens. If you just like to observe their natural behaviour and you live in a good chicken-climate/on fertile soil, and don’t mind many casualties free ranging is probably the best.

And yes, a good coop/setup on a good spot with clean soil helps a lot. But also the cleaning up can be done in an easier easier way as many BYC keepers do. A smart maintainace with recycling and trying to achieve a natural balance in the soil of the run is way less labour to keep chickens. I made an effort to achieve this. And it works for me with a 15m2 net covered run with 6-9 small bantam chickens.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

I've found keeping chickens in a coop and run environment more labour intensive than free ranging form dawn till dusk.I don't know if it's because everything was in such a bad state of repair, including the chickens, or if that is the way it is.

More labor intensive and expensive. We haven't done full ranging for comparison, but the majority of our chicken work is because a) they poop in a confined area, b) they need more entertainment.

Ours are on a 1/4 acre fenced with electric. Fencing and chargers are pricey and require maintenance. I scoop poop 3x daily. Spring-fall, I'm pulling thorny or toxic plants a few times a week to keep their area safe. We've added structures like the chookshelves and Stilty's crowbar to make up for diversions they'd otherwise find on their own in nature. They have a lot of forage on the 1/4 acre, but since that range is limited, they still probably rely a little more on the commercial feed.

If we're away or the weather is awful and they're confined in their runs more like the allotment chickens, there's even more scooping, more feeder washing, adding more bedding/ground cover for something to scratch in for fun, etc. Not to mention installing more feeders and waterers to reduce conflict...the list of items to buy and maintain seems much longer than if they only stopped in to eat and roost.

Tax, oldies but goodies. Stilton on the crowbar. Relevant to this thread (re: the ongoing conversation about chicken behavior we don't fully understand): he seems to crow up here mostly when he can't get his hens together. I suspect crowing from an elevated spot is a way to be intimidating and establish territory when he's lost control of the flock.

His next step after crowing is almost always to fly down with bluster and try to herd and tidbit hens. Check out that bluster.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

If somebody put this photo up as part of their real estate profile, I'd buy that house right away.
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Oh yes, me, too! A rooster is a must-have feature in a home.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

The temperature is coming bac up, it's in the 50s.

Have a great day!

 

[Farmgirl283420]

More labor intensive and expensive. We haven't done full ranging for comparison, but the majority of our chicken work is because a) they poop in a confined area, b) they need more entertainment.

Ours are on a 1/4 acre fenced with electric. Fencing and chargers are pricey and require maintenance. I scoop poop 3x daily. Spring-fall, I'm pulling thorny or toxic plants a few times a week to keep their area safe. We've added structures like the chookshelves and Stilty's crowbar to make up for diversions they'd otherwise find on their own in nature. They have a lot of forage on the 1/4 acre, but since that range is limited, they still probably rely a little more on the commercial feed.

If we're away or the weather is awful and they're confined in their runs more like the allotment chickens, there's even more scooping, more feeder washing, adding more bedding/ground cover for something to scratch in for fun, etc. Not to mention installing more feeders and waterers to reduce conflict...the list of items to buy and maintain seems much longer than if they only stopped in to eat and roost.

Tax, oldies but goodies. Stilton on the crowbar. Relevant to this thread (re: the ongoing conversation about chicken behavior we don't fully understand): he seems to crow up here mostly when he can't get his hens together. I suspect crowing from an elevated spot is a way to be intimidating and establish territory when he's lost control of the flock.

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His next step after crowing is almost always to fly down with bluster and try to herd and tidbit hens. Check out that bluster.

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Whoa nice pic!

 

[no fly zone]

Oh yes, me, too! A rooster is a must-have feature in a home.

We are about to list our home. Rooster photos you say?

 

[Shadrach]

Almost warm today at 12C. Still raining, just nothing like as much.
They haven't been out on the allotment for a couple of days for any length of time so they haven't been at the rhubarb. Poop is back to normal.

Henry demonstrating his inability to herd the hens. Ella didn't join the others at the compost heap so Henry came to find her and stayed with her. Henry went back and I herded Ella over to join them.

The feed tray is empty most days now by the time I get there. C doesn't feed them in the mornings any more. I leave about 250 grams there over night. They are hungry when I arrive, but far from desperate. I put pellets in the round tray and the majority in the coop extension tray.

I think this might work. Depends a bit on who decides to walk on it. I've put U shaped ground pins in around the edges as well as the wooden pegs.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Here's a less glam pic of Stilton and the raised scales on his "stilts"--while he was warming his tootsies on my stilts on a cold, muddy day--to continue the conversation about SLM.

You need a magnifying glass. I have never seen the mite responsible but with the magnifying glass you can see the mite poop and the dead stuff they throw out behind when burrowing.

The scales do not go down when the mites are dead. They have to be shed and new scales grown.

Stilton doesn't seem to lose scales in any significant way, nor have I ever noticed detritus on his legs, though I haven't looked with a magnifying glass. Would I be looking for something that looks like dirt or dust?

His legs don't change appearance much year over year, one reason I hesitate to treat. Ivermectin was a miracle with northern fowl mites, but it gave Stilton very bad poops. I don't want to put his system through that unless what's happening with his legs is doing more than harming his modeling career...To be fair, is it? I mean, he's Mr. November in the BYC calendar this year

On a funny note, payment for taking leg pics was to let him watch the hens through the phone camera. He kept pecking Miss Eula's butt on the screen.

 

[Shadrach]

Here's a less glam pic of Stilton and the raised scales on his "stilts"--while he was warming his tootsies on my stilts on a cold, muddy day--to continue the conversation about SLM.

Stilton doesn't seem to lose scales in any significant way, nor have I ever noticed detritus on his legs, though I haven't looked with a magnifying glass. Would I be looking for something that looks like dirt or dust?

His legs don't change appearance much year over year, one reason I hesitate to treat. Ivermectin was a miracle with northern fowl mites, but it gave Stilton very bad poops. I don't want to put his system through that unless what's happening with his legs is doing more than harming his modeling career...To be fair, is it? I mean, he's Mr. November in the BYC calendar this year

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On a funny note, payment for taking leg pics was to let him watch the hens through the phone camera. He kept pecking Miss Eula's butt on the screen.

If Henry's legs looked like that I would be delighted.
A strange thing. The older males get the worse their legs look.
He might have a mite or two but I can't see anything there that a daily wipe down at roost time with Vasaline and Iodine mixture shouldn't sort out.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

@GregnLety how is Cholo Jr's beak? Our Miss Carrots had an awful break, bad enough I feared for her future, and it grew back quickly. Not perfectly, but it works.

The fracture went across the whole beak, and the beak was nearly severed all the way up to her nostril on one side. The afternoon it happened, she found a sunny spot, stuck her head in her wing, and napped. But that was the only day she seemed to be in pain. I brought soft food and treats at sunset, only to find her crop full already (but she was happy to gingerly pick out the chopped blueberries).

She was preening again 2 mornings later, able to snap off blades of grass and peck her friends again in a week. This photo was 2-3 weeks after the break. I didn't have the fortitude to take photos when the break was fresh. If Carrots had a mirror to see how bad it was, she wouldn't have rebounded so fast.

It just fused itself back. Looks funny but is functional. Maybe she'll get her old beak back eventually? Our bearded beauty pre-beak-break: