Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

Tax paid: the top three birds here, together - and all crested, I note!

Pity I couldn't manage to hold the camera straight as I took it

 

[kcan2]

Girls day out checking out the talent and of course, the food opportunities.
Does your neighbour have a rooster?

That particular flock does not have a rooster. My rooster is willing to chip in wherever and whenever he can, but most of these ladies consider him to be a strange little fellow and would just assume avoiding his alien invasion-like dance advances. I can't blame them.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Temperature is in the 80s.

Have a great day!

 

[BDutch]

Hmm. Lots of good food for thought here. Need to mull this over and watch my hens with their hatches now. Personally, I don't like the idea of giving them more than 4 eggs to hatch. I gave each of my broodies 4. Even though I will provide food for the chicks, I'd like the hen to be able to rear chicks that all were able to get warm at night under her wings, with no one getting pushed too far to the perimeter. The hen who just hatched 3 of her 4 chicks is a naked neck and the other one still brooding is quite petite, so I think 4 is the absolute maximum they could give equal warmth and bonding to in the nest.

I tend to give more hatching eggs, because I had a few hatches with less than 50% good results. And the circumstances can’t be natural in my backyard with neigbours nearby.
If there is something I like to avoid it is a nest with just one female chick. Because all cockerels have to go around the time they start to make noise.
This happened once and the pullet who was left alone in a flock with adult bitches didnt have a good life for quite a long time.
Thats why I rather had one nest with 7-8 eggs , or 2 with 5-6 each. But after reading all this, I tend to downsize a little next time.

 

[Molpet]

This happened once and the pullet who was left alone in a flock with adult bitches didnt have a good life for quite a long time.
Thats why I rather had one nest with 7-8 eggs , or 2 with 5-6 each. But after reading all this, I tend to downsize a little next time.

This has been my experience. When the lone pullet has hatched a batch, she seems to fit in. I had 4 lone pullets from last year in 3 different coops. The coop with 2 lonely only, one has assimilated . Another coop she was always off by herself and out of the poultry yard.... and disappeared. I thought maybe broody because not even a buff feather left. But the next day a different hen left a pile of white feathers and way out in the old horse pasture was a large pile of white feathers.
The 3rd coop someone tried to scalp her, but she is fine just lonely.

 

[BDutch]

Yeah, also because I don't eat chicken (I prefer beetle larvae!),

I don’t eat chickens either. I prefer veggie food.

I can't have dozens and dozens of chickens multiplying. I also have my sanity and my husband's patience to consider.

That’s why I usually skip a year or two to keep my flock size around 6 / max 10. The coop/run/garden is not big enough for more chickens.

My bantams produce just enough eggs for me and my family in the abundant laying season. In winter I still have to buy eggs in the shop (hate that, but I am too spoiled to do without them). The main reason I was looking for other bantam breeds beside Dutch : more eggs in winter. But other characteristics like size and friendly are important too.

If I have too many pullets this year I will sell a few. The cockerels are for free if I find a nice place for them.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Four eggs is a good number.
Given the right nesting condtions a small bantam hen can easily hatch 10 to 12 eggs. It's having the right nest conditions.

What would be the right nest conditions?

 

[TropicalChickies]

I don’t eat chickens either. I prefer veggie food.

That’s why I usually skip a year or two to keep my flock size around 6 / max 10. The coop/run/garden is not big enough for more chickens.

My bantams produce just enough eggs for me and my family in the abundant laying season. In winter I still have to buy eggs in the shop (hate that, but I am too spoiled to do without them). The main reason I was looking for other bantam breeds beside Dutch : more eggs in winter. But other characteristics like size and friendly are important too.

If I have too many pullets this year I will sell a few. The cockerels are for free if I find a nice place for them.

Yep, once the other broody hatches out, if everyone survives, I will have jumped from seven to thirteen chickens. 2 senior hens, 2 junior hens, 2 pullets, a cockerel, and whatever the hatchlings turn out to be. That will keep me occupied for a while...

 

[TropicalChickies]

Chick integration successful so far...!

This morning my kindly neighbor Maribel brought the chick who hatched 2 days before his siblings. She took excellent care of the chick and he (or she) appears healthy, active, and eats and drinks. I took the other two and the mother out of their nest to peck at food and put the first-hatched chick (let's call him Primo) in the mix to see what would happen. Primo joined right in and the mother accepted him. When they went back to their nest, Primo went too. At first he didn't know what to do -- he wasn't familiar with going under Tina (the hen) to warm himself. So I tucked him in under a wing. He poked back out, looked around, then I guess he decided he liked the feeling of the hen's body, and went back under. I checked later and everyone seemed to be just fine. Im very happy Tina finally has her little ones to take care of, she seems very content with them.

 

[no fly zone]

Chippy is broody at the moment, diligently sitting on pine shavings and nothing else.