Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Today is hubby's 77th birthday.

Temperature is in the 80s.

Have a great day!

Happy birthday

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Happy birthday

Thanks.

 

[Perris]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Today is hubby's 77th birthday.

Temperature is in the 80s.

Have a great day!

yay for hubby! hope you both have a lovely day

 

[Perris]

They're falling like ten pins - there's a 4th gone broody now!!!

 

[RebeccaBoyd]

Well...Those of us who follow by bob's thread were all rather anxious in December for @RebeccaBoyd 's momma hen, when she decided to hatch chicks in the middle of a very steep hill side, mostly unaccessible to humans, right above a creek.
Momma hen also known as the old bat is a game hen rescued after being abandoned (I think?) and living in the wild, that has stayed quite feral and has one obsession, hatching chicks.
This had a happy ending, in the short term at least. She survived snow, Kentucky relatively mild winter climate, a cold wind storm, predators, scoffed every day at Rebecca who could actually see her through her window, and hatched four chicks.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26412810
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-26436900

Not to prove that weather doesn't generally play a role to indice broodiness, but more to say that when there's a will there is a way .

Ahh my evil bat crap crazy game hen Momma. This hen is the bane of my existence. I love her and want to throttle her at the same time. This was not her first time hatching in colder weather either, the first time was her 2nd clutch several years ago that hatched out the first of November. She is at least 9 coming on 10 years old. I do not know her exact age as she was brought to one of the horse shows years ago for a chicken chase during intermission for the kids. That girl is smart, they dropped her in the middle of the ring and instead of running around she flew to the hillside. For almost 4 years she lived feral behind my house rarely coming off the hill. In fact she was so rarely seen I would forget about her existence until she would appear briefly. When the barn changed hands I noticed she was hanging closely behind it a lot. We were chicken less then and my daughter desperately wanted chicks. I made her a deal, tame that hen and you can have chickens. It took her a year, but she did it. We had horses boarded at the barn so were down there daily. She started out by dumping feed outside the barn for her. After she got used to coming to eat she moved the feed inside the barn door. Eventually Momma would come up and eat out of your hand as long as you did not move. Momma then stopped sleeping in the trees on the hill and took up residence in the barn sleeping on the rafters. During the taming period she survived a hawk attack that resulted in her loosing the toes on one of her feet and left her with a scar on the back of her head. If she would have let us catch her then we might have been able to save the toes but could never get within 20 feet of her then so she lost them. The first year she lived in the barn she began laying in it as well. That should have been my first clue this hen would drive me batty. Fixed her a nest box. Did she use it, nope, she likes to play the game of find the easter egg. She likes to lay a couple in obvious places then finds the most out of the way difficult to reach spot to lay. IF she can lay 3 to 4 eggs in one spot and they not be disturbed it triggers broodiness. EVERY SINGLE TIME. She was constantly broody. No rooster so the eggs were useless but that did not stop her. She is also next to impossible to break up. If you are successful give it 2 weeks and she is back to hiding eggs and the cycle repeats itself. After a year we relented and bought some fertile hatching eggs from a friend and she hatched out 5. 3 survived to adulthood. 1 hen and 2 roosters. The chicks were about 7 months old when the barn changed hands again and we moved the horses and the chickens up the road 1/4 of a mile to my house. All except Momma. She kept going back to the barn. I would have to herd that hen home daily as she still to this day does not like to be handled. In October she disappeared. Looked everywhere for her including the barn and no sign of her. Thought something had finally got her. Imagine my surprise when I get a call from my dad to come down to the barn and get my crazy hen and her chicks. She had managed to get in between the stall boards to hide her eggs and hatched off 4. I caught the chicks, taking a beating from Momma in the process. Carried them home with momma following flogging the entire way. Did I mention I have urges to strangle her at times? Set them up in a dog crate and it finally clicked with her that the barn was no longer home while she reared those chicks. 3 boys 1 girl. Since then we have come to a understanding. Her job is to rear chicks, not be a egg layer. If I try to break her from a nest spot that I know of and have access to she will reward me with disappearing and coming home with chicks in tow. I now simply let her build her clutch and start setting. Once she has sat for a day I swap out her eggs with those I wish her to hatch. She averages 4 clutches a year and hangs onto her chicks until they are at least 8 weeks old, sometimes longer. She is also fiercely protective. Those first few weeks do not look, do not get near and most of all do not touch her chicks. You will be rewarded with a angry hen coming at you using her stumpy foot as a club. It makes ensuring the chicks have clean water and chick starter available fun. All that being said I put up with her and her antics because she is smart and a survivor. Every chick she has raised she has passed on those qualities. I will never have another hen like her, and not sure I want another one either. She has already raised 2 clutches this year. Those that hatched in January and another clutch she hatched in April. She is not yet back to laying, at least I have not found a egg from her yet. She is close though, her face has reddened back up and she is inspecting nest spots.
Momma Hen in all her glory with her April chicks.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

I tried a little experiment yesterday. I have a couple volunteer tomato plants growing between the coop and the house, along with some weeds and grass that haven’t been mowed in awhile. I let the chickens into that area yesterday (the run opens to the other side), just to see what would happen. Only three of them came to that side, and within 5 minutes the tomatoes were trampled (they were about 2 feet high). They didn’t eat the tomatoes, but they dug around the bottom and knocked them down. Usually I close the vegetable garden off during growing season and then open it to them in the fall, but thought maybe I could let them in earlier. I try to grow all of our vegetable produce from June-September so we don’t have to buy any, so I think I’ll keep the chickens out for now. I can’t risk losing my family’s food source.

Once I have harvested mostly everything except the winter squash and some greens I can put a small fence around, I will let them back in to that area and let them glean and work on pest control.

I definitely can't let the chickens into the gardens. Mine will eat my tomatoes, but they do it by taking several pecks out of every one they can find, and leaving them for me to find. I can leave out my zucchini and pumpkins, so far at least. Once it's past the point where they can't scratch the plants out they leave them alone. The occasional peck at the fruit but that doesn't bother the plant or fruit much. I produce about 80% of our produce from the garden so, they don't get access during the growing season. They sure are helpful cleaning up through the winter though!

 

[fuzzi]

Ahh my evil bat crap crazy game hen Momma. This hen is the bane of my existence. I love her and want to throttle her at the same time. This was not her first time hatching in colder weather either, the first time was her 2nd clutch several years ago that hatched out the first of November. She is at least 9 coming on 10 years old. I do not know her exact age as she was brought to one of the horse shows years ago for a chicken chase during intermission for the kids. That girl is smart, they dropped her in the middle of the ring and instead of running around she flew to the hillside. For almost 4 years she lived feral behind my house rarely coming off the hill. In fact she was so rarely seen I would forget about her existence until she would appear briefly. When the barn changed hands I noticed she was hanging closely behind it a lot. We were chicken less then and my daughter desperately wanted chicks. I made her a deal, tame that hen and you can have chickens. It took her a year, but she did it. We had horses boarded at the barn so were down there daily. She started out by dumping feed outside the barn for her. After she got used to coming to eat she moved the feed inside the barn door. Eventually Momma would come up and eat out of your hand as long as you did not move. Momma then stopped sleeping in the trees on the hill and took up residence in the barn sleeping on the rafters. During the taming period she survived a hawk attack that resulted in her loosing the toes on one of her feet and left her with a scar on the back of her head. If she would have let us catch her then we might have been able to save the toes but could never get within 20 feet of her then so she lost them. The first year she lived in the barn she began laying in it as well. That should have been my first clue this hen would drive me batty. Fixed her a nest box. Did she use it, nope, she likes to play the game of find the easter egg. She likes to lay a couple in obvious places then finds the most out of the way difficult to reach spot to lay. IF she can lay 3 to 4 eggs in one spot and they not be disturbed it triggers broodiness. EVERY SINGLE TIME. She was constantly broody. No rooster so the eggs were useless but that did not stop her. She is also next to impossible to break up. If you are successful give it 2 weeks and she is back to hiding eggs and the cycle repeats itself. After a year we relented and bought some fertile hatching eggs from a friend and she hatched out 5. 3 survived to adulthood. 1 hen and 2 roosters. The chicks were about 7 months old when the barn changed hands again and we moved the horses and the chickens up the road 1/4 of a mile to my house. All except Momma. She kept going back to the barn. I would have to herd that hen home daily as she still to this day does not like to be handled. In October she disappeared. Looked everywhere for her including the barn and no sign of her. Thought something had finally got her. Imagine my surprise when I get a call from my dad to come down to the barn and get my crazy hen and her chicks. She had managed to get in between the stall boards to hide her eggs and hatched off 4. I caught the chicks, taking a beating from Momma in the process. Carried them home with momma following flogging the entire way. Did I mention I have urges to strangle her at times? Set them up in a dog crate and it finally clicked with her that the barn was no longer home while she reared those chicks. 3 boys 1 girl. Since then we have come to a understanding. Her job is to rear chicks, not be a egg layer. If I try to break her from a nest spot that I know of and have access to she will reward me with disappearing and coming home with chicks in tow. I now simply let her build her clutch and start setting. Once she has sat for a day I swap out her eggs with those I wish her to hatch. She averages 4 clutches a year and hangs onto her chicks until they are at least 8 weeks old, sometimes longer. She is also fiercely protective. Those first few weeks do not look, do not get near and most of all do not touch her chicks. You will be rewarded with a angry hen coming at you using her stumpy foot as a club. It makes ensuring the chicks have clean water and chick starter available fun. All that being said I put up with her and her antics because she is smart and a survivor. Every chick she has raised she has passed on those qualities. I will never have another hen like her, and not sure I want another one either. She has already raised 2 clutches this year. Those that hatched in January and another clutch she hatched in April. She is not yet back to laying, at least I have not found a egg from her yet. She is close though, her face has reddened back up and she is inspecting nest spots.

Momma Hen in all her glory with her April chicks.
View attachment 3586553View attachment 3586554

Wow. Great story.

 

[tranquiliti]

Ahh my evil bat crap crazy game hen Momma. This hen is the bane of my existence. I love her and want to throttle her at the same time. This was not her first time hatching in colder weather either, the first time was her 2nd clutch several years ago that hatched out the first of November. She is at least 9 coming on 10 years old. I do not know her exact age as she was brought to one of the horse shows years ago for a chicken chase during intermission for the kids. That girl is smart, they dropped her in the middle of the ring and instead of running around she flew to the hillside. For almost 4 years she lived feral behind my house rarely coming off the hill. In fact she was so rarely seen I would forget about her existence until she would appear briefly. When the barn changed hands I noticed she was hanging closely behind it a lot. We were chicken less then and my daughter desperately wanted chicks. I made her a deal, tame that hen and you can have chickens. It took her a year, but she did it. We had horses boarded at the barn so were down there daily. She started out by dumping feed outside the barn for her. After she got used to coming to eat she moved the feed inside the barn door. Eventually Momma would come up and eat out of your hand as long as you did not move. Momma then stopped sleeping in the trees on the hill and took up residence in the barn sleeping on the rafters. During the taming period she survived a hawk attack that resulted in her loosing the toes on one of her feet and left her with a scar on the back of her head. If she would have let us catch her then we might have been able to save the toes but could never get within 20 feet of her then so she lost them. The first year she lived in the barn she began laying in it as well. That should have been my first clue this hen would drive me batty. Fixed her a nest box. Did she use it, nope, she likes to play the game of find the easter egg. She likes to lay a couple in obvious places then finds the most out of the way difficult to reach spot to lay. IF she can lay 3 to 4 eggs in one spot and they not be disturbed it triggers broodiness. EVERY SINGLE TIME. She was constantly broody. No rooster so the eggs were useless but that did not stop her. She is also next to impossible to break up. If you are successful give it 2 weeks and she is back to hiding eggs and the cycle repeats itself. After a year we relented and bought some fertile hatching eggs from a friend and she hatched out 5. 3 survived to adulthood. 1 hen and 2 roosters. The chicks were about 7 months old when the barn changed hands again and we moved the horses and the chickens up the road 1/4 of a mile to my house. All except Momma. She kept going back to the barn. I would have to herd that hen home daily as she still to this day does not like to be handled. In October she disappeared. Looked everywhere for her including the barn and no sign of her. Thought something had finally got her. Imagine my surprise when I get a call from my dad to come down to the barn and get my crazy hen and her chicks. She had managed to get in between the stall boards to hide her eggs and hatched off 4. I caught the chicks, taking a beating from Momma in the process. Carried them home with momma following flogging the entire way. Did I mention I have urges to strangle her at times? Set them up in a dog crate and it finally clicked with her that the barn was no longer home while she reared those chicks. 3 boys 1 girl. Since then we have come to a understanding. Her job is to rear chicks, not be a egg layer. If I try to break her from a nest spot that I know of and have access to she will reward me with disappearing and coming home with chicks in tow. I now simply let her build her clutch and start setting. Once she has sat for a day I swap out her eggs with those I wish her to hatch. She averages 4 clutches a year and hangs onto her chicks until they are at least 8 weeks old, sometimes longer. She is also fiercely protective. Those first few weeks do not look, do not get near and most of all do not touch her chicks. You will be rewarded with a angry hen coming at you using her stumpy foot as a club. It makes ensuring the chicks have clean water and chick starter available fun. All that being said I put up with her and her antics because she is smart and a survivor. Every chick she has raised she has passed on those qualities. I will never have another hen like her, and not sure I want another one either. She has already raised 2 clutches this year. Those that hatched in January and another clutch she hatched in April. She is not yet back to laying, at least I have not found a egg from her yet. She is close though, her face has reddened back up and she is inspecting nest spots.
Momma Hen in all her glory with her April chicks.
View attachment 3586553View attachment 3586554

This is incredible! Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Iluveggers]

Ahh my evil bat crap crazy game hen Momma. This hen is the bane of my existence. I love her and want to throttle her at the same time. This was not her first time hatching in colder weather either, the first time was her 2nd clutch several years ago that hatched out the first of November. She is at least 9 coming on 10 years old. I do not know her exact age as she was brought to one of the horse shows years ago for a chicken chase during intermission for the kids. That girl is smart, they dropped her in the middle of the ring and instead of running around she flew to the hillside. For almost 4 years she lived feral behind my house rarely coming off the hill. In fact she was so rarely seen I would forget about her existence until she would appear briefly. When the barn changed hands I noticed she was hanging closely behind it a lot. We were chicken less then and my daughter desperately wanted chicks. I made her a deal, tame that hen and you can have chickens. It took her a year, but she did it. We had horses boarded at the barn so were down there daily. She started out by dumping feed outside the barn for her. After she got used to coming to eat she moved the feed inside the barn door. Eventually Momma would come up and eat out of your hand as long as you did not move. Momma then stopped sleeping in the trees on the hill and took up residence in the barn sleeping on the rafters. During the taming period she survived a hawk attack that resulted in her loosing the toes on one of her feet and left her with a scar on the back of her head. If she would have let us catch her then we might have been able to save the toes but could never get within 20 feet of her then so she lost them. The first year she lived in the barn she began laying in it as well. That should have been my first clue this hen would drive me batty. Fixed her a nest box. Did she use it, nope, she likes to play the game of find the easter egg. She likes to lay a couple in obvious places then finds the most out of the way difficult to reach spot to lay. IF she can lay 3 to 4 eggs in one spot and they not be disturbed it triggers broodiness. EVERY SINGLE TIME. She was constantly broody. No rooster so the eggs were useless but that did not stop her. She is also next to impossible to break up. If you are successful give it 2 weeks and she is back to hiding eggs and the cycle repeats itself. After a year we relented and bought some fertile hatching eggs from a friend and she hatched out 5. 3 survived to adulthood. 1 hen and 2 roosters. The chicks were about 7 months old when the barn changed hands again and we moved the horses and the chickens up the road 1/4 of a mile to my house. All except Momma. She kept going back to the barn. I would have to herd that hen home daily as she still to this day does not like to be handled. In October she disappeared. Looked everywhere for her including the barn and no sign of her. Thought something had finally got her. Imagine my surprise when I get a call from my dad to come down to the barn and get my crazy hen and her chicks. She had managed to get in between the stall boards to hide her eggs and hatched off 4. I caught the chicks, taking a beating from Momma in the process. Carried them home with momma following flogging the entire way. Did I mention I have urges to strangle her at times? Set them up in a dog crate and it finally clicked with her that the barn was no longer home while she reared those chicks. 3 boys 1 girl. Since then we have come to a understanding. Her job is to rear chicks, not be a egg layer. If I try to break her from a nest spot that I know of and have access to she will reward me with disappearing and coming home with chicks in tow. I now simply let her build her clutch and start setting. Once she has sat for a day I swap out her eggs with those I wish her to hatch. She averages 4 clutches a year and hangs onto her chicks until they are at least 8 weeks old, sometimes longer. She is also fiercely protective. Those first few weeks do not look, do not get near and most of all do not touch her chicks. You will be rewarded with a angry hen coming at you using her stumpy foot as a club. It makes ensuring the chicks have clean water and chick starter available fun. All that being said I put up with her and her antics because she is smart and a survivor. Every chick she has raised she has passed on those qualities. I will never have another hen like her, and not sure I want another one either. She has already raised 2 clutches this year. Those that hatched in January and another clutch she hatched in April. She is not yet back to laying, at least I have not found a egg from her yet. She is close though, her face has reddened back up and she is inspecting nest spots.
Momma Hen in all her glory with her April chicks.
View attachment 3586553View attachment 3586554

She sounds amazing.

 

[MrsNorthie]

OMG this is sooooo frustrating from that aspect of a parent (both children and pets..) I still have facebook, to keep in touch with a couple of "friends", and some other groups of interest, and this was posted today:

"My rooster Looney has turned into an a$$hole. He got his name from when he young and was always on the go. He has been sweet up to this past week. He’s about 19 weeks old. I came here to ask if there is any hope for him?
He first lunged at my 1.5yo about a week ago. She got a couple nasty scratches, she cried but moved on. I chalked it up to him wanting her granola bar she was holding and her not sharing (which she usually does). Second time two days later she was in the coop (which she does on a daily) and was Taking their feed and sprinkling it on the ground. He was in there at the time and scratched just above her eyebrow. She cried for about 30seconds but stayed in there. I didn’t see it actually happen, but saw the scratch after. he then started pecking at her butt which when I looked she has dirt on her shorts and it appeared he was just pecking at the dirt. Again, I let it go. next day, he started pecking away at my dog which I thought ok, he’s just protecting his girls. He came at me when I went to check for eggs from behind. He also pecked at my hand another time as I was trying to pick up feed that got knocked out of the scooper on the ground. All of these were fairly small incidents. However, yesterday, my daughter was out by the coop with me and she touched his tail feathers as she was walking by he lost his

. He came at her with such force, he knocked her over and then jump on top of her attacking her. I shoved him off and whacked him with a stick!
My poor sweet baby had scratches all down her stomach and back, arms and even just above her lip. I was ready to kill him. it’s like a switch went off in his head. He has even become mean to his ladies. They don’t want to be near him. I had been going back and forth about keeping him anyway. I’m looking at rehoming him. Until I find somewhere for him, can I help the situation other then serving him for dinner?
Side note, he hasn’t once gone after my 9yo son. I now go out with a stick because I don’t trust him."

Why would you not supervise a toddler, around your animals? I mean, the alarms went off when she stated that there had been earlier incidents that weren't serious, warnings that this woman ignored, then this 18 M/O child messes with his tail... of course he reacted, he feels threatened, he tried to tell her by the earlier, gentler warnings. This woman's lack of common sense combined with cockerel puberty is a complete recipe for disaster. Any animal can cause catastrophic injury to a small child, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. Children are notoriously rough with animals. I linked to the article @Shadrach wrote - Understanding Your Rooster. I guess I was an over-protective mother.