Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Little Tala Bug]

So excited about Fret's renewed motherhood journey! CCL chicks are so cute

I feel like I owe back taxes so here is William on his conservatory perch where he spent most of the afternoon.

He popped into the kitchen occasionally to drink from the dog bowl, much to the chagrin of my male dog who begrudgingly puts up with William's antics.
Our female dog, on the other hand, is besotted with William, who sometimes does a little herding shuffle around her.

 

[pennyJo1960]

So added a new cockerel to my flock. He is bit riled glad to see he allot of spunk.

 

[Iluveggers]

I think I owe some tax…lol. Here’s a few pics of some of the new editions to the flock. Barred Rock Kiwi, CCL Miso, and Naked Neck Cheddar.

 

[Perris]

I may be close to holding the record - Bernadette took 11 months before deciding she would lay an egg.

So did Eve - nice to know she's not the only one who took almost a year to get going! She too is an erratic layer, partly because she goes broody every year - up to 3 times each year - but she's still laying at 5 so I can't complain. Her mum won prizes, but then they were for looking like the SOP, not for egg-laying and personality

 

[Perris]

Picked up the hatching eggs this morning and got them under Fret this afternoon

Good luck to you both!
Quick question: why the shredded paper nest and not an upturned turf?

 

[fluffycrow]

I ran out of males. Here is a silkie mix pullet being herself (a complaining fluffball) and a disabled ISA brown hen

 

[Shadrach]

Good luck to you both!
Quick question: why the shredded paper nest and not an upturned turf?

There are lots of problems associated with not living at the allotments, or very close by and lots of problems to do with the allotment circumstances in general.
For most here they are their chickens on their land with nobody else likely to interfere. Most do not have someone like C with the issues C has doing unpredicatable things.
I don't usually write much about the problems the other allotment holders are still having with C, or what we are collectively trying to do about them. A full explanation would take pages.
I get told what C has said and written on the official group chat. For example, the others on the group chat have mentioned that I have done a great job with the chickens. C's response was at one point, I'll get rid of the chickens and then he'll go away. I have copies of similar chats.

So, thats the first major point. I could turn up one day and find no chickens.
The things that I do I have to be very carefull that I consult with the other plot holders so at least in theory I have their support. Whether I would get that support should the shit hit the fan is another matter.

The above may not seem relevant to your question but major visible changes can and have sent C into meltdown mode. The last meltdown resulted in C screaming at a plot holder and ripping some flowers out of their plot. The other chickens got rehomed through a similar meltdown.

Ideally I would have built a maternity unit with a ground based nest box. This takes time and money and is an obvious change.
The nest boxes hanging off the back of the coop are not really suitable for turf bases. They don't have sufficient depth.
If I could check the box throughout the day I could probably make a thinner turf layer work by keeping the soil moist, but I'm not there throughout the day.
Changing a nest site after a hen has sat always poses a risk of the hen abandoning the nest. I've had it happen before.
If one is there, one can do something about this; putting the hen back on the nest a few times has worked for me in the past. Obviously I would need to be there to notice that the hen had left the nest. I'm not there, I'm over six miles away.
Fret is not a free range hen. Shredded paper in the nest is what she is used to. A while ago I put straw in the nest box they use and left shredded paper in the nest box they don't. They changed to the nest box with shredded paper.

None of what I have is anywhere near ideal but it is what I have and I'm going to have to work with it. If I can get the base of the nest insulated that will be a start. Looking at the egg arrangement when I have lifted Fret off the nest, it looks as if she is managing to control the eggs well enough. I add paper around the edges as the existing compresses. Most days some gets taken out of the nest by Carbon laying and Fret leaving the nest.

 

[RoyalChick]

So did Eve - nice to know she's not the only one who took almost a year to get going! She too is an erratic layer, partly because she goes broody every year - up to 3 times each year - but she's still laying at 5 so I can't complain. Her mum won prizes, but then they were for looking like the SOP, not for egg-laying and personality View attachment 3593560

She is very pretty. I am hopeless at breeds - is she a particular breed? I guess so if her Mum won prizes.

 

[ManueB]

There are lots of problems associated with not living at the allotments, or very close by and lots of problems to do with the allotment circumstances in general.
For most here they are their chickens on their land with nobody else likely to interfere. Most do not have someone like C with the issues C has doing unpredicatable things.
I don't usually write much about the problems the other allotment holders are still having with C, or what we are collectively trying to do about them. A full explanation would take pages.
I get told what C has said and written on the official group chat. For example, the others on the group chat have mentioned that I have done a great job with the chickens. C's response was at one point, I'll get rid of the chickens and then he'll go away. I have copies of similar chats.

So, thats the first major point. I could turn up one day and find no chickens.
The things that I do I have to be very carefull that I consult with the other plot holders so at least in theory I have their support. Whether I would get that support should the shit hit the fan is another matter.

The above may not seem relevant to your question but major visible changes can and have sent C into meltdown mode. The last meltdown resulted in C screaming at a plot holder and ripping some flowers out of their plot. The other chickens got rehomed through a similar meltdown.

Ideally I would have built a maternity unit with a ground based nest box. This takes time and money and is an obvious change.
The nest boxes hanging off the back of the coop are not really suitable for turf bases. They don't have sufficient depth.
If I could check the box throughout the day I could probably make a thinner turf layer work by keeping the soil moist, but I'm not there throughout the day.
Changing a nest site after a hen has sat always poses a risk of the hen abandoning the nest. I've had it happen before.
If one is there, one can do something about this; putting the hen back on the nest a few times has worked for me in the past. Obviously I would need to be there to notice that the hen had left the nest. I'm not there, I'm over six miles away.
Fret is not a free range hen. Shredded paper in the nest is what she is used to. A while ago I put straw in the nest box they use and left shredded paper in the nest box they don't. They changed to the nest box with shredded paper.

None of what I have is anywhere near ideal but it is what I have and I'm going to have to work with it. If I can get the base of the nest insulated that will be a start. Looking at the egg arrangement when I have lifted Fret off the nest, it looks as if she is managing to control the eggs well enough. I add paper around the edges as the existing compresses. Most days some gets taken out of the nest by Carbon laying and Fret leaving the nest.

Very sad.
Would the other holders understand should you put a lock on the run to prevent C. from getting to the chickens without at least first letting you know, or would that be an abuse of collective property?

Getting Marans from French stock seems like a dream come true!

I've read this more than once on BYC and I'm sorry to say it's just not true anymore, the breed has become a victim of it's great popularity. Over french forums many chicken keepers are complaining about them. They say breeders from the Marans Club de France tend to breed for egg color first and SOP second, and hardiness is totally left aside. There has been too much inbreeding and poor strains.
Then on the other side, many dishonest breeders are selling Harko or Harko x Marans as pure Marans. Harko is a RIR x Plymouth rock hybrid, belonging to and commercialized by Hungarian brand Tetra Balbona, sold as a dual hybrid in many european and african countries, and worth half the price if not less of a Marans.
While there are certainly good breeders left , and especially if you travel to Marans or it's region Charentes-Maritimes ( 1000 km away from my home) as was the case for the chickens Shadrach lived with, the chance of getting a good Marans chicken without knowing the breeder in France are low.

I got two pol pullets cross Marans/harko two months and two weeks ago, and while the breeder was terrible, she had at least the honesty of selling them as such. They have been laying like crazy, as much as the leghorns I got from the same place. They are going to be heavy birds and they really don't seem to fare well in our relative heat (34c/ 93f).

Kara. no feathered feet and has a broken beak since we got her.

Lilly , feathered feet, lays less, seems unwell in the heat.

 

[Shadrach]

For most of the changes I've achieved at the allotments with both chickens and the plots, I've done through example; telling people just doesn't work I've found. My three main supporters have all mentioned they didn't think I would last more than a few weeks. I've had more crap from C than all the rest put together, something they all acknowledge. I'm still there.
The Ex Battery hens chickens lived longer with a better quality of live than before. Everyone there acknowledges this as well.

When I first mentioned my intention was to let the chickens onto the allotment plots C and others said the plots would get destroyed. I've done it mainly on my plot, the plot next to mine with the flowers in and one other. The women who keeps the flower plots has said she has had fewer bug problems and overall her plot has seen no negative signs of the chickens being on it compared to previous years.
While my plot isn't as well organised as a couple of others, compared to those plots where the plastic sheet no dig method has been the norm, my plot looks lush and productive. It's a talking point on the official group chat much to C's irritation.

Many of the plot holders were buying bags of compost; lots of bags. They cost money. I use my chicken shit method and compost from the new system. At the start, nobody used the new system compost. Now some people are and another set of compost piles is to be set up on the other side of the allotments. According to C in rant mode I don't know what I'm doing. The evidence says otherwise.

It is true I put more time and effort into both the chickens and my plot than many. If one wants to succeed at something time and effort are required.
This is my plot. The plot on the left with the sunflower and weeds is C's plot. The plot directly behind my plot with the green chair in is one of the plastic sheet and no chickens allowed plots.

A few people are using the new compost arrangement now. This was full a few weeks ago. Of course the chickens are on it.