Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[HiEverybirdy]

Well I did get surprise today was told he is BC Marans not correct as no feathers on the legs.
Was also told he is hatchery stock bought at a store here called Winco.
Huh I guess he does have feathers on his legs I did not see.
View attachment 3594413

He looks like a Black Copper Marans. Many end up with light or no leg feathering.

Our Marans came from a breeder very concerned with the SOP, but all our birds from her have some kind of "fault" (said tongue-in-cheek), like Andre's beautiful dark eyes, instead of the "reddish bay" standard. All kinds of traits and genes can pop up with chickens!

 

[Perris]

Marans not correct as no feathers on the legs

French standard Marans have feathered legs; UK standard Marans do not and count it a fault. Does anybody know what the US standard for Marans is?

Our Marans came from a breeder very concerned with the SOP, but all our birds from her have some kind of "fault"

That's exactly how to get high SOP quality birds - 'culls' from a serious breeder who only keeps the very best from any clutch to breed from, and sells the rest to fund the hobby. His or her 'seconds' are usually much better birds than can be found anywhere else, normally.

 

[Perris]

New development here: Polka stopped responding to Fez's cheeps yesterday; they were quite loud and insistent by teatime. By this morning, no cheeping, and Fez is behaving like any other member of the flock. Smoothest, fastest integration we've ever had. I wonder if being an only chick had something to do with it.

Also, Chirk managed to get out of the trug himself this morning. Having a mobile house chicken is a very different proposition from have an easily contained one. It's gonna be a bit like dealing with the transition from baby to toddler

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

I've still got 1.412 pages to read, but I'm at a point where a topic that I'm very interested in/very passionate about has been brought up enough, so I'm very very sorry for bringing to light something so randomly everyone. If any of you have interacted with me on other threads you'd know that I have a slight obsession with broodies. I cannot complain about the lack of broodies over the first 8-9 years of chicken keeping, since the vast majority of birds kept in my flock were leghorns and ISA brown. In addition, I was much more skeptical of letting them free range all day. With the addition of the landraces however, they were pretty much left to roam all day, and the landrace itself is supposedly very broody. Despite said claims, none of my hens have ever showed interest in sitting. Furthermore, they do not have much of an interest in finding laying spots out on the property, and much prefer the ones that I have made available to them, inside the coop. There was a period (3 months or so) where some would presumably lay outside (I never found the nest) but that has since stopped. I am way less interested in getting to the bottom of this now, as I have a wonderful bantam who seems to be a regular broody and will be assisting me in keeping this landrace alive, but I would like for at least a small portion of the actual landraces to be raising some chicks, showing them the ropes of free ranging from the beginning. Again, sorry for being so off topic, so here is some tax that'll hopefully repay it. A rooster crowing freeView attachment 3594185

It sounds like you're on the right track for getting your self-replacing flock going!

That definitely seems to be the case. The next generation will be raised by my broody bantam, hopefully. I just can't imagine that rearing chicks artificially messes up with their instinct to further their genes so much. Anyways, i digress. I have the proof right in front of me

I've not considered that artificial rearing could impact the expression of brooding. I've not successfully used artificial methods so haven't got any experience with that to share. But what I do know is my hens go broody A LOT (3-4 times each per year) and all but 2 of them are broody raised, right here on my property (those 2 do all go broody though). I have 19 hens currently, and of those 19, 15 of them are going to go constantly broody starting in about a month and ongoing until late autumn. I have had to shore-up my broody game for this season, as they will have to hatch in turns. Imagine 15 mamas with babies all at once! I'm allowing a maximum of 3 sitting fertile eggs at once.

 

[Perris]

I have 19 hens currently, and of those 19, 15 of them are going to go constantly broody starting in about a month and ongoing until late autumn. I have had to shore-up my broody game for this season, as they will have to hatch in turns. Imagine 15 mamas with babies all at once! I'm allowing a maximum of 3 sitting fertile eggs at once.

what do you do with all the chicks?

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

what do you do with all the chicks?

I hatch small batches, usually each hen only has between 2 and 5 chicks each. The boys I grow on until either the crowing battles get too much or they harass the mature hens too much, then I give them away to be eaten. I have a few families I pass them on to.
The pullets I sell, I usually keep a couple of replacements each year although I may not this season. I kept 7 pullets from last season, as they were fathered by Wendell (a cockerel i kept till he was about 7 months old) and not my head flock rooster, so it was a great way to get genetic diversity from my own hens rather than buying in hatching eggs.
I'm counting on my two young cockerels to step up to the play on fathering some chicks this season as my poor overworked Kowalski (head rooster) isn't keeping up on the fertility front.

 

[Iluveggers]

Just a small rant…I wish towns and villages weren’t so exclusive with their rooster language. I feel very fortunate to be able to keep our hens/pullets, but I would love to keep a rooster on premise. Out of the 3 my broody hatched, I think at least 2 are cockerels, the 3rd might be also, which mean’s unfortunately once they crow we will have to process. I understand having some government regulations, but they would be no louder than all the dogs on my road, or the volunteer fire whistle, or the motorcycle down the street, or the weekly band that plays until 10pm in the village square, or the lawnmowers/construction saws that start at 7am, or the garbage trucks that pick up trash at 2am…

Tax:
The blue laced red Wyandotte chick…she’s gonna be a beaut!

 

[fluffycrow]

Just a small rant…I wish towns and villages weren’t so exclusive with their rooster language. I feel very fortunate to be able to keep our hens/pullets, but I would love to keep a rooster on premise. Out of the 3 my broody hatched, I think at least 2 are cockerels, the 3rd might be also, which mean’s unfortunately once they crow we will have to process. I understand having some government regulations, but they would be no louder than all the dogs on my road, or the volunteer fire whistle, or the motorcycle down the street, or the weekly band that plays until 10pm in the village square, or the lawnmowers/construction saws that start at 7am, or the garbage trucks that pick up trash at 2am…

Tax:
The blue laced red Wyandotte chick…she’s gonna be a beaut!
View attachment 3594677

I feel the exact same way, everyone should have at least one male on their property. Most of the neighbours I've known all my life, so the complaints are more subtle, but I find the crow of a male one of the most beautiful sounds. Tax

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!

 

[TropicalChickies]

Beautiful birds! I always read about people here on BYC saying that their pullets have started laying by 4 to 5 months! Even my ISA brown don't start till 6 months! Totally get the struggle of waiting for eggs

Hmm, eight to nine months seems to be the norm for the pullets and hens I have now. Our Butchie started laying at six months and laid nearly every day for 18 months, then became ill and stopped laying altogether. She's still with us, and gets around, but clearly has some internal problem. I had another hen who was an early layer, and she laid enormous eggs with double yolks, that caused her to prolapse repeatedly.

The girls I have now started later and seem to lay 4-5 times per week on average. They all go broody to some extent, so their bodies get laying breaks. They certainly seem healthier for it. I'm curious and hopeful to see if they live longer lives with fewer health problems if their bodies aren't so taxed from laying all the time.