Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[TropicalChickies]

This is unusual for Fret who in the past has refused to eat while sitting.

I'm worried about little Dusty. She's gone from not seeming to take her sit very seriously -- I had to lure her back to her nest the first day with food, and she broke and ate one egg -- to taking it so seriously, she won't leave the nest or eat very much at all. It's like her broody switch just clicked on full force.

I took her off the nest yesterday and in five minutes she pooped, frantically dust bathed, barely nibbled some food, and ran right back to the eggs. She's very lightweight to start, so she doesn't have a lot of weight to lose. She's on her fourth day of sitting, so I'm hoping once she knows the eggs have "sparked" she will give herself more of a break to at least eat.

 

[TropicalChickies]

A topic I bang on about frequently.
What I read about the reasons for keeping chickens on this forum in many instances just don't make sense when matched to reality.
One of the recurring themes on chicken keeping I read here is to take food production away from the big corporations and improve the lot of the chicken in the process.
Then they order chicks from a major hatchery which may well supply the batteries and/or use the same large scale breeders that do so. That's all big business over which we have virtually no say in or control over.

In general the chicks they get are poor quality often not much like the original breed in anything but looks.

Then they house them in mass produced coops unfit for purpose and once again supplied by large businesses.

Then they kit out the coops with all the plastic products again supplied by big business.

Then they feed them commercially produced crap supplied form large food corporations.

Meanwhile the popularity of chicken keeping increases and the breeders churn out more substandard stock with increased egg producing genes in mind.

Apparently this is "sticking one on the man." and large corporations.
Looks much like what the batteries do but on a smaller scale to me and in all this the heritage breeds are being ruined and "the man" is making more money and getting further control on the means of food production.

I'm giving this post a not because I love these facts, but because the observations are astute and concisely put. I've often thought when reading posts that start, "I went to Big Box Chicken Store and bought 10 EEs and 6 BRs and 8 RIRs ..." Like wth are you talking about? Wake up. That's like saying you went to the mall and bought shirts from Old Navy and the Gap and Zara and they're all made in the same Cambodian sweatshop.

 

[fluffycrow]

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. The certainly seems 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.

All my ISA brown seem to start at 6 months, with the exception of one. Just like my other breeds. Right now I have two older hens. The disabled one I showed yesterday, and another one that is out free ranging with the landraces. I have noticed that until they stop laying consistently, their molts are not as good, and the feather condition is much worse. The disabled hen after a sickness she overcame 1 and a half years ago, and the stress that also caused her disability, now only lays once every two full moons. Her feather condition is much better. I definitely believe that laying so frequently with no breaks impacts them in more ways than one. Some of their sisters have already passed on from reproductive problems

 

[TropicalChickies]

All my ISA brown seem to start at 6 months, with the exception of one. Just like my other breeds. Right now I have two older hens. The disabled one I showed yesterday, and another one that is out free ranging with the landraces. I have noticed that until they stop laying consistently, their molts are not as good, and the feather condition is much worse. The disabled hen after a sickness she overcame 1 and a half years ago, and the stress that also caused her disability, now only lays once every two full moons. Her feather condition is much better. I definitely believe that laying so frequently with no breaks impacts them in more ways than one. Some of their sisters have already passed on from reproductive problems

I agree. I don't have hard evidence beyond my own but of experience, but my heart and head say, yes, of course that would be the case. There's only so much energy in a body. If so much of it gets directed to one thing, there's not much to go around elsewhere.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Ok, big time taxes owed. Finally the sun is out too.

General Lucio. More imperious looking by the day.

Captain Solo, Patucha's only chick is part of what is now the established senior tribe. An interesting rooster/tribe dynamic is playing out. Little Solo is only 12 weeks. Unlike the two cockerels Tina hatched, Solo doesn't crow and his comb/wattle development is slower. But he is already taking on junior rooster duties. He sits with and guards a hen laying while Lucio is with the others. There are a lot of falcons around, and I can tell this assistance is really setting Lucio more at ease.

Here's another interesting tidbit: I highly doubt Solo is actually Lucio's son. At best, he is his little half-brother. But Solo LOOKS like Lucio -- a near exact copy, while the other two cockerels do not. Lucio and Solo appear to have bonded in a big brother way that Lucio has not made with the others. He just ignores them.

The junior tribe. Prima, Tobias, and Segundo. I put Dusty's brooding nest in their coop, so her chicks can be introduced to this tribe. Dusty herself is a junior pullet/hen, and likes the company of the juniors, so this felt right.

Tina, who is the senior hen, is brooding over by the senior coop. I'm hoping that by having them brood in these different areas, it will facilitate the transition to a multi tribe situation.

The juniors have staked out their own territory to range over during the day. It overlaps with the senior territory a bit, but so far it's quite harmonious. Each group now seems to know, "this is our neighborhood." Lucio, to his credit, is being very fair minded about the whole thing. As long as he knows where his favorites are, it's live and let live.

Lucio foraging for two of his favorite ladies.

Tobias and Segundo haven't fought seriously since their big feud. Tobias is definitely dominant, but Segundo is crowing now too. Eventually, I'll probably move Segundo to another area with his own pullets so he's not low man forever.

Toby is getting beautiful long tail feathers, but with his Mama's short legs, they are almost dragging on the ground, poor fella!

 

[fluffycrow]

Ok, big time taxes owed. Finally the sun is out too.

View attachment 3594751
General Lucio. More imperious looking by the day.

View attachment 3594752
Captain Solo, Patucha's only chick is part of what is now the established senior tribe. An interesting rooster/tribe dynamic is playing out. Little Solo is only 12 weeks. Unlike the two cockerels Tina hatched, Solo doesn't crow and his comb/wattle development is slower. But he is already taking on junior rooster duties. He sits with and guards a hen laying while Lucio is with the others. There are a lot of falcons around, and I can tell this assistance is really setting Lucio more at ease.

Here's another interesting tidbit: I highly doubt Solo is actually Lucio's son. At best, he is his little half-brother. But Solo LOOKS like Lucio -- a near exact copy, while the other two cockerels do not. Lucio and Solo appear to have bonded in a big brother way that Lucio has not made with the others. He just ignores them.

View attachment 3594759
The junior tribe. Prima, Tobias, and Segundo. I put Dusty's brooding nest in their coop, so her chicks can be introduced to this tribe. Dusty herself is a junior pullet/hen, and likes the company of the juniors, so this felt right.

Tina, who is the senior hen, is brooding over by the senior coop. I'm hoping that by having them brood in these different areas, it will facilitate the transition to a multi tribe situation.

The juniors have staked out their own territory to range over during the day. It overlaps with the senior territory a bit, but so far it's quite harmonious. Each group now seems to know, "this is our neighborhood." Lucio, to his credit, is being very fair minded about the whole thing. As long as he knows where his favorites are, it's live and let live.
View attachment 3594768
Lucio foraging for two of his favorite ladies.

View attachment 3594770
Tobias and Segundo haven't fought seriously since their big feud. Tobias is definitely dominant, but Segundo is crowing now too. Eventually, I'll probably move Segundo to another area with his own pullets so he's not low man forever.

View attachment 3594777
Toby is getting beautiful long tail feathers, but with his Mama's short legs, they are almost dragging on the ground, poor fella!

Gorgeous birds! I remember Lucio from a few months back, still think he's absolutely gorgeous

 

[Shadrach]

I know, I've just found all the discussions extremely interesting. I've read things that I've been observing with my chickens for years, but just couldn't quite put into words. I am absolutely loving all the information. I will try not to mention any old subjects though. That particular thing just hit too close to home, especially since I've seen that this system (granted mine is in a pretty small scale) has been very fruitful broody-wise for a lot of people, and chickens

Mentioning old subjects is absolutely fine. We all have our pet subjects we can tend to bang on about at ever given opportunity. New perspectives are always welcome as they give the reader a chance to re-evaluate.

 

[fuzzi]

Don't think I owe tax, but I want to share...

"These pullets are driving me up the roost!"

- Joel

 

[Shadrach]

I've seen many hatchery quality marans here on BYC with no feathers on their legs. Your guy might still be a BC Marans

Different countries have different standards. The British Marans do not have feathered legs. I prefer to judge by the standard of the original breed. I have trouble understanding for example how the British Marans can be considered a Marans at all.

 

[Shadrach]

But chickens are smart enough to not eat a hotdog

Ohhh, I don't know. I reckon if I showed up with a hot dog at the allotments Carbon especially would rip my hand off for a piece.