Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

How do you manage this?
Buying girls or do you hatch and
keep the ratio 1:1? I never heard a 1:1 ratio with a group of hens and roosters is fine. Not even with a tolerant breed like silkies. So I’m really curious.

These are our first chickens, all Buff Orpingtons and we did get them from a hatchery, (I know... but that was our only option at the time.) When we discovered that 3 of the 12 were cockerels, and that it was really going to be out of balance (1:3 ratio), so we panicked and got 15 more pullets, then decided that we really needed a few more so got 11 more pullets. (chicken math) I love my boys, and did not like most of the options, so we made the decision to try to have enough girls to keep them balanced with 11-ish pullets to each cockerel. Going forward, any new additions will be hatched here with the mom's.

The 3 boys have really worked things out, they have been together since they were a few hours old, Blue, is our dominant, Goldie has basically accepted the role of second in command, he is usually within a few feet of Blue and the girls, backing the big boy up, and Spud, has been third in command, he patrols the perimeter, constantly doing laps around the wire, supporting the tribe. While they were establishing their roles, it was a little hard on the girls, but no real injuries, and I intervene when necessary. Goldie and Spud have been challenging Blue, the last few days, but I have maintained my activities, to reinforce my respect to Blue as the dominant, and they seem to have calmed back down.

They were all brooded in my office, so I had been with them all day, every day until they were fully feathered and ready to go out in the run. The first group arrived in winter and were inside longer than the second and third group due to weather, and I felt more comfortable sending the summer babies out earlier to the nursery run and coop because the older ones were there. They visit through the wire and the boys are already starting to try to charm the older ones. I still spend 4-6 hours a day with them, every day.

 

[MrsNorthie]

But standing there and letting him flog me while I'm holding the food bucket isn't exactly my cup of tea --

Nor should it be. I wonder if a squirt of water would help or make it worse. There was one time where Blue came at me when I was carrying one of their shallow foot baths full of water, and he ended up wearing it, so the next time, the little stinker waited until I put it down. LOL

Now I'm the only one coming out of that gate. Maybe he thinks I'm keeping her for myself or took her away (which I did, because she was dying) and that has something to do with his aggression. Because the change in his attitude towards me over the past week is pretty stark.

That could be, he remembers her coming out and now doesn't see her and of course, doesn't understand. They are so complex.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Mine don’t care about sparrows who steal their grains. A chicken who sees a cat alerts the others in a sort of little annoyed predator alert for cats. Most of the time they try to avoid the cats and if a cat is in the run the chickens won’t go inside.

But Chef, my white pullet, doesn’t sound an alarm at all. She acts like she is a tiny dog and tries to chase the pussycat of the neighbours away.

Chef between the plants.
View attachment 3619477

When they were little peeping balls of fluff in my office, the cats would occasionally check when they got noisy, but were not interested. My 2 male dogs loved them, my old staffie pit would lay next to the brooder and guard them all day, the look of adoration on their faces when they watched the chicks was adorable.

Now, the pullets and the the sparrows and other little birds.. when they they first started nipping in to steal the grains, the girls would actually chase them, while the boys were alerting, now the girls ignore them but the boys still let us know they are there. .

 

[MrsNorthie]

Cruella, since she was a wee pullet, would chase any sparrow away.

Seeing the big fluffy butts running and hopping trying to catch a little sparrow is just about the funniest thing I have witnessed.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Temperature is in the 90s.

Had to go to t own this morning so here I am catching up again.

It has been the same here, I am so over summer. We only leave the property when we absolutely have to. I took a long lunch break to run in and top up some of our necessities, pine shavings, for the chickens..lol It is so peopley out there.

 

[MrsNorthie]

(this is NOT Joel, but Samuel, roo #2)

He is a handsome boy!

 

[kcan2]

I have made friends with bulls, wild horses, deer, elk,

That is quite a resume! Are elk pretty docile creatures? I am reminded of a BBC video we watched about a buffalo that gets to go into his owner's house!

I used to think folks who let their chickens come into the house were odd. I have since realized this was nothing but a misinformed, preconceived prejudice as my rooster has been known to help me rummage in the kitchen cupboard/fridge for acceptable hen snacks. His recommendations are always accurate!

 

[Perris]

Hens definitely seem to need to hear their chicks in order to respond to them appropriately. I saw an experiment once that put chicks in little glass cups where the mother could see but not hear them and the mother didn't respond. But if she could hear but not see the chick she went full mama bear.

this is my experience too. First thing I did when I noticed one missing was to walk round everywhere listening, but I couldn't pick out chick cheep from other bird tweets. Of course predators can use it to hone in on them too, so sometimes they keep quiet.

Do you have any holes or wells trenches a chick can fall into?

We have loads of height variations deep enough to cause problems for a chick, including a ditch full of brambles that I struggle to get out of and from which I had to rescue Sven, in his senior years, once, but I think broodies usually steer clear of the known hazards. Janeka is prone to assume they're more capable than they are, which can be an issue if only one can't make it, but she will stay close until they work it out or around if she's aware of it - via the cheeping.

It's because she and the others were acting as if nothing had happened that predation of a chick that wandered too far ahead or behind or to the side (they are foraging busily for themselves now) strikes me as the likely cause. It happens when you let them live free, in the same way that people have accidents when cycling, or swimming, or climbing, or engaged in assorted other healthy outdoor pursuits, as opposed to sitting safely in front of a computer. An active, full and free life involves risk.

 

[BDutch]

There are so very many people that their go to response is to cull the males and that is sad.

When we discovered that 3 of the 12 were cockerels, and that it was really going to be out of balance (1:3 ratio), so we panicked and got 15 more pullets, then decided that we really needed a few more so got 11 more pullets. (chicken math)

Are the pullets you bought are from a hatchery were only girls are born?
This is possible (abortion at day 11) and done in large hatcheries for laying hybrids for the egg industry, so they can sell the eggs with the label ‘ no chicks dead ‘ or ‘no cockerel dead’.

Some countries in the EU such as Luxembourg, France and Germany already have a national ban on the killing of day-old chicks for the egg industry. The European Commission now wants all EU countries to follow their example.

But as far as I know this abortion method is not common practice in hatcheries for back yard chickens. If the hatchery has no label with ‘ no cockerel dead ‘ you should realise that your response was to let someone else kill 25 - 30 male chicks for you.

Btw, I do love it that you do your best for the all the chickens you have and are hatched in your office and grow up in your backyard (or was it the other way around ).

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

I 'cull' all my surplus cockerels. They go to local families to eat. One day I will eat them myself but I'm not there yet. I would prefer to do it myself and not have them leave the property but I can't kill them. They live out their goofy wonderful lives in my yard and become somebody's dinner when they're around 4ish months old.
If the market for pullets falls down then the selling pullets will get eaten too, and I won't hatch so many next time. Last season I had a waiting list and could have sold every girl five times over if I had the numbers. I believe it is still much the same.
I like having chicks and my hens like having chicks. The outcome of that is some of them are going to be dinner.
What I do know is that they have wonderful lives while they live. They're not my pets, although I'm rather attached to my 'originals' and they will get to live their lives till they're ancient and die right here where they were hatched.