Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Thursday 24th. Around 7 hours in two shifts.

 

[Shadrach]

Friday 25th. Eight hours. Two shifts.

 

[Shadrach]

Saturday, Sunday and Monday which is today in no particular order because I haven't sorted them out yet.

When the wolf is at your door.

My eldest was away today throwing herself down some track or other on her mountain bike. Apparently she came third in a race which she's pleased with. I haven't checked her over for damage yet. That's Spoko her soon to be 14 year old husky who I get to take care of because he likes me.

Pleased to be home for a night but away again tomorrow and again later in the week so posting will be intermittent.

The chicks are growing both in size and confidence fast. Both seem very healthy despite eating very little of the chick feed, prefering bugs, roots, seeds, insects and anything I take that mum says they can have.
They won't eat from my hand mainly because mum says no. I've only been attacked once by mum so far and that was when one of the chicks got caught up in a bit of string that I dug up on the plot and I had to untangle the chick.

Henry, has taken to eating the chick feed which of course is much better for him than the layers feed.
Carbon looked a bit broody for a day when she went back and sat on the eggs having just laid one, but it seems to have passed.
I've had to put them all back in the coop run twice now because word has got around and twice people talking to the chicks dribbling like imbiciles and trying to touch them and talking baby talk to them. Niether Fret nor Henry have liked the attention and trying to explain to people that both are dangerous especially when people shove their heads out at bent over height towards the chicks.
Some people are shocked that I let them out and I overheard one women say to another as they walked away that I was irresponsible letting their mum and her chicks out and they should be kept in a brooder.
Both chicks do much of their own foraging now and dust bathe and preen and I've seen both riding on Henry's back at some point.
There has only been one brief scrap between Carbon and Fret and that was when one of the chicks tried to steal something Carbon dug up. Henry shouted at everyone and that sorted it.

I've had a better look at what the chicks are eating at the tree roots. There is a tiny bug that lives there a little under the surface. I did get one but dropped it.

I've hand weeded in the allotment run much to the delight of all. Somewhere in the pictures below is a picture with one of the piles of weeds.

 

[fuzzi]

People can be incredibly STOOPID. I recall recently seeing a short video of two tourists walking up to a couple bison bulls that were sparring. Someone yelled at them to get away, and so they left, probably disapproving of the restrictions.

 

[BDutch]

I never had these little breeds. But they must have as much meat as quail or squab

Dutch are bigger as quail. About the size of a pigeon.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Just no! Move all or none. We've had a fair bit of rain at the allotments the last few days. Fret initially tried to shelter the chicks but not head for proper cover.
It took a couple of goes and I had to herd her and the chicks back into the coop extension. Now she takes the chicks there on her own.
Never seperate the chicks from their mother.

I didn't separate them at all.

I held the chicks until they started peeping. Then I walked a little bit so mama would follow. If they stopped peeping, I stopped and waited. They peep, I walk, mama follows. Pissed off and flogging, but she comes. I figured it out pretty quick. Little by little, we got to shelter together.

As I've explained elsewhere, the only reason I ever do that is because we have drainage trenches to move water away from our structures. In rainstorms they become rivers. A chick that doesn't make the jump would get carried away. I've only performed this operation when necessary and to get them to the closest sheltered place. I know the mum crouches over chicks in the rain, and in normal rain, I leave them alone. But in a driving tropical rainstorm where inches of water can accumulate in minutes, I take them to shelter.

Other than that, I don't handle chicks at all unless they get stuck or tangled up in something.

 

[kcan2]

oth chicks do much of their own foraging now and dust bathe and preen and I've seen both riding on Henry's back at some point.

Is Henry sitting down outside due to the presence of the chicks or more so due to his age? I am learning a lot about chick dynamics thanks to Fret & Co.!

Glad to hear your daughter made it down the mountain intact with a prize to boot! I think that Spoko has the right idea in hanging out at home while she does that

 

[TropicalChickies]

To be honest, I'm just confused.
How many roosters do you have?
How many cockerels do you have?
How many proper coops do you have?
How many hens do you have.
Where does everyone live?
Who is the senior male?
Where did the hens and the males come from?

If I've understood correctly you hand fed one of the cockerels who I believe isn't the senior male and then you stopped doing this because there were plenty of bugs to eat?
If you hand feed a junior cockerel that doesn't yet have his own hens then stop, for whatever reason you're asking for problems.
Everything and I mean everything goes through the senior male, that includes all the regular feed and treats if everyone is housed together.
If a junior cockerel becomes homeless (driven out of the group) then once he has his own place to live, then you can hand feed him. You then become his best friend and you will stay his best friend until he attracts hens and they move in with him.
If you were hand feeding a junior cockerel with treats then if he's got any brains he will use that to attract hens (look, I can get you better treats) if you then stop and he has been using the treats you gave him to try to attract hens then you've taken away his advantage.

You may not have been doing any of this. As I wrote, I'm totally confused.

No problem. I can sort this out succinctly.

I never hand fed a junior cockerel. The only male I hand feed is Lucio, the senior male who has his own hens and just fathered 4 chicks.

When I said I stopped giving treats, I meant treats in general to any of the chickens -- as in any food outside meals -- because of all the bugs. I've had enough on my plate with two broody mums, their chicks, and a more-temperamental-than usual senior male.

Your questions answered:

1. Technically I have zero roosters.

2. I have a ten month old cockerel named Lucio. Acting as senior male.

There are also 2 nearly four month old cockerels. They are brothers.

3. I have two proper coops on opposite sides of a tree orchard, about 80 meters apart.

4. There are five hens (2 senior and 3 junior)
1 laying pullet 7 mos
1 four month old pullet (the sister of the younger cockerels)

5. Lucio, the senior male, roosts in one coop with his 3 favorite hens and the 7 mo laying pullet who is also in his harem. One of the senior hens is in a broody apartment next to this coop with her two chicks fathered by Lucio

The juvenile cockerels and their sister roost in the other coop. One of the junior hens is in a broody apartment next to this coop with her two chicks fathered by Lucio.


6. The 2 senior hens are 2 years old. I bought them from a neighboring farm 1.5 years ago. The junior hens and pullets are one year and 7 mos, respectively. I got them from the same neighbor four months ago.

Lucio, the senior male hatched here in November from a fertile egg from same neighbor under a broody hen (deceased). I brought in the junior females for him.

The juveniles all hatched here in late April. I'm working on rehoming one of the brother cockerels. I have a good place for him. The brothers do not fight much but I want the non dominant to have his own hens one day. Here, he's low man with little chance.

Lucio, the senior male at 10 mos old, has been ornery with me -- and generally irritated with his hens -- lately. I thought it might be perhaps I "took away" a hen -- my Butchie who just died. My exasperation with getting jumped at twice a day prompted me to philosophize about his possible motives. I also found (and treated) lice on him two days ago. He seems calmer now.

Hope that clarifies. Thank you for asking.

 

[TropicalChickies]

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.

Thank you for writing this. It's very close to how I feel and where I'm inevitably headed. I can see myself having three or even four roosters, depending on dynamics, but chicks are going to be hatched here every year, and economically and energetically I cannot keep them all. Who can? But I've decided to set up an area where cockerels I can't keep can be killed and dressed here where they were born and lived until their last. I have no desire to eat them myself -- I'll give or trade the meat to a neighbor. It won't be easy for me, but feels like something I should make myself do so they don't have to leave the only place they've known in their last days.

 

[Perris]

I overheard one women say to another as they walked away that I was irresponsible letting their mum and her chicks out and they should be kept in a brooder.

I trust you quipped something suitable, loud enough for them to hear, in response