Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MaryJanet]

They all tend to sit down and relax around me when I sit down. I sit down a lot. í seem to have become part of the tribe more so recently. I've found that ranging chickens are active in spurts, mornings trying to forage, rest much of the middle of the day, then high activity a couple of hours before going to roost.

The hens at my place follow a similar timetable, but I wouldn't call them ranging. They only have 400m2, well short of an acre.

Edit... Aaaand I should have read ahead before commenting

This ratbag came inside the other day. Blurry photo because it's Christa and she's rarely still.

 

[Little Tala Bug]

They all tend to sit down and relax around me when I sit down. I sit down a lot. í seem to have become part of the tribe more so recently. I've found that ranging chickens are active in spurts, mornings trying to forage, rest much of the middle of the day, then high activity a couple of hours before going to roost.

Mine are the same. Eating, drinking, and sorting out politics in the morning. Napping, bathing, preening, laying eggs in the middle hours of the day. More eating and squabbling in the evening.

Just like humans, my older chickens eat and then put themselves to bed early, sometimes a couple hours before dark depending on the weather. The young ones stay out way longer snacking and roaming around, rain or shine, putting themselves to bed perilously close to nightfall. I don't mind that because I can let the dogs out to protect them from foxes, but in the summer it's annoying because I want to be in bed.... the sun sets so late up here in Scotland around midsummer!

***

We have had a few changes in the flock since I last posted. The other day I heard a strange sound that I had never heard a chicken make before. A distress call that didn't sound like fighting or predator warnings but sounded very serious. I ran to the back garden to see what was going on and found William crying loudly at the edge of a stand of pines where the chickens love to hang out. Coco, his former wife, was lying stone dead in her dust bath. She had no injuries that I could find. I suspect she died of some underlying condition as she was a rescued battery hen and would have been over three years old this year. Her eggs had large calcium deposits on them for months, which didn't seem to improve no matter what solutions we threw at it.

I wasn't particularly bonded with Coco, she was a good hen and never caused any bother, but we never really formed a connection. My heart broke for William, though, because she was his number 1 hen when they arrived at the farm and roosted next to him every night until he was kicked out of the flock. She would come to visit him occasionally on the driveway and get some stolen kisses when Johnny wasn't watching.

I have never seen any of my chickens be so visibly upset by the passing of a flockmate. I don't know if it was the "right" thing to do, but my partner (who has an extremely special bond with William), ran out and instinctively scooped William up and cradled him in his arms. That actually seemed to calm him down, he stopped crying and then snuggled in, eventually making contented rooster noises. While that was happening I took Coco away to examine her and prepare to bury her.

So that brings us to only one battery hen left out of our original four -- Hazel. Her eggs are still very good quality and she seems healthy for now. Johnny loves her and she is definitely in the ranks of the senior hens. She is feisty and has a strong, red, large, upright comb. I hope she defies the odds and stays around a little bit longer. We are all big fans of Hazel, and we think William is sensitive to the passing of his little original battery flock. He was a bit depressed after the passing of his coopmates, Pecan and Ms. Peanut, earlier this spring/summer, and then he lost his eye. It would be nice if he had a break from constant loss for a while.

Here is some tax after such a long post. This is the first picture I took of William, Johnny, Pecan, Peanut, Coco, and Hazel when they arrived on the farm last November. They were so scared of everything. The hens would absolutely freak out if we even looked in their direction. But William was such a gentle dominant rooster and shared the flock peacefully with Johnny. It's amazing how much the hens learned to trust and relax in the short time they have been with us, and how much the rooster dynamics have shifted.

 

[fuzzi]

Mine are the same. Eating, drinking, and sorting out politics in the morning. Napping, bathing, preening, laying eggs in the middle hours of the day. More eating and squabbling in the evening.

Just like humans, my older chickens eat and then put themselves to bed early, sometimes a couple hours before dark depending on the weather. The young ones stay out way longer snacking and roaming around, rain or shine, putting themselves to bed perilously close to nightfall. I don't mind that because I can let the dogs out to protect them from foxes, but in the summer it's annoying because I want to be in bed.... the sun sets so late up here in Scotland around midsummer!

***

We have had a few changes in the flock since I last posted. The other day I heard a strange sound that I had never heard a chicken make before. A distress call that didn't sound like fighting or predator warnings but sounded very serious. I ran to the back garden to see what was going on and found William crying loudly at the edge of a stand of pines where the chickens love to hang out. Coco, his former wife, was lying stone dead in her dust bath. She had no injuries that I could find. I suspect she died of some underlying condition as she was a rescued battery hen and would have been over three years old this year. Her eggs had large calcium deposits on them for months, which didn't seem to improve no matter what solutions we threw at it.

I wasn't particularly bonded with Coco, she was a good hen and never caused any bother, but we never really formed a connection. My heart broke for William, though, because she was his number 1 hen when they arrived at the farm and roosted next to him every night until he was kicked out of the flock. She would come to visit him occasionally on the driveway and get some stolen kisses when Johnny wasn't watching.

I have never seen any of my chickens be so visibly upset by the passing of a flockmate. I don't know if it was the "right" thing to do, but my partner (who has an extremely special bond with William), ran out and instinctively scooped William up and cradled him in his arms. That actually seemed to calm him down, he stopped crying and then snuggled in, eventually making contented rooster noises. While that was happening I took Coco away to examine her and prepare to bury her.

So that brings us to only one battery hen left out of our original four -- Hazel. Her eggs are still very good quality and she seems healthy for now. Johnny loves her and she is definitely in the ranks of the senior hens. She is feisty and has a strong, red, large, upright comb. I hope she defies the odds and stays around a little bit longer. We are all big fans of Hazel, and we think William is sensitive to the passing of his little original battery flock. He was a bit depressed after the passing of his coopmates, Pecan and Ms. Peanut, earlier this spring/summer, and then he lost his eye. It would be nice if he had a break from constant loss for a while.

Here is some tax after such a long post. This is the first picture I took of William, Johnny, Pecan, Peanut, Coco, and Hazel when they arrived on the farm last November. They were so scared of everything. The hens would absolutely freak out if we even looked in their direction. But William was such a gentle dominant rooster and shared the flock peacefully with Johnny. It's amazing how much the hens learned to trust and relax in the short time they have been with us, and how much the rooster dynamics have shifted.

View attachment 3621986

Which one is William?

 

[Little Tala Bug]

Which one is William?

This handsome fellow =)

According to the woman who gave him to us, he is half purebred Shetland chicken. His crest (or tappit, as they say here in Scotland) is hilariously stylish. He fathered Johnny Cashew, the other rooster in the previous post. He also had a bunch of babies with a Crested Cream Legbar this year and their hairstyles are magnificent

The black and brown ones below are his. He also has a couple barred sons, not pictured here. The lighter ones are Johnny's babies with the same CCL.

 

[fuzzi]

This handsome fellow =)


View attachment 3622013

According to the woman who gave him to us, he is half purebred Shetland chicken. His crest (or tappit, as they say here in Scotland) is hilariously stylish. He fathered Johnny Cashew, the other rooster in the previous post. He also had a bunch of babies with a Crested Cream Legbar this year and their hairstyles are magnificent

The black and brown ones below are his. He also has a couple barred sons, not pictured here. The lighter ones are Johnny's babies with the same CCL.


View attachment 3622016

Handsome, indeed.

My heart goes out to sweet William, losing his sweetheart.

 

[Perris]

Update on the feathering gene. Janeka's chicks were 3 weeks old yesterday, and this photo captures the variation in their feathering rates.

Idris (on the right) had full body length wing feathers by the end of week 1, and I think must have the rapid feathering allele (k+), which is the wild type and is recessive. Skomer meanwhile (on the left) appears to have the slow or very slow feathering version (Ks or Kn, hetero- or homozygous respectively), and Betws (top) has the slow or possibly the late feathering version (Ks or K).

Towey's feathers had been developing at a rate between Idris and Betws, so if s/he had the late allele, between them the four chicks displayed all the options for the feathering gene: B = slow, I = rapid, S = very slow, T = late. (Janeka is their broody but they probably all have different parents.)

Good website for those interested in these things: https://cluckin.net/chicken-genetics-gene-table-and-breeding.html#mcetoc_1dnsok1uod

 

[TropicalChickies]

That is exactly what mine are like. The middle of the day is for snoozing, sun bathing and dust bathing. Also sitting around gossiping.
That inactivity is bookended morning and evening by a frenetic pitch to eat everything and anything as if in danger of imminent starvation.

Bernie in the evening just making sure she doesn’t starve overnight.
View attachment 3621707

That is quite a pre-bedtime crop fill up!

 

[TropicalChickies]

My heart broke for William, though, because she was his number 1 hen when they arrived at the farm and roosted next to him every night until he was kicked out of the flock.

My heart goes out to William as well. He sounds like such a loyal chap. Thank you for sharing this story.

 

[RoyalChick]

That is quite a pre-bedtime crop fill up!

I keep taking that same picture over and over because it gets me every evening.
She will walk into the Chicken Palace looking like that and still stop at the feeder to squeeze in some pellets on her way to roost.

 

[TropicalChickies]

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.

@MrsNorthie have you read this comment from the resident Roosterist? I think I recall you were attempting to hand feed all three of your cockerels, although one of them (Blue, correct?) has emerged as the dominant. Apparently, there's some politics attached to this action to be aware of.

Complex beings, indeed!