Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

Talking of which, life throws a spanner in any plans or expectations I have had for the flock, so I've learned to be cautious about culling. If I'd got rid of Fforest before June, when I had 4 males and he was nearly a year old, I would now have just 1 functional roo.

Oh, I am not planning on culling these, I am too attached to them as individuals, I was thinking of a bachelor pad for the new boys, or introducing a few more females, in between the 2 age groups, just to improve the ratio. At some point we may raise some chickens for meat purposes, but these are meant to be the breed/legacy crew.

 

[TropicalChickies]

Well today is that distressing day when a mama starts weaning her chicks for real. Tina, who is an incredibly steady, stately, and tranquil mother is giving her two chicks "Stop bothering me" attitude. They squeaked and went pio-pio all morning, but I gave them some food by themselves and now they are already starting to rely on each other and are foraging together. One of them already caught a small frog. I predict that by tomorrow they will have started to team up with Dusty's pair to become the new little crew of juvies.

Dusty is healing up from her mating injury, the gash is scabbed over, but I'm keeping her away from Lucio and Toby for at least another few days until the skin on her back closes. I'm disinfecting the area daily and gooping on antibiotic cream to keep flies and germs out. There's no infection and she's eating and drinking well. Yesterday afternoon we sat in the hammock together and sang some songs together. She really likes "Proud Mary", the Credence version.

But it still looks like if she has to make a dash and flaps her wings, the gash could re-open. Yesterday I went to this sweet little old lady seamstress in town to get a saddle with wing protectors made for her. Who of course never heard of a hen saddle but thinks it's adorable I want an apron for my hen. I'll pick it up on Thursday.

Actually, one of the famous dishes of Ecuador is cuey -- a broiled guinea pig. And every year in the mountain provinces, they have cuey festivals where people dress up their prettiest guinea pigs in elaborate princess dresses and tiaras and select a winner. Then all the cuey get barbecued.

So an apron for my hen wasn't a totally alien concept. And when I explained what it was for, the nice seamstress was very sympathetic for la pobrecita Dusty.

I've stitched some elastic on a simple back-protector saddle, which is the far limit of my sewing abilities. I'll fit that on her today and hopefully it will stay on.

Tina telling her chicks she needs some "me time"

Tina's chicks. 5 and a half weeks old. Anyone want to play pullet or cockerel?


And here's Dusty's. Same age, 5 1/2 weeks. Both have strawberry combs like Lucio's, but one is bigger.

The chick on top has a thicker comb and thicker legs, so I'm guessing male on that one. They fight pretty constantly, so they could both be male though.

 

[RoyalChick]

Well today is that distressing day when a mama starts weaning her chicks for real. Tina, who is an incredibly steady, stately, and tranquil mother is giving her two chicks "Stop bothering me" attitude. They squeaked and went pio-pio all morning, but I gave them some food by themselves and now they are already starting to rely on each other and are foraging together. One of them already caught a small frog. I predict that by tomorrow they will have started to team up with Dusty's pair to become the new little crew of juvies.

Dusty is healing up from her mating injury, the gash is scabbed over, but I'm keeping her away from Lucio and Toby for at least another few days until the skin on her back closes. I'm disinfecting the area daily and gooping on antibiotic cream to keep flies and germs out. There's no infection and she's eating and drinking well. Yesterday afternoon we sat in the hammock together and sang some songs together. She really likes "Proud Mary", the Credence version.

But it still looks like if she has to make a dash and flaps her wings, the gash could re-open. Yesterday I went to this sweet little old lady seamstress in town to get a saddle with wing protectors made for her. Who of course never heard of a hen saddle but thinks it's adorable I want an apron for my hen. I'll pick it up on Thursday.

Actually, one of the famous dishes of Ecuador is cuey -- a broiled guinea pig. And every year in the mountain provinces, they have cuey festivals where people dress up their prettiest guinea pigs in elaborate princess dresses and tiaras and select a winner. Then all the cuey get barbecued.

So an apron for my hen wasn't a totally alien concept. And when I explained what it was for, the nice seamstress was very sympathetic for la pobrecita Dusty.

I've stitched some elastic on a simple back-protector saddle, which is the far limit of my sewing abilities. I'll fit that on her today and hopefully it will stay on.

View attachment 3650897
Tina telling her chicks she needs some "me time"

View attachment 3650898

View attachment 3650899
Tina's chicks. 5 and a half weeks old. Anyone want to play pullet or cockerel?


And here's Dusty's. Same age, 5 1/2 weeks. Both have strawberry combs like Lucio's, but one is bigger.
View attachment 3650902
View attachment 3650900
The chick on top has a thicker comb and thicker legs, so I'm guessing male on that one. They fight pretty constantly, so they could both be male though.

Lovely long legs on those little ‘uns

 

[MaryJanet]

Lovely long legs on those little ‘uns

A lovely bright yellow too!

 

[TropicalChickies]

A lovely bright yellow too!

The bright yellow is interesting. Daddy Lucio actually has pretty pale/whitish feet for a roo, and the biological mom of Dusty's chicks has bluish feet. I'm just glad they are all long legged. I like my little shorties, but don't want a whole flock of them!

 

[Shadrach]

The weather was quite pleasent today but that's where pleasent stopped.
Bus problems getting there.
When I got to the allotments I found the two female geese dead in the run. The geese hadn't been fed, their water hadn't been changed since I did it yesterday.

Spoiler: Dead Geese.

This time I rang Caroline up and told them they had to come and deal with this. They were at their daughters and turned up eventually. I cleaned up after the last two that died and I'm fed up with it. Of course it's me that finds them because I'm the one there the most.

I may have persuaded Caroline to rehome the two remaining males. They are not getting the care they need.

 

[MaryJanet]

The weather was quite pleasent today but that's where pleasent stopped.
Bus problems getting there.
When I got to the allotments I found the two female geese dead in the run. The geese hadn't been fed, their water hadn't been changed since I did it yesterday.

Spoiler: Dead Geese.

View attachment 3651176View attachment 3651174

This time I rang Caroline up and told them they had to come and deal with this. They were at their daughters and turned up eventually. I cleaned up after the last two that died and I'm fed up with it. Of course it's me that finds them because I'm the one there the most.

I may have persuaded Caroline to rehome the two remaining males. They are not getting the care they need.
View attachment 3651177View attachment 3651175View attachment 3651173View attachment 3651172View attachment 3651171View attachment 3651170

Ugh. What a shit she is.

 

[Shadrach]

@Perris
I bought some of this to try out.
I intend to add to it but I'm looking at something like this as a base feed for the short term as I work out what needs supplementing and what preferences the chickens have.
Do you think it would ferment okay? Any comments?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BusyBeaks-...-11-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&th=1

 

[BDutch]

When I got to the

for the geese. Poor creatures.
And C finally got a name. Took a moment before I grasped it. Always had Cruella in my mind, not a nice name like Caroline.

 

[BDutch]

@Perris and @TropicalChickies got a recognition medal!
Congrats !