Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

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

There are no words to describe just how horrible she is. How very sad for the poor geese, they deserved better.

 

[MrsNorthie]

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.

I had a different "C" word in my mind....

 

[MrsNorthie]

Ex Batts good evening one and all!

I'm really late today as I was in Jacksonville for outpatient surgery on my vocal cords.

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!

Hope you are feeling better and recover quickly!

 

[MrsNorthie]

Congratulations to @Perris , @TropicalChickies and @fuzzi!! Thank you for all you do to share your knowledge!

 

[Perris]

@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-Nutritious-Vitamins-Minerals-Year-Round/dp/B07R8WC9VH/ref=sr_1_11_sspa?crid=6DOSD79SGCQ8&keywords=busybeaks+four+season+pigeon+corn&qid=1696375081&sprefix=busybeaks+four+season+pigeon+corn,aps,69&sr=8-11-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&th=1

Personally I don't like website blurbs that say the ingredients include x,y,z - as you've already got it, can you post a photo of the label where they are all listed, in order of inclusion? Barley and wheat berries are not always easy to tell apart for example, but my birds like one much more than the other, and that one is more expensive than the other, so I'd want to know if it includes barley, and if so, how much relatively speaking.

It looks like it would ferment fine - and I think the practice of fermenting is going to be more important than ever for those of us in the UK this winter because of the cool wet summer we've had and the increased risk of mycotoxins on grain harvested in less than ideal conditions. Paper for the very interested here

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/food...160&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

I'd expect most of your birds to not like the maple peas.

Finally, it's extraordinarily expensive - the 'similar items' at the bottom of the page include the Bamfords range, which is what I last used for peas, and paid about £14 for 20 kg not £12 for 5 kg; I realize you're paying for a trial quantity here, and I know handling's an issue, but you could get it delivered to your flat so wouldn't have to lug a heavy sack on bus and foot. I guess it all goes to show how, if bricks and mortar shops in the area don't stock what we want, we have to pay a premium to get something online. But it's still a big mark-up on what those who can get it in physical shops pay, and those retailers are probably charging double what they pay the wholesaler for it. What the poor grower gets is proportionately a very small payment for a great deal of work.

 

[Perris]

Ex Batts good evening one and all!

I'm really late today as I was in Jacksonville for outpatient surgery on my vocal cords.

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!

hope you're all healed up soon Ladies-Eight

 

[Perris]

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

sounds like a really crap day.
But it showed that your set up is working well to deter the fox (presumed predator) because surely they wouldn't take on a goose if there was an easier chicken option?

 

[Perris]

Some takeaways from Birkhead on bird senses, for readers interested in these things:

Sight: chickens have no fovea (focal point on the retina) at all while most bird species have one (like us) and some birds e.g. raptors have 2 (p. 17); many birds, probably most, have some degree of UV vision that they use to find food and partners (p. 24). And regarding watching our chickens pecking at things too small for us to see properly, an American kestrel can detect a 2 mm-long insect at 18 m (p. 9).

Sound: hearing in most birds is like our own (p. 71). But the hair cells in their cochleas are replaced on a regular (annual) basis, so they don't lose their hearing with age or through damagingly loud noise as we do (pp. 46-7).

Touch: some birds are indeterminate layers, that is, the number of eggs they lay is regulated through the brood patch; if eggs are removed as they are laid, there is no tactile stimulation of the patch and no message sent to the brain to limit egg laying. Thus a sparrow may lay 50 eggs instead of 5 (p. 93). I guess somewhere along the evolutionary path from jungle fowl to modern chicken that switch got turned off. Also on touch, successful incubation does not demand a constant temperature, but simply one that does not fall too low or get too high, and embryos are far more tolerant of cooling than of overheating (idem). Also on touch, crests or wispy feathers on top of heads probably serve a sensory function like whiskers on cats to help them avoid bumping into things and are associated with species that live in dense vegetation or nest underground (p. 86).

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Animal Control should step in and take the geese away from Caroline as she is as bad with the care as the chicken farms.

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!

 

[Molpet]

Since I just found a poult that the owl killed,..... it's difficult for me to find fault for a predator kill .