Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

I did my best.

I weighed up lots of options, and changed my mind many times about who to keep and who not.

It must have been a hard choice to make such decisions. You just can't make all chickens and yourself happy without making less pleasant decisions or selling/giving away chickens and not knowing what will become of them.

I often choose the last option for the surplus of cockerels I had. Because Im not able to cull them. I ask for the peoples intentions, and if I don't like them it's a no go. I hope the cockerels will have a good life with the one who makes an effort to pick them up. But it's something I never know for sure.

Thanks a lot for sharing.

 

[MrsNorthie]

It's also very unlikely that I find someone with no males who is willing to take him.

That is why I am working with 5 males. They have their moments, and I am constantly giving thought to whether or not we need to reduce the number of males or increase the number of females. I can see them maturing and Blue has done an amazing job at giving them their own jobs in protecting the tribe, squabbling is very rare. They each have their value to the group, as a whole and re-homing doesn't seem to be an option as nobody wants roos and you would have to be pretty picky if they did, so they don't end up being used for sport or abused.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Yes.

No. Very thin ice there.

I've often thought a series of very short video articles showing a particular behaviour accompanied by a written explanation would be a great educational asset.

It's getting the article title right that helps to get people to view it.

Day after day people post asking if their hen is broody, or sick, or is my rooster being aggressive etc etc. Sometimes the OP gets a completely wrong answer and other times a verbal description. A set of short articles, by that I mean the video and and a few sentances of explanation should prove invaluable, one just links to the article when answering.

I haven't forgotten this. Just lurking during a disorienting week The chickens and I may take a crack at this project in the next few weeks.

Tax in the meantime: a boundary battle brewing between Lil Nugs and Miss Lorraine. Lil Nugs recently perfected her pterodactyl screech. When perturbed, she puffs to twice her size and says, "brrracckkkkk." It's impressive.

And fence posturing between handsome Marans brothers Merle and Andre:

 

[Shadrach]

I did my best. The sole motivation for the cull was to enable pullets and hens with unfulfilled broody instincts to express that natural behaviour, where we’ve reached carrying capacity of the land on which they live (so buying yet another mobile coop would not solve the problem). Of the 3 broodies currently, 2 are pullets and 1 a hen who raised a chick last year. So hens who’ve already had a shot or two at raising a brood were in the frame, and I needed to reduce the number of males too to keep a sensible gender balance.

I weighed up lots of options, and changed my mind many times about who to keep and who not. In the end, the hens who left were selected because I think 2 of them would prefer to live in a flock without males, and two of them have already raised broods here (one counts on both scores). I also factored in what might be useful / attractive for the new keepers: the three are different breeds laying different colour eggs, so they can easily tell them apart, and know who’s laying. They also vary in age: 2, 3 & 6. They include Maria, the erstwhile matriarch, who has actually stepped back from that role since last autumn (when last year’s cockerels started jerk phase) and I think in her dotage she will much prefer a small, and male-free, flock to run. (Venka has been acting matriarch through the winter and spring, and she’s still here.) The cockerel that’s gone was 3rd in command here and fully ready for a flock of his own, which is what his new keeper wanted, so that was perfect match.

I brought Chirk’s life to an end, after nearly a year living mostly in confinement, afraid of the other males and often, I think, lonely. I still ponder whether what I did last June was the right or the wrong thing to do; would it have been kinder to let him slip away then instead of giving him intensive care to bring him back from the brink? I think maybe it would, but I didn’t know then how it would pan out. The other termination was the ever-unpopular pop door bully, who usually spent the night alone in a coop, leading everyone else to crowd into the other three. Only two, both higher-ranking hens dared share a food bowl with her either. She was a pain in the neck to all, and raised several broods over her relatively long life (6), so I don’t feel guilty about terminating her life now to make way for younger bullied birds to have chicks of their own.

When the two broody pullets break and recover condition, and everyone's settled into the new dynamic (it seems very calm this morning), I'll let someone sit for real, and they can all enjoy the sense that the flock is strong and growing, instead of the current 2 futile incubations.

I think you've done rather well to find homes for those you have.
I started the thread in this link after a particularly bad run.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-it-better-to-let-them-die.1268732/

I think sitting on the steps to the vegetable garden with Pinch on my lap listening to the sounds she made while watching her family who she couldn't join was the saddest single moment of my life. I sat on the step and cried.

 

[Shadrach]

I like you have thought more than once that my older hens would be happier in a female only flock, and even maybe a senior female one.

I don't think many hens are impressed with Cockerels and not many are impressed with living with competing males in the same tribe. Getting the balance takes time and patience.
As you have seen and read, the hens adore Henry.
The bantam hens in Catalonia adored Harold and while not quite so ardent came to accept Harold's son Punch. When Mag arrived I expected to have problems but there weren't any really. Nolia his sister got on with him well and the other hens all seemed to like him.
The Marans adored Major and came to accept Cillin eventually. Ruffles was a pushover for Cillin but Fat Bird, she took some convincing but got there in the end.
I couldn't say all the hens adored their roosters, but most liked them well enough.

 

[no fly zone]

I think you've done rather well to find homes for those you have.
I started the thread in this link after a particularly bad run.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-it-better-to-let-them-die.1268732/

I think sitting on the steps to the vegetable garden with Pinch on my lap listening to the sounds she made while watching her family who she couldn't join was the saddest single moment of my life. I sat on the step and cried.

It's been almost a year since she died and I still tend to cry thinking about Skeksis.

 

[Shadrach]

Two and a half hours today. It stopped raining for an hour or so shortly after I arrived. We got an hour or so out and about then a small thunderstorm moved in and that was it for the day. It was still raining when I left. Sitting on a bus on a bank holiday watching the city as the rain streamed down a partially steamed up window isn't a patch on sitting in the coop extension with the chickens watching a rianbow light up.

Looking lovely and a bit wild out there.

 

[Shadrach]

 

[Perris]

I don't think many hens are impressed with Cockerels and not many are impressed with living with competing males in the same tribe. Getting the balance takes time and patience.
As you have seen and read, the hens adore Henry.
The bantam hens in Catalonia adored Harold and while not quite so ardent came to accept Harold's son Punch. When Mag arrived I expected to have problems but there weren't any really. Nolia his sister got on with him well and the other hens all seemed to like him.
The Marans adored Major and came to accept Cillin eventually. Ruffles was a pushover for Cillin but Fat Bird, she took some convincing but got there in the end.
I couldn't say all the hens adored their roosters, but most liked them well enough.

This chimes with my experience. It's most noticeable in the mornings when I open up the coops, and the hens just want to eat breakfast, while the males just want to mate

Maria had been foregoing breakfast for a while in order to avoid all of the males - or (she is a smart cookie) she preferred to eat it later, in peace and quiet, on a plate she knew I'd supply when she turned up by the backdoor, long after the flock had moved on

What I've found very interesting is that most hens and pullets here prefer Fforest, despite the fact - obvious to all - that he's no. 2, he's not the dom. Typically the biologists say dominance leads to more mating and more offspring, but I'm not sure that's what's happening here. In any case, the girls have choices, and each to his own. No-one seems attracted to Gwynedd as yet, poor boy; hopefully he'll learn the tricks of the trade by watching Fforest, rather than Killay

 

[Perris]

Fez has been broody for 25 days now, and Llandeilo not much less. They've both lost a lot of weight, and showed no signs of giving up despite being lifted off the nests repeatedly since I got back from holiday. So I've had to resort to the heavy handed method of breaking again

Hopefully it'll be quick, and they won't lose interest in brooding for the future; if this first attempt is a reliable indicator, I think they'll both do brilliantly!