Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

I have a blackberry story from this week. Well, it's a chicken story that starts out as a berry story, but "bear" with me...

Blackberries ripen here in another couple weeks, but black raspberries and mulberries have already started, which means annual visitors have arrived:

View attachment 3849682
We'll see bears weekly until wineberries finish up in mid-July. After that, heat drives them back up the mountain.

I've almost run smack into a number of bears while out walking or picking berries, but we don't intentionally get closer than 200', for their safety and ours. These photos are with a 400mm lens from over 250' away. She did have cubs with her.

View attachment 3849683

I snuck a few feet closer, to the trees by the chickenyard, to photograph the cubs but didn't get any photos of note.

View attachment 3849681

That's because a) she kept them well hidden, and b) I only had 5 seconds to shoot before a convoy of speckled butts zipped by, cutting a shortcut to the bear family

The Sussex had been enjoying their evening freerange, around a wall of trees, well out of sight (sans their man Andre who doesn't fly over fences as gracefully as they do).

Bears don't usually stick around, and the birds were busy edging raised beds, so I didn't think to shuttle them back to safety behind the electric fence. It wasn't on my radar that they'd rush a family of apex predators.

View attachment 3849701

Perhaps it should've been. The chickenyard backs up to a game trail, and the chickens occasionally run over for a better look at the wildlife. Here's a blurry photo of them visiting a young buck the other morning.

View attachment 3849774

I've even seen them follow a bear family along the fence, at a distance. Always with that 6', electrified fence in between, and rest assured all creatures know not to touch the zappy fence.

For whatever reason, I never thought they'd chase wildlife without the fence. In a flash, the Speckles were 50' closer to the bears than I was.

I instinctively started waving arms and clapping to get them to come back. A glare from the mama bear reminded me my behavior was 1,000% more likely to exasperate a bear than change the path of a chicken. So would running to grab the chickens. Fortunately my brain started working again; I whipped around and rushed to Stilton's yard for the jar of scratch.

Merely touching this jar has the magical effect of instantly teleporting nearby chickens to a circle around your feet. So I had to dodge clingy chickens as I rushed back through the trees to where the Speckles would hear me.

They were now 75' from the bears, who were watching the approaching chicken dinners with growing interest. I gave the jar the hardest, loudest shake of its life. True to form, the Speckles made U-turns and fly-galloped to me the jar. They'll do anything for that scratch. I mix in a handful of raisins, and they act like they've won the lottery when they get one.

No idea what the outcome would've been without magic scratch. The Speckles could use a close call to rein them in, but a black-bear close call wasn't the kind of teaching moment I wanted for these sassypants.

View attachment 3849937

That is amazing! The pictures are gorgeous! I am very glad you had your magic scratch supply, I would hate to think how a mom and cubs would react to a band of curious chickens.

You are really making me want to add some Speckeles to my group! They are so gorgeous! Before I fall further victim of Chicken math, I need more land, set back from the road so they can free range.

We were looking at properties in Eastern TN, for more acreage, woods mountains, and seasons. The problem is, I don't think this is the time to buy or sell.

 

[kcan2]

True to form, the Speckles made U-turns and fly-galloped to me the jar.

Wow, good thinking, and good save! Do you think the bears knew you were there before the frantic can shaking? Great story - happy endings of relief are best!

 

[Perris]

stunning photos and wonderful story @HiEverybirdy !
Do you really think a bear could catch one of your chickens?

 

[BDutch]

I've been using the phone camera recently and getting similar picture quality but like the camera it all goes wrong in low light.

I had this problem with my previous phone cameras too. But not with my Iphone (4yo now), and mdh bought a new (expensive) phone with multiple cameras that is good in poor light too.

Since we are talking about small machines… Just to share. The cheapest incubator you can buy (new 20€, I bought it second hand for 10€). It can hold only 4 eggs. Probably not good for the whole proces. I only use it for a back up if the broodies messed up. The eggs were for free. Asked and paid 6 hatchery eggs for my broodies. Got 4 as a present.

 

[BDutch]

I have a blackberry story from this week. Well, it's a chicken story that starts out as a berry story, but "bear" with me...

Blackberries ripen here in another couple weeks, but black raspberries and mulberries have already started, which means annual visitors have arrived:

View attachment 3849682
We'll see bears weekly until wineberries finish up in mid-July. After that, heat drives them back up the mountain.

I've almost run smack into a number of bears while out walking or picking berries, but we don't intentionally get closer than 200', for their safety and ours. These photos are with a 400mm lens from over 250' away. She did have cubs with her.

View attachment 3849683

I snuck a few feet closer, to the trees by the chickenyard, to photograph the cubs but didn't get any photos of note.

View attachment 3849681

That's because a) she kept them well hidden, and b) I only had 5 seconds to shoot before a convoy of speckled butts zipped by, cutting a shortcut to the bear family

The Sussex had been enjoying their evening freerange, around a wall of trees, well out of sight (sans their man Andre who doesn't fly over fences as gracefully as they do).

Bears don't usually stick around, and the birds were busy edging raised beds, so I didn't think to shuttle them back to safety behind the electric fence. It wasn't on my radar that they'd rush a family of apex predators.

View attachment 3849701

Perhaps it should've been. The chickenyard backs up to a game trail, and the chickens occasionally run over for a better look at the wildlife. Here's a blurry photo of them visiting a young buck the other morning.

View attachment 3849774

I've even seen them follow a bear family along the fence, at a distance. Always with that 6', electrified fence in between, and rest assured all creatures know not to touch the zappy fence.

For whatever reason, I never thought they'd chase wildlife without the fence. In a flash, the Speckles were 50' closer to the bears than I was.

I instinctively started waving arms and clapping to get them to come back. A glare from the mama bear reminded me my behavior was 1,000% more likely to exasperate a bear than change the path of a chicken. So would running to grab the chickens. Fortunately my brain started working again; I whipped around and rushed to Stilton's yard for the jar of scratch.

Merely touching this jar has the magical effect of instantly teleporting nearby chickens to a circle around your feet. So I had to dodge clingy chickens as I rushed back through the trees to where the Speckles would hear me.

They were now 75' from the bears, who were watching the approaching chicken dinners with growing interest. I gave the jar the hardest, loudest shake of its life. True to form, the Speckles made U-turns and fly-galloped to me the jar. They'll do anything for that scratch. I mix in a handful of raisins, and they act like they've won the lottery when they get one.

No idea what the outcome would've been without magic scratch. The Speckles could use a close call to rein them in, but a black-bear close call wasn't the kind of teaching moment I wanted for these sassypants.

View attachment 3849937

Wow, what an event and great storytelling!
Do enter it if there is a contest in poultry storytelling again!

 

[BDutch]

I wonder, if by reverting back to a more natural feeding process, if we could encourage less egg production, therefore extending the lives of our chickens over generations?

You don't have to reverse. There are still a lot of heritage breeds that don’t lay an extreme amount of eggs in the first 2 years.
Some BYC keepers have several generations of mixes that get old.

I cant tell if the normal live spans of all heritage breeds are all over 8 years. But my tiny Dutch (not standard show quality) are an example of chickens that live longer without health problems and still lay (long winter break) being 9 and 10 years old.

I know they have been trying to bring back almost extinct heritage breeds with mixing in other breeds (selecting on the looks). They are not selected on longevity for sure.

There was an inquiry by levende have and the Louis bolk institute about the oldest chickens. I posted /translated some of it in a thread of Perris about a year ago.

 

[BDutch]

The results of the inquiry on longevity I mentioned above. Not on a thread of Perris but almost half a year ago in this long lasting thread (thank you Shad for continuing so long!) :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...rescued-chickens-thread.1502267/post-27447083

 

[ManueB]

'Free your chickens' should be my slogan!

I think more than just the food, this is where it gets hard for chicken keepers to question our ways of doing things.
Not many of us could keep chickens if this was really the standard we were aiming at - free chickens.
Maybe it would be more acceptable to hear, give them as much freedom as possible in your circumstances !

I wonder, if by reverting back to a more natural feeding process, if we could encourage less egg production, therefore extending the lives of our chickens over generations?

I just looked up the notes from the place where we got our buffs, View attachment 3849917
I worry that this is still too many eggs to produce each year, I need to start a count, but, it is difficult to get individual counts, as they take turns laying in 3 different nesting boxes. *sigh but I wonder if feeding the whole grain and foraging as opposed to commercial layer feed will slow their production.

I will have to fit a camera to count how many times a week that individual girls enter the nesting box and lay and then compare that to their off-spring. I could do a mathematical average by the number of eggs we get each day divided by the number of girls, but that won't necessarily answer the question about the individuals. It is far more important to me that my birds have a longer happy healthy life than to have a maximum number of eggs.

Does that mean their eggs are so similar you can't tell them apart ?
That has almost never happened with the hens I have had here. 99% of the time I know who laid which egg just by looking. This was true even with my ex-batt's. Or maybe it is because you have a lot more hens than I do ?

I think one of the big difference between high production breeds and longer living chickens is molting. High production breeds don't molt for their two or even three years, their bodies do not get the long pause from laying that other chickens get. That can be induced by putting them in the dark. I think it was mentioned before here that some commercial operations do that, with the aim of keeping the chickens for a longer overall period. I would not try it at home. And I don't think buffs are concerned. As far as I know they do molt either their first or second year depending on when they were born.

I have a blackberry story from this week. Well, it's a chicken story that starts out as a berry story, but "bear" with me...

Blackberries ripen here in another couple weeks, but black raspberries and mulberries have already started, which means annual visitors have arrived:

View attachment 3849682
We'll see bears weekly until wineberries finish up in mid-July. After that, heat drives them back up the mountain.

I've almost run smack into a number of bears while out walking or picking berries, but we don't intentionally get closer than 200', for their safety and ours. These photos are with a 400mm lens from over 250' away. She did have cubs with her.

View attachment 3849683

I snuck a few feet closer, to the trees by the chickenyard, to photograph the cubs but didn't get any photos of note.

View attachment 3849681

That's because a) she kept them well hidden, and b) I only had 5 seconds to shoot before a convoy of speckled butts zipped by, cutting a shortcut to the bear family

The Sussex had been enjoying their evening freerange, around a wall of trees, well out of sight (sans their man Andre who doesn't fly over fences as gracefully as they do).

Bears don't usually stick around, and the birds were busy edging raised beds, so I didn't think to shuttle them back to safety behind the electric fence. It wasn't on my radar that they'd rush a family of apex predators.

View attachment 3849701

Perhaps it should've been. The chickenyard backs up to a game trail, and the chickens occasionally run over for a better look at the wildlife. Here's a blurry photo of them visiting a young buck the other morning.

View attachment 3849774

I've even seen them follow a bear family along the fence, at a distance. Always with that 6', electrified fence in between, and rest assured all creatures know not to touch the zappy fence.

For whatever reason, I never thought they'd chase wildlife without the fence. In a flash, the Speckles were 50' closer to the bears than I was.

I instinctively started waving arms and clapping to get them to come back. A glare from the mama bear reminded me my behavior was 1,000% more likely to exasperate a bear than change the path of a chicken. So would running to grab the chickens. Fortunately my brain started working again; I whipped around and rushed to Stilton's yard for the jar of scratch.

Merely touching this jar has the magical effect of instantly teleporting nearby chickens to a circle around your feet. So I had to dodge clingy chickens as I rushed back through the trees to where the Speckles would hear me.

They were now 75' from the bears, who were watching the approaching chicken dinners with growing interest. I gave the jar the hardest, loudest shake of its life. True to form, the Speckles made U-turns and fly-galloped to me the jar. They'll do anything for that scratch. I mix in a handful of raisins, and they act like they've won the lottery when they get one.

No idea what the outcome would've been without magic scratch. The Speckles could use a close call to rein them in, but a black-bear close call wasn't the kind of teaching moment I wanted for these sassypants.

View attachment 3849937

Oh my ! Great story and pictures, but certainly more fun after than when it happened. I'm not sure if those speckled Sussex were brave, or just totally stupid ?! In french we call a wimp a poule mouillée, wet hen - I don't think I will ever say that again !
I don't know if the mama bear would have caught them, but bears can certainly climb up a tree if they have enough motivation, and where would a chicken hide from a bear ? Food is a good motivation for a bear. (Yes, I've been one of those countless dumb yosemite hikers who thought the bags were high enough in the tree for the bear not to catch them.)

 

[HiEverybirdy]

That is amazing! The pictures are gorgeous! I am very glad you had your magic scratch supply, I would hate to think how a mom and cubs would react to a band of curious chickens.

You are really making me want to add some Speckeles to my group! They are so gorgeous! Before I fall further victim of Chicken math, I need more land, set back from the road so they can free range.

We were looking at properties in Eastern TN, for more acreage, woods mountains, and seasons. The problem is, I don't think this is the time to buy or sell.

Thank you! I'm grateful our chickens never seem to be tired of scratch. The jar is such a good tool to get their attention.

The Speckled Sussex have been an absolute treat, but I think you're right to be sure you have room for them to range. More than any other chickens we've had, they're always on the move, hunting, digging, exploring.

Funny, I was looking at your beautiful property thinking, ohhh, how I miss flat land Very true that now isn't the time to buy in east Tennessee. The market in our county did begin quietly correcting this past year but has a ways to go.

 

[BDutch]

'Free your chickens' should be my slogan!

+

I think more than just the food, this is where it gets hard for chicken keepers to question our ways of doing things.

A chicken that comes out of an average chicken-factory after 18 months has lived a very poor life in an overcrowded environment.
I think the way these poor chickens look is caused by a combination of several things. Food is maybe one of them. The stress and feather pecking from the overcrowded situation another. And what about infestations (red mites/ viruses /…) they cant control properly. Making a maximum profit regardless the well being of the chickens is what lays underneath.

Imho. It should be obliged to put an honest photograph on each egg-carton of the stable the eggs come from. Like they have on cigarette packages. Maybe it would help people to make better decisions. And not just look at the price they need to pay.