Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[notabitail]

Thank you all.

Congratulations.

I hope I spelled that right.

 

[BDutch]

I may have solved the roosting problems we've been having. I'll leave a bit more room for the chicks tomorrow and see how that goes. I think this is all that's needed. It stops Mow shuffling along the bar and pecking the chicks as they arrive in the coop and preventing them from getting on the bar.
It worked tonight. The went from perching in the tree to roosting in the coop while I was at the other end of the field chatting.
Mow got off the bar when I took the picture and disturbed them but she got straight back on in her place after a couple of mouthfulls of food.

Do you mean you only wait a bit longer?

Sorry, don't understand the question.

I didn’t understand how you might have solved the roosting problems.

We seem to not understand each other.

BTW sorry the British team lost the football match. second is good too.
Trump is running for president.
And the Brits are the best in suspension as always.

 

[Perris]

They did it again! All four on the bar when I looked in and I didn't even hear them go to roost. Maybe the bar works, maybe they just got over the problem. You may be thinking,yeah, well, it's not that bigger deal but it means I can think about having a day off.

It sure looks like the bar works; well done for finding such a simple solution to the problem! And enjoy your day off when you get it!

 

[BDutch]

I wonder. Is the vertical bar supposed to be the solution?

 

[Perris]

View attachment 3891442
I wonder. Is the vertical bar supposed to be the solution?

I believe so. It's enough to stop Mow shuffling along the roost to intimidate the youngsters.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

Tea is ready.

Temperature is in the 70s sunny.

Have a great day!

 

[fluffycrow]

Ursula now has four eggs. 3 Tsouloufati eggs, and one serama egg; the latter is an impulse decision, if you will.

We'll see what she does with them. So far, so good

 

[Shadrach]

Do you mean you only wait a bit longer?

I didn’t understand how you might have solved the roosting problems.

We seem to not understand each other.

BTW sorry the British team lost the football match. second is good too.
Trump is running for president.
And the Brits are the best in suspension as always.

As Perris mentions further on, I tied a piece of wood to the roost bar. This has stopped Mow from shuffling along the roost bar to where the chicks roost and pecking them.
The roosting sequence is Henry first, then Fret and Carbon. Mow comes next but she likes to stay out late. Finally the chicks. If Mow is late in she isn't properly settled when the chicks want to go to roost which is usually as soon after Mow as they can. Once Mow is settled, most chickens are like this in my experience, she is unlikely to get off the roost bar. However, shuffling along it when she hears the chicks come in isn't a problem. She used to peck a couple and they would bolt out of the pop door and excite the other chicks waiting in the extension. I watched her do it a few times.
All the vertical bit of wood does is prevents her getting at the chicks unless shes prepared to get on the floor.
Henry is wonderfully male in that he clambers on to the bar, does a bit of half hearted grooming, sticks his head under his wing and goes out like a light. Carbon and Fret fuss about geting the right position, bicker about who should sleep next to Henry, then groom for a few moments, then no doubt complain that Henry is taking up all the room, and finally mutter that Henry is out cold and didn't even kiss them goodnight. He doesn't even pull his head out from under his wing when I give him his goodnight stroke.

 

[Shadrach]

Rain all day.
Got to the field at 07.30 this morning. went home, went back at 18.00 I've been wanting to see how much of the food I leave in the coop overnight they eat before the pop door opens. Sunrise currently is 05.15. Full daylight around 06.30. Pop door opens at 08.00. This gives them an hour and a half to eat the food left overnight. The two bowls contain about 125 grams of feed each. That's 250 grams in total.
Carbon eats the most. She lays most days in season and lays eggs a lot larger then Fret and Mow. If the adults eat first confused when they wake up then they may eat as much as 40 grams in that time period before crop and digestive system restrictions slow them down. That could leave 90 grams for the chicks but with most of the best bits eaten. It's breakfast at least and they don't have to fight off any rats, pigeons, crows or doves.
If I get to the field mid/late afternoon and feed them straight away, which I do, in theory they could eat another 40 grams if they wished. If say I get there at 17.00 and feed them again at roosting time, which I do, a 1200 gram feed intake of just supplied feed is quite doeable. Add to this what they may forage in a four hour period out of the coop run and I'm hoping everyone is getting enough to eat.

It worked again tonight bar one hitch being Fret on the chicks roost bar section. I put her next to Henry and she stayed and about half an hour later the chicks went in on their own.

Yup, that's my Henry; the only one asleep and not looking to cause any trouble.

 

[kcan2]

Yup, that's my Henry; the only one asleep and not looking to cause any trouble.

Henry just doesn't understand how famous he is. As popular a figure as Henry deserves to be, I do still tend to favor my own rooster, who I found quietly sitting in the nest box by himself the other day:

He has since snapped out of it, as has his favorite hen, who is taking a much-deserved egg laying break for the time being! I guess he was ready to help her get off to a good start