Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Sally PB]

My chickens like their shells better than any other form of calcium I've tried. Unfortunately, it takes 2-3 eggshells to give a hen enough calcium to make another eggshell. I add the oyster shell that I buy at TSC to their dish to stretch it out.

 

[Shadrach]

My chickens like their shells better than any other form of calcium I've tried. Unfortunately, it takes 2-3 eggshells to give a hen enough calcium to make another eggshell. I add the oyster shell that I buy at TSC to their dish to stretch it out.

That is one of the problems I've found. Daily layers when in season need a lot of calcium and while eggshells help they're not a practicle way of meeting the calcium needs.

 

[Shadrach]

Three and a half hours today. It hit 20C and dropped to a very easy going 16C late afternoon. 18C and sunny will do me these days. Honestly, I'm turning into such a wimp in my senior years.

Carbon was better today than yesterday but she's moulting, so is Mow.

If I was to hazzard a guess these are stress related moults. Fret is behaving like she's entered a harpy competition. Carbon ate some feed today and took a couple of blueberries but she looks completely miserable when she's resting. Been here before with Carbon and I'm really not sure what if anything I can do for her. If she'll eat I can get some quility protein into her but if she goes off her food completely... With luck Carbon won't lay and moult as she did last time.

 

[MaryJanet]

Three and a half hours today. It hit 20C and dropped to a very easy going 16C late afternoon. 18C and sunny will do me these days. Honestly, I'm turning into such a wimp in my senior years.

Carbon was better today than yesterday but she's moulting, so is Mow.View attachment 3897762
If I was to hazzard a guess these are stress related moults. Fret is behaving like she's entered a harpy competition. Carbon ate some feed today and took a couple of blueberries but she looks completely miserable when she's resting. Been here before with Carbon and I'm really not sure what if anything I can do for her. If she'll eat I can get some quility protein into her but if she goes off her food completely... With luck Carbon won't lay and moult as she did last time.

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I have a hunch Katie's weight loss was at least partially related to her moult

 

[RoyalChick]

We do that too. The Egg Thief blitzes them through the food processor. ;-)

I crush mine with the base of a wine bottle. They love eggshells’

 

[Perris]

I had a senior moment yesterday. I gave Idris some eggs to incubate to realize her broody instincts

She is such a cutie, she's carrying Amadeo's genes, and she'll be 1 a few days before they would hatch, so my head went awol and my heart said yes.

If it goes well, in due course I'll have either to cull some more oldies or sell some youngsters to accommodate them. Hopefully serious potential adopters who have been thinking about it for a while will commit to it in the autumn...

 

[MaryJanet]

I had a senior moment yesterday. I gave Idris some eggs to incubate to realize her broody instincts

She is such a cutie, she's carrying Amadeo's genes, and she'll be 1 a few days before they would hatch, so my head went awol and my heart said yes.

If it goes well, in due course I'll have either to cull some more oldies or sell some youngsters to accommodate them. Hopefully serious potential adopters who have been thinking about it for a while will commit to it in the autumn...

Good luck with the spontaneous hatch!

 

[BDutch]

Mine consider oyster shell flakes a treat, but what they really love is their own eggshells. I rinse the insides, let the shells dry completely, then crumble them into tiny pieces.

Mine prefer the eggshels over oyster shells too. But I don’t rinse and dry them. If the shells were not boiled I put the shells in the microwave.
Cut them with a scissor and scatter them in the run or in the garden.

Eggshell eaters

They have oyster shells and if they are not in the same space as the chicks, they get layer pellets too. They like to eat the organic layer pellets too.

 

[ManueB]

I have also noted that some of my hens will only eat the crushed eggshells and not the oyster shells. Some days when I bring it in the dedicated bowl they actually fight for it like it's a treat.
I've been trying to switch to high calcium treats, I try to give crushed almonds instead of sunflowers seeds for example.
I put some yoghurt in their mash once or twice a week.
I was thinking of giving them some tofu and was wondering if anyone has tried that ? I'm not sure they would like it .
I have two young hens with laying issues right now so I also add a calcium supplement to one of their water bowl. But I make sure they also have plain water if they don't want to drink that.

I wanted to share something about chicken feed that I read yesterday on a french blog post. It would not be of any use to me as I don't eat meat, but it could interest some of you who have a lot of chickens, eat meat and are interested in alternatives.to commercial feed. (This woman is not a chicken expert by any means, she is a successful cookbook author who also writes about her small permaculture garden and she was explaining how she feeds her chickens).
To add protein, she uses a manual bone grinder meant for making dog food, to grind carcasses and bones for her hens, left over from the meat they eat for themselves. She's had it in her family for ages but she said it was something like this : https://www.tompress.com/A-10000456-broyeur-a-os-manuel.aspx

She said it was an interesting way to use those and it adds both proteins and calcium for her chickens, which are fed wheat, scraps, and forage in her orchard.

(Edited to add the link to the article from the blog :
https://permaculture-familiale.fr/ce-que-mangent-mes-poules/#comments )

I had a senior moment yesterday. I gave Idris some eggs to incubate to realize her broody instincts

She is such a cutie, she's carrying Amadeo's genes, and she'll be 1 a few days before they would hatch, so my head went awol and my heart said yes.

If it goes well, in due course I'll have either to cull some more oldies or sell some youngsters to accommodate them. Hopefully serious potential adopters who have been thinking about it for a while will commit to it in the autumn...

You got hit by the chicken math virus .
That's pretty funny for someone who has been breaking broodies all spring and planning so carefully for the future controlled subtractions and additions to the flock !
Send your potential adopters loads of cute chick photos, that should help to decide them .
I understand trying to keep Amadeo's genes. He was such a beautiful roo and gone too soon.

Speaking of which, Merle once again decided that after two weeks without sitting and 10 eggs laid, it was time to try again for babies. Never mind that she's beginning to molt !

 

[Perris]

I have also noted that some of my hens will only eat the crushed eggshells and not the oyster shells. Some days when I bring it in the dedicated bowl they actually fight for it like it's a treat.
I've been trying to switch to high calcium treats, I try to give crushed almonds instead of sunflowers seeds for example.
I put some yoghurt in their mash once or twice a week.
I was thinking of giving them some tofu and was wondering if anyone has tried that ? I'm not sure they would like it .
I have two young hens with laying issues right now so I also add a calcium supplement to one of their water bowl. But I make sure they also have plain water if they don't want to drink that.

I wanted to share something about chicken feed that I read yesterday on a french blog post. It would not be of any use to me as I don't eat meat, but it could interest some of you who have a lot of chickens, eat meat and are interested in alternatives.to commercial feed. (This woman is not a chicken expert by any means, she is a successful cookbook author who also writes about her small permaculture garden and she was explaining how she feeds her chickens).
To add protein, she uses a manual bone grinder meant for making dog food, to grind carcasses and bones for her hens, left over from the meat they eat for themselves. She's had it in her family for ages but she said it was something like this : https://www.tompress.com/A-10000456-broyeur-a-os-manuel.aspx

She said it was an interesting way to use those and it adds both proteins and calcium for her chickens, which are fed wheat, scraps, and forage in her orchard.

(Edited to add the link to the article from the blog :
https://permaculture-familiale.fr/ce-que-mangent-mes-poules/#comments )

You got hit by the chicken math virus .
That's pretty funny for someone who has been breaking broodies all spring and planning so carefully for the future controlled subtractions and additions to the flock !
Send your potential adopters loads of cute chick photos, that should help to decide them .
I understand trying to keep Amadeo's genes. He was such a beautiful roo and gone too soon.

Speaking of which, Merle once again decided that after two weeks without sitting and 10 eggs laid, it was time to try again for babies. Never mind that she's beginning to molt !
View attachment 3897931

very interesting links; thanks for posting them.
On my broodies, as Robbie Burns observed, the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry, though hopefully to end in joy not sorrow this time! otoh, I noticed Killay escorting Paprika this morning...