Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

me neither. I wore something last week that really freaked them out for no reason visible to me (they have better/different eyesight than/ from us) but otherwise they seem to recognize me whatever I'm wearing, from PJs to winter hibernation gear - as long as my head is visible. They recognize one another by comb size and shape so I imagine headgear could make a difference; I rarely wear any.

I always wear the same hat when I visit the flock except during the winter.

Yes, my head is inside that hat!

That particular cockerel went to auction about a month or so later. He was from the original set of chicks I brought home in February 2023.

 

[fuzzi]

I don't own any jeans though I have sweatpants and leggings that I don in the winter if it gets cold. I wear the same jean skirts every day, t-shirt, crew socks and sneakers. Sometimes I wear a pair of plastic clogs if it's especially wet. No big changes in my wardrobe from mid spring to late autumn.

 

[Perris]

All of you talk about how chickens are so smart and yet they think Styrofoam is the greatest food known to chickenkind.

styrofoam is one of the aromatic plastics, and a number of different animals are apparently attracted to eat them. Styrofoam has also been trialled as a feed and substrate for mealworms intended as animal feed. I do not know the chemistry but it appears styrofoam is edible, in a way that hard plastics aren't. See e.g.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/science/worms-eating-styrofoam.html

 

[notabitail]

styrofoam is one of the aromatic plastics, and a number of different animals are apparently attracted to eat them. Styrofoam has also been trialled as a feed and substrate for mealworms intended as animal feed. I do not know the chemistry but it appears styrofoam is edible, in a way that hard plastics aren't. See e.g.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/science/worms-eating-styrofoam.html

I did see the thing with worms eating it some time ago. I did notice these birds also found some spray foam somewhere and started to eat the finished product. I did stop them

 

[RoyalChick]

styrofoam is one of the aromatic plastics, and a number of different animals are apparently attracted to eat them. Styrofoam has also been trialled as a feed and substrate for mealworms intended as animal feed. I do not know the chemistry but it appears styrofoam is edible, in a way that hard plastics aren't. See e.g.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/science/worms-eating-styrofoam.html

There is a lot of interest in this as a way of recycling styrofoam. Apparently they have bacteria in their guts that break down polystyrene.
I found this article amusing because it is all about the well being of the worms. Apparently they can eat polystyrene and survive but they aren't totally happy and healthy on it!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9610515/

 

[Perris]

There is a lot of interest in this as a way of recycling styrofoam. Apparently they have bacteria in their guts that break down polystyrene.
I found this article amusing because it is all about the well being of the worms. Apparently they can eat polystyrene and survive but they aren't totally happy and healthy on it!
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9610515/

I suspect that chickens have such bacteria in their microbiome too; lots of people report on their chickens eating Styrofoam but nobody on finding it in their poop, so it is being digested.

 

[Molpet]

I suspect that chickens have such bacteria in their microbiome too; lots of people report on their chickens eating Styrofoam but nobody on finding it in their poop, so it is being digested.

A few years ago I read an article about Styrofoam, along with plastics, being endocrine disruptors. Long term issues in reproduction and cancers.

 

[Shadrach]

I'm sure you're right. Even I can identify some of them by their squawk.

And as with you there, there are some hens here who often get no response from anybody when they put out the escort call, while others will only get a response from a junior roo, and a few get Killay's attention. Sometimes it can be explained by who is in the vicinity, but not at other times; it seems most or all of the roos don't like/ want to mate/ care for some of the hens.

I found that the senior rooster generally only answered a hens escort call if she was one of his favourites.
As further generations arrivet it helps the junior roosters to form their own tribe by picking up the junior hens.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

I'm sure you're right. Even I can identify some of them by their squawk.

And as with you there, there are some hens here who often get no response from anybody when they put out the escort call, while others will only get a response from a junior roo, and a few get Killay's attention. Sometimes it can be explained by who is in the vicinity, but not at other times; it seems most or all of the roos don't like/ want to mate/ care for some of the hens.

I know many of our hens' vocalizations, too (and of course can tell the rooster crows apart).

Some are especially distinctive. Miss Eula makes a high-pitched, fingernails-on-chalkboard sound that doesn't match her big form. Bebe does a deep, "I'm planning your death" honk when she doesn't get her way.

I talk to the chickens as much as they talk to me, which is to say, a constant babble back and forth. I'm sure they know it's me by my voice but can't point to why.

Easier to prove that the roosters know bird voices, as they'll reply specifically to their hens and ignore calls from other groups.

Even when Andre's hens have flown over the fence and gone foraging on their own, 100' yards away and out of sight, when they bakaw in surprise at the greenhouse chipmunk, Andre immediately yells back from across the field while the other roosters ignore them.

Tax: coloratura soprano Eula and contralto Beebs.

 

[Shadrach]

On the subject of terrain and clothing...

Tee and a half hours today. Warm at 18C until the sun went down.
I harvested 60 courgettes from three plants last year. I'm at six now and only one of the plants is producing fruit. The other two have just flowered.

Best sight of the day! I cleared in front of one of the out of control compost heaps and cut into the side at the bottom so the chickens could do some work while they forage. Juveniles were on it first. Henry was with the adults next to the fruit bushes on my plot.
When Mow came over Henry and Carbon arrived quickly and got stuck in. It took a couple of minutes before Fret thought she could manage foraging and came over to join in. Digging foraging is particulalry important for Fret while she's limping. She enjoys it and the exercise is just what she needs now. She used both feet and she spent almost an hour hobbling up and down the edge. She was the last back and at some points on level ground she almost walked normally.

Carbon is having a hard time of it. The feathers on her back are growing in and everywhere else feathers are falling out.