Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[SimpleJenn]

@fluffycrow I hope she passed on genes as well. It sounds like it was a peaceful sleep death, at the very least?

Tax, treated Marble and Buffy for lice. Then fed them cheese as an apology for the manhandling.

That boy has some kicks to him, thankfully he was aimed away from me when he did them.

 

[ChaosMom]

@Shadrach, how many hours before the flock puts themselves to bed do you feed them? If I understood you correctly, they load up on food before bedtime and then digest it through the night.

 

[Shadrach]

@Shadrach, how many hours before the flock puts themselves to bed do you feed them? If I understood you correctly, they load up on food before bedtime and then digest it through the night.

I put food down when I open the run gate. This depends on when I get there of course. Say, usually a couple of hours before roosting time. I wait while they eat and once they show a lack of interest, usually by standing by the field gate, I let them onto the field and pick the feed up. If I leave it down the entire wild bird population of the field descend on the food and then the rats turn up.
I put food down again when they return to the coop. This gives them a chance to fill any gaps that foraging hadn't with the boring feed. It's in this period of time that they get their treat food, nutritious stuff like fish and meat, fruit berries and nuts mainly. I don't give them junk food or even table scraps. Veg table scraps go on one of the compost piles, if I remember to take them.
I set the coop to open in the morning a couple of hours after sunrise. This sort of forces them to eat the supplied feed before the pop door opens. There is uasually 400 grams to 450 grams supplied for the morning feed. Three bowls, which I hope means everyone gets at least something to eat. Given no one chicken is going to eat a full bowl in one sitting, I'm fairly confident the the food split is reasonably equal.
They don't eat a lot of the supplied food in the afternoon/evening provided the get out of the run for an hour or so. On the few days they've not been out of the run they eat more of the supplied food, usually in the coop extension before going to roost.
I'm aiming by allowing them to forage and by supplying feed to provide 120 grams per bird per day.

 

[Shadrach]

Two and a half hours today. Chilly with a mist.

 

[ChaosMom]

I put food down when I open the run gate. This depends on when I get there of course. Say, usually a couple of hours before roosting time. I wait while they eat and once they show a lack of interest, usually by standing by the field gate, I let them onto the field and pick the feed up. If I leave it down the entire wild bird population of the field descend on the food and then the rats turn up.
I put food down again when they return to the coop. This gives them a chance to fill any gaps that foraging hadn't with the boring feed. It's in this period of time that they get their treat food, nutritious stuff like fish and meat, fruit berries and nuts mainly. I don't give them junk food or even table scraps. Veg table scraps go on one of the compost piles, if I remember to take them.
I set the coop to open in the morning a couple of hours after sunrise. This sort of forces them to eat the supplied feed before the pop door opens. There is uasually 400 grams to 450 grams supplied for the morning feed. Three bowls, which I hope means everyone gets at least something to eat. Given no one chicken is going to eat a full bowl in one sitting, I'm fairly confident the the food split is reasonably equal.
They don't eat a lot of the supplied food in the afternoon/evening provided the get out of the run for an hour or so. On the few days they've not been out of the run they eat more of the supplied food, usually in the coop extension before going to roost.
I'm aiming by allowing them to forage and by supplying feed to provide 120 grams per bird per day.

Thanks! Delaying the opening of the pop door is a clever way of getting them to eat their breakfast in a timely manner.

 

[Perris]

the garden is being excavated to find and fix the leak... whether or not the choisya survives it remains to be seen

 

[ChaosMom]

the garden is being excavated to find and fix the leak... whether or not the choisya survives it remains to be seen

I hope the workers are cooperating with you on this!

 

[RoyalChick]

the garden is being excavated to find and fix the leak... whether or not the choisya survives it remains to be seen

 

[Perris]

not great so far. The parrotia persica and holm oak have also had quite a bruising morning. There's little left of the choisya. And the lawn round there is an almighty mess.

 

[RoyalChick]

not great so far. The parrotia persica and holm oak have also had quite a bruising morning. There's little left of the choisya. And the lawn round there is an almighty mess.

Oh no. That is a real shame.