Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[townchicks]

How come? Can you describe this?

Oh nothing more than chick desire, chicken math constantly nagging me, all stymied by no roosters rules, 5 chicken limit, old hens, none of whom are broody. So I have to enjoy the little darlings vicariously. I would love to do it, but alas, not to be.

 

[Shadrach]

05/04.
Two hours. Mostly warm and sunny.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

OK, @Perris, you convinced me. I bought two cans of sardines in olive oil for the girls and tried it out.

Trudy (BR), who is always on the absolute verge of death from starvation, went wild, stole every one she could get, and didn't slow down until after the fifth one. Buffy (BO) was hesitant at first but then was kinda ok, I'll try, I guess, and picked at two (until Trudy found them.) Lil (EE) was utterly revolted after one peck and never tried one again.

There was a LOT of beak-wiping in the pine straw and dead leaves.
They're cheap, I'll give you that, but ewwww. (My husband says he likes them.) I think I like them better swimming in their schools of thousands in the aquaria of Monterey Bay Aquarium. Off to wash my hands again.

 

[Perris]

since @Shadrach asked me about posting some photos of my 'yard' on another thread, I thought it might be useful to put them here and show what sort of habitat my birds prefer to spend their time in, and which incidentally shows how 'pasture-raised' misses the mark as a label for supposedly the best sort of free ranging a chicken can get. Focusing photos on the chickens here often involves cropping out the environment they were in or only snapping them when they are on the lawn because that's the only time they are really visible.

as you can see from the last, even when they are on the grass of the main lawn, they are near its edge, close to the border. They spend relatively little time foraging on the lawn.

 

[Perris]

OK, @Perris, you convinced me. I bought two cans of sardines in olive oil for the girls and tried it out.

Trudy (BR), who is always on the absolute verge of death from starvation, went wild, stole every one she could get, and didn't slow down until after the fifth one. Buffy (BO) was hesitant at first but then was kinda ok, I'll try, I guess, and picked at two (until Trudy found them.) Lil (EE) was utterly revolted after one peck and never tried one again.

There was a LOT of beak-wiping in the pine straw and dead leaves.
They're cheap, I'll give you that, but ewwww. (My husband says he likes them.) I think I like them better swimming in their schools of thousands in the aquaria of Monterey Bay Aquarium. Off to wash my hands again.

I'm with Trudy, and your husband; mashed with a little vinegar and black pepper, on toast, delicious! Lil will change her mind when she sees how well Trudy looks in a few days

 

[Mother of Chaos]

since @Shadrach asked me about posting some photos of my 'yard' on another thread, I thought it might be useful to put them here and show what sort of habitat my birds prefer to spend their time in, and which incidentally shows how 'pasture-raised' misses the mark as a label for supposedly the best sort of free ranging a chicken can get. Focusing photos on the chickens here often involves cropping out the environment they were in or only snapping them when they are on the lawn because that's the only time they are really visible.
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as you can see from the last, even when they are on the grass of the main lawn, they are near its edge, close to the border. They spend relatively little time foraging on the lawn.

Understory-ranged!

I'll be happy when we can get the fence of that first patch of our backyard properly secured so that I can begin yard-ranging.

Edit: meant to add - they're descended from jungle fowl, not prairie chickens (grouse.)

 

[Molpet]

as you can see from the last, even when they are on the grass of the main lawn, they are near its edge, close to the border. They spend relatively little time foraging on the lawn.

out of sight/undercover from raptors

 

[RoyalChick]

Understory-ranged!

I'll be happy when we can get the fence of that first patch of our backyard properly secured so that I can begin yard-ranging.

Edit: meant to add - they're descended from jungle fowl, not prairie chickens (grouse.)

Here’s another understory chicken.

 

[Shadrach]

since @Shadrach asked me about posting some photos of my 'yard' on another thread, I thought it might be useful to put them here and show what sort of habitat my birds prefer to spend their time in, and which incidentally shows how 'pasture-raised' misses the mark as a label for supposedly the best sort of free ranging a chicken can get. Focusing photos on the chickens here often involves cropping out the environment they were in or only snapping them when they are on the lawn because that's the only time they are really visible.
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as you can see from the last, even when they are on the grass of the main lawn, they are near its edge, close to the border. They spend relatively little time foraging on the lawn.

I asked because your yard is lovely and is the best demonstration I've seen of what can be done with limited space and chickens. You know a lot about what you grow and you've put a huge amount of work into it. Frankly I'm jealous.

 

[Shadrach]

out of sight/undercover from raptors

It's one of the problems at the field. The cover is minimal. We do get the occasional Red Kite and Sparrow Hawk. There are falcons about a mile away closer to the river but so far they haven't hunted at the field.