Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

Yes, they can recover, even if the internet would have you thinking otherwise.

Miss Lorraine popped out one of these a few months ago, a day or so after a softshell. Her general constitution was decent, so while concerned, I didn't intervene. I told DH that Lorraine had probably laid her last egg (he likes her dark eggs because James Bond liked Marans eggs).

A few weeks later, Lorraine was suddenly laying normally, with dark bloom for a 4-year-old.

Lorraine is a character. She has no problems starting something with any hen outside her group. She's how we know Unquestioned and Most Esteemed and Illustrious Head Hen Brahma Donna's still unquestioned. On the rare occasion Donna deigns to accept Lorraine's demand for satisfaction, it only takes a few flogs from Donna's little Brahma legs for Lorraine to back down.

Here she is starting something with Lil Nugs at the fence.

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That is one gorgeous Speckled Sussex!

 

[Vulpes vulpes]

Do they eat their homegrown chicken? Sell eggs?

They eat eggs, part of the reason they're setting more eggs is because they want to get more. Obviously that many birds lay more than enough eggs to feed them, they just don't find the vast majority of them. They do eat roosters, and are planning to butcher a bunch of them, but never get around to it. They refer to their chicken "operation" as "soil restoration and weed abatement." The truth is that it's sad bare dirt in the summer and a terrible mud pit for the rest of the year. Luckily around half of the property still has plant life, but they hang around where they get fed.

 

[Molpet]

They eat eggs, part of the reason they're setting more eggs is because they want to get more. Obviously that many birds lay more than enough eggs to feed them, they just don't find the vast majority of them. They do eat roosters, and are planning to butcher a bunch of them, but never get around to it. They refer to their chicken "operation" as "soil restoration and weed abatement." The truth is that it's sad bare dirt in the summer and a terrible mud pit for the rest of the year. Luckily around half of the property still has plant life, but they hang around where they get fed.

Yes I have a similar situation, but I do harvest the extra boys

 

[ChaosMom]

Way overdue tax!

We decided to forget about growing vegetables in the beds this year - too much stuff going on. So we are literally giving them to the birds.

April 13:

Today, same view, 25 days later:

Get eating, girls!!

 

[HiEverybirdy]

That is one gorgeous Speckled Sussex!

Thank you. She's a speckled sack of sass. As a chick, she flared her hackles like that so often that I thought she may be a cockerel.

She marches to her own beat and takes a pretty picture. Tax tax tax.

 

[no fly zone]

Thank you. She's a speckled sack of sass. As a chick, she flared her hackles like that so often that I thought she may be a cockerel.

She marches to her own beat and takes a pretty picture. Tax tax tax.

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very photogenic bird

 

[ChaosMom]

Thank you. She's a speckled sack of sass. As a chick, she flared her hackles like that so often that I thought she may be a cockerel.

She marches to her own beat and takes a pretty picture. Tax tax tax.

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So now I want one even more!!

 

[MrsNorthie]

I was carefull. I just looked around and didn't buy anything. I'm going back though.
There are similar looking health food shops in Bristol city. It all looks great until one reads the labels.
One of the things I hear from people I know who emigrated here is they can't buy a whole chicken. They want it all feathers, the lot. The Afghan man who runs the International store I buy from often says to me "bring me whole chicken. I pay good money for one not like the shop ones." A man who it seems knows what real chicken tastes like.

I am pretty oblivious to sweets, but when we were over, I totally understood how TET lived off of pastry and puddings for 50+ years.

It is really odd how easily, we (as a society) become used to everything being clean and ready to cook or consume, sacrificing our health for convenience. We are trying to get to a point where we produce or buy from local farmers, everything we consume.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Even with the suboptimal chicken situation at the in-laws' place, interesting social dynamics can still be observed.
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This crele guy with the muffs is absolutely beautiful, and the fact that he has 5 hens in his clique is very impressive considering that the sex ratio is almost 50/50.
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This smaller blue boy is subordinate in the crele rooster's group (pictured). Not sure if he's a blood relative, but either way his presence is tolerated, even in very close proximity. Look at his little face!!!
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Greg (I call him Gregory) is very friendly (read: always looking for treats) so it's easy to get pictures of him. He's a newcomer, acquired in a recent trade for fresh genes. That and his tender young age mean that he's still trying to find his place, but he's gentle and easygoing so I have hope that he can pick up some ladies soon. I've taken a liking to him immediately.

They are very handsome!

 

[townchicks]

Thank you. She's a speckled sack of sass. As a chick, she flared her hackles like that so often that I thought she may be a cockerel.

She marches to her own beat and takes a pretty picture. Tax tax tax.

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I love the look of a speckled sussex. I finally got one with my rescue girls this fall. She has zero sass, though.She's as sweet as can be, and low girl on the totem pole.My Edie.