Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[notabitail]

And the screen can be replaced!

Yep. With the right tools it can.

 

[ChaosMom]

Yep. With the right tools it can.

Or the right cash or credit. I have a hard enough time putting on a new screen protector.

 

[notabitail]

Or the right cash or credit. I have a hard enough time putting on a new screen protector.

I've put on a few of those myself and they're sooooo fun to install .

Tax will be paid when I dig up the photos.

 

[Vulpes vulpes]

As others have mentioned, it's odd that high activity time for chickens is early morning and an hour or two before dusk. Both these times are when the ground predators seem most active. The hawks on the other hand are not so keen on hunting at these times because they get blinded by the sun as we do and their line of attack is limited to sun at their back if they want best vision.
In general it seems to me that chickens are more concerned about predators from the air than they are for those on the ground.
We get foxes coming through the field most days. The chickens see them and they do pay attention to where the fox is headed but they don't run for cover, unless of course the fox heads towards them. On the odd occasion I've seen a kite or a hawk fly over the chickens head for cover almost immediately.

Maybe a tiny bit off topic, but I've been wondering if the reports you sometimes see here of vultures attacking chickens are due to linguistic difference. What you in the UK call buzzards, we call soaring hawks (red tailed buzzard vs red tailed hawk). To most people in the US, buzzard means turkey vulture. Ergo, maybe somewhere someone from the UK said "I lost a chicken to a buzzard" and someone from the US said "oh wow, I didn't know buzzards did that!" and told all their friends "watch out! I heard vultures can kill your chickens"

 

[Shadrach]

Three hours today. Warm with some sunshine.
Since I've been dilligent about removing the eggs bar one per box every day the threatening broodiness has backed off. However, another factor is of course, no Henry. I have no doubt that a nest box with a few eggs in encourages the broody minded hens but does having a rooster in the group do the same and are they equally weighted?
Was the outbreak of broodiness shortly after Henry's death an attempt to take his genes forward or was it that the weather had changed with the Spring and this is when they are supposed to go broody?
Questions questions....

The group treasurer brush cut deeper into an area of the extended run that had become infested with brambles and clump grass. We are making progress. I can almost work out where I need to fence to at the back of the extended run now. The hedges on two sides are so dense the chickens don't even bother going in them. Now it's a lot clearer it will be interesting to see if they strat to explore the hedge more.
Recently cut area in the extended run.

On the field.

 

[Molpet]

someone from the US said "oh wow, I didn't know buzzards did that!" and told all their friends "watch out! I heard vultures can kill your chickens"

Black vultures in Illinois USA have been preying on livestock bad enough that the state has a form to fill out.
https://www.agrinews-pubs.com/lives...opulation has,said IFB President Brian Duncan.

 

[Vulpes vulpes]

Black vultures in Illinois USA have been preying on livestock bad enough that the state has a form to fill out.
https://www.agrinews-pubs.com/livestock/2025/05/01/black-vulture-depredation-permits-available-for-livestock-farmers/#:~:text=“Illinois' black vulture population has,said IFB President Brian Duncan.

Oh black vultures, never had them here. Must be why I cant imagine a vulture taking livestock

 

[MrsNorthie]

Maybe a tiny bit off topic, but I've been wondering if the reports you sometimes see here of vultures attacking chickens are due to linguistic difference. What you in the UK call buzzards, we call soaring hawks (red tailed buzzard vs red tailed hawk). To most people in the US, buzzard means turkey vulture. Ergo, maybe somewhere someone from the UK said "I lost a chicken to a buzzard" and someone from the US said "oh wow, I didn't know buzzards did that!" and told all their friends "watch out! I heard vultures can kill your chickens"

We have 2 varieties of Vultures, Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures. Both are quite useful at keeping things cleaned up, but the black vultures will attack and kill other birds, including chickens and newborn livestock like cattle, goats or sheep, if they are not finding carrion. The boys send the girls running for cover when they are moving through the area.

https://a-z-animals.com/animals/comparison/black-vulture-vs-turkey-vulture-differences/

 

[MrsNorthie]

Black vultures in Illinois USA have been preying on livestock bad enough that the state has a form to fill out.
https://www.agrinews-pubs.com/livestock/2025/05/01/black-vulture-depredation-permits-available-for-livestock-farmers/#:~:text=“Illinois' black vulture population has,said IFB President Brian Duncan.

LOL I should have kept reading, before responding. We have Black vultures here too.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

LOL I should have kept reading, before responding. We have Black vultures here too.

Was surprised to learn about these recently from some Katahdin sheep farmers in open, rolling land in northeastern TN who said the "black buzzards" (which are actually vultures) occasionally swoop in to kill lambs and even calves.

Evidently black vultures are less prominent in the mountains of east TN than further west, though since being made aware of them, we have seen a vulture with a black head here. Could have been a juvenile turkey vulture or a black vulture.

Either way, not worried. They've never given us trouble, and I'm appreciative of the services they provide.

The chickens acknowledge vultures with the same level of concern they do a pileated woodpecker: casual predator call, sometimes a momentary freeze. No panic, scattering for cover, or hiding for 10 minutes, the way they do when a hawk gets too close.

Merle Hagbird with an eye to the sky.