Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[notabitail]

I'm with you on that thought...

Even in El Paso we had a nice very gentle one a few weeks ago. It was in Van Horn but we felt it.

 

[fuzzi]

I was braced, thank goodness!

I had been saving up eggshells, so I crushed a 600 mg calcium tablet, added to the shells, nuked for three minutes, and crushed them too. Once they cooled down, I took the bowl outside, and Lil has been devouring them. I guess she hasn’t been interested in the oyster shells - I may need to pound on them with a hammer.

They just turned 16 weeks old 2 1/2 weeks ago and have been refusing the layer feed I’d already bought, so I’ll need to find a more palatable Ca supplement.

I get flaked oyster shells for my bantams.

Tax: the Sussex in their shady hoop coop. If you look at the back you can see how bright (hot) the sun is already.

And I picked my first squash today.

 

[fuzzi]

Four hours today. Warm, but a fairly stiff breeze put a chill in the air as soon as the sun went down.
The chickens are doing well currently. The SLM problems are improving. They're getting more excercise due to me being there for longer. They're getting on better.
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Nice looking fence.

 

[no fly zone]

 

[ChaosMom]

I get flaked oyster shells for my bantams.
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Tax: the Sussex in their shady hoop coop. If you look at the back you can see how bright (hot) the sun is already.

And I picked my first squash today.
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Squash?! In MAY??????????

And your hoop coop is amazing. You did a great job!

 

[fuzzi]

Squash?! In MAY??????????

And your hoop coop is amazing. You did a great job!

Thank you.

About the squash: being in USDA Planting Zone 8a helps.

 

[BDutch]

They just turned 16 weeks old 2 1/2 weeks ago and have been refusing the layer feed I’d already bought, so I’ll need to find a more palatable Ca supplement.

I noticed that chickens eat what they need (when provided). When you have two containers with feed. One with chick/all flock and a second with layer pellets, the chickens who need more calcium, eat more of the layer pellets. If they don’t eat the layer, they don’t need the extra calcium in it.

My chickens prefer oyster flakes over the more common crushed oyster. But favourite are the egg shells. Never gave them calcium tablets, and never had thin egg shells. Only eggs without shell from a chicken that was sick. And of course, the starting-to-layers.

PS @Sally PB be careful not to overdo it. Too much of something is never okay.

 

[BDutch]

Holland Blue was developed around 1900 because the Belgian Malines didn't do well in the "poor" conditions of the province of North Holland. This has suprised me cause that's such a short distance!

It’s probably not the distance that counts, but the soil and what lives on/in it.

 

[L-plate chicken mum]

Four hours today. Warm, but a fairly stiff breeze put a chill in the air as soon as the sun went down.
The chickens are doing well currently. The SLM problems are improving. They're getting more excercise due to me being there for longer. They're getting on better.
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New fence is looking good. Better to do it right first time even if slowly than rush & have to fix repeatedly I think.

 

[Sally PB]

My girls free range, so foraging all day long and lots of grit from the soil and calcium from bug carcasses - however, I still provide this really awesome thinly flaked oyster shell and they love it.

This is the stuff I ordered. I hope they fall in love with it.

PS @Sally PB be careful not to overdo it. Too much of something is never okay.

Oh, very true.

My girls' eggs have been somewhat thin-shelled for the past few weeks. In the last week, I've gotten two that had just membrane with a thinner-than-paper shell on them. These are all mature ladies, not pullets.