Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[notabitail]

Out of curiosity, how much space should a group of five chickens have, both ideally and minimally? I've suggested before to people that chickens do need a lot of space and usually people aren't receptive to that or call me a Californian (of which I am).

 

[Shadrach]

Looks like your camera courteously incorporates the date in the first part of the filename, which is handy if the camera date is set correctly.

View attachment 4148833

Ah yes so it does and the first lot of pictures are not the right ones. I had my doubts.

 

[Shadrach]

Two and a half hours today. It stayed dry and the chickens stayed in the extended run so I could get stuff done. Tull moaned about not being allowed on to the field but settled down eventually.

This is Fret. I get her off her nest when I feed them all. She's eating and drinking but not really enough.

Mow eating next to one of the piles of oyster shell I leave for them. It diminishes so they seem to know how much they need and can and have made adjustments when given commercial feed. The whole grain feed I give them is very low in calcium for a laying hen.

They all went for a dust bath after eating. Fret was off her nest for half an hour.

 

[Shadrach]

Is Fret perhaps starting to come out of broodiness? She looks slightly less homicidal.

Not a chance.

 

[Shadrach]

Out of curiosity, how much space should a group of five chickens have, both ideally and minimally? I've suggested before to people that chickens do need a lot of space and usually people aren't receptive to that or call me a Californian (of which I am).

Enough room is when they don't strip the area they live on.
Enough room according to their ancestors is around an acre per tribe.
Enough room according to BYC is ten square feet per bird in the run.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Not a chance.

I guess the little muscles that raise every single feather to a 90° angle are getting tired (she looks less fluffy.)

Even her feet looked angry in that post from the other day!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

The most outstanding problem for the chicken kept by many backyard keepers is they want the chicken to be something it isn't. Old school keepers, I got to know a few when I lived in Catalonia, were much better at accepting the chicken for what it is.

That always seems so weird to me - trying to get hens to wear aprons and whatnot.

Our chickens get to chicken. Observing is way more fun than training them to do weird chicken tricks.

It would be nice for them to reciprocate, though, and grudgingly accept that, for now, this really is all the space they get to have. It’s quite a lot, actually, compared to what a lot of city chickens get to use.

 

[Skyeknight]

It’s quite a lot, actually, compared to what a lot of city chickens get to use.

I can get really mad about how some people keep chickens or rabbits. Most coops or rabbit enclosures being sold are way to small for animals like them. Both of them are group animals and need space with access to dirt to do their natural behaviours. Putting them in such a small space (and alone in most rabbit cases) is basically putting them in prison for life. How can you claim to love an animal that way when you basically put them in an isolation room. Either you have the time, money and space to keep an animal or you don't and shouldn't get it.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Out of curiosity, how much space should a group of five chickens have, both ideally and minimally? I've suggested before to people that chickens do need a lot of space and usually people aren't receptive to that or call me a Californian (of which I am).

We had to divde the chickens into 2 groups. Spud and Goldie just wanted to kill each other and 3 of the other 4 boys, took Spud's side, so we created a coop and area just for Goldie.(Squeak did not get involved and took the opportunity to endear himself to some of the ladies.) We made it possible for the girls to choose where they wanted to be, and 13 moved in with Goldie. The girls still socialize with each other and sometimes go back and forth, to spend time with each other.

They each have half an acre, but do not use it all and the majority of the spaces has full vegetation. We have one section that get's extremely wet and is part of the original chicken run, so was heavily used for a while, this turns to mud and has been dug up pretty good, but most of the chicken land has grass and other vegetation that has grown higher than my knees. (I am 5'8-ish shrinking with age..lol) Everything is super peaceful, Spud, Squeak, Tater, Walnut (after being forced to watch HMFC and eat walnuts, the one time he tried to pick a fight with his dad.) and GinGin, all get along great, but Goldie will not tolerate any of the other boys so he is quite happy and very attentive to his ladies. Despite them not using all the space they have now, I am still planning on giving them the rest of the property.

 

[Skyeknight]

Out of curiosity, how much space should a group of five chickens have, both ideally and minimally? I've suggested before to people that chickens do need a lot of space and usually people aren't receptive to that or call me a Californian (of which I am).

I actually used the EAZA guidelines for Vietnam Pheasants as a inspiration for my own chicken coop and run. A lot of things in there won't be feasible, but it's a good document for providing insight into a more comfortable life for your chickens. One of the main things I took away from it is using sand as a bedding, which is such an improvement from straw.