Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MrsNorthie]

for those wishing to save / increase the number of insects on their patch, there is a timely piece in the Guardian this morning
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...g-25-easy-and-effective-ways-you-can-help-aoe

We have zero lights on here at night, but new "city" people bought a bit of land about an eighth of a mile away and had a huge light installed. Why move to the country and bring the city with you? (They also have a dog that they keep in a small pen, that they don't do anything with, it is basically a living alarm system, they are terrified of dogs.)

 

[MrsNorthie]

Here in NJ, the gov't is stealing a family's 175 acre farm, claiming eminent domain. So they can build a bunch of apartment buildings on it. Rather disgusting.

They won't fix derelict buildings in the city though.

 

[MrsNorthie]

It seems long grass with not much tree or shrub/bush cover isn't appealing for them. I think the long grass is why.

I concur. My flock will not push through long grass either; I think they like to be able to see ahead / what they're walking into.

ours love the long grass, maybe because, it is so hot and humid here this time of year, that it gives them a cooler place to forage? they have created paths through there and the bugs are plentiful.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I saw our first lightning bug* two evenings ago! When I was a kid, 60+ years ago, we’d go out in summer evenings with empty mayonnaise jars, a few holes punched in the lids, and collect dozens of them to make a (very) temporary lantern. Our moms would make us let them go before we went to bed.

Now I’m lucky to see a half-dozen in the backyard in a summer. Usually it’s just one or two males, forlornly shining on and off, looking for females, without any luck. I’ve worked hard at preserving leaf litter through the year to provide habitat for lightning bugs (and bumblebees, my other insect obsession.)

Those of us in NC, SC, GA, FL, and AL can participate in a citizen science project called the Great Southeast Pollinator Census on Aug 22 and 23 this year. It’s a great excuse to sit still with a cold drink for a half hour or so, and just note how many different insects visit a patch of your yard. There are similar projects elsewhere.
https://gsepc.org/

* for those in other parts of the world: firefly, glowworm. Fancy name: Lampyridae
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We’ve been seeing them out here in the sticks for a few weeks. The other night one landed on my hand while I was sitting on the porch! I was so excited lol. Like I caught the bluebird of happiness

 

[Perris]

ours love the long grass, maybe because, it is so hot and humid here this time of year, that it gives them a cooler place to forage? they have created paths through there and the bugs are plentiful.

have they much experience in that sort of habitat? Might it be naivete? Or maybe it depends also on what counts as 'long grass' in any given environment. Here they are quite happy to push through what look to me like equally dense patches of herbaceous perennials; maybe there is more clear space at their level, closer to the ground, with the perennials? So pursuing that thought, I imagine a patch of sedges or rushes or grasses that form tussocks might be more attractive than finer grasses that don't offer natural routes between clumps.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

We have pasture on one side of the property that is some kind of very tall hay. Not sure what because we just lease it to a farmer we don’t actually do anything with it. But my chickens went into it once on their first day of ranging and never again. It will be interesting to see what they do once it’s been cut.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

have they much experience in that sort of habitat? Might it be naivete? Or maybe it depends also on what counts as 'long grass' in any given environment. Here they are quite happy to push through what look to me like equally dense patches of herbaceous perennials; maybe there is more clear space at their level, closer to the ground, with the perennials? So pursuing that thought, I imagine a patch of sedges or rushes or grasses that form tussocks might be more attractive than finer grasses that don't offer natural routes between clumps.

We have clumps of sedge in the shady portion of the chickens’ domain, and it’s fun to watch them decide to push through the clumps. If they had legitimate teeth, they’d be gritting them! The BR in particular is intimidated. Sometimes she’ll stop halfway through, and then the sedges that she had pressed down pop up and goose her in the rear. Squawk!

The EE, being so much taller, loves to strip the seeds from each blade, pulling it through her beak to pull them off.

 

[notabitail]

Here in NJ, the gov't is stealing a family's 175 acre farm, claiming eminent domain. So they can build a bunch of apartment buildings on it. Rather disgusting.

Here we have areas with farmland and they want to build a road on it "for the common good". Hopefully there's too much backlash for them.

Last time they wanted to cut through a wildlife reserve and they ditched that after people got very angry.

 

[notabitail]

We have zero lights on here at night, but new "city" people bought a bit of land about an eighth of a mile away and had a huge light installed. Why move to the country and bring the city with you? (They also have a dog that they keep in a small pen, that they don't do anything with, it is basically a living alarm system, they are terrified of dogs.)

I hate lights at night. Especially bright ones.

 

[Perris]

Hooray!
https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ropshire-halted-over-river-pollution-concerns

Even for those of us who deal with chicken poo on a daily/ weekly/ monthly/ annual basis, it's hard to visualize just how much poo would be generated by "an industrial chicken unit containing 230,000 birds at any one time". Actually, it's hard to picture 230,000 chickens together in one place at one time. Start with 23 and multiply by 10,000? Think of each one as a person and then start filling sports stadia with them?

And the proposed siting 400m from an existing poultry factory farm - not even one sixth of the recommended distance for biosecurity - shows how little these commercial concerns, or the planning committee of the council, care about anyone or thing in the vicinity, or govt guidance on containing H5N1 and similar diseases.