Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

I'm so amazed at the depth and richness of your pasturage. How much land do you have available for them to forage? Do you have to redistribute it occasionally to let it recover while they work over a different site? (fencing, etc.)

I only have a few chickens. Currently only 5 and at maximum only 8.
They have a very big area enclosed by an electric fence. Nothing like the acre that I think @Shadrach tells us they need, but a lot by backyard standards.
They don’t ever manage to destroy it except for a couple of favorite dust bathing places.
I basically let it run wild but have a shrub planting program to create better aerial protection. I can imagine going fully free range when I have more shrub cover, but I have a heavy predator load so have been nervous about that.

 

[no fly zone]

Went to the place with the chickens.

 

[Shadrach]

Did you know that chicks bounce?

Someone posted about a chicken nest and broody up a tree. They were concerned that a chick would die should if fall out of the nest or jump on the instructions of mum. The are are very light and have enormous drag due to the chick fluff, that fluff also gives great cushioning.
Watching days old chicks out with mum learning to forage was an eye opener. Mum just dug and if a chick was standing behind her the chick got sent flying by one of mum's feet. I mean right off the ground, travel a couple of feet!
What one doe shave to be very careful of is crushing them; a lesson here for those who handle their chicks. It takes a few weeks for the bones to stiffen. It is very easy to deform these young bones with a squeeze, even if the person doing the squeezing think they applied very little pressure. Children in particular are prone to damaging chicks by squeezing; the chicks flaps, the child thinks the chick is going to escape and they close their fist to hang on to the chick. More often than not the keeper doesn't know any damage has been done until problems occur when the chick is fully grown.

EDIT.
I have never candled an egg. I try not to touch the eggs at all.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

…I see these 2 as completely different things. The first one is her basically them being pregnant the other is being a mom. Both of them involve trying to keep either eggs or chicks warm, but is very different in all other parts in my eyes…

I do, too, but I see a LOT of references to “the broodies out with their chicks,” both here and off forum.

It’s not as bad as the coop vs run thing (“my coop is 16’x32’!”), but it still causes confusion.

 

[Molpet]

Went to the place with the chickens.

View attachment 4172958View attachment 4172959View attachment 4172960View attachment 4172961View attachment 4172962View attachment 4172963

Glad you got to go again

 

[Molpet]

Cockerels trying to get the tractor going for their escape.

Actually their turkey mum is in the tree above with their poult brother

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Cockerels trying to get the tractor going for their escape.
View attachment 4173037

Actually their turkey mum is in the tree above with their poult brother

“I said, PUSH!!”

 

[Skyeknight]

I do, too, but I see a LOT of references to “the broodies out with their chicks,” both here and off forum.

It’s not as bad as the coop vs run thing (“my coop is 16’x32’!”), but it still causes confusion.

Yeah that is annoying. I do find terminology and writing breed names correctly important, although ofcourse I do make mistakes with this myself. That way it's easier for people to find your threads or understand it if English is not the native language. Which is why I hate seeing "Welsummer" being written instead of "Welsumer". Doesn't make any sense as it has nothing to do with the word of "summer". What's next, going to write "Barnevelder" as "Barneveldder"? Makes about as much sense since both of these are Dutch breeds named after the cities they were developed in +er added at the end.

One thing that is more of a petpeeve and technically not incorrect. But I dislike it when people use the term hybrid when refering to chickens with mixed parentage (layers, broilers or others). To me a hybrid is a mix between seperate species like the liger or spalding peafowl. While a mix where the parentage breeds are known are generally refered to as crossbreds and unknown parentage are mixed breeds.

Anyways that was my rant and should probably pay some tax at this point
My current main flock with 3 new added pullets.

 

[RoyalChick]

Yeah that is annoying. I do find terminology and writing breed names correctly important, although ofcourse I do make mistakes with this myself. That way it's easier for people to find your threads or understand it if English is not the native language. Which is why I hate seeing "Welsummer" being written instead of "Welsumer". Doesn't make any sense as it has nothing to do with the word of "summer". What's next, going to write "Barnevelder" as "Barneveldder"? Makes about as much sense since both of these are Dutch breeds named after the cities they were developed in +er added at the end.

One thing that is more of a petpeeve and technically not incorrect. But I dislike it when people use the term hybrid when refering to chickens with mixed parentage (layers, broilers or others). To me a hybrid is a mix between seperate species like the liger or spalding peafowl. While a mix where the parentage breeds are known are generally refered to as crossbreds and unknown parentage are mixed breeds.

Anyways that was my rant and should probably pay some tax at this point
My current main flock with 3 new added pullets.

But, but, but …..

Welsummer is an acceptable spelling (maybe even the normally accepted spelling).
https://welsummer.org/

And the definition of a hybrid is explicitly the offspring of a cross between different species (your liger example), breeds, varieties etc.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hybrid

 

[notabitail]

But, but, but …..

Welsummer is an acceptable spelling (maybe even the normally accepted spelling).
https://welsummer.org/

I use the spelling Welsummer.