Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

Thank you very much, Shad. Your many posts and articles have made me love the roosters here that much more, so I try to do right by them, but also by the hens. Sometimes an outside perspective is nice, as my decisions are not always as just I hope they are.

I’ll start from when Kolovos passed, when his two sons became co-heads of the free range group. About two months after his passing, a time that passed with relative peace (both boys were accepted by the hens, and ruled very fairly and maturely for their age), Big Red’s (Oriental Gamefowl) hens passed. As not to leave him by himself, he was added to the free range group. As one could imagine, he became head very quickly.

Big Red is a dream when it comes to humans, but he is very intense when it comes to other chickens, very territorial (as is the nature of his breed), and worst of all, incredibly immature and rough with his matings. As a result, the hens were not very fond of Big Red, but they accepted him regardless. Due to Big Red taking the top position in the group, and aggressively driving away the other two, both of those very mature (in temperament, not age) males have returned to a cockerel-like state, of forcefully grabbing any hen that comes near them. On top of that, Big Red is still very aggressive with his matings, a fact that I have stopped believing could change at 3 years old.

This has left every single hen in the group with some sort of feather damage. The best cases are barely noticeable, while the worst look worse than some rescued ex batts that I have seen. The hens don’t seem particularly pleased with this arrangement. In the afternoon, when they should be more active, they all huddle together in the most hard to get to parts of the property, to avoid any mating grabs.

It all came to a head three days ago, when I thought one of the senior hens went broody on a wild nest (slight parenthesis here: all senior hens started clucking a week after Kolovos’s passing, which i interpret as mourning). Turns out that she was not broody, she was just hiding in the bushes all day to avoid being seen by Big Red. The reason was that she has a big wound on her side, under her wing, from forceful mating, which I only found out when I was forced to grab her to get her bag in the coop for bed time. What was really heartbreaking was seeing her behaviour the next day, when I also had to guide her towards the coop at sundown. I had closed the coop door, and Big Red was frantically pacing back and forth. As soon as she saw him, from the other side of the wire, she crouched. Same thing happened today, when I was (once again) guiding her towards the coop. She crouched, for me this time. I interpret this as her trying to make sure her wound doesn’t get any worse, which would likely be the case if she were to run away, and be forcefully grabbed.

Please educate me if this is not what you think is happening. I was definitely giving Big Red the benefit of the doubt before seeing the wound, as I know that feather damage is rather insignificant. I really love him, I have raised him from a chick, he flies on my wrist when we he sees me, and loves wattle scratches and hugs. But I will also not sacrifice the health of the group for my sake, if you think that it comes to that.
I would really appreciate the help, even if that is a huge shouting at, for missing something very clear, and/or misinterpreting their behaviour.

Here is some tax for what I’m sure is a massive postView attachment 4183241

I am a relative newbie to chicken husbandry, so while I think I know what I would do, I'll wait for others to chime in.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Navy and the chicks. I think I worried for nothing, going against the popular advice against letting a young pullet brood. She's incredible with her babies. And she still wants to cooperate with me! She let me put them in a box and carry everyone to the coop last night to sleep.

 

[Perris]

Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt): What Is It and How to Use it? https://www.planetnatural.com/bacillus-thuringiensis/

I haven't heard of that study (you probably guessed that by now, since I didn't know what BT stood for ).

 

[notabitail]

since I didn't know what BT stood for ).

BT in tech world is for Ye Olde Bluetooth.

 

[RoyalChick]

BT in tech world is for Ye Olde Bluetooth.

Or given that it was a UK study, British Telecom.

 

[notabitail]

Or given that it was a UK study, British Telecom.

That too.

 

[Perris]

or even a Baronet, but I didn't think any of them made much sense in the context

 

[Mother of Chaos]

or even a Baronet, but I didn't think any of them made much sense in the context

I dunno, maybe some ground-up and powdered baronet would kill caterpillars?

 

[fuzzi]

This afternoon I brought some chilled melon to the flocks, as it's brutally hot.

The adults backed off and allowed the week old chicks first dibs!

That's Zaccheus watching over them.

 

[Perris]

I think this is the only pullet among the 4 home grown birds that hatched early May

So together with the Swedish Flowers, that looks like 6 boys and 2 girls from the spring clutches. In previous years, with summer and autumn hatches, I've had more balanced ratios or more females than males. So this year's results are consistent with assorted anecdotal evidence that there is (for whatever reason(s)) a tendency for more males than females to develop/ hatch/ survive in early broods.

(I haven't included the 16 week olds because, believe it or not, the jury's still out on 3 of them. Cadle I used to be sure was a cockerel and now I'm sure is a pullet, but frankly, some of them just defeat me till they crow or lay and s/he may prove me wrong again )