Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[CrazyChickenLady123]

Each chicken needs a really thorough inspection. I wrote on By Bobs thread that these were dead hens walking which may have upset some people but it's as close to the truth as is reasonable. Quite a few of these hens are going to die in the next few months. It doesn't matter that much how well they are looked after now, the damage was done in the breeding of them to produce more eggs at the expense of their long term heath.
It takes a long time to inspect one of these hens properly. It's not just the obvious things like mites etc that need to be check for, you need to check for small puncture wounds, possible broken bones, particularly on their wings, dry vents, crop disorders and anything that might suggest they are suffering from organ failure.
I have tried to do one a day at least but not all are cooperative and forcing the issue justs adds stress all round. Getting their trust takes time. Some won't let me near them. Easiest is to take them out of the coop at night but given they are not in my back garden everythin has to be done by head torch light in the cold and it's easy to miss things.
I have a watch list comprising those hens I think are most at risk.
I've got it spectacularly wrong twice now.

Sorry if I read this wrong. Are the chickens at your house now? Again, sorry if you. Already said this in one of your other posts

 

[rural mouse]

...mentioned before that their brooder raised moms leave the chicks earlier than broody raised moms.

Interesting. I have 3 broodies raising chicks. Correction: the 1 broody raised hen decided she was done on Sunday (3.5 weeks), 1 day after getting chicks up on a roost (5 feet up).

The 2 "brooder" raised (different age groups, but in the coop from 3-5 weeks old) are still on the ground with the rest of the chicks (all incubator hatched and semi co raised by all 3).

2 of the 3 "abandoned" (the others respond if baby peeps) chicks decided to roost up on the high roost tonight (6 feet up) with the "Big Birds" (adults). They had some space between babes and adults, but they were up and settled at coop close.

 

[Perris]

I think Perris mentioned before that their brooder raised moms leave the chicks earlier than broody raised moms.

Not me; I don't have a brooder. All chicks are broody raised here.

 

[Perris]

Will they eat crabgrass when they’re hungry enough, ideally before killing the normal grass, or is this project doomed?

You're expecting them to eat the green, whereas it is a recognized food for people and livestock as *seed* (like wheat, rice etc.). It is aka Polish millet. It was deliberately imported to America as animal forage. It is better at photosynthesis than most other plants inc lawn grasses, hence takes over, even in drought or starving soils. A single crabgrass plant can produce up to 150,000 seeds. It thrives in human-altered environments. You could embrace it. Let it flower and set seed, and then see if your chickens like it.

 

[Perris]

Wasn’t the wreck of the Spanish Armada an explanation for the sudden appearance of black-haired, brown-eyed children in the British Isles?

no mention of the Armada in this
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2015-03-19-who-do-you-think-you-really-are-genetic-map-british-isles

 

[BDutch]

For sure can't notice this in my bedroom at night with all the zooming going on. Maybe I should not have chosen to live near so much water

Bc I am hypersensitive for mosquito poison, we barricaded all windows and doors with mosquito screens years ago.
I did stay outside a few times without protection and only got one mosquito bite. Annoying but my body can handle that. With 10 bites I get sick.

If I notice any mosquitoes around sunset/dusk, I must admit I do take action and run inside : simply go inside to live behind the screens, or to grab a repellent like deet /autan.

Yesterday night was the first time the silkie mom decided to sleep with the rest of the flock again. Now the chicks just stay alone in the second coop they were raised in. They are a few days past 5 weeks old now.

My chickens are all brooder raised and I have noticed the younger mama’s leave the chicks much sooner than the older mama’s .
My long care champion is Ini mini. She never abandoned her foster chicks/pullets. Maybe bc she didn’t start to lay eggs again after her last hatch.

He she roosts in the playhouse, initially only with Gin and Tonic. Janice , who is a real daughter of Ini mini, joined later.

 

[kattabelly]

Wasn’t the wreck of the Spanish Armada an explanation for the sudden appearance of black-haired, brown-eyed children in the British Isles?

Also, no sails are up! Are they cheating with an engine?!

The surname Rosie is common here and one possible explanation for that is it's a corruption of Rossi, from Spanish and Italian sailors who landed or were wrecked here. A wrecked Spanish galleon is one possible source of the chickens that passed on the blue egg gene to what became the Shetland landrace, too. (There are also alternative and more mundane explanations for both.)

Well, that does make sense.

And usually these are used as training vessels for the various national navies, so I think they are able to proceed under sail when allowed.

(Preparing to sing in the chorus for Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Sea Symphony”, so I’ve got sails on the brain!)

I had an interesting chat with the mum of the director of the Statsraad Lehmkuhl - one of the Norwegian tall ships - Foundation recently. He also founded the Storm Weather Shanty Choir (very different to what you're singing, I know!)

Sylph and Mow were not interested in going far from me and the run today due to the stalking and attempted attack by the cat yesterday.

Really hope this doesn't become an ongoing issue for you and them.

In hindsight I suspect one of the local cats might be indirectly to blame for the cockerel I lost recently. One appeared outside the run that morning and another cockerel got in a huge panic about it and flew into the opposite door repeatedly, but luckily that was just windbreak mesh with some wide wire mesh a couple of inches further back and he was fine. I hadn't noticed the black cockerel doing anything like that but it's possible I missed a single collision in all the commotion, and a brain or spinal injury might explain his symptoms.

 

[Perris]

Sylph and Mow were not interested in going far from me and the run today due to the stalking and attempted attack by the cat yesterday.
None of the small birds were apparent today.

The world would be a better place without that cat.

 

[Perris]

The surname Rosie is common here and one possible explanation for that is it's a corruption of Rossi, from Spanish and Italian sailors who landed or were wrecked here. A wrecked Spanish galleon is one possible source of the chickens that passed on the blue egg gene to what became the Shetland landrace, too. (There are also alternative and more mundane explanations for both.)

further on this here
https://peopleofthebritishisles.web.ox.ac.uk/population-genetics
It says very near the bottom "There is evidence for only a very small Spanish contribution to the PoBI samples, in contrast to what has been claimed by some authors."

 

[kattabelly]

further on this here
https://peopleofthebritishisles.web.ox.ac.uk/population-genetics
It says very near the bottom "There is evidence for only a very small Spanish contribution to the PoBI samples, in contrast to what has been claimed by some authors."

Aye and one of the other explanations - that it's a corruption of Rousay - would make more sense. Lots of the most common surnames here are place/farm names.

I sill think it's interesting that stories like this are so common here though, even if many are apocryphal.