Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

My husband and I rented a boat without flushing water once. It had a compost toilet. I think we had to add some-kind of flavoured sawdust after . Worked fine. Nothing complex. Just a bucket with a lid. And there was no smell at all.

An outside toilet which is not much more than a hole in the ground works too for a few weeks. Scouting groups make them too when they camp in nature .

A deep hole in the ground is basically what we have at the field, enclosed in a small shed. Works fine at the amount of use it gets, which isn't much.

 

[Shadrach]

We have six linked IBCs - so 6000L total - set up to collect rain off a pent shed roof at the community garden, plus another 4 or 6(?) in another spot that's too far away for me to bother with. They get emptied pretty quickly because everyone uses them to water their polytunnel plots, but also they aren't actually that great at collecting water because the gutter is on the low side of the roof and the wind often makes it rain uphill.

I'm bringing tap water up from my house most days at the moment, but they prefer to drink gross slimy stagnant rainwater when given the choice

I supply clean water daily but once out on the field they'll drink from upturned bucket lids, leaves, any promising looking puddle and then, almost last thing before roosting, they'll drink the water I provide as a grudging gesture.

 

[MrsNorthie]

He died yesterday. Wasn't impacted crop, so went with treating for coccidiosis but it was too late. Should have listened to my gut 2 nights before that it odd. Treating the whole flock for coccidiosis at the moment.

He was quite odd in his appearance since he had a single allele for barring and dermal inhibitor. So his fibro was inhibited succesfully as he had light skin colour. But for some reason his legs and comb darkened up, which shouldn't have happened in theory. Wish I could have seen him grow up, now I will have to wait for new male chicks to hatch to discover why this is happening.

On a happier note, the remaining 4 chicks now also roost with the rest of the flock.

Sorry to hear you lost the little fellow.

 

[Shadrach]

Three hours today. A rather pleasant afternoon with warm sunshine and the smell of the morning rain still in the air.
I took a lot of pictures.
As can be seen in the pictures, Mow and Sylph spend most of their time close to each other when out on the field. This is good: it's good for me at any rate, they might see the arrangement as a matter of necessity.

It can also be seen in the recent pictures I think, that they are close to me. This isn't good. While I love having their company what they should be doing is foraging, which they do, because I take them out and do a bit of digging and moving rotting wood etc for them. May be good for me in that it's exercise. They are getting better at the digging for themselves once I've picked a spot and started. The compost heaps have helped in this regard because I just need to hack a few holes and they'll carry on from there.
Then there's the crouching business. I suppose one could see it as cute if one didn't think a bit about what it means in the chicken world, but when a hen thinks I'm a likely candidate for furthering her genes then something has gone seriously wrong.

The only experience of hen only groups I've had has been with Fat Bird and Ruffles who were rooster-less and the only hens left. While they spent a lot of time in my house during the day, Cillin hardly broke a sweat when he eventually mustered the courage to ask if he could move in with them. Ruffles was a pushover anyway.

Mow has been making chick I've found food calls. Sylph used to go and investigate but got a slap for her trouble. Would Mow go broody if I left eggs in the nest.

One would have thought there would be lots of "spare" roosters available but so far I haven't found this to be the case. I may not be looking in the right places. The few I have investigated were rangers and this better off elsewhere. Bear in mind what you see in the pictures is a small portion of the chickens day, the rest is spent in the run. I'm looking for a rooster who would be better off at the field than most other options and that I'm finding a hard call mainly because it reminds me what an appalling restricted life the field chickens have for the majority of their day.

I've pretty much decided that I'll try to introduce a single rooster and once established, then add some more hens. It may not happen like that due to lack of choice. Best laid plans...

There are still lots of Lady Birds out. Ths one is on one of the few still flowering St John's Wort plants.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Three hours today. A rather pleasant afternoon with warm sunshine and the smell of the morning rain still in the air.
I took a lot of pictures.
As can be seen in the pictures, Mow and Sylph spend most of their time close to each other when out on the field. This is good: it's good for me at any rate, they might see the arrangement as a matter of necessity.

It can also be seen in the recent pictures I think, that they are close to me. This isn't good. While I love having their company what they should be doing is foraging, which they do, because I take them out and do a bit of digging and moving rotting wood etc for them. May be good for me in that it's exercise. They are getting better at the digging for themselves once I've picked a spot and started. The compost heaps have helped in this regard because I just need to hack a few holes and they'll carry on from there.
Then there's the crouching business. I suppose one could see it as cute if one didn't think a bit about what it means in the chicken world, but when a hen thinks I'm a likely candidate for furthering her genes then something has gone seriously wrong.

The only experience of hen only groups I've had has been with Fat Bird and Ruffles who were rooster-less and the only hens left. While they spent a lot of time in my house during the day, Cillin hardly broke a sweat when he eventually mustered the courage to ask if he could move in with them. Ruffles was a pushover anyway.

Mow has been making chick I've found food calls. Sylph used to go and investigate but got a slap for her trouble. Would Mow go broody if I left eggs in the nest.

One would have thought there would be lots of "spare" roosters available but so far I haven't found this to be the case. I may not be looking in the right places. The few I have investigated were rangers and this better off elsewhere. Bear in mind what you see in the pictures is a small portion of the chickens day, the rest is spent in the run. I'm looking for a rooster who would be better off at the field than most other options and that I'm finding a hard call mainly because it reminds me what an appalling restricted life the field chickens have for the majority of their day.

I've pretty much decided that I'll try to introduce a single rooster and once established, then add some more hens. It may not happen like that due to lack of choice. Best laid plans...
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There are still lots of Lady Birds out. Ths one is on one of the few still flowering St John's Wort plants.
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on finding a suitable rooster! Sounds like a good plan.

 

[kcan2]

Shadrach,

Sorry to return from a byc hiatus to find the allotments minus king Henry, mama Fret and lady Tull. There was surely only one Henry and he made it a sunnier place - it was a joy to follow his rambles. One more walnut for Henry.

Compliments to Mow and Sylph; they are looking lovely. I think their coloring may have matured a bit since I last saw them ~March. Sylph looks like she has some more gray and Mow some more black, perhaps?

Sharing a recent photo of my pair:

 

[BDutch]

I'm looking for a rooster who would be better off at the field than most other options and that I'm finding a hard call mainly because it reminds me what an appalling restricted life the field chickens have for the majority of their day.

I've pretty much decided that I'll try to introduce a single rooster and once established, then add some more hens. It may not happen like that due to lack of choice. Best laid plans...

Why not buy a duo or trio?. These are often for sale from backyard hobbyists in my country. I have no idea what you can obtain near Bristol. With 1 or 2 pullets and a cockerel you would have a nice flock with a rooster again next spring with your guidance.

I understood the run isn’t small at all for 5 chickens. See the coop and run as a good place to live in. The hours you spend in the field with them is like the cherry on the pie.

 

[Skyeknight]

Have you seen this https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/2012/09/02/gms10-skin-and-shank-color/ ?

I haven't seen it before, very informative concise summary of skin colours! I knew a bunch already, but I didn't know that yellow shanks equals yellow skin and the same goes for white. I do find it frustrating that skin melanizers are a big unknown. The only mutations known as far as I am aware are gypsy face and fibromelanosis. Currently my hypothesis for the dark comb and dark shanks in my rooster chick was that unknown melanizers present in the Dutch Ayam Cemani are at a work, due to outcrossing these might be lost in the American Ayam Cemani. Of course this is at the moment based on the single rooster chick which wasn't an adult at all. So can only test it by actually getting a bunch of male offspring to adulthood. Could very well turn out they would all get big bright red combs later on.

It's still not helping me understand the frequent tendency of (some) Easter Eggers to start with slate blue legs (first seen at 8 weeks, when we got her) to change to willow green (by I think aaround 12 weeks? maybe later.) Slate is dominant W and willow is recessive w, if I read that right.

I assume that they are genetically willow and therefore carry the yellow gene. But because of lack of those careotenoids in young chickens they simply don't appear yellowish yet.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

… I assume that they are genetically willow and therefore carry the yellow gene. But because of lack of those careotenoids in young chickens they simply don't appear yellowish yet.

That would make sense! I had thought something similar and less coherent (started with blue that became “yellowed”, resulting in green), but you have a logical explanation of how this might have happened.

 

[MrsNorthie]

I'm looking for a rooster who would be better off at the field than most other options and that I'm finding a hard call mainly because it reminds me what an appalling restricted life the field chickens have for the majority of their day.

Is there some sort of forum, where you could put a notice that you are looking for a cockerel or rooster? With so many people who just cull males, even with limited ranging, having a few ladies, good food and a chance to range, even in a limited capacity, could be better than sure death. While it is not ideal, you take excellent care of them and you have been working to improve their space to offer more enrichment.