Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Mother of Chaos]

The field chickens are helping me to stay healthier and mobile. They provide structure to my life where before work played that role.
I had to think long and hard when Henry, Fret and Tull died about whether I wanted to continue at all.
A quick look around the sheltered over 55 years old compound I live in shows with great clarity what is likely to happen if one just drifts.

Little Feat!!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I have to point out for the sake of those who read this thread and have a picture of a harmonious group of mixed males and females that the reality is they all fight.
I do not know of one single keeper who observes their chickens closely who will say hand on heart their chickens always get along. They don't. Usually the scraps are face saving, over in seconds, particularly with the females. Usually there are no injuries to speak of. Sometimes all one sees are a couple of new peck marks on the males comb and wattles. It is extremely rare that such peck marks are the result over over enthusiastic grooming for example.
If one has juveniles then one has probably seen males chest bumping; that's low level fighting and one backs off and it's all over.
Like any species, chickens have to compete for mates and resources. Some fighting is inevitable. Hopefully and usually in my experience, they manage all this better than humans and don't lose the plot and try to wipe out the entire chicken world in the process of trying to show who's boss unlike some of our so called leaders.

In the better balanced tribes and groups the seniors and hopefully wiser ones keep the violence to a minimum. but it's always there. Some chickens are just plain bullies, fighting them is inevitable at some point. I've had situations when it's not been the bullies victim that has balanced the scales so to speak, it's been a senior hen or rooster who has just lost patience with all the drama.

Young cockerels getting knocked off a hen they had managed to get to crouch for them by a senior rooster goes on all the time in a large mixed sex group. That's violence/fighting. Just because a fight may have been a one punch knockout doesn't mean it wasn't violence.

I would probably call most of what you describe "quarreling." Or if you're in the American South, "fussin'."

Tessa and Willow (the Littles) still chest-bump every time they round a corner.

Usually the scraps are face saving, over in seconds, particularly with the females. <- This is my experience.

 

[MrsNorthie]

In the better balanced tribes and groups the seniors and hopefully wiser ones keep the violence to a minimum. but it's always there.

That is where Spud is great with the younger lads, He uses the bump method and gives them a look, he doesn't let them fight each other too much. If there is a little handbags that starts to escalate, he inserts himself and the 2 ruffians go in opposite directions. Squeak only gets involved if there is a hen squeals.

The hens will, occasionally give a peck if someone is being extra pushy, it is more like a little reminder of their status in the tribe, and they all dust bath with each other and eat together a few minutes later.

I, again, give all credit to Spud for keeping the peace.

 

[MrsNorthie]

I've seen this happen before. In my experience these events, while rare, can get really violent. The senior rooster is unlikely to back down because of how much he has to lose. In the flock I had when I was a teenager, there was a point where I had way too many rooster and no way to deal with them. My favorite rooster, Penny, a magnificent crele mix who was the size of a small barge, kept the peace for many years. I was very attached to him, he was raised by a family with a young girl (who named him Penny because they thought he was a pullet) and the kid loved him very much, even though they had to give him away to us. He was gentle and kind, imagine the ideal flock protector, that was him. One day I walked outside and noticed a drop of blood on the ground, and looked up to see one of the young upstart cockerels (a silver ameraucana cross) with his feathers soaked and matted with blood. He was hanging out with the group like there was nothing wrong. It took me a while to find Penny. He was in much worse shape, cowering in a hiding spot about 100ft from the coop, equally blood soaked and blinded in one eye. One of my biggest regrets with those chickens is that I didn't bring him inside that night. I never saw him after that, he didn't return to the coop, and I believe something came and picked him off in the night. At least he had a very long and peaceful reign

There are some very special roosters, but nature can be cruel. :-( Penny sounds like he was an amazing boy.

I separated Goldie out, because he is a great rooster in his own right, but he and Spud loathe each other and the other boys supported Spud. They kept Goldie trapped in a nesting box and wouldn't let him out to eat or drink. When I went down to see what the fuss in the coop was, Goldie, who hates to be handled, came running out and flew into my arms. We built him a temporary coop (thus the reason that we are in construction mode again.) and made it so the girls could go back and forth, but the boys couldn't squeeze through. Some of the hens chose to live with Goldie, but they still socialize with rest of the girls. Giving the hens access to each other was important to me, in case something happens to Goldie and I have to reintegrate them.

 

[Perris]

It's fighting.
The tribes used to do it all the time. It's not usually serious until one won't back off or there is a concerted attempt to displace a senior rooster. It can take years for past resentments to come out. Notch used to bully Mag until the day mag decided he had had enough and kicked Notch's arse. Every roost time from that point on, Mag would wait for Notch to arrive to roost with his hens and drive him off.

What pissed me off most is at dusk when Mag was chasing Notch was the time he as junior rooster should have been watching the hens that hadn't gone in to roost.

I think to call it all 'fighting' is a missed opportunity to improve our understanding of chicken behaviour.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus/fight

 

[Perris]

I have to point out for the sake of those who read this thread and have a picture of a harmonious group of mixed males and females that the reality is they all fight.
I do not know of one single keeper who observes their chickens closely who will say hand on heart their chickens always get along. They don't. Usually the scraps are face saving, over in seconds, particularly with the females. Usually there are no injuries to speak of. Sometimes all one sees are a couple of new peck marks on the males comb and wattles. It is extremely rare that such peck marks are the result over over enthusiastic grooming for example.
If one has juveniles then one has probably seen males chest bumping; that's low level fighting and one backs off and it's all over.
Like any species, chickens have to compete for mates and resources. Some fighting is inevitable. Hopefully and usually in my experience, they manage all this better than humans and don't lose the plot and try to wipe out the entire chicken world in the process of trying to show who's boss unlike some of our so called leaders.

In the better balanced tribes and groups the seniors and hopefully wiser ones keep the violence to a minimum. but it's always there. Some chickens are just plain bullies, fighting them is inevitable at some point. I've had situations when it's not been the bullies victim that has balanced the scales so to speak, it's been a senior hen or rooster who has just lost patience with all the drama.

Young cockerels getting knocked off a hen they had managed to get to crouch for them by a senior rooster goes on all the time in a large mixed sex group. That's violence/fighting. Just because a fight may have been a one punch knockout doesn't mean it wasn't violence.

Again, I think it's useful to discriminate between types and not lump all these different behaviours into one category
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english-thesaurus/violence

 

[Perris]

I've just jacked up by £500.00 my chicken costs.

My costs this year include buying hatching eggs and supporting almost as many males as females, so I think you're being robbed by someone somewhere too!

 

[BDutch]

I've just jacked up by £500.00 my chicken costs.

Glad you don’t try to make it a profitable enterprise . £500 however is way more than the €110 I paid for the childrens playhouse. Maybe I paid another €40 for the conversion. And I should count another €140 for the auto pop door I originally bought for Tintins tiny private coop too.

So I must admit that my tiny eggs cost a lot more than 43ct in the previous year (from autumn 2023-2024). Probably more than double.

That year I started with buying expensive organic eggs in the shop bc all my bantams stopped laying by the end of October. I bought fertile eggs 2x. I bought an expensive auto pop door that opens sideways for the tiny coop where I thought Tintin would go in to roost. I mounted on the playhouse later on. I bought the childrens playhouse as mentioned above and stuff to convert it into a coop. Bought a tool to cut cardboard quick and without effort. And of course I didn’t have many eggs with all the broodies and no young layers. All these ^^ added up to the normal feed and maintenance costs.

Saved a little money too, not having to buy so much feed for 6 small hens. And actually sold my Tintin for €5 to people in Friesland who where very happy to ad a cockerel to their hen-flock of bantam Sulmtaler.

I felt rich finding him a good home. Not because of the sale. The €5 did not cover the real cost by far.
And still, having chickens is a cheap enjoyment, hobby or occupation compared with many others.