Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[SimpleJenn]

Here are my cockerel keepers, barring a tiny polish who is too young to decide yet.

In the coops+run, Riddick the ayam cemani. He's very good even though he's young. Nearly all the ladies will squat for him (and two that won't are being moved to the free ranger group to help balance the ratio)

Of the free rangers

BlackJack the cochin. He's fairly friendly, and likes to wander about looking for interesting things.

Owl in the center, he's a cochinXamericana and helps keep the group moving. He trots them off to safety if something creepy shows up. Our dog does not count as creepy...in fact they like to pluck his loose fur if they get a chance!

Unnamed splash marans. A bit of a wanderer but likes the chicks and seems to get along with the others. Unrelated to the rest of the group, unlike BlackJack and Owl.

I have chicks that need to be divided into the groups and moved out this next week. I planned to do it today but needed all day to recover from butchering 6 cockerels this morning. I strained a muscle in my shoulder or something.

 

[Molpet]

But.... But... I NEED my junk food chocolate!

I bought this chocolate drink. It's roasted and ground cacao beans. Tastes like chocolate. Brews in a French press. Double chocolate is the best of what I have opened.

New Mary Jeff What It Is – Crio Bru https://share.google/P4EZ8NUoCw9c8Ptpz

 

[Molpet]

Did you know that a lot of people get problems with their intestines from food stress?

Good to use an app like Yuka, a week or so , to get an idea. Take it with a pinch of salt. Listen to your own body. And most of all eat what you like in combination with the food you know is healthy (organic veggies) .

This advice was given to me from an utmost reliable and close relative who studied nutrition & health, became a doctor and works at the hospital for patients with internal problems (stomach, intestines, liver).

I usually buy the same stuff and was surprised at things that were bad. I have cut those out.
It's handy when I have a week moment in the store and I scan it. Seeing the bad rating usually keeps me from buying.

 

[Molpet]

Bumble JrView attachment 4216650

Good looking boy

 

[ksbkeys]

Rain and wind which is getting stronger and forecast to hit 50mph tomorrow.
Sylph and Mow are not going to be pleased.
We did get out in short bursts. Sylph and Mow were so pleased to be out of the coop run they put up with a lot more wet than I thought they would.
View attachment 4216573View attachment 4216574View attachment 4216575View attachment 4216576

My chickens have always despised the wind...an observation that inspired this cartoon!

 

[thistlewick]

it is the same here. And those friend subgroups gather around a roo (Fforest or Killay), while lower ranking roos are to be found either in the main group, or paired off, e.g. Sully and Tintern are going round like a pair of besotted lovebirds atm. Adults forming more or less obvious cliques forces the teens to hang out together, within or without the main flock, and with or without a senior roo for company, until they are ready to take their place with the grown ups, and then, as you say, typically they tag along on the tail of their favourite of those hens.

This *perfectly* exactly describes what I've observed as well, to the letter.

Currently have a ton of teens still, lazing around the hen house all day lol Only some are starting to be curious about where the cool bigs go

 

[RoyalChick]

It doesn't like the goat cheese I get and the suggestions I have not seen
View attachment 4216584

It is an interesting app for sure. When @Shadrach first mentioned it I didn’t see why it was any different from just reading the label, but I just gave it a try for things in my pantry and I can see it does add some value to analysis of the label.
It really does not like chocolate!
It also has trouble recognizing a lot of things I buy which I felt confident would get a high score (dry beans, lentils etc.). That could be because I don’t buy them at the grocery store. You can add the items to their database which is reasonably easy to do but too much bother for all the things it didn’t recognize. It didn’t recognize any of the cheeses I had in the fridge.
Most of what I have in my pantry is in the 80-90% range. That excludes the chocolate which ranges from 12-40%!
It randomly picked up the bar code on a jar of Marmite that happened to be on the counter. The Marmite score (37%) highlights one of the weaknesses of the approach.
Marmite gets high marks for everything except it is high in salt. Which is of course why you eat it in vanishingly small quantities. Whether salt is good or bad depends on how much of it you eat, your medical and dietary context etc.
Anyway, it is entertaining and they did recommend a better baking chocolate which I might seek out next time I buy baking chocolate which won’t be for a year or so probably.

Tax: I am rather taken with this picture of Tassels standing guard over her brood while they lounge in a little patch of sunshine. The Littles are 6 weeks old today and very much still under the iron beak of Momma Tassels who does not let them stray very far from her. Of course she believes them to be only 5 weeks old.

 

[BDutch]

It is an interesting app for sure. When @Shadrach first mentioned it I didn’t see why it was any different from just reading the label, but I just gave it a try for things in my pantry and I can see it does add some value to analysis of the label.
It really does not like chocolate!
It also has trouble recognizing a lot of things I buy which I felt confident would get a high score (dry beans, lentils etc.). That could be because I don’t buy them at the grocery store. You can add the items to their database which is reasonably easy to do but too much bother for all the things it didn’t recognize. It didn’t recognize any of the cheeses I had in the fridge.
Most of what I have in my pantry is in the 80-90% range. That excludes the chocolate which ranges from 12-40%!
It randomly picked up the bar code on a jar of Marmite that happened to be on the counter. The Marmite score (37%) highlights one of the weaknesses of the approach.
Marmite gets high marks for everything except it is high in salt. Which is of course why you eat it in vanishingly small quantities. Whether salt is good or bad depends on how much of it you eat, your medical and dietary context etc.
Anyway, it is entertaining and they did recommend a better baking chocolate which I might seek out next time I buy baking chocolate which won’t be for a year or so probably.

Tax: I am rather taken with this picture of Tassels standing guard over her brood while they lounge in a little patch of sunshine. The Littles are 6 weeks old today and very much still under the iron beak of Momma Tassels who does not let them stray very far from her. Of course she believes them to be only 5 weeks old.
View attachment 4216865

Wonderful update Royal!
So glad for you it all worked out perfectly (so far?) . Are you still worried about the Marek?

 

[Perris]

I am rather taken with this picture of Tassels

I am rather impressed with the camera angle for the shot; were you crawling under there commando style or was it just a lucky potshot, pointing the camera in the right general direction between your feet?

 

[RoyalChick]

I am rather impressed with the camera angle for the shot; were you crawling under there commando style or was it just a lucky potshot, pointing the camera in the right general direction between your feet?

As I get older and lose weight (which is a good thing) I am very focused on building and maintaining muscle strength so that I can remain as independent and mobile as possible for as long as possible.
I have been told squats are a good thing to do and so I try to do some when the opportunity arises.
What better time than when you spot little Chicklets sunbathing in a low down and difficult to access part of the Chicken Palace?
I think Tassels is actually just extremely puzzled (probably amused) by my ‘working out’ in the Chicken Palace, but why not?!
I am also supposed to do planks (TBH I cannot yet do them flat - without a low bench or step), but the Chicken Palace seems like a less amenable place for those.