Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

Don't you have predators?
I do indeed. Mostly nocturnal. Instead of losing my entire flock trapped in a box I will most likely lose the old, sick or stupid ones and eventually I will have a landrace savvy enough to survive and thrive. I am ok with some losses to achieve that goal. Right now they all sleep in a predator-proof coop but I will 🤞 be getting a rooster from a friend’s accidental landrace soon and hopefully a couple hens too. I am hopeful the games hens I have will choose to sleep out with him and go broody next spring. My BCMs and my fat Australorp will most likely stay in the coop the rest of their days (Fatty would sleep on the ground if locked out) but they all free range during the day.
 
I know I'm not the only one on the thread with super duper tame chickens, but I figured I'd go ahead and represent (acknowledging that Shad's probably shaking his head at this level of chicken-human mingling).

Tame chickens can happen unintentionally and unexpectedly. Merle was a mean cockerel – vicious biter, yikes – but over 4 years has somehow come to expect a daily scritch. It's to the point where I can't herd him back to the yard by tickling his bum anymore. As soon as I touch him, he stops to wait for more.


Others, like Stilton, have no interest in being touched but like to spend time near or on people. At this point, they're all calm and easy enough to scoop up, particularly if they sense your intentions are well placed.

IMG_1755.jpg


Their tameness might be the mark of a less experienced keeper (I'll let you know my opinion on that in 10 more years 😉) and yes, the birds are a little cushy, but their high level of human socialization works for our current keeping style 🤷‍♀️
 

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