Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Glais will put an end to such nonsense!

We shall see.
What Glais has got to do is get the hens to like him. Nature taking it's course often isn't any hen or rooster/cockerel will do. The little feckers have preferences, even when it comes to the most gorgeous looking feather displays.
He's got to want to live there. At his age he'll make the top of the fence easily from the coop or the shade box.
He's going to have to work out that although I'm not the hens rooster they will act as if I am. He's then got to decide whether I'm threat or an asset.
He is going to have to learn to deal with confinement and this may be the most difficult thing for him to achieve. I'm hoping the two to three hours a day they get out and having his own hens will be enough compensation.

 

[Shadrach]

"Things aren't that bad Sylph.You're not thinking of jumping again are you?"

 

[no fly zone]

 

[tranquiliti]

She's not tried to lay outside in the past.

View attachment 4228479

“Maybe if I lay here, I’ll have some chicks!”

 

[Perris]

@Perris how is Glais properly pronounced?

As it is a Celtic name, I fully expect it to be Worpsfliggle or some such.

Boringly, this one is wysiwyg: the -ais is pronounced 'ice', as in ice-cream, so as if spelt Glice.

 

[Perris]

What Glais has got to do is get the hens to like him.

He is going to have to learn to deal with confinement

He found his voice yesterday. It's more tenor than soprano I'm pleased to say I hope they like him, and that he succeeds in winning them over, and navigating the chap in charge.

Apart from being the most eligible bachelor here, he's one of the 4 cockerels who chooses to roost in coop - and goes in early and without fuss, taking a place on a roost (and keeping it; some of the males [and females] are in and out like yo-yos before they all finally settle), so confinement may not be so unattractive an idea, especially with two such beauties for company and a boss who understands him. And who brings walnuts! what's not to like?

... er, your feed possibly; it will be different from what he's been getting to date, and interesting to hear how he gets on there.

 

[Vulpes vulpes]

I've seen a lot of talk about upping the protein content for adult chickens, but relatively little talk on chicks. I know that various sources say that red junglefowl chicks consume mostly--if not almost exclusively--animal matter, and I just read a very interesting study by Savory et al. 1978 which observed that feral chicks would consume about 65% invertebrates for their first month of life. This would translate to protein percentage in the high 20s at the very least, more likely 30% or more. Most chick starter is closer to 20-22%, which seems quite low in comparison. And that isn't even mentioning the amount of extra fat in many insects, including termites (a cornerstone in RJF diets). Fats are essential for brain development, and chicks go through some very important cognitive milestones in the first few weeks. Should we be throwing chick starter out the window and using game bird feed instead? Or homemade feed supplemented with a ton of fish?