Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[no fly zone]

- Dear iPhone: please stop changing “flock” to “Glock.” I have chickens, not firearms. kthxbye

Why not both?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Why not both?

With my vision (retinal disease) and terrible balance, I’m pretty sure that I don’t need to be armed!

 

[Appalachickens]

I’d love to have a Buckeye one day, if for no other reason than the coloration, but I’m pretty sure that my local chicken lady has never had them.

Thank goodness. I’m very happy with a flock size of five.

- Dear iPhone: please stop changing “flock” to “Glock.” I have chickens, not firearms. kthxbye

I was once trying to type Glock on my phone and it changed it to Glockenspiel. Very helpful.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I was once trying to type Glock on my phone and it changed it to Glockenspiel. Very helpful.

“Back, you dastardly villain, or I shall ring chimes at you!!”

 

[Perris]

could I ask where you got your Penedesenca eggs from?

one woman in Devon breeding them

I got them from her; at that time, they were only 1 generation away from the stock she obtained in person from Penedes. My birds are 4 now.

One of my cockerels bred successfully with hens of other breeds before he passed (all 3 boys died of unknown cause(s) more or less young, while all 3 girls are still thriving), and when they cross back the Penny genes appear to be strong; at least, one of my hybrid hens looks like a pure partridge Penedesenca - only distinguishable from the three older and definitely pure bred ones by her comb (as they are only distinguishable from one another by their combs), while a couple of younger roos look very like that male, and I think they are all 75% Penny. But it's guesswork since they mate as they wish here, and both hens and roos are promiscuous.

 

[kattabelly]

I got them from her; at that time, they were only 1 generation away from the stock she obtained in person from Penedes. My birds are 4 now.

One of my cockerels bred successfully with hens of other breeds before he passed (all 3 boys died of unknown cause(s) more or less young, while all 3 girls are still thriving), and when they cross back the Penny genes appear to be strong; at least, one of my hybrid hens looks like a pure partridge Penedesenca - only distinguishable from the three older and definitely pure bred ones by her comb (as they are only distinguishable from one another by their combs), while a couple of younger roos look very like that male, and I think they are all 75% Penny. But it's guesswork since they mate as they wish here, and both hens and roos are promiscuous.

Ah, ok. I know you let your birds breed as they want and I didn't expect you'd be looking to sell/swap/re-home any, just wondered if you might have another contact. Thanks anyway

I'm going to have to go and read all the regs and guidance for importing hatching eggs now just because I don't like loose threads and open ends

 

[Shadrach]

Thanks for the shout out. Well, I guess I fit the description that if I can solve a problem with free pallets, that is what I will try.



This summer I had to replace some large sections of my coop floor. The OSB, under a linoleum sheet, had rotted out and actually broken through in a few spaces. It was soft and spongy in other spaces. My OSB lasted about 5 years, so I'm not complaining. But I think marine plywood would have lasted much longer. Like you, at the time, I was not willing to pay the high price for marine plywood for my chickens which I did not expect to have more than a couple of years.

I suspect my OSB flooring rotted out from the bottom up. Someone mentioned that if I simply painted both sides of the OSB before I put it down as floorboard, it would have lasted much longer. I think that is somewhat true, however, even my exterior OSB which is painted is starting to rot out after 5 years.

In any case, my solution for new floorboards this summer was to cut up a bunch of pallet wood planks and lay them on top of the old floor. My new pallet wood floor is much stronger than the previous OSB floorboard. I use dry deep bedding in my coop, so all the pallet wood flooring will be covered. That means I did not worry about some planks being thicker or thinner than other boards. In my case, I just cut them all to 32 inches long and tacked them down.

I did not bother to buy any linoleum this time. Since my pallet wood floor is free, I'll just replace any boards that eventually rot out. I clean out my coop bedding twice a year, so if I notice a bad board, I'll just pry it out and replace it with another. Since everything is cut to a uniform 32 inches, I'll just have to match up a board with the same width or rip it to the correct width. Either way, not much of a problem.

I built my chicken coop a few years before I got into using free pallet wood for my projects. My OSB lasted about as long as I expected, but it was not the best choice for a long-term project. Having said that, I truly thought I would have chickens for only a couple of years. But here I am at 5+ years with that coop and still enjoying a backyard flock.

Here is a picture of the first half of my chicken coop floor being replaced with pallet wood planks...

View attachment 4231581

You can see I just laid the planks right on top of the old OSB flooring. I laid the planks in the direction that I sweep out the coop, in this picture, it would be from top to bottom. Since the planks are not all uniform in thickness, I thought sweeping out the coop litter would be easier if I had the boards laid out in the top to bottom orientation.

It's not a perfectly level floor, but since I will have 8-12 inches of dry deep bedding litter on the floor by the end of the winter, the difference in board thickness will never be noticed. The pallet wood floor on top of the old OSB is much stronger than the OSB floor was by itself.

Marine grade plywood starts at about $120.00 per sheet here and goes up from there. It would have cost me $360.00, or more, to redo my chicken coop floor with marine plywood. The pallet wood was free, and it's easy to replace any pallet boards that eventually rot.

I don't know about you, but $360.00 in my chicken budget will buy a lot of feed for a number of years. I go through about $10.00 of feed per month. I'm OK with a free pallet wood floor to save money.

Thanks for the response. There wasn't really an issue because i bought a recycled plastic coop.

 

[Shadrach]

Maybe nice to know?
: Only 2% have complications (where I live), and most complications within the 2% are with people who have multiple eye problems. It’s very rare people have long lasting problems after a normal cataract operation.


this kind of abbreviations really need an explanation or whatever planation.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I’d love to have a Buckeye one day, if for no other reason than the coloration, but I’m pretty sure that my local chicken lady has never had them.

I might know a guy…

 

[Shadrach]

One of my new Littles being brought up by Tassels is a Buckeye. I love the Mahogany coloring.
She is only 11 weeks old, seems very calm, and definitely prefers to forage rather than be fed. That may be Tassels’ influence rather than breed as Tassels seemed to disapprove of chick starter from the very first day she got them.
I don’t think she has killed any mice yet - though I did find a dead mouse in the run a couple of days ago.
View attachment 4231765

Now I think that's a good looking hen. She looks like what an efficient forager should in my view.
Unfortunately, Sylph has that same look and she's nothing like as good as Mow.