Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

I'm missing those Barred Plymouth Rocks cockerels more than I expected to. Wednesday(?) has been keeping me company and helping to teach the new girls that I won't bite though.
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She always looks so scruffy! Not sure if it's actually some kind of minor health issue or if she just likes mud more than she likes to preen or dust bathe. (I have thoroughly checked both birds and roosts at night for parasites as I was getting a bit paranoid, between that and the perpetual teenage moults and the habit a couple of them have picked up of only shaking the dust off a while after they finish bathing - couldn't see anything.)

Several of mine walk around completely covered in their dust bath (it looks terrible) until I am close enough to get covered - and then they shake it off energetically!

 

[Perris]

Some of mine carry it until they go to roost, and then I find a chicken-sized patch of dust on the poop tray next morning

 

[kattabelly]

Several of mine walk around completely covered in their dust bath (it looks terrible) until I am close enough to get covered - and then they shake it off energetically!

Yeah I got a face full of it yesterday just as I'd bent down to top up a feeder. It really does look terrible! Even when I know they do it, it still makes me panic for a moment when I see one looking especially bedraggled. Bertha also has a habit of standing under drips, so she ends up dry but then soaked to the skin in one little spot on her back.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

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Looks like Bristol had east Tennessee's weather from the day before:

Fall color doesn't peak here for a couple weeks, but sunrises and sets have been beautiful, making everything pink and orange. Keeping with the palette, Carrots excavated this treasure yesterday evening:

I found it in the grass when Carrots started making the same scolding trill they use for toads. It translates roughly to, "What are you doing here, scary thing? Stop scaring me too much to eat you."

They will eat salamanders, but I was able to relocate this one before anybirdy grew bold enough to taste test it.

 

[kattabelly]

Portable dust bath tax: docken seeds are this week's special.

 

[ChickenshedStudio]

Thanks! I hope you don't mind me joining in so late, I'm learning lots while I read through in fast forward mode

 

[Molpet]

3 different white roosters for taxes

Actually the middle is a cockerel

 

[Labsandchickens8]

Remember I had an expensive chicken guard for many years? I was difficult to install, malfunctioned several times after 5yo. This spring I bought a super cheap chicken door which was super easy to install. Just make a hole the size of the opening & mount the chicken door with 8 screws on the coop. So far Im very happy with it.

I have the same brand. It's been great (although it's only been a year.) If you buy it on sale, it seems like a reasonable price.

 

[Labsandchickens8]

Eight hours today,
Great to meet Perris after all these years of internet friendship. They arrived on time, in the right place with Glais. Can't ask for more than that.

We went for the deep end introduction. Got Mow and Sylph in the coop run, unboxed Glais in the run and stood back with fingers crossed. It went very well. No fuss or drama, unless one counts Sylph going "ohhh, he's gorgeous." I thought she would be a push over.

I put food down as usual and they all ate together. No fuss there either unless one counts Glais insisting he stood in the tray to eat.

I sat in the extended run chair and let them get on with it. Glais did a minimal amount of the herding shuffle, niether Mow or Sylph objected and off they went to explore, Mow and Sylph following Glais with poor old me more or less forgotten about.

They did the extended run first. They moved as a group and Glais didn't have to do any herding, meaning Mow and Sylph were more than happy to follow his lead; both moving in close when Glais found something edible. I think Glais encouraged them to try plants they may not have tried before.
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A really big plus for Glais is once out of the extended run and in the field he led them to cover, the only close cover in that part of the field in fact. Major points for Glais here and he kept them there, or reasonably close for much of the day.
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A bit of exploring at the far end of the extended run still keeping close to each other.
Half an hour before roost time they headed back to just outside the coop run for a preen and more food.
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The hour or so before roosting time has been in my experience a peak time for mating attempts. I was lucky enough to in the coop run when Glais chest bumped Sylph and she crouched and Glais obliged. What's more, he chest bumped Mow a bit later and Mow didn't crouch and Glais moved away.

I thought there might have been a problem at roost time. In an established group the rooster usually goes to roost first. Mow and Sylph hung around outside for longer than usual. possibly waiting for Glais to inspect the coop, but once I had encouraged Sylph and Mow to go in, Glais followed up the ramp, made those friendly nesting calls a rooster does and followed them in.
There was a bit of shuffling around and I left them to sort themselves out for ten minutes or so and then took this picture quickly and shut them all in.
Looks like they've got it sorted.
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It looks like it all went perfectly. Also, there will be some beautiful chicks there in the future! The three of them are gorgeous.

 

[Labsandchickens8]

I have the same brand. It's been great (although it's only been a year.) If you buy it on sale, it seems like a reasonable price.

The brand is Run Chicken by the way. It looks like that's what BDutch has also.