Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Mother of Chaos]

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.)

Buffy never fully shakes off the dirt from dust-bathing, so she looks a lot like the Pigpen character in Peanuts:

 

[kattabelly]

Buffy never fully shakes off the dirt from dust-bathing, so she looks a lot like the Pigpen character in Peanuts:

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Shouldn't laugh, so do I to be honest

 

[Molpet]

2 different part dark Cornish cockerels

 

[Shadrach]

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

Not at all. Thank you for going to the trouble of trying to grasp the essence of the thread.

 

[Shadrach]

there will be some beautiful chicks there in the future!

I'm hoping Fret's broodiness got carried forward.

 

[Shadrach]

Shouldn't laugh, so do I to be honest

So did I and probably still do. I posted some time ago that I had sat down on the pavement at a bus stop and someone gave me a pound coin thinking I was a homeless person.

 

[kattabelly]

So did I and probably still do. I posted some time ago that I had sat down on the pavement at a bus stop and someone gave me a pound coin think I was a homeless person.

I carried less hay and mud and leaves and cow hair and feathers and bits of keratin sheath around with me when I was actually homeless for a while, years ago...

 

[Labsandchickens8]

Buffy never fully shakes off the dirt from dust-bathing, so she looks a lot like the Pigpen character in Peanuts:

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One of my chickens (Cornelia, Welsummer) jumped up in my lap after thoroughly dust bathing ... Then shook off the dirt. All over my face, down my shirt. So I guess I dust bathed also.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I'm one of those people who are completely unaware of their appearance. My preference in clothing is what my husband and I call "slob wear", and I'm perfectly capable of being seized with the sudden desire to pull three weeds and then come to two hours later, covered in grime. And then head off to choir practice or something. After possibly washing my hands.

 

[Shadrach]

Three hours. Mostly dry with some sunshine.

I hacked out a bit of the compost pile. Medium interest from all. It's a bit too wet for bugs.

They all keep returning to the extended run. Some of that has to do with it's the most likely place to get fed but there's something more than that going on.

Sylph is either getting ready to moult, or she's sick. She's still active and eating, but not laying and going to roost with much less in her crop than she does when she's laying.

A visit to the usual field cover spot.

Trying to generate some enthusiasm for buckwheat. While not particularly high in protein it is a complete protein with less fat than hemp seeds, also a complete protein.

Galis has claimed what was Sylph's favourite roosting spot. She's not happy about it.