Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

I would never, ever, rely on an app to properly identify mushroom types. To do so, is, not just in my opinion but in the opinion of expert mushroom foragers, an invitation for a potentially life threatening disaster.
Where I lived in Catalonia, mushroom foraging was extremely popular. Every year one could see people with little baskets scouring the woodlands and pastures for mushrooms; whole families often involved. Every year while I was there, someone died from eating the wrong type and many more got sick.

I've been out in the woods with an elderly women many at the local village describe as a witch; the good type I should add. She was highly regarded and local people would go to her for remedies for various complaints for which this witch would make up a potion. Judging by her reputation many of these potions worked. The knowledge she had acquired over the years of walking the mountains looking for herbs, roots, flowers and mushrooms was absolutely staggering.

The one single bit of advice I got given by this women when walking in the mountains with her is don't consume anything without getting an expert opinion on the type of whatever it is one found, especially mushrooms.

The older I get the more I realize that I don't know as much as I previously thought.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

In the last week my flock has lost 6 members; 1 to Shad, 4 to someone else, and 1 to (I think) an adenovirus that caused the weirdly named inclusion body hepatitis (my deduction from necropsy; not lab or vet verified). I have been watching the 30 remaining for signs of the impact this cull might have had, expecting something significant at least from the disappearance - after seeing me catching them and take them indoors - of three mature hens, if not from the capture and disappearance also of two cockerels or the one who died overnight in a coop (which must have been witnessed by some).

There has been almost none. I'm still not sure what to make of it. I am working with an idea that the flock had exceeded a natural maximum size (recall the reading on RJF flock sizes and structures) and either they're not really registering that some are missing, or they think it's natural, like youngsters fledging the nest to make a life for themselves elsewhere. Other ideas welcome.

In the cases of the hens, maybe it fits in with hens heading off to nest away from the flock?

Did you ever see flock reactions when one of the girls vanished into the woods?

 

[SimpleJenn]

2 of my cockerels are filling out. BlackJack is a cochin, and CowSpots is a Marans. My third ranger rooster is inside the coop with the ladies who prefer getting up later.

 

[Perris]

In the cases of the hens, maybe it fits in with hens heading off to nest away from the flock?

Did you ever see flock reactions when one of the girls vanished into the woods?

Maybe. But they always knew where the nests/ broodies were, even if I didn't, so it's not really comparable.

 

[ChickenshedStudio]

great excitement here today - we have finally got everyone voluntarily sleeping in the new coop, without any evening herding duties or anything!
Also, in a very cute manner, 2 of the chicks decided to roost for the first time tonight


I do have a question though - they all seem to go to roost at least half an hour before sunset, more if it's grey and rainy... is that normal, or do I have really early chickens?? They get up early too - the chicks especially want to be out as soon as there's any light in the sky.

newbie question tax: here's our probably-a-cockerel posing beautifully for once

 

[Mother of Chaos]

great excitement here today - we have finally got everyone voluntarily sleeping in the new coop, without any evening herding duties or anything!
Also, in a very cute manner, 2 of the chicks decided to roost for the first time tonight


I do have a question though - they all seem to go to roost at least half an hour before sunset, more if it's grey and rainy... is that normal, or do I have really early chickens?? They get up early too - the chicks especially want to be out as soon as there's any light in the sky.

newbie question tax: here's our probably-a-cockerel posing beautifully for once
View attachment 4240036

Ours go in early, too - maybe 20-30 minutes before full darkness.

 

[rural mouse]

great excitement here today - we have finally got everyone voluntarily sleeping in the new coop, without any evening herding duties or anything!
Also, in a very cute manner, 2 of the chicks decided to roost for the first time tonight


I do have a question though - they all seem to go to roost at least half an hour before sunset, more if it's grey and rainy... is that normal, or do I have really early chickens?? They get up early too - the chicks especially want to be out as soon as there's any light in the sky.

newbie question tax: here's our probably-a-cockerel posing beautifully for once
View attachment 4240036

That's normal here. Crowing before color is seen in the sky, into the coop before the light is gone.


Opening this morning...

3 min later

 

[fluffycrow]

great excitement here today - we have finally got everyone voluntarily sleeping in the new coop, without any evening herding duties or anything!
Also, in a very cute manner, 2 of the chicks decided to roost for the first time tonight


I do have a question though - they all seem to go to roost at least half an hour before sunset, more if it's grey and rainy... is that normal, or do I have really early chickens?? They get up early too - the chicks especially want to be out as soon as there's any light in the sky.

newbie question tax: here's our probably-a-cockerel posing beautifully for once
View attachment 4240036

It really depends on the chicken.

The bantams here are early roosters. So were the brahmas; sometimes they roosted an hour before the rest even thought about roosting.
Big Red was the total opposite; 10pm roosting time during the summer was not too out of the ordinary for him.

Well-functioning groups tend to follow the head male. The core group wouldn’t roost until the lead rooster did, but they would give him signals.
Same goes for broodies and their chicks. My limited experience there seems to suggest that in the first few weeks, the mothers take the kids to roost earlier than the rest of the group.

Individual personality, roosting preferences (most tree huggers here tend to be early roosters), time of year, age and weather all play a part in this, I’ve found

 

[kattabelly]

Latitude makes a difference too. We get 18½ hours of daylight here around the summer solstice but not much more than 6 hours in the middle of winter. In the lighter months they'll still be roosting well after sunrise and going to roost a few hours before sunset. They started going to roost after sunset a couple of weeks ago and tonight the last ones weren't in until 35 minutes later. I've not been around in the mornings to check (they don't need to wait for me to let them out or bring food) but I imagine they're getting up as soon as it starts getting light now, too.

Time tax: I found these two out in the plot with the others this morning! First time they've done that.

 

[Perris]

I do have a question though - they all seem to go to roost at least half an hour before sunset, more if it's grey and rainy... is that normal, or do I have really early chickens?? They get up early too - the chicks especially want to be out as soon as there's any light in the sky.

That's normal here for going to roost earlier when it's grey and wet or windy.

mothers take the kids to roost earlier than the rest of the group.

That's the rule here. The younger they are, the earlier she gets them back into the nest for the night, tucked up in her skirts, even if not sleepy (so heads poking out between her feathers when I look in to check on them ).

The old hens are also earlier to bed and later to rise; they wait for the first breakfast rush (and the males' start-of-the-day mating urge) to pass before they saunter over to the feed stations.

Individual personality, roosting preferences (most tree huggers here tend to be early roosters), time of year, age and weather all play a part in this, I’ve found

Same here. Some of my tree huggers are early up, but others are the last to go, and barely see the branches when they do go; the odd squawk and screech indicates when they've missed their target as a result .