Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

My feeling when it comes to coops:

Well-ventilated, yes.

Bright, no.

Coops are bedrooms, meant for sleeping and nesting, both of which commonly occur in relative darkness. The rest of their run and the yard are for the daylight hours.

There is a streetlight on the side street that shines on the coop and indirectly into our bedroom. The moon also rises on a different side, shining into the bedroom. It’s lovely and all, but I’d really rather not be awakened at 4 by a shaft of moonlight!

If a hen is just going to be laying eggs, then a dark environment mat not do any harm.
Interestingly though the most popular egg laying site was the nest box in my house and that was exposed to lots of sunlight. It was also quite popular for sitting and hatching.

But, if a hen is expected to sit and hatch then daylight exposure is very important.
I've got some full studies on the topic somewhere but my digital non filing system is such a mess it could take me hours to find them.
This will give a start,

https://lohmann-breeders.com/lohman...r-health-and-performance-of-domestic-chicken/

There is quite a lot of information on the net on this topic once one has got past the usual crap that gets thrown up.
Every study I read came to the conclusion that daylight (and apparently artificial light in some case) was a major positive factor in egg development.
One study suggested that chicks hatched in nests exposed to periods of light had less aggressive behaviour toward their siblings but, because of the complexity in proving such a claim, no evidence was given.

I'm with BDutch on this one and one of the first things I did with the recycled plastic Solway coop was to cut a window in the human access door at the back of the coop

I prefer to have

 

[Shadrach]

I have had persistent broodys that sit for months with eggs that blow up. Usually I can tell because the others are grabbing green uck from under her. One Time I was standing there telling her she needed to give up and hear a loud pop... The stench ran me out and hens in. They had it cleaned up and the hen was still sitting on uck covered eggs.



There are 2 mushrooms in my area that don't have look alike . Puffballs are the ones I find on my property. There's some others in the poultry yard that they eat. So far no issues

Pardon my humour, I know the smell.
I know it happens. Maybe I've been lucky.
I don't let hens sit indefinitely; six weeks I think has been the longest before I intervened.
There is something wrong with a hen that doesn't switch off when her eggs haven't hatched in the usual time. Also, I think the majority of the hens I've observed sitting, shove the non viable eggs out of the nest, or at least shove them to the nest edges. I've found post hatch quite a few eggs with chicks well formed enough to look like they'll make it but the hen has abandoned them. I'll go with the hens judgement usually.

Where I know the smell from is finding abandoned nests with eggs in and I've done a break open inspection.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

If a hen is just going to be laying eggs, then a dark environment mat not do any harm.
Interestingly though the most popular egg laying site was the nest box in my house and that was exposed to lots of sunlight. It was also quite popular for sitting and hatching.

But, if a hen is expected to sit and hatch then daylight exposure is very important.
I've got some full studies on the topic somewhere but my digital non filing system is such a mess it could take me hours to find them.
This will give a start,

https://lohmann-breeders.com/lohman...r-health-and-performance-of-domestic-chicken/

There is quite a lot of information on the net on this topic once one has got past the usual crap that gets thrown up.
Every study I read came to the conclusion that daylight (and apparently artificial light in some case) was a major positive factor in egg development.
One study suggested that chicks hatched in nests exposed to periods of light had less aggressive behaviour toward their siblings but, because of the complexity in proving such a claim, no evidence was given.

I'm with BDutch on this one and one of the first things I did with the recycled plastic Solway coop was to cut a window in the human access door at the back of the coop

I prefer to have

Thanks!

With our particular situation, I don't think as far down the line as eggs actually being brooded and hatched. I think I would move them if that were happening, if only for the safety of the eggs and continued access to the nesting boxes.

Should that happy day occur (meaning we'd have to move, which I swore last time would only happen with me on a stretcher with a sheet over my face), I like the idea of having the eggs be exposed to daylight!

For nesting, the Buff definitely likes her privacy. The Littles, who follow her everywhere, sit on the roosts and stare at her. She doesn't like it, and she's very loud in her objections! I'm going to try some sort of curtaining over the side-by-side boxes.

Other than sleeping and laying (and in the case of the Littles, staring unblinkingly at Buffy trying to lay), the coop remains unused through the day.

 

[Shadrach]

Whereas I have parentless tweens running amok They were only just settling down when I left tonight, 40 minutes after sunset.

It's as frustrating as trying to teach chicks to walk up a coop ramp. When mum has given up I can recall some dreadful nights, soaked to the skin with peck marks on my hand from the irate mum who seems to think I'm trying to kill her chicks while I tried to ferret them out from underneath the coop.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Pardon my humour, I know the smell.
I know it happens. Maybe I've been lucky.
I don't let hens sit indefinitely; six weeks I think has been the longest before I intervened.
There is something wrong with a hen that doesn't switch off when her eggs haven't hatched in the usual time. Also, I think the majority of the hens I've observed sitting, shove the non viable eggs out of the nest, or at least shove them to the nest edges. I've found post hatch quite a few eggs with chicks well formed enough to look like they'll make it but the hen has abandoned them. I'll go with the hens judgement usually.

Where I know the smell from is finding abandoned nests with eggs in and I've done a break open inspection.

Can broodies feel tiny movements from the unhatched chicks as hatch time gets closer? - and then boot any quiet, unwiggling ones.

God knows that with a couple of my kids, I figured from their kicks that several would go play in the World Cup. I envy hens their 21-day hatch time.

 

[Shadrach]

Six eggs she ran up for lunch when I went outside so I nabbed a photo of the nest.

View attachment 4240478

Six is the number of eggs I usually allow a hen to sit.
The conversation with the hen goes something like this, "I know I said you could sit and hatch, but I'm not dad and I'm not supporting your army."

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Whereas I have parentless tweens running amok They were only just settling down when I left tonight, 40 minutes after sunset.

From the time I got the first three at not-quite 8 weeks, they've put themselves to bed at dusk. (I define "chicken dusk" as definitely getting dark, but no flashlight/torch needed yet, and possible to read a book sitting outside, although not very comfortably.)

There have been (ahem) a few times when we've forgetten to lock up, either the coop, back when we were locking it and the run, or just the run. Maybe four times? When we sneak out an hour later than we should have, they just glare at us reproachfully.

They very much have an attitude of "Call the front desk!" when we drop the ball.

 

[Shadrach]

Can broodies feel tiny movements from the unhatched chicks as hatch time gets closer? - and then boot any quiet, unwiggling ones.

They can. There is constant communication between the hen and the eggs. I can't remember at what stage it starts. I notice it from day 16 to 18 if I've been observing carefully.
What's more, the eggs start communication with each other at a certain stage. Again, there is stuff on the net about it.

Even more fascinating communication between the hen and the eggs enables the hen to adjust the hatching conditions in order to speed up or slow down it's development and thus reduce the problems of a staggered hatch.

 

[Perris]

Every study I read came to the conclusion that daylight (and apparently artificial light in some case) was a major positive factor in egg development.

Most of the studies I've read on this concern commercial mass production, using huge incubators, where the eggs are by default in significant dark all the time. The little I've read about it with regard to natural incubation concerns the effect on the eyes of the foetus in the final stage (and the distinction between the one that faces out and gets some exposure to light through the shell, and the one that faces inwards and doesn't, having something to do with the differential focal length that develops in their vision) and that the hen leaving the nest for daily ablutions is enough for that purpose.

Theory apart, almost all of my chicks have been incubated by hens in the nest-boxes in Nestera coops, and their health has been great, by and large, so there is enough light in there apparently. Maybe because I haven't plugged any gaps

 

[Shadrach]

Most of the studies I've read on this concern commercial mass production, using huge incubators, where the eggs are by default in significant dark all the time. The little I've read about it with regard to natural incubation concerns the effect on the eyes of the foetus in the final stage (and the distinction between the one that faces out and gets some exposure to light through the shell, and the one that faces inwards and doesn't, having something to do with the differential focal length that develops in their vision) and that the hen leaving the nest for daily ablutions is enough for that purpose.

Theory apart, almost all of my chicks have been incubated by hens in the nest-boxes in Nestera coops, and their health has been great, by and large, so there is enough light in there apparently. Maybe because I haven't plugged any gaps