Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

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.

been there, done that. I just don't understand why most of them don't realize I'm trying to help. The smartest one (Paprika) does; she still can't resist feigning an attack though

 

[Perris]

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.

In my experience - that is to say, the earliest I have been able to hear it - is a day before the first one breaks through the shell. I usually hear the broody cheeping very quietly to the chicks a day earlier; I guess they are replying but my hearing is not good enough to pick it up through the Nestera wall.

What's more, the eggs start communication with each other at a certain stage. Again, there is stuff on the net about it.

I've not heard that, though I have read about it too.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

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

Did you not have mass rebellion among the other hens at the nest boxes being tied up for weeks on end?

We already have loud and vigorous disputes about one pullet taking too long to do her thing in the desired nest box, and we only have three currently laying. When Trudy became Broody Trudy, it was pretty unbearable for all.

 

[fluffycrow]

More tax for more coop talk: Talgarth is filling out nicely
View attachment 4240362

Getting ready for his migration to Greece, I see .

On a more serious note, is that the end of a hedge on the right?

 

[Perris]

Did you not have mass rebellion among the other hens at the nest boxes being tied up for weeks on end?

Not any more. There used to be, but apparently oddly, nowadays all the nestboxes in all the coops get used Some hens are very particular and get very vocal if their preferred box is in use when they want it, but under protest they'll use the one next door, or next coop along if absolutely necessary. Others use the corner flower pot (3 doing that currently ) and a few take to secret nesting in the shrubbery. So not ideal. But somehow or other they sort it out between themselves.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Not any more. There used to be, but apparently oddly, nowadays all the nestboxes in all the coops get used Some hens are very particular and get very vocal if their preferred box is in use when they want it, but under protest they'll use the one next door, or next coop along if absolutely necessary. Others use the corner flower pot (3 doing that currently ) and a few take to secret nesting in the shrubbery. So not ideal. But somehow or other they sort it out between themselves.

Do you have any hens that you use for just eggs? (traits you don't want to carry on, but the hen is a good layer, etc.) I think I'd go crazy trying to remember who gets to keep her eggs and who gets them mysteriously vanished.

Well, I guess you don't have THAT many layers.

 

[Shadrach]

Anyway, about this coop, the rat, the weasel, stoat and mink.

It has been suggested that a predator, should it manage to breach the coop, would be unlikely to enter for fear of violent retribution for the damage by the hens, or even our magnificent roosters.

So what's going on here then. Is someone going to tell me I'm dealing with an intellectually challenged rat. I mean, there's only a bit of chicken feed in the coop. It's not like she's broken into the Fort Knox of rat treats.

The reader may recall I fixed a stainless steel cage over the string that pulls the door to stop the rat from chewing through it. Looked a smart move at the time. Mrs rat thought so to. She now had a climbing frame and excellent foot purchase points to get some serious teeth pressure on one of the small round ventilation holes a had drilled.

You may recall she chewed a hole in the right side first; the pictures are earlier in the thread. I covered that side with stainless steel mesh and there was no more damage for a while.

Then she decided to have another go. The indignation of being denied food apparently drove her to chew through the left side.
I know she's been in the coop while the chickens are in there. I've found rat droppings around the food bowl and signs of rat activity in a nest box. I wrote about that earlier.

She apparently wasn't assaulted by indignant chickens badly enough to discourage returning. It is very unusual for chickens to get off their roost bar at night to go rat hunting and their night eyesight isn't as good as the rats. It's a no contest usually. I've had rats in coops at night before. There is truth in the stories of rats chewing chicken toes off during the night.

I found this yesterday.

That isn't where I've slipped when cutting the plastic board.
She didn't come back last night. Maybe it's a cyclic thing, maybe it's one of those bi polar problems. If I can't either kill her or get her on the appropriate meds she going to destroy the coop!

Oh arr, about making these recycled plastic coops secure...

Being a country boy I know the weasels and stoats, probably mink as well will investigate the tunnels and openings a rat makes. It's a win win. They may either find a rat to eat or what the rat went there to eat. It's a bit of a contest with a weasel, they're considerable smaller than the mink in the video I posted. Incredible how the mink was able to squeeze through the gap under that door. A common European weasel could be almost half that girth, they could probably trot under the door holding an umbrella.
An easy rule. If there is a rat tunnel wide enough to allow the rat that dug it (this generally means an adult rat) then it's wide enough for a weasel. If that's your coop, the weasel is probably not after the chicken food.

 

[Perris]

On a more serious note, is that the end of a hedge on the right?

no, not really. It's a break in an ex-hedge, now reduced to a few horizontal poles that sprout to form a sort of green wall, at the top of a bank with a seasonal stream in the bottom of the drop on the far side. Talgarth is standing in a convenient gap used by the chickens (and me) to get down that bank into the stream bed (where they find a lot of arthropods).

There is an oak tree immediately on the left of this gap but out of shot; the large lump of timber in the background, pointing away behind him, is what's left of a branch that fell from it over 20 years ago, forming a natural bridge over the stream bed; that should give some idea of the tree's size. That old tree draws enormous volumes of water from the ground thereabouts in spring and summer, and of course takes most of the light, so it isn't possible to get a proper hedge growing again at ground level. It's great for snowdrops, daffodils, bluebells, and other spring flowers though!

 

[Shadrach]

A further cautionary picture to the text above of a young chap called Cillin not looking like he's having a good day after a weasel fastened it's teeth on Cillin's rear end inflicting wounds that required stitches and removing the majority of his tail feathers.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Anyway, about this coop, the rat, the weasel, stoat and mink.

It has been suggested that a predator, should it manage to breach the coop, would be unlikely to enter for fear of violent retribution for the damage by the hens, or even our magnificent roosters.

So what's going on here then. Is someone going to tell me I'm dealing with an intellectually challenged rat. I mean, there's only a bit of chicken feed in the coop. It's not like she's broken into the Fort Knox of rat treats.

The reader may recall I fixed a stainless steel cage over the string that pulls the door to stop the rat from chewing through it. Looked a smart move at the time. Mrs rat thought so to. She now had a climbing frame and excellent foot purchase points to get some serious teeth pressure on one of the small round ventilation holes a had drilled.View attachment 4240558

You may recall she chewed a hole in the right side first; the pictures are earlier in the thread. I covered that side with stainless steel mesh and there was no more damage for a while.

Then she decided to have another go. The indignation of being denied food apparently drove her to chew through the left side.
I know she's been in the coop while the chickens are in there. I've found rat droppings around the food bowl and signs of rat activity in a nest box. I wrote about that earlier.

She apparently wasn't assaulted by indignant chickens badly enough to discourage returning. It is very unusual for chickens to get off their roost bar at night to go rat hunting and their night eyesight isn't as good as the rats. It's a no contest usually. I've had rats in coops at night before. There is truth in the stories of rats chewing chicken toes off during the night.

I found this yesterday.
View attachment 4240556
That isn't where I've slipped when cutting the plastic board.
She didn't come back last night. Maybe it's a cyclic thing, maybe it's one of those bi polar problems. If I can't either kill her or get her on the appropriate meds she going to destroy the coop!View attachment 4240558
View attachment 4240555

Oh arr, about making these recycled plastic coops secure...

Being a country boy I know the weasels and stoats, probably mink as well will investigate the tunnels and openings a rat makes. It's a win win. They may either find a rat to eat or what the rat went there to eat. It's a bit of a contest with a weasel, they're considerable smaller than the mink in the video I posted. Incredible how the mink was able to squeeze through the gap under that door. A common European weasel could be almost half that girth, they could probably trot under the door holding an umbrella.
An easy rule. If there is a rat tunnel wide enough to allow the rat that dug it (this generally means an adult rat) then it's wide enough for a weasel. If that's your coop, the weasel is probably not after the chicken food.

This is the Solway, not the Nestera, correct?