Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

And now for my own mockery: all the posts (soooo many posts) claiming that apple cider vinegar (ACY) is a panacea for nearly everything that can go wrong. I’m waiting to see it recommended as a protectant against weasel and raccoon attacks.

It makes great vinaigrette for salads.

 

[Perris]

I will weakly try once again:

I agree that the best feed for chicken is homemade from locally-sourced ingredients, IF:

I hear you. I'll try to respond without causing offence to anyone.

- they also have year-round access to ample, multiple, and seasonal forms of forage and invertebrates (like insects) to supplement the grains, seeds, legumes, etc.

I used to assume this too. But since Chirk spent almost an entire year in a pen with just that small patch of lawn to forage, and so relied on the homemade feed, with only the animal protein I supplied, I now think it's a false assumption.

and

- the chickenkeeper uses a recipe based on well-researched data and includes occasional supplemental protein, and faithfully sticks to that plan

I don't have a recipe; I have a method. I think you're overlooking the principles on which my method is based (what happens in nature, how wild birds eat and live). Have another look, if you will, at the first section of the first paper.

and

- the chickenkeeper has figured out coverage for vacations, human illness, and recovery from acute trauma (broken ankle, for example.) Will the person(s) covering adhere to the feed mixture guidelines, allow chickens to forage during the day if in a protected run at night, and so forth?

Healthy chickens can cope with - let's call it 'unusual' - circumstances at least for the length of a normal holiday. They might even enjoy some junk food for a while, and a bag of processed feed to simplify life for the chicken-sitter won't kill them. My approach is characterised by flexibility and variety around a theme, rather than by sticking or adhering to a rigid plan.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I hear you. I'll try to respond without causing offence to anyone.

I used to assume this too. But since Chirk spent almost an entire year in a pen with just that small patch of lawn to forage, and so relied on the homemade feed, with only the animal protein I supplied, I now think it's a false assumption.

I don't have a recipe; I have a method. I think you're overlooking the principles on which my method is based (what happens in nature, how wild birds eat and live). Have another look, if you will, at the first section of the first paper.

Healthy chickens can cope with - let's call it 'unusual' - circumstances at least for the length of a normal holiday. They might even enjoy some junk food for a while, and a bag of processed feed to simplify life for the chicken-sitter won't kill them. My approach is characterised by flexibility and variety around a theme, rather than by sticking or adhering to a rigid plan.

I was flopping around, looking for a word, and “recipe” was all I could come up with. “Method” is much better. I’ve recommended your articles to several people headed down the wrong road at a high rate of speed.

Mine have wiped out any grass to which they have access. It’s going to take a complex planting scheme to keep different patches rotated with at least something grazable.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Abrupt change of subject: a Hispaniola boa checks me out in Herpetology lab!

 

[Vulpes vulpes]

Abrupt change of subject: a Hispaniola boa checks me out in Herpetology lab!

View attachment 4245747

Wow, I'd never heard of that species before, they're very neat!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Wow, I'd never heard of that species before, they're very neat!

At one point, he circled my neck entirely and gave a little squeeze…

 

[Shadrach]

Questions about these 2 things:
Donyou have 2 completely seperated flocks? Why?
How come your soil looks like a desert?


First a thanks for the wonderful post. I enjoyed reading it very much.

Just one thing I like to say /ask.
I read a couple of times that the successes of commercial chicken farming were possible bc of the ability of chickens to adjust to new circumstances. In general chickens obviously don’t die from a stressful situation immediately. Even the commercial chickens can live and lay eggs in horrible circumstances, packed together for at least 20 months.

I wonder if Glais has no problems to adapt to his new situation because of this ability to adjust? Or that he is so very pleased to be around his own hen (cant really cant Sylph do I) and your care that he seems very happy.

I wouldn't write he has no problems with his new circumstances, after all, he was destined to leave home at some point and, like many young, a drop in living standards is to be expected. He's late leaving home and he probably realises that the prospects being the head of his own tribe were remote. He's got two, erm, interesting hens to start with and despite all the need ten hens per rooster comments, I've seen cockerels struggle for months just to attract one hen, sometimes with her friend, and live for years with that arrangement.

It's the how they go about introducing new blood and all the rest of the social stuff when there are other realistic options that led me to continue what I learnt from Uncle and go for the tribe and multi coop keeping method. When a cockerel hatched on the farm in Catalonia and crowed, he got answers and they weren't from his family; that is, there are more of my species out there and there isn't anything stopping me checking the hens out, from a safe distance should they have a rooster.

There were quite a few tales of chickens leaving home and moving to another farm or going feral on the mountain I lived with. I remember Kcan2 talking about his chicken visitors from another farm.
He's doing mostly the right things but he's got a way to go yet. Ask me again in ten months time.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I wouldn't write he has no problems with his new circumstances, after all, he was destined to leave home at some point and, like many young, a drop in living standards is to be expected. He's late leaving home and he probably realises that the prospects being the head of his own tribe were remote. He's got two, erm, interesting hens to start with and despite all the need ten hens per rooster comments, I've seen cockerels struggle for months just to attract one hen, sometimes with her friend, and live for years with that arrangement.

It's the how they go about introducing new blood and all the rest of the social stuff when there are other realistic options that led me to continue what I learnt from Uncle and go for the tribe and multi coop keeping method. When a cockerel hatched on the farm in Catalonia and crowed, he got answers and they weren't from his family; that is, there are more of my species out there and there isn't anything stopping me checking the hens out, from a safe distance should they have a rooster.

There were quite a few tales of chickens leaving home and moving to another farm or going feral on the mountain I lived with. I remember Kcan2 talking about his chicken visitors from another farm.
He's doing mostly the right things but he's got a way to go yet. Ask me again in ten months time.

Was it Mow who you are reluctant to let brood and hatch a clutch, due to a previous problem with her (?)legs?

Now that Glais is starting to fulfill his Romeo role, do you think that chicks are on the horizon?

 

[Shadrach]

That wouldn’t be genetic though would it?

It might be. I think it is. Conventional wisdom, including some often referred to chicken health papers and books tell us SLM passes from chicken to chicken. That's not what I've found. Some get it, others don't, all living and roosting together.

 

[kattabelly]

There were quite a few tales of chickens leaving home and moving to another farm or going feral on the mountain I lived with. I remember Kcan2 talking about his chicken visitors from another farm.

Happens here too, even between all-female flocks.