Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

Styrofoam is not toxic

https://usa.oceana.org/press-releas...ls,,by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

 

[RoyalChick]

In case anyone wants the background….
https://britishfoodhistory.com/2011/12/05/christmas-cake/

All this makes me want to make my own (I had no idea Cromwell banned mince pies - ‘right but repulsive’ indeed - not sure anyone will catch that reference).
But I am too late for this year - I think even @Perris is pushing it a bit late. I remember September/October as the time.
My grandmother used brandy I think not rum. I may remember that wrong. I was in charge of the skewer to make holes in the base so the brandy could run deep inside. That cake weighed a lot and I had to be careful not to drop it.
I still use the Christmas cake tin!

 

[Mother of Chaos]

that is not ultra processed food, that is whole grains and legumes etc.. I do not understand why there is confusion over this.
edited to add, fwiw, your feed looks very similar in that photo at least to what I serve as the base mix. Why on earth do you think it is ultra processed? I do not understand.

Because you wrote that it was nonsense than chickens would pick things out and leave others unless it was ultra-processed slop. That’s painting with a pretty broad brush.

My chickens absolutely ignore certain parts of their feed (the hanging feeder can accumulate days’ worth) when served dry. Always the same bits.

People on BYC (and elsewhere) do have experiences legitimately different than ours. Dismissiveness doesn’t really lead to enlightenment.

 

[Shadrach]

Can/do they track around the edge to the orchard at all? Or the other boundaries?

They could, but they don't on three sides. They go right to the edge where the back gardens start behind the coop. They will also go right to the edge past the goose run midway down the field. There a shed there and run of solid fencing of sorts.
They don't often go into the orchard and when they do, they don't go anywhere near the bees, or the hedge at the back. A few over the last four years have made it to the bottom hedge in the left hand corner looking down the field.
I have discouraged foraging at the bottom of the field unless I'm there due to the dogs passing by on the other side of the hedge. Also, with my dodgy vision I can't see them properly from the top of the field.

In some of the pictures I've posted, this overgrown fruit bush (there are three of them in fact growing next to each other) is a preferred cover spot. I've known other chickens that also preferred this type of cover; they can see what's coming and have an escape route out the opposite side. The field lot generally rest on the South side of the bush. Going out the other side heads them North towards the coop. There is stuff in the ground around the roots of these bushes and the chickens like that as well.

Back against the wall/fence resting/cover spots are I suppose a compromise in that they only have 180 degrees to watch on the assumption that nothing is going to come through the fence/wall.

The tribes preferred the see both ways and out the back cover.

 

[Shadrach]

Glad to read he's keeping fit. He did less flying here than most of the other cockerels, but it's good to know he can still get in the air and clear a low fence, despite apparently consuming vast quantities of your expensive food

I'm going to tell him you called him fat.

 

[Shadrach]

If you put this in your account details, we always know.

Just an alternative idea:
Living willow branches will begin to sprout when they come into contact with moist ground. If you put the willow branches in a tent ️ / tunnel shape, you can create immediate aerial shelter and within 1/2 a year it grows into a lushly green hide out.

View attachment 4250011

Matter of taste I presume. Poor chap.

You should have told me this when the willow by the run got blown over. I could have had lots of whips off that.
I did think about it, but at the time I believed what I had been told and that was they'll take ages to grow. Apparently you are right, they go pretty quickly, if they grow at all.

 

[Perris]

Because you wrote that it was nonsense than chickens would pick things out and leave others unless it was ultra-processed slop.

No I did not. I wrote

I think the idea that chickens will 'pick out the best bits first'

That’s painting with a pretty broad brush.

Clearly I did not express myself well. I'm not going to waste any more time on it, which I'm sure will come as a huge relief to many.

 

[Perris]

https://usa.oceana.org/press-releases/toxic-takeout-your-foam-food-containers-could-be-putting-your-health-at-risk/#:~:text=Plastic foam is made with hazardous chemicals,,by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

That is about styrene, which is something else
See e.g.
https://www.chemicalsafetyfacts.org...erent-from-styrene-its-a-matter-of-chemistry/

where you will read "What’s the difference between styrene and polystyrene? Although the names sound familiar, styrene and polystyrene are different and have completely different properties.

Styrene is a liquid that can be chemically linked to create polystyrene, a solid plastic that displays different properties. Polystyrene is used to make a variety of consumer products, such as foodservice containers, cushioning for shipping delicate electronics and insulation.

Polystyrene’s safety profile is so strong that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reviewed the safety of polystyrene used in direct contact with foods and beverages – and for 50 years, has confirmed polystyrene to be safe for this use"

 

[Perris]

I think even @Perris is pushing it a bit late

yes I am; 6 weeks beforehand is the recognized minimum time for maturation.

 

[Perris]

People on BYC (and elsewhere) do have experiences legitimately different than ours.

It should be obvious that I am not disputing what people observe, just their interpretation of it (picking out 'the best' bits, sometimes likening those to candy of one variety or another, where I would say they are picking out to eat first the things they need most).