Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Have you been able to source that in appropriately sized bags for your needs?

Make I larf. I'm paying health food shop prices for 3k a time. One can buy cheaper spelt at 11% protein but anything past 15% tends to be expensive.

They are a novel food for him. Was it obvious (in hindsight)?

You can see him watching and thinking. At the start it was I'll do what the hens do and keep my head down. He's well into the stage of working out why Mow and Sylph do what they do.
Mow and Sylph know what the green tub means. Glais went by if they'll charge over to eat what's in it, it must be decent.
It seems he trusts Mow and Sylphs judgement and stuff that he's not certain about he takes and puts on the floor for further investigation.

Glais eats things that Mow and Sylph just don't. I watched Glais trying to break off dying apple tree leaves to eat. He eats nettles if they're young. He's tried the end of a small can stick but the lack of teeth proved to be a problem.

Watching Sylph in particular, she was very snatch and grab when it came to food but one couldn't help noticing that if she didn't like it, she spat it out. Mow is much the same as I think most chickens are; just because it's in their beak doesn't mean they swallowed it. It's get it if it looks likely and then decide if its palatable.

 

[Shadrach]

Really must make a start on all of mine (I make them for a few people) - I usually do them in late September or October so there's plenty of time to feed them and let them mature.

I don't even drink alcohol but between presoaking the fruit and feeding the cake once it's made, I end up using close to a pint of brandy per large cake

I made one last year. It was okay but we all preferred the Dundee cake I've made so i'll do one or two of those close to Christmas.

 

[kattabelly]

I still use the Christmas cake tin!

I use my granny's cake tin too.

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

And much longer for puddings - I know someone who makes his in the week after xmas, to be eaten the year after next. I think by then you can get drunk just by standing next to one and breathing in

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.

It's pretty much impossible to stop willow trying to root - a bucket full of chopped up stems left to steep for a bit also works well as a DIY rooting hormone. Early spring might be a better time to plant some if you get a lot of wind though. Here, wind rock means winter planted ones never do so well unless they're really tiny.

 

[SimpleJenn]

I'm sure I've had this conversation before at least twice in different places. Styrofoam is not toxic; it may be a choking hazard but is harmless otherwise. It is an aromatic plastic that can be digested by some microbes in the microbiome in some animals - notably mealworms, but why not chickens? - so can actually provide nutrients at second hand, like the fibre in our diets (which we do not digest, our microbes do, and then we digest their metabolites).

This reads like it was written by a Styrofoam addicted chicken.
(That is a joke)

 

[kattabelly]

Cake tax. Brand new () oilskins can also be eaten when the bald ape doesn't bring you cake.

 

[Shadrach]

I realize that multi-grain style chicken feed doesn’t align with your standards (which I have said that I admire but aren’t attainable for all), but they are hardly “ultra-processed slop.” And it is very common for chickens to leave behind parts of this “real, recognizable food”, unless it’s moistened or fermented and therefore hard to avoid.

Our ultra-processed slop:

View attachment 4250141

I think Perris may be considering something like above as ultra processed slop.
That stuff in the container is commercial crumble. It wasn't until I returned to the UK that I fully realised the crumble feed I got in Catalonia was a far better feed; still commercial slop given I fed a mash, but in a different class.

 

[Shadrach]

It spat a bit this afternoon. No serious showers though so we all got out for a bit. Mow and Sylph weren't keen on staying out long. Glais wanted to be out but wanted the hens with him. He came out for a while, went back to the hens, came out again etc.

Mow is losing feathers rapidly. I think Sylph has some growing back. Neither are eating much but they seem more relaxed than a couple of days ago.

About that hens need dark secluded quiet spots to lay their eggs in.

 

[BDutch]

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.

If you can prune a willow somewhere, or just take the ends off (about 50 -75 cm) you can make a willow forest for free. Put the branches in a vase or bucket with water, and the willow get roots within a few weeks.

 

[no fly zone]

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.

I made the mistake once of mixing in some dried black soldier fly larvae into my chickens' feeder. They scattered that feed everywhere looking to pick out those bugs. Never did that again.

 

[Vulpes vulpes]

The Christmas cake is in the oven . It might be quite boozy this year, with the fruit pre-soaked in Baileys, and 4 tablespoons of spicy cherry rum in the mix too

I've never had Christmas cake, but my partner makes stollen, which is absolutely lovely. It apparently needs time to mature as well, but for us it's never survived long after it's come out of the oven (we eat it ravenously)