Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[kattabelly]

I read the post you linked to when you posted it. I don't think there's any doubt pecking back can work. There have been posts advocating this method from other BYC members.

I use it sometimes, but I'd want to be sure they understood what they'd done to make me peck them back. I don't think it's always that obvious with some accidental hand-feeding bites.

 

[Shadrach]

Two hours today. Snow flurries this morning. Feeling cold at 3C. The sun did shine but only Glais was interested in going onto the field. The 25mph wind gusts are what kept Mow and Sylph mostly under the coop for the afternoon rather than the cold.

I took sardines to the field today as an attempt to get some better quality protein into Mow and Sylph. I gave half a tin each in separate bowls. It worked well. Not much bowl swapping and no squabbling. It looked to me as if each got close to an exact share.

I'm thinking about making some feed changes. Looking at the cost over a month of what I have been giving it would work out cheaper to make a daily sardine mash with some fermented grains. Roughing out the details currently.

Fifteen minutes just out of the gate eating greens.

Happy to be in the coop I think. When I looked last they had all wedged up together. Keeping the hens warm is on Glais's job list as far as I'm concerned.

 

[BDutch]

question: do chickens talk to themselves when foraging or otherwise eating?

I don’t know if they talk to themselves or to other chickens. The sounds my hens make are comparable with the talking to chicks if the hen found food for them.

For non mothers this is kind of stupid behaviour bc the other chickens come running to take steal the yummy food.

 

[SimpleJenn]

I think at least some chickens do both.

I especially like the happy baby foraging location-ping peeps, and the way some cock(erel)s will tidbit really enthusiastically to themselves while scarfing all the food when there isn't even another chicken around.

I have some cockerels doing the tidbitting to themselves thing! It's adorable.
I also have a rooster who tidbits with increasing volume every time I'm near the coop. I swear he's telling me they need treats/more water as much as he is calling to the ladies.

 

[Perris]

I'm thinking about making some feed changes. Looking at the cost over a month of what I have been giving it would work out cheaper to make a daily sardine mash with some fermented grains.

I'm not surprised with the roast beef, cod, and spelt etc. There is such a thing as too much protein. You'll know you're there when they leave some (assuming there are other things to eat instead).

I am still earning more than I spend, despite nearly half the flock being male now and lots of hens taking time out to brood.

I took sardines to the field today as an attempt to get some better quality protein into Mow and Sylph. I gave half a tin each in separate bowls. It worked well. Not much bowl swapping and no squabbling. It looked to me as if each got close to an exact share.

 

[Shadrach]

Be rational: chimp decision-making is guided by the strongest evidence​

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03584-6

Such a shame we can't manage this yet.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Be rational: chimp decision-making is guided by the strongest evidence​

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03584-6

Such a shame we can't manage this yet.

I can’t access that article or the study it’s referring to. What methods did they use? People have been coming up with interesting (for the chimps) ways to feed captive chimps for ages. There must be piles of anecdotal data out there.

 

[Perris]

Although this claims to be radical and new, it is actually a return to ways of the past. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly452540dzo

Forward to the past, for happier, healthier animals and staff, and a more efficient, more productive and more profitable farm!

 

[fuzzi]

I have some cockerels doing the tidbitting to themselves thing! It's adorable.
I also have a rooster who tidbits with increasing volume every time I'm near the coop. I swear he's telling me they need treats/more water as much as he is calling to the ladies.

My main rooster, Zaccheus, always gives all the tidbits to his hens. Yesterday as the girls were busy finding grape bits I'd tossed around the run I offered the last grape bit to him, on my palm. He took it gently.