Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

Meanwhile the cockerels are all grown up and now stand level with their seniors (Lulea and Hensol at the back are in dug bathtubs)View attachment 4256774

They're filling out nicely. They've got about the same spur growth as Glais. Glais certainly isn't all grown up yet. He's got a bit of a way to go yet in size and mentality.

 

[Shadrach]

I was pleased to see the pop door had operated and everyone was in the run when I arrived. No sign of further rat damage.
Two and a half hours of mostly sunshine at 6C maximum with a light wind.
Everybody went on to the field for about an hour and half, then went to the coop extension as the temperature dropped. It might freeze tonight.

 

[fuzzi]

I was pleased to see the pop door had operated and everyone was in the run when I arrived. No sign of further rat damage.
Two and a half hours of mostly sunshine at 6C maximum with a light wind.
Everybody went on to the field for about an hour and half, then went to the coop extension as the temperature dropped. It might freeze tonight.
View attachment 4257057

Love the photo of Glais standing next to the ramp.

 

[BDutch]

Meanwhile the cockerels are all grown up and now stand level with their seniors (Lulea and Hensol at the back are in dug bathtubs)View attachment 4256774

Good looking fellows!

I thought you only had Nestera coops. Now I wonder: “what kind a building is this?”

 

[Mother of Chaos]

Meanwhile, just another day in Western North Carolina…

“Its insides were outside”:
https://wlos.com/news/local/north-c...cident-viral-story-shattered-highway-incident

 

[Vulpes vulpes]

The youngest of this year's 3 pullets, Hay, is looking resplendent this morning, and I think she may start laying soon.
View attachment 4256773
It will be interesting to see what colour egg she lays, given the beard and muffs indicate some Araucana in the mix...

She's breathtakingly beautiful, Perris! I don't know that I've ever seen lacing like that

 

[Vulpes vulpes]

Meanwhile the cockerels are all grown up and now stand level with their seniors (Lulea and Hensol at the back are in dug bathtubs)View attachment 4256774

Lulea is farthest back in the middle, and that's Merioneth on the far left?

 

[Perris]

Is she one of those raised on your land, or did you bring her in? I guess what I’m asking is what do you know of her possible lineage?

Those muffs do look promising! Completely different ancestry from my blue-egger, but intriguing.

She's home grown: her mum is Puffin, a partridge Penedesenca, and dad must be Hensol, as the only possible source of the beard and muffs, and he's another home mix. His mum was Maria, the only Araucana here, his dad probably but not certainly Killay, who's another home hybrid. So she's heading into Heinz (57 varieties) territory

 

[Perris]

Now I wonder: “what kind a building is this?”

That's the chicken spa. It's built of 6 old (interior, but proper timber) house doors picked up for free, some of them glazed. The roof is old shed glass panels and leftover onduline roofing sheet, the front is completely open. As the doors are a standard size, it was easy to construct, and it's quite easy to disassemble and move to fresh ground, as I did late summer.

About a dozen birds can lounge around or bathe at a time, but it's more common to find 6-8 of them in there, taking turns in shifts. That photo was the last shift of the morning, and it wasn't just the boys bathing together: Rhondda was in with them, but out of shot on the right. A couple of days ago I found Hay doing the same, but actually in the middle of a circle of (mostly other) boys. I think they all know she'll be interested in them soon

They really like the spa in winter, as I think it's a couple of degrees warmer in there if the sun's out. And it very effectively blocks the wind from 3 directions, as well as the rain. It's quite common for them all to trot off in that direction after breakfast, to rest and digest in there, before having a good scrub and rub down.

 

[Perris]

Meanwhile, just another day in Western North Carolina…

“Its insides were outside”:
https://wlos.com/news/local/north-c...cident-viral-story-shattered-highway-incident

that actually made the news here, as a 'weird news to end the broadcast' item. Usually it's cats predating birds. Can't say I'm sorry to see one of them receive what they typically dish out to countless other species - even insects, it turns out. https://phys.org/news/2025-11-social-media-threat-domestic-cats.html