Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[kcan2]

I too have a roosting photo submission as tax payment for earlier Biltmore chatter. Hopefully there is some repositioning tonight as sights for the poop board aim look to be out of alignment and on track for the Mrs:


*edit - just checked, all set

 

[Perris]

DH's mom wanted the family to spend the day together, so she took everyone to Biltmore.

I think that's a wonderful gift idea. Experiences as gifts are popular here too, but that one combines the family gathering together, so win : win. A day out often creates a great atmosphere and lasting memories; better than a day cooped up in the house together here anyway!

A dim hall of engravings deep in the Biltmore house inspired my habit of adding a preamble to our head hen's name, e.g., The Most Marvelous, Fluffy Butted, and Deserving of the Title Head Hen Brahma Donna

I had wondered where you got that habit; it's huge fun

These wouldn't stand out in Europe

I beg to differ. Generic aristo boasts wouldn't, but the particular ones you showed us are boasting one of the highest offices in the state (Lord High Treasurer), and the highest order of chivalry in the British system (Knight of the Garter), either of them enough to make an ordinary aristo swoon (which is what's intended, of course). Maybe Cornelia's husband John Cecil used them as an excuse to bring up the fact that his Very Distant and Very Many Times Removed Ancestor William Cecil had been Lord High Treasurer (amongst other things) for Elizabeth I.

I might try adding preambles; it's fun, and it keeps the high and mighty grounded

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Generic aristo boasts wouldn't, but the particular ones you showed us are boasting one of the highest offices in the state (Lord High Treasurer), and the highest order of chivalry in the British system (Knight of the Garter), either of them enough to make an ordinary aristo swoon (which is what's intended, of course). Maybe Cornelia's husband John Cecil used them as an excuse to bring up the fact that his Very Distant and Very Many Times Removed Ancestor William Cecil had been Lord High Treasurer (amongst other things) for Elizabeth I.

That's fascinating, and "aristo boast" is a fun phrase.

I've never come across why or when these pieces ended up at Biltmore. The Cecils came to own Biltmore after heiress Cornelia Vanderbilt married a Cecil and divorced him the following decade. She then took off, leaving the estate she had inherited with her ex and 2 sons.

Sooo if the Vanderbilts collected the aristo-boast pieces, it may have portended which family they would steer their daughter to marry into...but that's me spinning up salacious gossip with zero evidence
In fact, those engravings may have been collected by the Cecils, who undertook extensive restoration to the estate and apparently added some art as well.

If anyone wants to see highlights of the Biltmore art collection, it is diverse.
https://www.biltmore.com/our-story/biltmore-history/collection-highlights/

However, the only chicken I recall seeing is on the library ceiling in a multi-canvas painting of Aurora by a Venetian painter. As the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora is sometimes pictured with a rooster.

Oof, let me go crack ice off the waterers and stir up some of this tax I owe.

 

[BDutch]

Just to share.
We have great radio here today and tomorrow:
https://www.nporadio2.nl/top2000#chart
The 400 best pop songs according to Dutch listeners. It started with 2000 on Christmas eve. I think you can reach it with the link.
Choose the red ‘nu live’ button. To see the songs.

 

[Perris]

Just to share.
We have great radio here today and tomorrow:
https://www.nporadio2.nl/top2000#chart
The 400 best pop songs according to Dutch listeners. It started with 2000 on Christmas eve. I think you can reach it with the link.
Choose the red ‘nu live’ button. To see the songs.

that's a quite diverse collection, in time and type! Some are new to me, and some old friends; thanks for the link.

 

[kattabelly]

Being in a similar position the only method I've found that works is to stay with the chickens when they're on the field.

For very small areas like specific beds on other people's or the community plots, I think actually having them inside a moveable mini run is going to work better and be much less stressful for all of us than trying to constantly herd them back to where I want them. There's a few that I think would take to it happily enough. It would only be for short periods and I wouldn't leave the field but it would mean I shouldn't need to watch them quite as closely.

I can't really get anything done when they're loose on the field, other than during the short window very early or late when they stick close to the chicken plot.

 

[Shadrach]

I can't really get anything done when they're loose on the field, other than during the short window very early or late when they stick close to the chicken plot.

Much the same here. I have to keep them in the extended run if I want to do anything other than watch chickens.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

For very small areas like specific beds on other people's or the community plots, I think actually having them inside a moveable mini run is going to work better and be much less stressful for all of us than trying to constantly herd them back to where I want them. There's a few that I think would take to it happily enough. It would only be for short periods and I wouldn't leave the field but it would mean I shouldn't need to watch them quite as closely.

I can't really get anything done when they're loose on the field, other than during the short window very early or late when they stick close to the chicken plot.
View attachment 4274379

Much the same here. I have to keep them in the extended run if I want to do anything other than watch chickens.

It’s like having to park babies and toddlers in a playpen, just to be able to wash dishes!

 

[kattabelly]

It’s like having to park babies and toddlers in a playpen, just to be able to wash dishes!

Or cart them around with you in a sling, or doing everything one-handed. I cleaned out two coops while wearing a Fayoumi as a hat this morning

 

[Shadrach]

One and a half rather cold hours. For a couple of hours late afternoon the sun shone and while it did everyone stayed out in the extended run.

Glais has got the idea. Mow and Sylph are not interested, or clueless.

I'm getting a rough idea of what Glais thinks is adequate cover. Of course I could knock up a few wooden shelters that could withstand the wind, but I'm looking for some more natural options. Willow whips, of which I have some growing, could do what the cane structure does with the added advantage that if managed, will provide a green roof for warmer days; a long way away I felt standing in the field in the North Easterly wind at 2C,

My friend who keeps the Light Sussex chickens is coming to the field tomorrow. I need to have a look in Glais's ear. He had a nasty peck wound on his ear when he arrived which I had a not very good look at the day after he arrived. I think he may be partially deaf or there is some kind of blockage, a clot possibly from blood from the wound. I'm going to hold Glais while he has a look. He knows what things to look for better than I do.

Fewer bits of feather casing on the coop floor today. Sylph is almost done growing feathers; maybe a few millimeters to go with the tail feathers but they are good enough now for her to fan them. I wonder how she decides whether to fan them or bunch them as you can see in the picture.

I pulled a bit of the roof tarpaulin over the coop back vents and down the sides where the roof meets the wall. The North Easterly blows onto the back of the coop and it's cold.