Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Mother of Chaos]

…He's hackle flashed Sylph a few times; effective but not the best first option I've tried to explain…

God knows that I don’t respond well when my husband hackle flashes me!

 

[fuzzi]

Glais took a further step from cockerel to rooster today. I opened the field gate and Glais led Sylph out of the gate where they waited for Mow to stop eating and then headed onto the field without me. Usually when they come out they had for the two chairs looking down the field where I place my rucksack and sit to give out treats, weather permitting. They didn't head to the chairs until I had finished the chores.
They moved around the field, more or less as a group. Glais hasn't got the herding business down quite yet, but Mow and Sylph will follow him.

Part of the change in Glais is he's more concentrated on the task at hand. This makes every bodies life easier. Mow and Sylph will trust him more if he isn't wandering off half the time and stops charging at them.
I've done what I can to show him how to make Mow and Sylph move along and Glais has been watching. I gentle tap their bums and they move on. I've tried to explain to Glais that when he does this with his chest, they'll either crouch, or move away. He's hackle flashed Sylph a few times; effective but not the best first option I've tried to explain.

I've stepped up my getting Glais to trust me more. Hand feeding is no problem; he's very gentle and has developed some manners. I can grasp gently a handful of his tail feathers without a problem. I don't hold for long, just long enough for him to feel the tug. I moved onto feeling his crop as I do the hens which initially bothered him enough to stand on the bar and move away. He's stopped trying to move away now but hasn't reached the indifference level of say Henry. We've also been doing wattle inspections off the roost bar when he is close. He seems to prefer this to most other forms of physical contact.
My aim is to be able to vet style handle all of them; not cuddles, although cuddles are nice, but to be able to inspect a calm bird. It's a lot calmer all round if one can pick a bird up with just an indignant squawk rather than a full on battle.

Niether Mow nor Sylph are laying eggs. It does seem like some point has past where they've gone from almost full on hibernation under shelter to wanting to be out and about. I think diet requirements may play a role. If they are winding up to laying then possibly there are nutrients out there they need in the forage despite looking like slim pickings from my point of view.
Full moult recovery may be another factor. It wasn't that long ago I was sweeping up feathers.
Longer daylight hours; this is noticeable even for me and I think it effects humans as well as chickens, we've just tuned it out with the noise of busy lives.

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There is spilt chicken feed in the bucket in front of Mow. The jackdaws are after it. Mow's guarding it.
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Yeah Glais!

 

[kattabelly]

Glais took a further step from cockerel to rooster today.

It's a great thing to watch.

My older boy is still being good, although he does tend to leave stragglers behind on the field (not sure if this is partly because he knows I'm also keeping an eye on them). Rognvald is still being rude and grabby, but not always, and he's tidbitting and doing the right stuff too. He even stuck his head in the coop when there was a nest box dispute the other day, although he didn't have the bottle to actually get involved. I'm hoping he'll put more effort into getting some of the girls to like him now that he doesn't have his brother for company.

 

[ksbkeys]

Stilton's spurs are super long. He usually sheds the points in late summer, but it didn't happen last year.

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Importantly, the way he treads, his spurs don't contact the girls' sides. Regardless, I did try to blunt the points with a dremel last fall, several times.

It's easy to do. He doesn't mind being held and enjoys the blueberry afterward. But it just made his spurs sharper and sharper! So I gave up and bit my own fingernails over whether it's a bad idea to keep his talons this long.

The spurs are finally showing signs they'll shed again. Will be interesting to see how much shorter they get at this point.

Merle didn't shed his spurs either, but his grow in a curl with blunt ends.

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Miss Hazel's dainty hen spurs have also grown! They're big and sharp. I'm more mystified by how her nails have grown so long. She scratches the ground all day

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What chicken breed is Stilton? I have attached a pic of "Roo". He looks similar..."Roo" was abandoned by a stranger in my yard in the middle of a January night during a very cold and snowy winter here in Maine....he had a very nasty weasel bite injury. I never knew for sure about his breed and was only able to guess. He lived for 6 years and fathered many chicks! He was great and even though I was initially frustrated and angry at anyone who can just abandon a living creature, I am sooo glad I ended up with him. Any thoughts on what breed Roo was? His female offspring produced blue/green eggs.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

What chicken breed is Stilton? I have attached a pic of "Roo". He looks similar..."Roo" was abandoned by a stranger in my yard in the middle of a January night during a very cold and snowy winter here in Maine....he had a very nasty weasel bite injury. I never knew for sure about his breed and was only able to guess. He lived for 6 years and fathered many chicks! He was great and even though I was initially frustrated and angry at anyone who can just abandon a living creature, I am sooo glad I ended up with him. Any thoughts on what breed Roo was? His female offspring produced blue/green eggs.

My guess would be an Easter Egger.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

What chicken breed is Stilton? I have attached a pic of "Roo". He looks similar..."Roo" was abandoned by a stranger in my yard in the middle of a January night during a very cold and snowy winter here in Maine....he had a very nasty weasel bite injury. I never knew for sure about his breed and was only able to guess. He lived for 6 years and fathered many chicks! He was great and even though I was initially frustrated and angry at anyone who can just abandon a living creature, I am sooo glad I ended up with him. Any thoughts on what breed Roo was? His female offspring produced blue/green eggs.

Easter Egger, all day long. Pea comb, green legs, fluffy face without wattles, blue/green egg gene

Wonderful that Roo ended up being cherished with you.

I didn't intend to have an Easter Egger rooster. Stilty was purchased as a day-old pullet. But the EEs that are Ameraucana mixes (I guess all EEs are mixes, like doodles) are famously hard to sex, and for a while there, it seemed like everyone was freaking out about their surprise EE cockerels.

Hatcheries keep their EE "recipes" secret, but if I had to guess, they started using Cream Legbar genes in the past few years instead of Ameracauna genes because the former has autosexing qualities.

 

[ksbkeys]

Easter Egger, all day long. Pea comb, green legs, fluffy face without wattles, blue/green egg gene

Wonderful that Roo ended up being cherished with you.

I didn't intend to have an Easter Egger rooster. Stilty was purchased as a day-old pullet. But the EEs that are Ameraucana mixes (I guess all EEs are mixes, like doodles) are famously hard to sex, and for a while there, it seemed like everyone was freaking out about their surprise EE cockerels.

Hatcheries keep their EE "recipes" secret, but if I had to guess, they started using Cream Legbar genes in the past few years instead of Ameracauna genes because the former has autosexing qualities.

Thank you so much!

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Our sweet baby "pullet," haha. And his Mr. February 2026 photo because I'm proud of him <--that photo was actually taken in late August, just prior to molting. I never know if his beard is smaller than others due to genes or the girls keeping it short for him.