Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

Had problems getting Glais to eat any of the treats I took. He dropped everything for Mow and Sylph, he even manged to make an effort to ensure a fair split. Good out on the field. He kept close to Mow and Sylph and did more watching then foraging.

Glais became areal gent!

The rest of the news can get stolen on my behalf.

Thanks for the laughs .

 

[Shadrach]

I haz a egg!
It seems that my assessment of Glais's vastly improved manners being due to Sylph and Mow getting ready to lay is correct. Observed and taken note of early enough and one could have a couple of weeks warning of imminent eggs just from watching how the males behave. Glais knows the egg is there and very pleased about it he is.

I'm expecting a blip in Glais's behavior towards me now his hens are laying.
This period should be the last major behaviour change point until about eighteen months to two years when if there is a senior rooster to challenge, this is often the time.

It's warmer, but still raining, just not constant and today to further piss us all off we had regular 50mph wind gusts until late afternoon. We did get out for an hour but most of that was in the extended run.

 

[Shadrach]

I know it's extra expense and hassle and you shouldn't have to, but would some windbreak type netting attached to the fence maybe be helpful if this continues to be an issue?

It might but I'm very reluctant to do it.
Watching chickens has led me to believe they like as many angles of view they can get. Good cover starts with some kind of roof, a a couple of feet of dense foliage seems to work well. On the ground a complex root/branch system is favoured where they can dodge out in a range of directions. A large clump a bamboo workd really well.
It's only the gate and one side that is easily accessible; all the nettles and brambles I let grow around the hostile side of the fence discourage getting too close to the fence.

My Light Sussex keeping friend uses trail cams, he's got a few scattered around his farm. I thought they were silly expensive and would only have enough power to last a couple of nights. Apparently I'm wrong and this friend recons I could get something that would do the jog for £50 or so. I'm looking into it.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

I haz a egg!
It seems that my assessment of Glais's vastly improved manners being due to Sylph and Mow getting ready to lay is correct. Observed and taken note of early enough and one could have a couple of weeks warning of imminent eggs just from watching how the males behave. Glais knows the egg is there and very pleased about it he is.
View attachment 4301102

I'm expecting a blip in Glais's behavior towards me now his hens are laying.
This period should be the last major behaviour change point until about eighteen months to two years when if there is a senior rooster to challenge, this is often the time.

It's warmer, but still raining, just not constant and today to further piss us all off we had regular 50mph wind gusts until late afternoon. We did get out for an hour but most of that was in the extended run.
View attachment 4301103View attachment 4301104View attachment 4301105
View attachment 4301106

Who’s the mom?

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Got the kids with sticks problem again. I know which kid it is and despite having spoken to the parents the little brat is still coming onto the field and tormenting the chickens as they did with the geese if regular readers recall.

Any chance it would work to introduce the child to the chickens so they see you as a friend and the chickens as named beings instead of things?

Sometimes all that's driving bad behavior is boredom or a lack of understanding. Being made to feel like they're among the chickens' friends/protectors might give them the sense of purpose they need to stop doing bad things. Maybe you could employ the child to pursue the rats instead?

Or not Depends on the kid, I suppose.

My Light Sussex keeping friend uses trail cams, he's got a few scattered around his farm.

Great idea. We use cameras everywhere after learning lessons about crime in our area, but they're fun for more than just safety. Addictive even. You'll learn all kinds of things about your fox and Psycho Chew-a-Coop's family.

It's how we learned about our greenhouse rat, Ratilda.

Be sure to lock it or mount it high enough that it's hard to steal. And get one that lets you watch the images back right on the camera.

There are all kinds of pricey camera options that connect to cellphone towers and require data subscriptions and notify you in real-time, but the cheap kind that runs on AA batteries and simply records a photo and quick video to an SD card should be more than sufficient for your needs.

Bonus if you can get one that's rechargeable; they do eat batteries. But I can't recommend trail cams enough. This may truly improve the safety of the chickens.

 

[kattabelly]

It might but I'm very reluctant to do it.
Watching chickens has led me to believe they like as many angles of view they can get.

My lot don't seem to have any problem seeing through it.

 

[Companihen]

I haz a egg!
It seems that my assessment of Glais's vastly improved manners being due to Sylph and Mow getting ready to lay is correct. Observed and taken note of early enough and one could have a couple of weeks warning of imminent eggs just from watching how the males behave. Glais knows the egg is there and very pleased about it he is.
View attachment 4301102

I'm expecting a blip in Glais's behavior towards me now his hens are laying.
This period should be the last major behaviour change point until about eighteen months to two years when if there is a senior rooster to challenge, this is often the time.

It's warmer, but still raining, just not constant and today to further piss us all off we had regular 50mph wind gusts until late afternoon. We did get out for an hour but most of that was in the extended run.
View attachment 4301103View attachment 4301104View attachment 4301105
View attachment 4301106

I've definitely observed my 2 males behaving very differently around the hens just before they start laying again too. Really cool to observe, guess... and prove it!

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Yes I’ve noticed this too…but not in the way I would like. My subordinate rooster is becoming much pushier with the hens when the dominant one isn’t around. He is jumping them from behind and getting himself in trouble with the head rooster. This is my first year having roosters so i’ll be interested to see what kind of chicks I get (if any)—sneaky subordinate rooster’s or dominant rooster’s. It should be easy to tell with the subordinate being a naked neck thing.

 

[Shadrach]

Who’s the mom?

I think it's Sylph although I won't be sure until I see both their eggs side by side.

 

[Shadrach]

Any chance it would work to introduce the child to the chickens so they see you as a friend and the chickens as named beings instead of things?

No chance. I thought that is what parents were for.

but the cheap kind that runs on AA batteries and simply records a photo and quick video to an SD card should be more than sufficient for your needs.

Bonus if you can get one that's rechargeable; they do eat batteries.

I'm looking at the rechargeable models. Many come with solar chargers and are still affordable. I'm not interested in internet connection for them. As you write, better for me to have the images stored on the camera.