Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

72 mostly cloudy 84% humidity feels like 73 rain 3%.

Have a great day!

 

[Perris]

Sven didn't come for tea tonight, and I can't find him anywhere

 

[ManueB]

Sven didn't come for tea tonight, and I can't find him anywhere

I hope he reappears tomorrow. Very worrying with the hawks around .

 

[Shadrach]

have you found a reliable source of this? care to share if so?

I'm still looking Perris. I'll let you know if I find something I'm happy with. I'm doing okay with a couple of tins of mackerel a week with five chickens. I hand feed this now there are just the five of them. We're getting pretty good at now. I give a bit to Henry, one of the hens immediately rips it out of his beak. I give him another bit and fend the hens off; he still drops it for them. Eventually I get him to eat a bit, usually by chucking a piece a bit away from Henry and me and giving him a bit while the hens are busy elsewhere.

 

[Shadrach]

About 7C with a spot of rain here and there. Two and a half hours today.
Henry considering a bath.

Nothing wrong with this lots instincts. They just haven't had enough opportunities to demonstrate them.

Bright sunlight; head for cover and shade. There isn't much of it on the allotments. Cloudy days they spend more time exposed. This has become a favourite spot for the hens and the compost heap where there is lots of cover. I'll be making something for the allotment run when I've finished digging it.

C came and went in the usual spin. Feed dropped, geese let out with the chickens... I thought part of the idea of keeping other creatures was to enjoy their company.
Up to the edge of the new coop now. I'm going to need to move it soon. I found a use for one of the grates I dug up.

The small coop is going to need new bottom rails. There was mesh on the bottom. While I was pulling the staples out that held the mesh in place I got to see just how much rot there is in the wood.

Didn't get an awful lot done today. I'm digging with a small mattock I adapted from a mini pick axe. You can't get a fork in the ground and expect to have straight tynes when you pull it out. The majority needs to be hacked out and then broken up. I discovred two more paving slabs while digging and four foot of tanglesd chicken wire, one bucket handle, two plastic bags, one plastic food containor, a few screws and a three foot long piece of rope!

I don't think Lima lays eggs! This could explain a lot about her behaviour. It was very difficult when there were 20+ hens to know who laid what and I had assumed that one of the laid eggs was hers. Well, I know who lays what now and Lima isn't on the list.

If I am right then she had over the commercial battery she was kept at. Good for her.

 

[Shadrach]

I hope Sven turns up Perris. I can vividly recall climbing trees wearing a head torch peering through the leaves trying to see if a missing chicken was in there somewhere.

 

[Perris]

I hope Sven turns up Perris. I can vividly recall climbing trees wearing a head torch peering through the leaves trying to see if a missing chicken was in there somewhere.

I went all round the hamlet at dusk when he hadn't shown up. He's not capable of getting into trees any more; I just hope he didn't get trapped somewhere because his sight is failing, and that he headed for cover when darkness came. We just have to wait and see if he shows up at breakfast. Been here before with hens, last June Venka, who did reappear after 3 days.

 

[RoyalChick]

I went all round the hamlet at dusk when he hadn't shown up. He's not capable of getting into trees any more; I just hope he didn't get trapped somewhere because his sight is failing, and that he headed for cover when darkness came. We just have to wait and see if he shows up at breakfast. Been here before with hens, last June Venka, who did reappear after 3 days.

 

[GregnLety]

I went all round the hamlet at dusk when he hadn't shown up. He's not capable of getting into trees any more; I just hope he didn't get trapped somewhere because his sight is failing, and that he headed for cover when darkness came. We just have to wait and see if he shows up at breakfast. Been here before with hens, last June Venka, who did reappear after 3 days.

Positive thoughts for Sven

 

[Marie2020]

I went all round the hamlet at dusk when he hadn't shown up. He's not capable of getting into trees any more; I just hope he didn't get trapped somewhere because his sight is failing, and that he headed for cover when darkness came. We just have to wait and see if he shows up at breakfast. Been here before with hens, last June Venka, who did reappear after 3 days.

I hope he turns up soon