Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[kcan2]

Having done an allotment tour they got onto the roost bar. As soon as I started weeding my plot they were back out again, led by Carbon who is the most food motivated of the three.

It is so nice to see these three so well taken care of, quite the happy little trio! My chickens also strongly encourage me to Weed More.

Despite giving away most of the golden raisins he "found" today, my rooster managed to accidentally eat some, then waited expectantly for more:


My hen doing her best to shake off a 23-egg run via excessive dust bathing:


The conclusion of a long day of finding raisins and dust bathing:

 

[MrsNorthie]

I know. What I'm more concerend about at my age is I drop dead before they do.

My oldest is an animal lover, and lives near by. If we pop our clogs before the chickens, dogs and cats do, he will just move in and take over. Knowing him, he will start a rescue. LOL He is good like that.

 

[Shadrach]

Dry and mostly sunny at 17C, just right for me.

"What did you bring my girls today Bucket Boy?"

Fret. The bald patch on her head is filling in. While I've been there I've seen very little of Henry mating either Fret or Carbon. Carbon has laways been a once a day is quite enough thank you kind of hen. Lima would crouch if Henry just looked at her.

Henry does ask both of them. I watch with some amusement when Henry walks up behind them and chest bumps them. Fret generally does a complete about turn so Henry can't rush her but stays close. Carbon just says no and moves away until she thinks Henry has gone off the idea.
Henry has always done the rounds checking if anyone wanted fetilizing before bed, He caught Carbon with a neck grab late this evening; Fret, knowing what Henry is like is often on the roost bar before Henry wanders around asking. She knows she wont be bothered up there. Carbon will stay on the ground until she's absolutley sure there will be no more food forthcoming.

I have to write though, Henry is very good with them.

Roost bar strip out this evening. One live mite and a couple of eggs. This is after almost three weeks of regulat checks and cleaning. There are no mites anywhere else in the coop. I know, I checked and if I can find 1 I doubt i'm missing anything.

Imagine a large wooden coop with all that end grain getting a red mite infestation.

There is a thread running currently about a couple of mite infestations. It should be quite apparent from reading it that it's something rather more than chuck a bit of this chemical or compound around and your done.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/bio-security-and-mites.1589475/

The sad part is there are probably lots of chicken keepers that don't even know their birds have a mite problem because they don't check their birds properly and don't inspect the coops properly either. One just cannot get it through to many chicken keepers that one needs to inspect and to do that one has to be able to handle the birds at some point. If it means taking them off a perch at night and going over them with the light of a headtorch, then that's what needs to be done. It's a lot easier for me with the roost bar in the coop extension. They're used to me lifting their feather and running my hand under their bellies and feeling their crops.

Getting things ready for the possible new additions. Still raking out the stones that C threw in to attempt to deal with the drainage. The ground just grows them now.

The tarpaulins are holding up well. Now it's rained and cleaned them off a bit I can see what's going on.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good evening one and all!

Temperature is in the 70s.

Henry, Fret, and Carbon are looking good

Have a great day!

 

[Nomadicus]

No problems getting any of the kids in bed tonight. My pet of sorts of a rooster with the 2 RIR and 1 Delaware ladies did get in a bit of trouble with them. He spent way to much time looking through the wire door at a coop of Cornish Cross ladies. Come bedtime they didn't go to their roost but instead came and roosted on my porch. He was frantic trying to find them as I closed up coops near his and none of his ladies there. He finally found them on the porch and as I came in I picked him up and told him we needed a man to man talk about how real men needed to treat their women folks. I give him credit for finding food and then calling them over and sharing with them. He is good about that. He just has wandering eyes.

 

[TropicalBabies]

It is so nice to see these three so well taken care of, quite the happy little trio! My chickens also strongly encourage me to Weed More.

Despite giving away most of the golden raisins he "found" today, my rooster managed to accidentally eat some, then waited expectantly for more:
View attachment 3575108

My hen doing her best to shake off a 23-egg run via excessive dust bathing:
View attachment 3575106

The conclusion of a long day of finding raisins and dust bathing:
View attachment 3575107

Sooo cute!!!! those feet!!!!

 

[TropicalBabies]

Very true, like the Joel Salatin/Polyface model.


Ours only seem to be born in late spring/early summer. Which is surprising for rabbits, now that you mention it. But every year, a few stash their babies in the safety of the chicken area.

This is the one I was worried about with the mower, Tiny Randy. Less than 4" long in this picture, could barely hop yet. No way to get out of the way of a mower even if it ignored its instinct to freeze.
View attachment 3572287

Here's Tiny Randy living the good life as a chicken a few weeks later, and we were able to mow.
View attachment 3572288

I meant to comment a few weeks ago about how encouraging it is to see so many in favor of no-mow. We keep this area mowed because of the venomous snakes (there's a creek at the back edge of the photo with copperheads, and the long grass hides them too well). But our biggest field stays a pocket prairie.

It was mowed for hay for decades but took only a couple years to rehab. New types of native wildflowers emerge every year, bees and moths and butterflies and other flies and reptiles and amphibians and birds and many kinds of mammals eat and play and shelter here, and I'm just really happy about it. Working on our neighbors with fields to do the same.

View attachment 3572293
View attachment 3572294
View attachment 3572295

Beautiful photos ♡ those colors are amazing!

 

[TropicalBabies]

I did get 2 sets of identical nest boxes started and finished the other day.
Girls are still suspicious of the boxes so I cut some fresh grass for them today to hopefully iinspire more trust.

yesterday i installed cameras in their coop and run. This eve I installed solar lights. I'm done tinkering in the coop and run with the exception of helping myself to the big pile of mulch in the middle of the run

 

[TropicalBabies]

Imagine a large wooden coop with all that end grain getting a red mite infestation.

Yes, I can
I use a vinegar dish soap mix and heavily spray everything, then rinse with pressure washer after 30+ minutes. That, treating my girls and doing follow ups I have had great success. Prevention is best forsure.

 

[ManueB]

If it means taking them off a perch at night and going over them with the light of a headtorch, then that's what needs to be done. It's a lot easier for me with the roost bar in the coop extension.

Maybe it's something that's not sufficiently emphasized in the advice given to people who want to build a coop- how easier it is if you can grab or just check the birds easily. Confort scooping poop is always mentioned but not necessarily easy access to the chickens themselves.

I said before people here are used to have really high roosts, (probably for predator protection?) , usually at least 6 feet high and up to 10. We inherited such roosts but changed them lately because our chickens had trouble climbing up. It makes a world of difference that we can grab them and check them on all the roosts now, especially with a few invalids.

It's a lot more efficient to check on one, two or three birds every evening once they are on the roost than having to catch them during the day.

Though we did add one temporary roost more difficult to access for us, for the newer hens that didn't want to sleep on the main roost. It's a compromise between their confort and mine.

As for the mites in the coop, I don't know how it's impossible to notice because if you don't see them in the coop (indeed I didn't the first summer as I hadn't heard about them and wasn't especially looking) you can't not see your chickens itching and excessively preening and looking unconfortable.

Yes, I can
I use a vinegar dish soap mix and heavily spray everything, then rinse with pressure washer after 30+ minutes. That, treating my girls and doing follow ups I have had great success. Prevention is best forsure.

What kind of pressure washer ? I've been wondering about them but I'm not sure they are safe to use in my coop (cellar with lime washed porous walls).