Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

That had more under the hood than my first Sony, but I wanted the small body of the mirrorless...not realizing that hefty lenses would kaibash the camera's portability.

I like Sony a lot, but ultimately the best camera is the one you like toting around. Case in point, if my iPhone runs out of memory, it will be due to the chicken photos.

More tax for camera talk: an iPhone snap of Lil Nugs (DH always gets to name one ), since I know you're a fan of the Speckled Sussex, @fuzzi . Those speckles are so photogenic.

My Sony is for my wildlife photography, which mainly consists of birds at my feeders and occasional nature walks near the river. I use it instead of binoculars.

My Android takes pretty good photos of my chicks.

Tax (Samuel):

Addendum: my carrying camera is a Ricoh CX5. It takes better macro pictures than any other camera I've used. I can't find any of my butterfly close ups, so a picture of Momma Cat will have to do.

 

[Molpet]

On the subject of mash.
This isn't quite as relevant to people who range and free range their chickens but it is to those who keep their chickens mainly confined. Commercial crumble goes to mush more than mash. The chcikens gizzard needs some larger hard particles to maintain it's strength so feeding whole grains or similar as well becomes important. It's not about the grit; it's about the grit having something to work on.

I read a study on broilers and for gizzard health,they recommend grit even though the broiler feed doesn't need grit . ....

 

[bruceha2000]

Do you really think 3,5 week old pullets will roost?

I have had hens take 3.5 week old chicks up to the 4' high roosts.

Wiki gets a failing grade on that one.

You can update it

I found:
"Cultural definitions for life of Riley
A life of luxury: “Sheila found herself living the life of Riley after she won the lottery.” The expression comes from a popular song of the 1880s, “Is That Mr. Reilly?”, in which the title character describes what he would do if he suddenly became wealthy."

 

[LTAY1946]

I have had hens take 3.5 week old chicks up to the 4' high roosts.


You can update it

I found:
"Cultural definitions for life of Riley
A life of luxury: “Sheila found herself living the life of Riley after she won the lottery.” The expression comes from a popular song of the 1880s, “Is That Mr. Reilly?”, in which the title character describes what he would do if he suddenly became wealthy."

I don't mess with Wiki and Wiki doesn't mess with me. I'd rather tend to a smelly chicken coop.

 

[LTAY1946]

It didn't take to many gallons of water to chase the Dark Cornish Girls out of the log pile. I think I should install a sprinkler on top of the log pile and turn it on every day about an hour and a half before dark. I got them all into the right coop at least. For another night or two they will have to bunk with the Jersey Giant girls and then I can keep them in a coop for a day or two to teach them where their roost is. Soon a new run will reinforce their training.

 

[BDutch]

I have had hens take 3.5 week old chicks up to the 4' high roosts.


You can update it

I found:
"Cultural definitions for life of Riley
A life of luxury: “Sheila found herself living the life of Riley after she won the lottery.” The expression comes from a popular song of the 1880s, “Is That Mr. Reilly?”, in which the title character describes what he would do if he suddenly became wealthy."

There’s even more info on wikionary:
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/life_of_Riley
On origin and spreading through a song in the 1th WW.

A month old photo of Kraai for tax: “Is she figuring out how to use the pruning shears or figuring out how to jump of the table?”

 

[MrsNorthie]

Great that it worked out so nicely. I tried integrating 11 week old with 6 werk old chicks once, which was not a great succes.

Do you really think 3,5 week old pullets will roost? Mine always slept in nestboxes at such an age. In a nestbox it’s easier to keep each other warm
From 6-8 weeks they often started to roost.

5.5 wk olds are roosting, in the coop, some on the window sill and some on the roost bar. The 3 wk olds are snuggled together in one nesting box. One of the older girls is snuggled up with them. They took to them easily, but they were next to each other in separate brooders, in my office for a couple of weeks, so they may have already been a little familiar.

 

[TropicalChickies]

He doesn't get an credit points by offering normal feed to the hens. It became a small eating problem at one point years ago when I couldn't get commercial feed. Just about everything I fed them was established as treat/supper food. The males stood back and let the hens eat and for a short period of time the males got well below what they needed.

Yes, I've been thinking about this a lot. I want to be sure that Lucio and other future roosters here get their vitamin and mineral needs met in the absence of the additives in commercial feed.

I have a fantastic guide to the native plants of the Chocó Andino Cloudforest (where we live) and have been able to identify and get nutritional information many of the wild plants growing on our land that the chickens regularly forage. Several are excellent sources of vitamins and minerals.

The problem is that Lucio doesn't get to eat very much of these plants because he gives it all away. So he's more reliant on the feed I prepare.

It's one of the reasons it's important to me to configure the vitamin and mineral contents of the homemade feeds I'm making. After a month of tinkering based on:
1. cost/availability of ingredients
2. ease of preparation
3. farm harvests
4. what the chickens like (pretty much everything)
I have the recipes more regulated now.

I make one fermented mash and one cooked mash for every day. The fermented mash is uniform each day: maize, oats, barley, flax seed, tumeric, with pepper and yellow pea flour mixed in before serving. The cooked mash is a bit more variable. The base is always rice, oats, barley, quinoa, peas and sunflower oil. Sometimes turmeric and pepper if not in the fermented mash that day. The variable ingredient is a starchy fruit or vegetable like sweet potato, plantain, cassava depending on the farm harvest and others like carrot, chard, etc depending on what I chopped for lunch that day.

Once a week, they all get a big tin of sardines to share or a beef stew.

I agree with @Perris overall about diversity in their diet, but for Lucio's and other roosters, I want to make sure they are getting enough micro-nutrients from the mix since forage is much less a reliable factor for these generous "Lords of the Harem." So I'm methodically working my way through the math. If my homemade mixes prove deficient in micronutrients on their own, I'll get a rooster supplement.

Today's cooked mash topped with everyday fermented mash

 

[TropicalChickies]

On eggs and nesting -- for those who wish to provide more natural nesting areas for your hens, here's another example of what they might make themselves.

Led by sensible Patucha, the laying hens have finally begun to use the lovely sheltered nesting area I prepared for them. All I did was sprinkle the ground with a bit of sulfur powder, then layer on a mixture of top soil and sand, and cut some boughs from nearby shrubs so leaves and twigs would be lying about. I strung a bit of shade cloth over the area to make it more dark and private.

This is what the hens made:

The nest is slightly oval, measuring 28 cm in diameter on the long side, and 25 cm in diameter on the shorter side. I suppose that size would vary according to the size of the hens using it. The nest is sloped on the sides and the deepest portion in the middle accommodates the size of the egg. Whoever decorated the nest added a few leaves and bits of mulch.

 

[Perris]

I want to be sure that Lucio and other future roosters here get their vitamin and mineral needs met

It's not been an issue here, and my boys are all gents.