Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[BDutch]

Serama barely count as chickens. I'm sure you could squeeze in two pullets

Just say you bought two quail @no fly zone. She probably believes that’s the truth.

 

[fluffycrow]

Just say you bought two quail @no fly zone. She probably believes that’s the truth.

Yup. They lay the same sized eggs too!
"What? No it's not a small chicken, just a new mutation, that's all! Why is it's tail up, uhhhhhh part of the mutation honey!"

 

[no fly zone]

Just say you bought two quail @no fly zone. She probably believes that’s the truth.

My wife is probably just as knowledgable as I am when it comes to poultry, if not moreso.

 

[Shadrach]

Four hours today. Chilly again at 7C.
I spent a couple of hours weeding and rubbish clearing. Carbon is eating worms again. She went right off them a few weeks ago.
I'm not having any luck persuading any of them that dried peas are good to eat. I've broken them up, fermented them, and even made a paste with them; no takers.

 

[Sally PB]

I'm not having any luck persuading any of them that dried peas are good to eat. I've broken them up, fermented them, and even made a paste with them; no takers.

Huh. I'm a bit surprised at that.

 

[tranquiliti]

Four hours today. Chilly again at 7C.
I spent a couple of hours weeding and rubbish clearing. Carbon is eating worms again. She went right off them a few weeks ago.
I'm not having any luck persuading any of them that dried peas are good to eat. I've broken them up, fermented them, and even made a paste with them; no takers.
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The chicks are still kid-size compared to Henry, but they’re getting so big!!

 

[MaryJanet]

The chicks are still kid-size compared to Henry, but they’re getting so big!!

Aren't they doing well!

 

[TropicalChickies]

Four hours today. Chilly again at 7C.
I spent a couple of hours weeding and rubbish clearing. Carbon is eating worms again. She went right off them a few weeks ago.
I'm not having any luck persuading any of them that dried peas are good to eat. I've broken them up, fermented them, and even made a paste with them; no takers.
View attachment 3661092View attachment 3661091View attachment 3661090

I have to cook the peas with rice or barley. They won't eat them dried, soaked or fermented. My chickens actually prefer beans -- especially black, kidney, and black eyed peas. But cooked of course. Raw beans are toxic. Unfortunately those legumes are more expensive than peas, but they really like them a lot better so I give them an alternative legume to peas whenever I cook some for myself.

 

[TropicalChickies]

I do

This is true of my one 6 yr old hen who's never gone broody, but it's also true of one who does go broody some years; she moulted hard last year when, unusually, she did not go broody. As it happens I took a photo of her this time last year because her moult seemed so severe; compare it with one taken this afternoon (yes, she's back with her chicks; the parting at roost time appears to have been accidental, in hindsight)
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that's common with broodies here

Janeka started moulting a couple of weeks back but is still with the chicks - 10 wks old today - so that's not the case here now, and I haven't noticed a correlation in years past.

There is much more variability here. There are hens that are good layers and go broody, 1 hen that goes broody a lot but is not a particularly good layer, 1 that's never gone broody but is a great layer - even at 6! - and several youngsters that haven't gone broody yet but they're not yet 2. Of Venka's 3 lookalike daughters, one is a much better layer than the other 2 and that one is having a harder moult. The best layer amongst the youngsters, who's been and still is laying 4-5 eggs (starting medium growing to extra-large size as the months have gone on) every week since December, has not started moulting yet, nor have the other two who both lay well, but not as well as Dyffryn.

Rather than the same birds laying on-off I have some occasional or non-layers alongside the good layers. I assume they're just made that way or they're dealing with health challenges, though they seem fine on the outside. Whitford laid for the first time in months 2 days ago; she hasn't moulted but her plumage looks terrific. Perhaps she just marches to a different tune

I've been reading "The Henwife" -- one of the books on the list of references in your feed article. The Hon. Mrs. Arbuthnott wrote in 1868:

"If altogether re-strained from sitting, however, a hen suffers much in moulting, and is restless and excited for the rest of the season."

Production breeds hardly ever, if ever, go broody. In order to lay more eggs all year as they are designed. Im wondering if by turning off the brood switch, their molting has also become more difficult -- making them even more prone to health problems in addition to the energy expended in laying so many eggs over a short period of time.

 

[BDutch]

I'm not having any luck persuading any of them that dried peas are good to eat. . I've broken them up, fermented them, and even made a paste with them; no takers.

Try this: Soak them in water for 8 - 16 hours and boil them for 60 - 90 minutes. My chickens love boiled peas.

The Hon. Mrs. Arbuthnott wrote in 1868:

"If altogether re-strained from sitting, however, a hen suffers much in moulting, and is restless and excited for the rest of the season."

Production breeds hardly ever, if ever, go broody.

In 1868 there were no production breeds.

Spoiler: History of laying hen farming

source, Dutch Wikipedia.
The history of laying hen farming, like that of many intensive livestock farming species, begins in the 19th century.
In the Netherlands, until 1890, laying hen farming was a small-scale form of livestock farming, except in the Barneveld area. Until then, the animals were mainly kept as farm animals.
From 1890 onwards there was an explosive growth in the size of laying hen farming. This is because producing eggs was a profitable activity. For example, in 1910 there were already farms with a size of 300 laying hens, but a size of 50 was common.

In addition to the size, the way of keeping also changed. Where the animals used to roam freely in the yard, in 1910 they were moved to an enclosed piece of land with a night shelter and laying cage. Between 1923 and 1940, egg production in the Netherlands doubled from 73 million kilos to 147 million kilos. In addition to the growth of existing companies, this increase in production was also due to selection.
For example, in 1930, hens produced 116 eggs per year. But at that time there were already top hens at the Spelderholt poultry breeding research center that laid between 170 and 200 eggs. Nowadays chickens lay about 300 eggs per year.