Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[kattabelly]

Would a Speckled Sussex do in a pinch? And I often confuse a Light Sussex with a Brahma if I don’t check for leg feathers.

I suppose they’re not as big as a Brahma, but they’re pretty dang big. The word “sturdy” comes to mind. And Tessa, at least, is a sweetheart, if you don’t mind having a hen with a call that sounds like mic’d dry heaves.

I do already have Light Sussex, mind. They're chonky but I think their type (build) is quite different, and they aren't that huge. Wednesday, my Ixworth pullet, is noticeably bigger than the older Sussex girls both visually and when you pick them up. She's my "show and tell chicken" when we have plot visitors and it really is like picking up a very heavily-feathered lump of concrete.

She shouldn't be bearded, so I'm not quite sure what's going on with her neck recently. Maybe she's just turning into a Fatty McDouble-Chin.

I know it's mostly perspective but she even looks wider than the big Sussex cockerel here (she's the enormous backside on the right)

 

[Perris]

There is a dosing factor! Sounds like your bearded chickens are heterozygous then. I really like the look of the small beards personally

thanks for the confirmation on the dosing. Currently yes, only hetero here, but if Hay and Hensol mate and produce offspring, we could have a homozygous in future. I too find the small beard and muffs cute. It was showing on Hay at 8 weeks but doesn't seem to have got any bigger, while the rest of her did

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

I think Rognvald might be edging ahead in the wattle war here
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Big guy has the best moves though. Look at him shaking those face flaps!
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Your sussex boy is stunning

 

[kattabelly]

Your sussex boy is stunning

He knows it too!

This morning I was stupid enough to take some of my breakfast to eat up at the plot and I swear he batted his eyelashes at me (I know chickens don't have proper eyelashes but he managed it anyway), then when I dropped a bit of it on the ground he just stood there looking at me like "No, foolish human servant! I wish to be hand fed"

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I have a couple light Brahmas that were given to me. If the rooster isn’t around, they are in charge. One of them spent her first night here in a tree, which surprised me. She did not get eaten by the resident bobcat, which also surprised me I don’t know if I’d call them docile so much as savvy.

The dominant Leghorn rooster seems to favor them so I’m hatching one of their eggs to see what kind of survival chick pops out. Here they are on their first day out, boldly going…somewhere.

 

[Skyeknight]

It's really the size/build of Brahmas that I like the look of though - I like big chickens! - plus everyone who keeps them seems to say they're generally very good natured birds.

I also really like the size of Brahma's! I generally prefer taller animals in general, which I why I am saddened to see that here in the Netherlands there are so many bantams and small chickens as people have small backyards. Although I live on peat soil and therefore very wet soil I did get a Brahma pullet. She is a year old and almost 3 kg in weight. I do trim her leg feathers, but so far they have mostly been wet and dirty. But like not to the point of clumbs forming. I am planning to outcross away to less leg feathering.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

I'm a big fan of the look of the Brahmas. They're our most remarked-upon chickens by guests (right before they ooo and ahhh about the Speckled Sussex). Even with hatchery genes, there's something fetching about the Brahma shape.

However, I'll probably also avoid feathered legs in the future.

It's not the moisture: this photo shows what happens in wet grass, but the feathers dry quickly.

My biggest concerns are a) irritation to the bird, and b) mites.

Feather shafts don't fit well on dinosaur legs. The feather-leggeds often go briefly lame, look generally uncomfortable, and peck at their feet when new feathers come in. It's common to find drops of blood under the roost from wonky foot feathers.

And the upturned scales seem to make good hiding spots for mites, especially on roosters, who suffer more severe foot-feathering issues because the feather shafts are bigger.

It's a shame because nothing would make me happier than a field full of Langshans. Gorgeous, tall, contemplative chickens.

Our bearded lady Carrots does get her beard messy daily, but her friends are happy to fix it. I watched Raisin gently clean watermelon juice out of Carrots' beard yesterday.

I've wondered if the beard is why Carrots has the fewest issues with frigid weather. She's the first out in the snow. Chicken beards are neat.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Maybe @Shadrach can explain this one to me:

I heard a cacophony out in the barn. Like the “egg song” with a dash of psychosis thrown in. I went up to investigate thinking the chickens had found a rat or something. Instead I found each rooster sitting with a nesting hen on opposite sides of a wall—both making “egg song” noises and standing over the hens while they laid. Maybe this has been explained here somewhere and I missed it.

 

[kattabelly]

I must owe a load of tax for starting this whole Brahma derail.

Right now these two are best friends one minute

Scrapping the next

Then straight back to being cuddle buddies again

Taking over Rognvald's rat watch spot there

So he can make sure the girls are eating

While big guy has some of the others out in the next field over

All that was far too much for the babies. They spent this afternoon out on the plot and field but this morning they decided that they wanted to stay in the greenhouse and they didn't much care whether mum stayed with them or not.

 

[BDutch]

I like big chickens! -

Not my cup a tea. I even don’t like my big bantams very much. Their walk is not elegant and natural compared to my Dutch bantams and they make rather big and annoying poops on the terrace. The tiny ones dry on instant. The big ones are moist long enough for me to step in (not being careful with every step I make).

My photo is choosen for the pets and livestock caption contest.