Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fuzzi]

My May 24th chicks (the remaining 4):

Prissy checks out the nest box while her sisters look on, and Silas appears unimpressed.

Priscilla already is the bold one, leads the other pullets and her brother Silas. Here she's checking me out.

"Got any more tomatoes?"

 

[HiEverybirdy]

What happens when a roosters spurs overgrow?
I've often wondered and I've been fairly sure that the rooster has and always has had a way of dealing with this. In Catalonia I noticed that some roosters had uncomfortablyy long spurs and then they didn't. I put this down to accidental damage at first but having watched Henry deal with his spurs both of which curled upwards and were making sitting uncomfortable; I could see him shuffling about trying to prevent them digging into his belly. I wrote in this thread some time ago that one spur had broken off. I've got the broken off bit somewhere. It's over an inch long. The other spur broke off sometime today. I couldn't find the discarded piece. Like the last time, no blood, no fuss, just shorter spurs. I'll try and find some pictures at some point. The spur ends seem to sort of die off leaving a hollow tube into which the new spur point grows. At some point these end tubes get knocked off.
I can't help wondering if the rooster knows when to give the spur a knock to remove the hollow casing.
It makes the trim your roosters spurs a bit of a nonsense if they can sort the problem out without our help; much like many other problems we unnecessarily interfere with.

Our guys usually shed hollow spur segments in the summer. Sometimes I find the hollow pieces in the winter, when the leaves have blown away.

This year, Stilton grew his longest spurs yet: 2.5" and sharp. They haven't appeared to be in the way or cause trouble with the hens. He'll even use a spur as a foot rest sometimes.

These photos are from a few weeks ago. The angle doesn't do the spurs justice. Just today, he knocked 1/2" off one, and there's now a faint line around the other spur where it may be ready to shed.

"Can I help you?"

Edited for more accurate measure of his spurs; they maxed out at 2.5" long, not 3".

 

[Shadrach]

Carbon looked better today than she has for a while. Her back is defintely growing feathers at last. She ate more of everything and when she's dozing she doesn't look like she's dying.

Mow on the other hand is not at all comfortable. She's off her food and at low activity level for her.

Fret is off the nest. She's gone back a couple of times with Henry but she's come back out with him.

Juveniles are settling in. They pretty much stick together but contact with the adults is now permitted.

She's on her way to the tree. I'm a more stable platform for the jump than the back of the chair. This is the one that gets most anxious at roost time.
Next most anxious is the male on the right in the picture above.
Next it's a close call between the female in the middle above and the white male on the left.

I told Fret and Henry no more chicks until at least the end of August.

Dry with some sunshine at top 18C. Three hours today.

 

[Shadrach]

Our guys usually shed hollow spur segments in the summer. Sometimes I find the hollow pieces in the winter, when the leaves have blown away.

This year, Stilton grew his longest spurs yet: 3" and sharp. They haven't appeared to be in the way or cause trouble with the hens. He'll even use a spur as a foot rest sometimes.

These photos are from a few weeks ago. The angle doesn't do the spurs justice. Just today, he knocked 1/2" off one, and there's now a faint line around the other spur where it may be ready to shed.

View attachment 3901116

"Can I help you?"
View attachment 3901117

Ohhh thanks you. An almost perfect picture of what I'm talking about.
Yes the change in colour was noticable on Henry. I just hadn't put all the bits together until recently.
I've known for a long time that roosters learn to roll when the walk and this stops the spurs colliding. Henry's last spur shed/knock looked pretty bad before the end came off. It curved upwards untill it was almost verticle.

It's one of those many things about chickens that one can't help asking "why don't we know more about about this?"

I found it. This is Henry's first spur tip shed. Given the shed part is hollow for a distance inside, call the hollow bit the shell for now. The line you mention and can be seen on Henry's spur as a worn circle I think is where the new spur indside the shell finishes.

Anyway, interesting stuff.

 

[tranquiliti]

Was that your first time for a broody hatch?
I was so pleased when I got the people I worked for in Catalonia to dump the incubater.

It was, indeed. In years prior some of my hens had attempted brooding but never were successful (the first year, of course, there was no cock ).

A new site almost ready for proper brooding was discovered today:

I boiled eighteen of them straightaway, and left the rest with cracks to either hatch (probably too soon for full development) or be thrown out tomorrow.

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Ohhh thanks you. An almost perfect picture of what I'm talking about.
Yes the change in colour was noticable on Henry. I just hadn't put all the bits together until recently.
I've known for a long time that roosters learn to roll when the walk and this stops the spurs colliding. Henry's last spur shed/knock looked pretty bad before the end came off. It curved upwards untill it was almost verticle.

It's one of those many things about chickens that one can't help asking "why don't we know more about about this?"

I found it. This is Henry's first spur tip shed. Given the shed part is hollow for a distance inside, call the hollow bit the shell for now. The line you mention and can be seen on Henry's spur as a worn circle I think is where the new spur indside the shell finishes.
View attachment 3902342View attachment 3902343View attachment 3902344
Anyway, interesting stuff.

Some of Merle's and Stilty's old "hollows." Merle sheds pretty shells, while Stilton's tend to be more frayed.

And Stilton's now short spur and long spur. No gore. Just one shorter, duller spur.

 

[fuzzi]

Some of Merle's and Stilty's old "hollows." Merle sheds pretty shells, while Stilton's tend to be more frayed.

View attachment 3902398

And Stilton's now short spur and long spur. No gore. Just one shorter, duller spur.
View attachment 3902400

Love the skulls.

 

[SimpleJenn]

Thanks for the spur information! On Facebook everyone is always saying to cut the tips, file them, even twisting them off
But it looks like they are able to keep them in line for the most part.

 

[MrsNorthie]

I had the "pit of the stomach" feeling before I went on vacation, but my sitter did a good job and everyone was fine when I returned.

Cleaned out the wet stinky litter from the back of the coop today. We've had rain daily for two weeks and I think the bacteria went anaerobic.

The little hooligans gave him a hard time, they did not want to roost but he managed it. Back for day 2 tomorrow, it was a blast.

 

[MrsNorthie]

A good chicken sitter is worth their weight in gold.

My son is awesome, he has never met an animal that he didn't love and that didn't love him, and I would not have trusted anyone else and it was nice to just go be wifey and hubby, which we haven't done since we got back from the U.K. in 2019. Now I am really looking forward to tomorrow.