Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[RoyalChick]

He's like the stereotypical southern gentleman...dresses impeccably in white, and takes care of the ladies.
View attachment 4020786

Perfect!

 

[Sally PB]

That's exactly how I look when I go to do the chickens.

and then somehow your trousers end up dark grey/black...

 

[Molpet]

and then somehow your trousers end up dark grey/black...

If I wore white in the poultry yard some days I would end up grey/black

 

[MrsNorthie]

If I wore white in the poultry yard some days I would end up grey/black

I would have little chicken foot prints all over, as they still like to roost on me.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Blue and Pip had to be culled. Blue tore up the egg thief's leg pretty good and he and PIP were fighting everyone and bullying Squeak, making him very nervous, not letting him eat.

Squeak is a super sweet and attentive rooster, every treat you give him is immediately offered to the girls, he is not aggressive in his attempts to mate, so we made the decision to isolate Blue and Pip to see how the dynamic worked, and everything really chilled and is just peaceful.

I agonized over this for weeks and spent hours observing, but I know that we came to the right decision, the girls are far more relaxed, the boys are all getting along*. Squeaky has become Spuds number 2.

*Goldie and Spud still hate each other, but Goldie is a great rooster too, so he is getting his own coop and girls and maybe one of the spare cockerels, his son.

We are keeping 2 of the boys that hatched this year. I am pretty sure that this little cockerel is Spuds Son, and he has his awesome disposition:

Spud Tater

The pullets that we hatched this year are properly sassy, they bully roosters. LOL They get along really well, but they don't take any grabbing. Spud is proving to be a better dominant, than Blue and they are splitting off during the day each with their own little group of girls, but the girls all rotate.

The turkeys are growing. I actually have a lot of fun playing follow the leader with them, I take off running flapping my arms and making turkey sounds, they mimic, and follow, around the giant pampas, around the coop then around the jungle gym. I still do not handle them except to clip their flight feathers, on one wing and general health check, but they are super social, and curious.

The chickens and turkeys lay on either side of the fence and socialize with each other.

It would be nice if, when we finish fencing off the property, they could all just roam freely, but after seeing 5 of the toms, decide they wanted to gang up on the 6th, it would not be good. They are bloody minded, I put the bullied lad in the coop for a few hours to separate him, hoping they would forget, but nope.

So between all of bird activity, hurricane cleanup, and my dad, it has been a bit nuts.

 

[Molpet]

Blue and Pip had to be culled. Blue tore up the egg thief's leg pretty good and he and PIP were fighting everyone and bullying Squeak, making him very nervous, not letting him eat.

Squeak is a super sweet and attentive rooster, every treat you give him is immediately offered to the girls, he is not aggressive in his attempts to mate, so we made the decision to isolate Blue and Pip to see how the dynamic worked, and everything really chilled and is just peaceful.

I agonized over this for weeks and spent hours observing, but I know that we came to the right decision, the girls are far more relaxed, the boys are all getting along*. Squeaky has become Spuds number 2.

*Goldie and Spud still hate each other, but Goldie is a great rooster too, so he is getting his own coop and girls and maybe one of the spare cockerels, his son.

We are keeping 2 of the boys that hatched this year. I am pretty sure that this little cockerel is Spuds Son, and he has his awesome disposition:

View attachment 4020893
Spud Tater
View attachment 4020894

The pullets that we hatched this year are properly sassy, they bully roosters. LOL They get along really well, but they don't take any grabbing. Spud is proving to be a better dominant, than Blue and they are splitting off during the day each with their own little group of girls, but the girls all rotate.

The turkeys are growing. I actually have a lot of fun playing follow the leader with them, I take off running flapping my arms and making turkey sounds, they mimic, and follow, around the giant pampas, around the coop then around the jungle gym. I still do not handle them except to clip their flight feathers, on one wing and general health check, but they are super social, and curious.
View attachment 4020890
The chickens and turkeys lay on either side of the fence and socialize with each other.
View attachment 4020898
It would be nice if, when we finish fencing off the property, they could all just roam freely, but after seeing 5 of the toms, decide they wanted to gang up on the 6th, it would not be good. They are bloody minded, I put the bullied lad in the coop for a few hours to separate him, hoping they would forget, but nope.

So between all of bird activity, hurricane cleanup, and my dad, it has been a bit nuts.

It's such a difference when extra cockerels or jakes are removed.
My turkeys don't forget and if they get an idea in their head it's difficult to get them to quit. I had one late fall that they chased out of the poultry yard. I got him in a roost time and they chased him all around the yard. I finally decided to shove him in a crate and sent him to freezer camp in the morning. He was one I was thinking of keeping.
I raise for meat so I usually harvest the victim. I have harvested the dominant and they have to reestablish pecking order, which causes more drama. I usually pick what I want for breeding and harvest the rest. Leaving 3 , a dominant breeder and 2 spares. Usually the spares fight while the dominant breeds.

 

[Canadian Wind]

Just saw the nasty storm in the UK! 40 cm!!! Hope you folks are okay!

As well as those affected by the one in the States. Feeling lucky I'm only getting the cold here, and a light (but still needs to be shovelled!) snow fall overnight.

 

[L-plate chicken mum]

It's interesting that the outer casing broke away rather than the spur breaking off at the leg join. I've had a few roosters and hens break off spurs due to fighting or getting struck badly on a rock or brick and they invariably break at the leg.
Those roosters that have shed cases shed without trauma as far as I've been able to tell. Maybe a slight tap in the cases of Henry and Twitch who I ma fairly certain weren't involved in any fighting at the time.
So, it's reasnable to assume that there is a point at which the case will come off rather than breaking the whole spur from the leg. It would be handy to know if there are exterior signs of imminent case shed.

Bub-bub shed 1/2 of both spurs this year at the end of October about 3 weeks apart

Both had the narrowing / bulge halfway along before he shed them. The remaining part of the spur was a little jagged so he had a pedicure to smooth the ends!

They weren’t hollow, more like the ends just fell off having sort of separated them from the nearer half somehow…

 

[Perris]

Just saw the nasty storm in the UK! 40 cm!!! Hope you folks are okay!

we're fine thanks; barely snowed here last night - just more rain and drizzle; the worst of it is further north. QnA decided to roost in though!

 

[BDutch]

Just saw the nasty storm in the UK! 40 cm!!! Hope you folks are okay!

As well as those affected by the one in the States. Feeling lucky I'm only getting the cold here, and a light (but still needs to be shovelled!) snow fall overnight.

Do you mean 40 cm of snow?

Here in the Netherlands we had our first snow this winter. It started to drizzle this afternoon. The snow all melted fast.
Now it’s still drizzling, windy, and 11C.

The chickens didn’t like the weather either. They stayed in the coop and run all day, voluntarily.