Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[MROO]

@MROO if I'm reading the photo right, it seems that your little guys also contradict the saying that roosters need a lot of space to live together - they seem to live on close quarters ?

Conspiracy theory against roosters? I LOVE it, but I think it's more a result of people's reactions to the normal "teenage hormone issues" of young cockerels. It seems that only those brave enough to wait out that nasty stage really learn about rooster dynamics. @Beekissed wrote a great overview awhile back. I often refer to it when posters ask for help with a "problem rooster."
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...er-becomes-dinner.844018/page-4#post-12626931

As far as the close confines go, by most chicken-keeper standards, my current set-up is fairly small, especially when it gets divided for males or chicks. Luckily, Nankins don't require much space. With the exception of one Silkie mix pet all of my birds (14, at the moment) are all under 30 ounces (.7-.8 kg). They're also all "flyers," so going "up" gives them more space, hence the high roof.

The coop and run is bigger, than it looks. It's an outgrown playhouse, complete with a swingset and two sandboxes. The main cabin is roughly 8 X 8 feet (2.4m) with a 10+ ft (3+m) peak. Roosts stagger up, so there's a lot of room on the floor and up into the peak.

The adjoining undersides, formerly sandboxes, constitute the run.
When "The Boys" need, their own digs, I use a framed hardware-cloth divider between the two sandboxes and attach a large 3x4x3ft (+/- 1m) coop box for protection ... which they rarely use.

The "Bachelor Pad" has since been pressed into service as a nesting box behind the main cabin, under the old swingset A-frame. Come Spring, if all goes according to plan (although we all know how that sometimes goes) that will become a covered run for the main coop. That means much more space for my fellas. I may have to hatch one more time. I LOVE having a bachelor flock. The antics and "eye candy" are worth the extra effort!

 

[MROO]

One and a half hours today. It's still cold but by the time I left the eldests it felt like the temperature had risen a couple of degees above freezing. I uncovered a few spots where stuff has been covering the ground for the last couple of months. Chickens were straight on it. Lots of bugs apparently.
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I love seeing pictures of your birds! They obviously trust and accept you as more than just "The Provider of Food and Treats." You obviously truly enjoy them, too, as you have a real knack for catching them "doing their thing" in the best ways. Thank You!

 

[HiEverybirdy]

It looks like Stilton is saying to Eula, "so, what's wrong with me then?" in the first picture.

The look on Eula's face makes me laugh every time. She was maybe 6 months old and already such a bada$$.

 

[MROO]

Still hovering around freezing. It felt even colder today.
We got out for an hour and a half. We will all e glad if the forcasted rise in temperatures arrives after the weekend.

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Not to make light of your temps - cold is cold, according to what you're accustomed to - but I envy your temps and the visible "green" in your garden plot! We've been unseasonably hovering in the mid-to-high 20's (F, -single digits, C) here on the US' east coast. We're expecting a one-day hot-spell of 48 (8-ish C,) then a plunge back to the current nastiness. My kids laugh at me, because I walk around muttering, "Only 68 days 'til Spring." Yes, I keep a running count in my head. I want my flips-flops back!

 

[RoyalChick]

Not to make light of your temps - cold is cold, according to what you're accustomed to - but I envy your temps and the visible "green" in your garden plot! We've been unseasonably hovering in the mid-to-high 20's (F, -single digits, C) here on the US' east coast. We're expecting a one-day hot-spell of 48 (8-ish C,) then a plunge back to the current nastiness. My kids laugh at me, because I walk around muttering, "Only 68 days 'til Spring." Yes, I keep a running count in my head. I want my flips-flops back!

I too am counting the days, but as someone who has lived with both, I can confidently say that English cold is colder than East Coast US cold (NJ specifically) whatever the thermometer says.
I think it is the damp that does it. Maybe also the lack of sunshine. English cold just gets in your bones somehow!

 

[BDutch]

learn about rooster dynamics. @Beekissed wrote a great overview awhile back. I often refer to it when posters ask for help with a "problem rooster."
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...er-becomes-dinner.844018/page-4#post-12626931

The approach of @Beekissed is very different from the one @Shadrach advices.
Beekissed advices the owner to take the dominant role. Shadrach advices to give the food to the rooster and not to the hens. Bc it’s the rooster who should give the food to the ladies.

I can’t say which approach is best bc I never had older roosters. But I do like to hear Shads and other opinions on Beekissed approach.

 

[Perris]

The approach of @Beekissed is very different from the one @Shadrach advices.
Beekissed advices the owner to take the dominant role. Shadrach advices to give the food to the rooster and not to the hens. Bc it’s the rooster who should give the food to the ladies.

I can’t say which approach is best bc I never had older roosters. But I do like to hear Shads and other opinions on Beekissed approach.

OK, so here's my opinion as a multiple roo keeper.

I don't mimic how a roo behaves, so I'm not a fan of the Beekissed approach. I am not a roo and I don't think it's wise for me to behave like one. I've never been 'flogged' by one or indeed felt threatened by one, so I think my approach works. I culled 2 brothers in the early years - actually they were the first birds to hatch here, and were brooded by Maria - because I thought they were nasty to the hens and I took advice I found on BYC, but with hindsight it may have been that they were just hormonal and I was just ignorant and inexperienced.

But I don't follow Shad's practices either. I don't move their coops apart or encourage separation into 'tribes'. They remain members of one (increasingly large) flock. I don't offer them food in a mostly concealed hand. I don't do regular hands-on health checks.

I am apparently more hands-off than most; I offer food directly to chicks, juveniles, hens or roos when they are hanging about outside a door apparently looking for something extra, individually or in a small group. Most won't take directly from my hand as I am putting it out, and I don't invite it usually; I just put the food down, step back, and let them get on with it. I give food to hens every breakfast and tea, and no roo has ever taken offence over it.

Some will come close when I'm in the garden, but most keep their distance while just carrying on with their day, until I've moved on from whatever I was doing, and then they'll move in to see what goodies might have been revealed in the process, and invite the hens over to feast on what they've found. And they have indeed found it; I may have revealed it, but that's not the same thing at all

 

[BDutch]

I am apparently more hands-off than most; I offer food directly to chicks, juveniles, hens or roos when they are hanging about outside a door apparently looking for something extra, individually or in a small group.

This is how I feed my flock most of the time too.

Sometimes I do hold my hand out with some extra’s and most hens come to eat out of my hand. Only Janice is too frightened to come near and I throw the goodies to the spot from where she is watching me.

I only check the hens if their behaviour is off in some way. But then I wait till darkness has come and I grab her from the roost to check.

We have a saying “ There is more than one road that leads to Rome” . There must a dozen in how we people handle roosters. And even more in how we care for our flocks.

 

[Perris]

“ There is more than one road that leads to Rome”

'there is more than one way to skin a cat' is our rather gruesome analogy!

 

[BDutch]

'there is more than one way to skin a cat' is our rather gruesome analogy!

Last week we talked about the origin and complexity of the English language. I watched a few of the old BBC videos who are now on YouTube. This was very interesting and it made a lot of sense to understand more of your vast vocabulary.

Extremely short summary: the English had their own language before the French invasion and adopted the Roman/French language on top of it. Because you kept using the old words and added the new ones, the English language has a synonym for almost everything and 2x as much words than most other languages.

Tax for blabla.
Camouflage chickens: