Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

In multiple male keeping conditions I found the "spare" hens, those not the senior roosters favourites looked for the maturing cockerels with the intention of becoming their favourites.

It's quite fluid here. Rhondda and Killay have clearly bonded and been close since she started laying last year, and he courts all the new layers (him paying them attention is the best sign that they're POL), but only R is often seen stepping out with him. In years past, the old hens sometimes wanted a toy boy, but none of them want last year's cockerels, all 3 of whom are currently being fought off if they try it on with senior hens. Fforest remains the most popular with everybody, especially the older hens, while GnT get the yearlings and the pullets. As it happens, yesterday I snapped Tintern looking after Aberglasny and the twins foraging on the lawn, which illustrates the situation nicely.

At the free range farm I worked at it was impossible to say how the hens split, if they did. There wasn't then an option for seperate housing for any tribe making and no time for me to pay enough attention to see relationships. 500 chickens is a lot to keep ones eye on.

With 4 coops side by side, here they could form into stable groups, but they don't. There is one solid core roosting group, around the 2nd in command Fforest, that consists of most of the older hens most nights, plus hangers on. Killay sometimes has a coop full, and sometimes just one companion, and I have seen him with every combination in between on other nights, including having one or more junior males in with him. G, T, E, H and N each find what place they can in the coops when it's time to roost, but typically join Ff or K, they do not come together as a 'rooster flock', yet they could choose that since one coop is sometimes unoccupied, as (again) tonight.

About 30 is my max for being able to keep an eye on who's who and what's what with them, which coincides with the flock size, so that's handy.

I think four to one is the optimal ratio for ranging chickens. As is always the case, a lot depends on the keeping circumstances.

That's a common foraging party size here except for Fforest, who always has more.

that's him at maximum capacity so he's eating males and females just to keep the population manageable.

I will have to cull again this year to make space for broodies to do their thing. I hate doing it, but the 3 youngest roos have to be top of the list; I really don't need 7 males, and I don't like to see them trying to dominate the senior hens. The one that learns quickest he's not wanted by them may get a reprieve.

fwiw, I think if the 10 : 1 ratio has any basis at all, it comes from the commercial setting, where the dominant criterion is short term profit. It's clearly nonsense from an ornithological perspective.

 

[Perris]

Sunbathing chicken with thermal camera.
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That's fascinating. Next time, could you have a look at the hottest spots and see if there's any correlation with ectoparasite presence? Sunning is apparently as much about parasite control as comfort.

 

[notabitail]

That's fascinating. Next time, could you have a look at the hottest spots and see if there's any correlation with ectoparasite presence? Sunning is apparently as much about parasite control as comfort.

How would I check for parasites?

 

[Perris]

I wasn't thinking of anything fancy; most smart phones and cameras can do a pretty good job of snapping a picture you could then zoom in on perhaps? just look for any sign of parasite presence or damage?

 

[notabitail]

I wasn't thinking of anything fancy; most smart phones and cameras can do a pretty good job of snapping a picture you could then zoom in on perhaps? just look for any sign of parasite presence or damage?

I'll have to look at them and see if there's any. Not sure what they would look like but it'd be interesting to see.

 

[Perris]

I'll have to look at them and see if there's any. Not sure what they would look like but it'd be interesting to see.

I think there are a few types that live on feathers, with or without annoying the bird. There's a whole ecosystem apparently, much like on our skin, most of it microscopic.

 

[Shadrach]

One and a half hours of sunshine on a chilly afternoon. I think Mow has laid an egg. Sylph's eggs tend to be egg shaped while Mow's tend to be more round and they're a different shade to Tull's eggs. I'll be pleased if she's laying. For a hen of her age and breed it's a sign of health if they lay. It's about the right time of year.

We've got a few days of reasonable daytime temperatures ahead, 9C/10C range but freezing nights. Henry warming in the sun. None of the others did. He and I will be happier once the night time temperatures are a few degrees above freezing.

Fret has been more active over the last few days, another thing I'm pleased about. She hasn't done enough while her toe mended and the strain got sorted to maintain her fitness. I've had similar issues. If she's spending more time foraging than resting when she's on the field then that's an improvement. Chickens need to be active especially at their peak foraging times which early evening is one. I can't do much about the mornings.

Fret, doing what chickens should.

It's worth considering that should I have been able to find a competant vet I could afford and get to I might well have taken her to them some time ago. She's largely recovered from the strain and break through her own efforts and she has made such efforts. She was depressed for a few weeks not enjoying being in the open knowing the limp is obvious to any predators and the discomfort of trying to keep up with the rest. Fret picked three places where she could be out, in sight of the rest most of the time with a short route back to the coop, or me on a chair. She used to let the others go out first and then wait for me to sit on my field chair rather than the one in the extended run. On many days she came out with me. I would get up and stand by the gate and she would come to my feet and once I had made it clear I wasn't going back to the coop, she would head off to one of her cover spots knowing I could see her and she could see me. Henry isn't very reliable at escorting Fret mainly because he's trying to keep Sylph and Tull protected and they are fast and busy. It's been good for Mow this winter because she's had Fret as company while she was less active. I'll be interested to see what happens if and when Fret starts laying again.

Fret was on her own at the compost heaps when I took this picture and I caught myself thinking that Lima should be next to her going flat out at the digging. I wonder if Fret misses her.

Brazil nut and cooked brown rice. They all like rice if it's cooked and they all like a few small bits of Brazil nut. The nut is the one things Mow will push the younger pullets out of the way for.

 

[Perris]

great to read that they're picking up again. Henry looks quite chipper!

 

[Perris]

thousands are just abandoned because it costs more to collect and ship every bird

the commercial concerns would be interested in maximising their profits

they are, as you pointed out with the reason why they abandoned them.

And that's also why it won't change until the fines for breaking the animal welfare laws are set at higher than the cost of collecting and shipping/ killing them all properly. Paltry fines are viewed as just another (probably tax-deductible, given the idiocy of much tax bureaucracy) business expense.

I guess this abandonment would also be breaking the food hygiene and bird flu rules, because the sheds are supposed to be empty for a certain period after clearance, as part of the sanitary process, and some dead and dying leftover chickens wandering over supposedly clean and sterile surfaces are obviously contrary to that.

And they wonder why the sheds and commercial flocks are so disease ridden. Good rules have to be enforced, not just passed.

 

[ChaosMom]

Hi @Shadrach, I am still reading through this amazing thread, and I’ve gotten through summer 2022, when you acquired Thomas the Tank Engine the Solway coop and built a frame to elevate it. Did you ever post a picture of the coop on the frame?

We have our run (aviary?) mostly done and are building a platform for the Nestera 2 1/2’ (~75 cm) off the ground. Did you somehow attach your coop to the frame?

I can’t imagine the Nestera blowing off its platform, but then we had our hurricane 5 months ago, hundreds of miles inland, so there you go.

Thanks for any solutions you might be willing to share. We will be drilling ventilation holes in the Nestera, which needs MUCH more ventilation.