Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Molpet]

Just hatched from a Skeksis Jr egg
View attachment 4068684View attachment 4068685

 

[BDutch]

My oldest, Maria, is too. I think the oldies are really feeling it with the seemingly endless cold and the wet; she was herself again earlier this week when we had some sunshine, but was self-isolating by the front door again yesterday in the cold drizzle. I wouldn't be surprised if this summer is her last. She just seems to have lost her mojo, and to have had enough.

No cold out here anymore. We had incredible lovely weather for a couple of days with lots of sun . Nevertheless my oldest Ini mini is resting on her own quite often. Her favourite spot is under the hazel when the girls are free ranging.

She recently lost her top position in the pecking order. When I bin put dome feed out and she is the first to come. She gets chased away by the younger hens.

Ini mini has her 11th birthday in May if she is going yo make it. Black and Pearl are both on their way to their 10th birthday and very fit. Looking like young hens. It’s amazing how well Black recovered from her injury last year. Like a phoenix rising after her ‘moult’.

 

[Perris]

No cold out here anymore. We had incredible lovely weather for a couple of days with lots of sun . Nevertheless my oldest Ini mini is resting on her own quite often. Her favourite spot is under the hazel when the girls are free ranging.

She recently lost her top position in the pecking order. When I bin put dome feed out and she is the first to come. She gets chased away by the younger hens.

Ini mini has her 11th birthday in May if she is going yo make it. Black and Pearl are both on their way to their 10th birthday and very fit. Looking like young hens. It’s amazing how well Black recovered from her injury last year. Like a phoenix rising after her ‘moult’.

Ini mini's behaviour sounds very similar to Maria's, though I haven't actually seen any younger hen go for Maria; she just keeps herself to herself some days, and nearly always avoids the crowd at breakfast. She's still very solid, so definitely not wasting, whatever else might be going on for her. Venka seems to have assumed the dominant spot, at least for now. But I'll be surprised if any here make it to 10.

Fez has been huffing and puffing for days and now has gone full broody - and has chosen to spend the night in the planter in which she was incubated She sat in a coop last year when she went broody, and I thought she was not going to copy her mum in this extreme brooding behaviour, but hey, I'm as prone to wishful thinking as the next chicken keeper... I thought I'd wait and see if the rain overnight and the artic air coming in again tomorrow breaks her...

 

[ChaosMom]

The cat (“Psycho Kitty”) is beside herself. She has sulked inside since Friday but came out today to see if it was as bad as she remembered. It is.

After a few flutterings around, the girls are surprisingly unbothered. They like to come up to the hardware cloth to stare. Otherwise, they just seem to be saying, “Huh.”

 

[fuzzi]

Weekend progress...

 

[Shadrach]

Back to damp and chilly. the Met Office is forcasting 1C and 0C overnight for the next week.
Eggs! They all come at once or not at all. All the hens have found their appetite and more. Yesterday they looked slim, today they were puffed up again.
Looking at Mow's foot today it seems to have healed up well. She's definitely happier.
Now they are all laying all that after you you're laying eggs stuff is over and it's everyone for themselves when it comes to treats. Tull and Sylph are still a bit grabby but after a couple of rounds of hand feeding by order of seniority they calm down.

 

[Shadrach]

I thought some of you might be interested in these pictures. They were taken by the eldest on a cycle ride, all 72 Kilometres of it.

 

[MaryJanet]

I thought some of you might be interested in these pictures of Bath, the next city East of Bristol. They were taken by the eldest on a cycle ride, all 72 Kilometres of it.View attachment 4069792View attachment 4069794View attachment 4069795View attachment 4069796View attachment 4069797View attachment 4069798View attachment 4069799View attachment 4069800View attachment 4069801View attachment 4069802View attachment 4069803

72km is a long ride! Does she often ride that distance?

So nice to see photos of Bath that aren't the ones on every tourism blog.

 

[BDutch]

Yesterday in our news on TV and today in all the newspapers.

To see if a vaccine can reduce the risk of bird flu outbreaks at poultry farms, chicks are vaccinated. The Netherlands is the first EU country to vaccinate chickens whose eggs are sold.

They use a machine that grabs a chick a harnas like a fist closes around the chick and a needle goes behind the head to enter in the neck.
… a horrifying machine like a botteling machine that grabs 2 chick at a time.

 

[Shadrach]

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...be-classified-as-industrial-waste-judge-rules