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I'm sure you've mentioned it before but I couldn't find it on the last few pages: what breed is Roo?
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Dec 17, 2011 00:22
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| # ? Apr 20, 2024 02:32 |
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He's a standard Light Brahma. There is a bantam version that weighs like 2 pounds or less, the standard gets big as you can see. I think Roo is about 8 pounds now. He looks massive but he's just a very talk rooster, he has long legs and he's extremely fluffy  .
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Dec 17, 2011 00:35
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Chido posted:He's a standard Light Brahma. There is a bantam version that weighs like 2 pounds or less, the standard gets big as you can see. I think Roo is about 8 pounds now. He looks massive but he's just a very talk rooster, he has long legs and he's extremely fluffy Remember the Buff Brahma Chickcam chick named Deputy Frost? He was super-tall, even as a chick. Judging from how big Roostroyer is now, I wonder how tall Frosty ended up being?
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Dec 17, 2011 01:06
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spookygonk posted:We're going to be rehoming some more ex-battery hens on the 29th. Normally egg producing hens are kept for 12 months or so then sent off to the slaughter for pet food, even though they are capable of laying eggs for another year. Now thanks to groups like BHWT (in the UK) people can adopt them as pets or as an alternative to buying POL birds. I have an ex-battery hen, my sister in law had rescued a whole bunch from somewhere and I took a couple of them. They looked like yours when we got them, except the beaks were clipped back almost to the nostrils. We called them the horde...they looked like undead chickens. Once they got healthier they were awesome chickens, very friendly and calm. It's so sad to think of them living their whole life sick and in a tiny cage.
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Dec 17, 2011 03:07
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Chido posted:Why build-a-bear when you can dress-a-cock?
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Dec 17, 2011 09:16
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Who would've thought build-a-bear clothes can fit chickens...
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Dec 21, 2011 07:11
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Bahaha. I would not gently caress with that chicken.
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Dec 21, 2011 07:30
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I wonder what goes on in their chicken brains during all this...
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Dec 21, 2011 16:53
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The chickens probably think that girls' high-pitched giggling is them cackling like they've all laid eggs! Kung fu hen is awesome! I laughed so hard. 
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Dec 21, 2011 23:15
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Not to be a downer, but what's the likelihood of a chicken choking to death? I found my lovely Wyandotte laid out on the floor of the barn. All of the other birds are looking fine, I can't find any visible injuries, they've all been together since spring. It looked like she may have regurgitated some scratch and there was no water in there. So could she have choked?
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Dec 26, 2011 03:40
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It's certainly possible, especially if she hadn't been getting enough grit in her diet. That being said - I had an otherwise completely healthy orpington who woke up one morning making some awful noises as though she was in pain. She was dead a half-hour later. The closest we could tell was that she had some kind of nerve problem, because she got really spastic and twitchy at the end, and spit up some stuff. It honestly reminded me of an epileptic seizure. I found very little information online about that (we lost a couple of chicks to something similar about 1 week after they hatched in this batch too.. which apparently is somewhat common.) So... it's not unlikely, and probably one of those things that's hard to prevent. I'm assuming you were giving her enough grit (or she could find it) and it may have just been... one of those things.
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Dec 27, 2011 23:51
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She should have been getting enough grit in her diet-we don't provide it specifically, but they freerange on the property during the day. All other chookens are still doing fine, so it could be one of those things.
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Dec 28, 2011 20:56
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Picking our new four ex-batts up in an hour. They'll be frail, confused little things, but should start to relax & perk up in a day or so.
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Dec 29, 2011 13:07
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Does anyone know if you can get ex battery hens in the US? My husband talks about wanting to start a chicken rescue when we get our next house with more land. He wants to break into lovely farms and steal chickens so they can live happy chicken lives. I think finding a place to get ex battery hens would be a bit easier....
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Dec 29, 2011 16:28
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spookygonk posted:Picking our new four ex-batts up in an hour. They'll be frail, confused little things, but should start to relax & perk up in a day or so. Dora  Boo  Piper  and Pip  Took them about an hour to calm down and realise there was food and water in the green bowls in the run and the stuff underfoot, grass was also edible. Put them in the nest tonight (they don't understand where they should sleep yet), hopefully all four will still be with us in the morning. edit Now with names! spookygonk fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Dec 29, 2011 |
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Dec 29, 2011 22:03
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Omg poor Pip she's so bald  . You are so awesome for dopting 4 hens in such condition, if lived in my own house I'd adopt more hens, but as it is right now we are almost at our limit (I want 2 standard brahma hens for Roo). I love chickens after having them for almost a year, I'm sure I'll be eventually adopting some more once I can afford it.
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Dec 30, 2011 00:01
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Poor things. You are doing God’s work. I’m not saying animals have rights, I eat meat, but nothing should live like laying hens are forced to. I would like to do this too.
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Dec 30, 2011 00:06
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spookygonk posted:And here they are: You are wonderful and your hens are wonderful too! Even though they are bedraggled and skinny, they still look awesome! Please post more photos as they progress and get healthy again! 
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Dec 30, 2011 00:36
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Zeta Taskforce posted:Poor things. You are doing God’s work. I’m not saying animals have rights, I eat meat, but nothing should live like laying hens are forced to. I would like to emptyquote this. Instead I will pretend I am not, and add that a local chicken fancier in Madison WI rescued a handful of battery hens which had been thrown away at the landfill after being left for dead. Thank you for rescuing these girls.
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Dec 30, 2011 02:10
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Jesus Christ look at those poor animals. It's really sad, and I'm glad I will no longer have to support this horrible industry. You're an awesome person for doing this.
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Dec 30, 2011 03:43
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All four hens alive and shouting to get out of the nest this morning, apart from Boo who needed helping out. All have been eating and drinking (they're not used to sleeping for 16 hours at a time) and the pecking order is starting. Unsurprisingly, it's Pip who is vying for the top spot as it was she that had the least in captivity. Other news: Two eggs!*  *Yes, I know hens lay eggs and I have a half dozen shop bought eggs in the cupboard.
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Dec 30, 2011 13:15
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spookygonk posted:All four hens alive and shouting to get out of the nest this morning, apart from Boo who needed helping out. All have been eating and drinking (they're not used to sleeping for 16 hours at a time) and the pecking order is starting. Unsurprisingly, it's Pip who is vying for the top spot as it was she that had the least in captivity. Glad to hear that they are doing well. Please keep us posted on their progress. How big are they?
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Jan 3, 2012 14:40
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luloo123 posted:Glad to hear that they are doing well. Please keep us posted on their progress. How big are they? Dora: 1404g / 3lb 2oz Pip: 1860g / 3lb 11oz Piper: 2135g - 4lb 11oz Boo: 2550g / 5lb 9oz As you can see there's a big difference in size between the smallest & biggest, over a kilo. Dora also has a weak chest and wheezes when she gets stressed (though that's easing off now with the fresh air & good food). Pip laid a 74g egg today, while Piper (bigger hen) laid a 52g egg.
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Jan 3, 2012 19:32
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spookygonk posted:Chickens or the eggs? The hens were weighed when we brought them home: This might be a dumb question, but how do you know who laid what egg? Did you catch them in the act, or is there a way you know based on where you found the egg? Also I hope you share lots of pics of your birds as their health improves and they adjust to their new home. They finally get to live lives that nature intended for them.
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Jan 3, 2012 19:37
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I thought those hens were retired and they wouldn't lay eggs anymore? That's cool though.
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Jan 3, 2012 19:41
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My grandma's neighbor and friend has backyard chickens and my grandma asked for a dozen eggs for Christmas :3 They were delicious, the yolks were soooo orange and they made delicious scrambled eggs. I would love to have my own backyard chickens one day.
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Jan 3, 2012 20:04
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I'm excited to see how they will taste different. I've never had fresh farm eggs. Always store bought.
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Jan 3, 2012 20:16
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Maximusi posted:I thought those hens were retired and they wouldn't lay eggs anymore? That's cool though. When I was a kid, my grandpa bought a lot of 100 "retired" battery hens, many of which were still pretty good layers. I assumed they based it on age, and not all hens are created equal?
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Jan 4, 2012 08:52
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Maximusi posted:I thought those hens were retired and they wouldn't lay eggs anymore? That's cool though.
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Jan 6, 2012 17:26
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Yeah , they get rid of them pretty early, around 18 months while hens can keep laying until 5-6 years. The only difference is that instead of laying 6-7 eggs a week they might lay 4-5 eggs.
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Jan 6, 2012 23:06
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Disco Nixon posted:Yeah , they get rid of them pretty early, around 18 months while hens can keep laying until 5-6 years. Like replacing fluorescent lights in a large facility: it's probably makes more economic sense to simply replace them on a rotating schedule whether they *need* to be replaced or not. It has to cost less to replace them early than get busted with cages full of dead birds every time the health inspector comes by
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Jan 7, 2012 15:37
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How do you guys get rid of the black poop marks on cement? I'm having trouble washing them off. Bleach doesn't do anything.
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Jan 7, 2012 20:59
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OMG I just found another use for Roo. Godzilla and Megatron were fighting inside the run and Roo was locked outside with another hen, when he started making a fuss and being noisy. I went outside to see what was going on, and I let Roo into the run to see what he'd do, and he jumped right in the middle of the hen fight and he broke it off. He even pecked at both hens and separated them... I was like  I didn't know roosters would do that!Also seeing such a lagre fat bird jump like that was impressive.
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Jan 9, 2012 22:39
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Roosters will do a good job managing things if you let them, they will herd their hens inside or under cover if they see or hear predatory birds and will make sure hen fights are broken up before they become too violent. Every one is different though.
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Jan 11, 2012 07:35
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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Do chickens need to live on grass to maintain a healthy diet? I've been letting them free range so far but the amount of poo poo on the concrete when I come home from work is just too much. Even with sweeping, scrubbing with bleach, it's just nasty. On the side of the house we have this fenced in dirt area. It doesn't have much plants and it doesn't have grass. The chickens seem to eat a lot of grass though. It's either that or build a fence on the grass or something.
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Jan 14, 2012 00:53
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They don't need to, no. If you build a large enough fenced area and feed them well they'll be fine. You can also build a chicken tractor, which is a small mobile coop. It keeps them contained, but gives them access to fresh grass every time you move it. Unrelated, but I took some pictures of my chickens a few days ago.  My precious little Izzie.  Peggy  Agnes (you can tell the boys have been picking on her, poor balding thing)  Mateo, the bantam rooster who rules over all.  And Hank, who is three times Mateo's size and scared shitless of him.
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Jan 14, 2012 05:14
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Update on our four ex-battery hens. Dora is on antibiotics as her wheezing was quite bad, but the twice a day medication is easier now we put the meds in warm, tasty porridge rather than having to syring it down her beak. They've been out sixteen days now and the pecking order is pretty much set, so there's less squabbling. Another thing to help Dora (#4 hen) from being picked on (mostly by Piper, #3 hen), we set up a fence a couple of feet out from the run so the hens had more room to move out & about (and more grass to eat). Was greeted by this sight in the run a day or so ago:  Pip? Piiiiiiiiiip!! Turns out, she was having her first dust bath in a small amount of sand.  Boo on the other hand, has already got dust bathing off to a fine art.  If you ever wondered what a chicken's crop looks like:  All hens are laying, so there's pretty much four eggs every day. Interestingly, the smallest bodyweight chickens (Dora & Pip) are laying the largest eggs.
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Jan 14, 2012 21:45
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God in the first picture, I thought it was dead. That is the sorriest looking chicken I've ever seen. Can't wait to see it when it gets healthier.
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Jan 14, 2012 22:17
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When chickens moult they look similarly horrific.
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Jan 14, 2012 23:34
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Allterian: I'm not aware of any battery hen specific rescues in the US. There are a few farm animal rescues that accept chickens, although from what I've seen a lot of them seem to be run by vegans, and adopting from them can be challenging. As I recall, one of them makes you promise not to eat the eggs. At the moment, the best thing to do is to raise your own chickens, or to buy eggs from someone who takes good care of their birds, to reduce the demand for cheap, inhumanely produced eggs.
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Jan 15, 2012 07:25
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