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  1. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Tax for deep thoughts. Rooster launch.
  2. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Also easier to eat them. And helps us lean away from the awful reality that we humans are actually brutal predators and currently, by far, the most destructive invasives on earth. Living in nature and caring for "livestock" has been staggeringly life changing. I never thought the result of...
  3. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Frida's a hatchery Langshan from our very first group of chicks. As a newbie, I named many of them by beak color so I could tell them apart – BB for black beak, Pinkie for pink beak – and the names stuck. Frida had a stripe on her beak that looked like Frida Kahlo's mustache, so I added a...
  4. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    That they're willing to not only orbit but tour Scary New Thing seems like a huge win. That's cool about Matilda. Some of our less human-affectionate chickens initiate contact after something stressful, e.g., when a pullet lays her first egg, or I've chased a big snake out of their yard, or...
  5. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    True. Triple true when it comes to chicken coops.
  6. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    @ManueB, I just realized I'm not sure how to express approval for your posts now. Like, love, laughter, and wow are each pretty narrow. BYC needs to add a new reaction emoji: maybe a French flag, or a squiggly arrow to illustrate satisfaction with a post that takes you on a journey of emotions...
  7. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    I find it incredibly unfair that, in 2 years, I've seen barely a whisper of broody behavior, even after rolling out the red carpet for our "broody" breeds (whatever that means). We have roosters and leave strategic piles of eggs in nesting boxes. We leave an entire coop vacant just in case...but...
  8. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Nice strings! Not sure if "hawk strings" is an official term or just what comes out of my head when I describe them. We also hang Christmas ornaments and CDs from the strings. So far, so good, but there are roosters, dogs wandering around, us waving our arms at the sky, and a lot of other things...
  9. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    I'd like to throw a damp-dirt hypothesis into the ring: since roosters seem to like staying extra shiny and a tad musky, maybe damp dirt doesn't strip away as much of their oils as dry dust. Given, hens stay shiny, too, but ours smell like fresh-cut straw, while roosters wear a slightly...
  10. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Not too shabby! ETA: I read too quickly at first and didn't see the 2nd sentence in your post--thank you for the kind words.
  11. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Good questions. We have multiple coops and yards. Stilton does not abide male chickens. When we brought home straight-run chicks from a breeder last year, including hatchmates Merle & Andre, we actually built them a whole new coop and yard, then upgraded another small coop to a mobile tractor...
  12. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    We had a few weeks of extremely dry weather in early spring. One afternoon I noticed Stilton on his own, enthusiastically excavating deep leaf litter. It was around the time you were posting about roosters liking damp dirt for bathing, and it was obvious this is what Stilton had in mind – he had...
  13. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    That's a good analogy. And a cool conversation sparked about anthropomorphism. I'm not too used to this rooster thing 🙂 I'm a beginner with chickens. Month 27, I believe. Though we've had male chickens all of those months, and I've been extra focused on them. I want to move away from...
  14. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Poor Théo is probably trying to figure out why they don't want to roost with him when he's doing such a good job chasing them and pecking their necks. Often it seems like roosters have as hard a time figuring out their own behavior as we do. Maybe because we house chickens so differently than...
  15. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    It's fun to read about roosting habits of Henry and the ladies. Roosting with roosters is a topic I can't get enough of. I've posted about how our Easter Egger rooster Stilton always roosts next to his best girl, Miss Ashley. The other night's "roost theatre" was extra entertaining when the...
  16. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    When I squat down to greet the chickens, many come by and circle around to peck my clothes. Feels like a quick preening or just some way to engage with me. Rooster Stilton usually joins in. Even if I don't realize he's walked up, I know his pecks because they're so much harder than than the girls'.
  17. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    @ManueB - I won't find your posts discussing separating Theo to give the girls a break, but I wanted to share what we do with our cockerel Merle: at breakfast and dinner, he's closed out of the coop so he can redirect his energies when his testosterone is highest. Otherwise he gets too frisky...
  18. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    I've signed the Hawaii petition, cheered on allotment coop expansion, wished good health for Shadrach and Agatha and Vanille and Skeksis offspring, ogled ManueB's spectacular view, and so on, all without commenting. So here's tax for lurking: video of Stilton acting like a gentleman at nap time...
  19. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    No, but lately they've been together a lot, which surprises me because she and Stilton practically ignored each other for 18 months. Things changed when they moved into the same coop this winter. This flock is a blend of 2 brooder groups, 3 months apart. They've always had the option to roost...
  20. HiEverybirdy

    Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

    Oooo, chicken tree. I want one!
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