Hello I'm Shadrach.

[Shadrach]

Hello.
I live in Catalonia Spain. I'm originally from Hertfordshire in the UK.
I look after between 20 and 30 chickens here.
I have a multi coop system. 5 live in coops and 2 maternity/hospital/quarantine coops.
I keep tribes rather than a flock. The members of the tribes are genetically related.
I have 4 tribes currently, each with a senior rooster, two currently with cockerels as well and of course some hens. I try to keep a ratio of hens to roosters at about 3 hens to a rooster.
I'm very interested in chicken behaviour and I've written a book (not yet published) about my observations on chicken behaviour over the last eight years I've been keeping chickens here. I've also written a number of articles.

 

[bigyetiman]

Hi and welcome to the forum. 99
Well done on the book on chicken behaviour.
You have quite a set up over there in Spain, how are they coping with the heat ?

 

[chrismahon]

Hello Shadrach, from a rather warm SW France- I think you may be closer to us than we are to England. You have a similar arrangement to us, or rather what we had as we are running ours down now. We started 10 years ago and brought 28 chickens to France 7 years ago to live in 8 coops. 7 cocks but only one per tribe as any 'spares' were kept separate in some of the other spare coops. We've been around the 28 mark but now have just 18 left- still 8 coops but smaller ones.

Chickens are fascinating creatures and I've realised that their behaviour is largely driven by their ancestry, although they are readily able to adapt to new environments. Some are smart and others less so but, even with a brain the size of a pea, they are smarter than our dog!

 

[MrsBiscuit]

Hi Shadrach, welcome to the forum. I am a Brit, living in central Portugal. We have escaped the heatwave, but I know your part of Spain is suffering from the wildfires, something we also have a lot of experience of, so stay safe. I am very interested in chicken behaviour as well, because I think the secret to good husbandry is good observation. Having said that, I no longer keep chooks because I travel a lot and I can't quite reconcile myself to keeping them in our extreme climate. Anyway, you must let us know when your book is published, and if any of your articles are available online.

 

[Shadrach]

Hi and welcome to the forum. 99
Well done on the book on chicken behaviour.
You have quite a set up over there in Spain, how are they coping with the heat ?

Thanks. Like me, they are find it hard going. Luckily there is plenty of shady cover and of course, my house.

 

[Shadrach]

Hello Shadrach, from a rather warm SW France- I think you may be closer to us than we are to England. You have a similar arrangement to us, or rather what we had as we are running ours down now. We started 10 years ago and brought 28 chickens to France 7 years ago to live in 8 coops. 7 cocks but only one per tribe as any 'spares' were kept separate in some of the other spare coops. We've been around the 28 mark but now have just 18 left- still 8 coops but smaller ones.

Chickens are fascinating creatures and I've realised that their behaviour is largely driven by their ancestry, although they are readily able to adapt to new environments. Some are smart and others less so but, even with a brain the size of a pea, they are smarter than our dog!

Hello. Hard to find other multi coop chicken keepers, especially with tribes and multiple roosters.
Yup, they are a lot smarter than I am.

 

[Shadrach]

Hi Shadrach, welcome to the forum. I am a Brit, living in central Portugal. We have escaped the heatwave, but I know your part of Spain is suffering from the wildfires, something we also have a lot of experience of, so stay safe. I am very interested in chicken behaviour as well, because I think the secret to good husbandry is good observation. Having said that, I no longer keep chooks because I travel a lot and I can't quite reconcile myself to keeping them in our extreme climate. Anyway, you must let us know when your book is published, and if any of your articles are available online.

Hello.
Given I'm new and don't know the forum etiquette; yup I've read the rules, I'm not sure what I'm allowed to post.
I assume pictures are okay?
Some of my articles are available online but they are on another site. I'll see what I can do about posting some here if people are interested.

 

[Marigold]

Hi Shadrach, and welcome to the Forum. We're quite laid back on here. Feel free to post what you like, so long as you don't post spam or anything offensive, You're probably quite unusual in actually reading the rules - I had to check what they were. Your pics and articles sound interesting and we always like to hear about each other's chickens, especially from people outside the UK. Much of the traffic on here is in The Dustbath, where we share anything and everything not to do with chickens, as you'll see - you're welcome to join the party and get to know us all.

 

[Shadrach]

Test.

 

[Tweetypie]

Hi Shadrach ?