Battery Hen Thread!

[chickened]

I am sorry I thought you were being facetious I can get them but the shipping is a lot and there may be rules for transporting them. I will check into it, you can pm me with your contact info.
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[fishnet1971]

never mind

 

[artsyrobin]

just saw this and wanted to pass it on if you can help, please do!

6000,Chickens need help ASAP . 1/2 way between Cullman and Birmingham. AL. on Hwy65. chicken houses were demolished and all the chickens are running loose. the farmer was told by Tyson to find homes for them or to kill them. We have 24 hours. Meat birds Cornish x rocks. She has a holding area set up at her sons. So you can make several trips back and forth you can call Carrie at 678-386-6442"​

 

[LittleLady98]

I rescued a pullet from from being on someone's dinner plate. She fell off the poultry truck near the AL/GA border.

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

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i'm wondering if your note should be started as a new thread, as some folks won't read all the way to the end to find this. i'm going to hit the "Report" button and see if the mods can move it to the appropriate place, wherever that might be.

PS - Hope those chickens can get to good homes, for the remainder of their days.

 

[Jessie_Jazz]

I rescued some battery hens from a charity in Norfolk (UK) last year. http://littlehenrescue.co.uk/default.aspx (their website) As far as I can gather it is more of a British thing, I always thought they were called battery hens because of the size and arrangment of the cages (like batter cells). The little hen rescue contacts local battery farmers and buys the birds for the same amount as the abbatoir would have paid for them and saves them from being turned into dog food. The hens are only a year or so old at the time of selling, but they are no use to the egg farmers anymore as their best laying time is over. I expect my rescued hens will not live as long as pure bred hens, as they've have an intensive and stressful life so far but they still have a few years left in them yet!

The British hen welfare trust has some good information. I read in an interview that the British laws on caged hens will be changing very soon so that hens must be kept in larger cages. In reality this just means that it will cost more money for British farmers to produce eggs, leading to an increase in price. Meanwhile European egg farmers do not have the same laws and are buying up all the old cages from Britain and can undercut us on price. So of course the average shopper will just buy what's cheapest. Its really cynicle but surely tis doesn't really help the plight of the battery hen, just moves the problem overseas....?
http://www.bhwt.org.uk/ This is their website.


I got four girls in august last year and this is what they looked like when I got them

We have since lost one to a heart problem but the other three have really thrived and look really healthy now. (can't find and pics to upload... will have a look.)
I agree with people who say its a drop in the ocean compared to the actual numbers of hens involved, but it is rewarding to watch them adapt and become healthy, normal birds. They will never be properly tame or lay hugs amounts of eggs but if you want chickens just as a pet, they are worthwile rescuing.

 

[veganloraine]

So happy I found this thread!! Friends and I rescued 130 battery hens in May. We kept 6 and delivered the rest to sanctuaries around Ontario. There's a photo of four of them the day they were rescued and a picture of them in the factory. They were "spent" hens at only 12 months of age and were being sold to Campbell's for soup. You can't see very well in this photo, but they were severely bruised - I would say up to 70% of their bodies were bruised. They also smelled really, really bad. We named our hens Spike, Suzie, Priscilla, Sunshine, Charlotte and Freedom. Priscilla and Sunshine were the sickest of them all and had, possibly, brooder's pneumonia. Although we live in a ruralish area there were no vets willing to see chickens. They both passed away but not before at least experiencing a few months of freedom. It's been amazing getting to know them all. Suzie is tiny, but bold. Charlotte is the sweetest and the most curious about us. She'll even let us pet her. Spike is the biggest, but she's also the most timid. Freedom is kind of the middle personality. She's not too friendly, but not too shy either. I love them so much!!! We didn't know anything about hens before we rescued them. It's been quite the learning curve, but we are so in awe of them and their incredible resiliency. Yay for rescued chickens.

 

[Johnn]

I recued Ruby and Flora in December 2011 , Ruby died shortly after though, flora recovered then she got killed in October 2012:

Ruby:

Flora:

Flora recovered:









I also have Ginger, Babs and Princess layer, Ginger and Babs are 7 years old, Ginger is the only one left out my very first 6, Babs was rescued 2 month later. Princess layer is 3 now, she was recued in September of 2010 along with Workid who was killed one week after Flora.
Ginger and babs (Babs skinny dark one)



Princess Layer (i dont have a pic of her alone she is the one whos full body isnt in the pic):

Workid (she is the one with the bigger comb, flora is in the pic too.)

Others i rescued:

 

[Dowie]

Oh Johnn, that made me cry a little. Those poor little hens. I love the photo of the hen standing up on the fence. They all get to see the sky! It doesnt' matter if the don't all make it, at least they get to see the sky and sun before they go. I can't believe what torture these girls go through just so we can get cheap eggs.

 

[Johnn]

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I know its horrible!, the eggs are horrible too! I love rescuing them its so rewarding