Battery Hen Thread!

[chickened]

Wikepedia has a good page about it.
Quote:
Wonder how the cages got that name? Is there a history behind it? Thanks for the info by the way!!

 

[chickened]

Most rescue hens in America are from private citizens. You might want to educate yourself to the risks involved in transporting these birds and owning them. Don't take the info offered by the adopter as gospel there is greater risk involved.
Quote:

 

[Breac]

Quote:
A battery hen is the name for a hen which is commercially owned by egg-producers. Battery hens are kept in tiny cages and in filthy conditions. Most are killed before they reach the age of two.

 

[stoneunhenged]

It's a hen kept in a commercial battery cage, which are stacked row after row in giant metal buildings, to produce low-cost eggs for grocery stores.

Rescuing a hen may be a noble gesture, but if you really want to change the quality of life for these birds on meaningful scale you could 1) lobby for legislation outlawing conventional battery pens like that recently passed in California, or 2) convince people to buy cage-free eggs. There are 30 billion commercial birds raised each year, and I would respectfully suggest that saving a few hens is a drop of water in a very large ocean.

 

[chickened]

I have visited an egg factory about 10 miles from my home and I can tell you the hens appear and act no different than the ones I have seen in exhibition cages, backyard coops or in freerange situations. They are well cared for and I really do not think a chicken has the emotional capability of sadness or any other emotion but instincts, humans are the only species that can produce tears... of joy or sadness. I can assure you that I have seen more hens neglected in a backyard situation by that I mean getting ran over by cars, eaten by predators, unchecked diseases, living in mud, fed improper nutrition getting beaten off the prime feed by older hens. In the Islands there are wild jungle fowl and they are eaten by almost anything that can catch them, the roosters are continuously fighting each other and they usually die, disease will wipe out an entire flock. So if a hen actually could think the thoughts you suggest she may be saying "hey its' not so bad all I do is lay an egg and someone feeds me gives me water and lots of company".

 

[fishnet1971]

i think that there are many of us here that would like nothing more than to rescue a bunch of these overly worked animals. My home has many many open areas that would accomidate them happily, and I have more than enough love to go around to help them. It is our 'motherly instinct and loving, helping nature'. It seems that most of the rescues are over seas. I have been searching for a local rescue for years here in Ohio. Most of our egglaying comanies dont want to even talk to anyone about it let alone giving the hens out. they are to afraid of the publicity it would bring them to let the public get ahold of the hen once it is spent. I have found from experience, that if you check out your local animal shelter, farm rescue, humane society, apl that many have abandoned and/or abused chickens for adoption. I have signed up at more than one agency as an adoptable home for them and it has been very VERY rewarding.

In 2011 I adopted two 'lost' hens from Buffalo NY from the Buffalo ASPCA. One was a little skinny pale brown hen that had a leather tether tied around her leg. It had been there so long that her leg was starting to grow over it. The shelter was able to get it off, but didnt give her much hope. She had been debeaked also. The second hen had been found under someone's porch sitting on eggs. small brown fiesty thing. Both were in the inner city and did NOT belong there. I drove the 300 miles to Buffalo and brought them home. Many of you I am sure have heard this story, its on my page. It is just a testimony that you CAN make a difference, you CAN help them out!

Any way, I named the girls Elly and May (Ellymay Clampet???) That has been my nickname for years, so I just thought it was appropriate. May is the debeaked one, she does not lay,but she is the sweetest, most loving animal in the world. She follows me around and talks constantly! She is the first hen that actually says "BWAK" i swear it. just like that. She is such a comedian! Elly on the other hand is a littly military girl. She lays one egg per day, is still fiesty and has become the lead hen inmy flock. The has become the most beautiful healthy thing too. Feathers just SHINE! perfect form, short, stocky little girl.

The point? Go do some good! grab a chicken from the shelters! they may not be battery hens (still looking for a few, would take them in a heartbeat if I could get my hands on them.) but if you have a home these little hens and roos could certainly use one too.

here's Elly on the way home from Buffalo in October 2010

and now Feb 2011

May on the way home

her first taste of green grass. she didnt know what it was.

and May in Feb.

 

[speckledhen]

For now, this thread is open, however, some material that violated our rules has been removed. Be very careful and do not post links to animal rights organizations here if you wish this one to remain open.

2. No discussions about animal rights organizations or Cock fighting​

 

[artsyrobin]

thanks speckled hen- sorry....

i think it does matter to the hen in question- but then i think the golden rule applies to all life- so if i ever do come across one, i will gladly rescue her- for now i go to the feedstores and keep an eye open for any caught in the wire or hurt- the feedstores often give me questionable chicks- but i have also learned they need to be kept separate - quarantines are important

 

[chickened]

Until chickens can talk we will really never know,eh? I think rescueing an animal in need is a great thing and someone somewhere will most likely pat you on the back for it but it won't be the animal you rescued, it will do what animals do, always. When someone forces their will or way onto someone else against their will does the Golden Rule still apply?

 

[fishnet1971]

na, my chicken jumps on my back everyday, she doesnt pat it.