Found out some interesting info on my new birds...need opinions/advice

[mom22alcorns]

Hello all! I got (10) 14/15 month old Production Reds a week and a half ago. Just in time for a molt...lol Anyway, I called the woman I got them from to ask her about molting and she "slipped" I guess and told me that until she got my hens that day I picked them up that they had never been outside. How can a hen never be outside? These hens have no idea how to roost and sleep in a big pile in the corner of the coop. They eat like crazy. Are very sweet and friendly and like to "talk" to me in this cute but weird noise they make when I approach the pen. I also got an egg from one of them today so I am surprised by that with all the molting going on. My questions are: Will they ever roost and if not is that a big deal? How can a hen never have been outside? Even on TV the hens are outside for at least a little bit. What gives do you think?

 

[gritsar]

The poor chooks! Just be patient and kind with them. They'll learn to be chickens and enjoy the good life.

 

[Jessie_Jazz]

I got some hens like that, they were ex battery hens, and had been rescued by a centre 2 weeks before I took them home, they were well over a year old and had never been outside until they went to the centre. When I first got them they were a bit crazy, they laid eggs any-old-where and would sleep four to a nest box crammed in. They didnt know what fruit or vegetables were when I tried to feed them, or bugs and insects.

I have had them just under a year now, and they are more or less normal. They sleep on the roost, though this is a recent development, in the last couple of months and they lay in the nest box. They are also quite tame now, I can pick them up and feed them from my hand. It took time and patience but I am happy I was able to give them a much more natural life, and help them discover how to be chickens. Yours will get there I'm sure!
Good luck