Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Marie2020]

Their first week here and the diva girls look in too see the new girls on the block

 

[Marie2020]

Today

Their new beginnings in September

 

[Perris]

I've got my computer back, so I can pay my tax now. You said my profile pic covers the NI, so here's some income tax, in advance (Maria), and in arrears (Obi and Phoenix), plus a few spares for good measure

 

[Marie2020]

Okay okay. I get the message @Perris

 

[Shadrach]

Welcome to the thread @TundraFang , @HiEverybirdy

Thanks for the backstory Shad. Are none of the people who have access to the site/coop interested in the eggs at least?

I don't know exactly what happens to the eggs. I take a few and feed them back to the hens.
Given you can buy "free range" eggs, (what a nonsense that is) and buy pasture raised, (much better) for a few pounds the incentive for people to donate their time or money to the chickens and general upkeep of the allotments isn't much.

 

[Shadrach]

Welcome to the thread @TundraFang , @HiEverybirdy ,@Isadora

 

[Shadrach]

Certainly ...
They came from a battery hen unit in Devon and they along with many others were rescued by the bhwt. They had talked this guy into giving them many hens

When I picked them up from a farm, kept as an animal's rescue. They were put into carriers and I couldn't check them until I got home. As i took them from the Carrier they were afraid but from what I could make of it they were in a healthy condition.

They were afraid too come out at first but I had too segregate them anyway but they were really happy in that small coop and run I used as a temporary measure.

The rescue people told me that this battery owner had vastly improved the way he kept them so the last chickens they got their feathers and condition was good.

Agatha wondering if she should come out on the first morning
View attachment 2908971

Did you get a printed page/s of care instructions.
Did they ask anything about how and where you were going to keep the hens?

 

[Marie2020]

Did you get a printed page/s of care instructions.
Did they ask anything about how and where you were going to keep the hens?

Yes they asked for measurements of the coop and what other chickens I had. I have a number too call if there are any problems and if advice is needed

 

[Shadrach]

Faced with so many chickens in one hit so to speak, the first thing I had to do was try to identify who needed assistance the most. This hen as you can see in the picture was not at all well. When she first arrived she looked a lot worse apparently. More on this subject later.
I named her Lima.
She had feather mite, lice and was pooping worm segments.
Most of the lice around her eyes and ears I got with a cotton bud soaked in Permethrin.
I wormed her for seven days with Flubendazole (Flubenvet)
I wasn't sure if she had coccidiosis so I treated her for that while I was at it.
I thought the chances of her surviving very very slim.
Lima also has a Esophagus deformity. Apparently this is not that uncommon and is caused by getting crushed by other hens while their heads are pushed through the bars to the feeder. The smaller ones often get trampled in the crush to feed.

Much to my surprise she improved slowly and with the addition of extra food (tinned Haddock in her case, it's soft and oily and high in protein).
Not only is she trying to deal with moulting, she is also trying to replace feathers pulled out/damaged when she was in the battery cage.

She has a best friend, one of the Crested Legbars I've named Similie. They go everywhere together when they are out on the allotment run.

Much to my surprise and delight she seems to have decided I'm a good thing in her life and jumps onto my lap when I sit on the chair I have set up in the run.
Here she is having a nap on my lap.

I am happy to report she is doing much better than I had expected. She's a strange creature and goes everywhere now at a trot. She can even flap her wings enough to get a couple of feet off the ground.

 

[Shadrach]

Each chicken needs a really thorough inspection. I wrote on By Bobs thread that these were dead hens walking which may have upset some people but it's as close to the truth as is reasonable. Quite a few of these hens are going to die in the next few months. It doesn't matter that much how well they are looked after now, the damage was done in the breeding of them to produce more eggs at the expense of their long term heath.
It takes a long time to inspect one of these hens properly. It's not just the obvious things like mites etc that need to be check for, you need to check for small puncture wounds, possible broken bones, particularly on their wings, dry vents, crop disorders and anything that might suggest they are suffering from organ failure.
I have tried to do one a day at least but not all are cooperative and forcing the issue justs adds stress all round. Getting their trust takes time. Some won't let me near them. Easiest is to take them out of the coop at night but given they are not in my back garden everythin has to be done by head torch light in the cold and it's easy to miss things.
I have a watch list comprising those hens I think are most at risk.
I've got it spectacularly wrong twice now.