Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Ribh]

I admire your honesty. I was going to mention later on that some people who take in rescues do it for exactly the reasons you stated. On the face of it they look like a cheap way of getting eggs. Not really what the rescue ideal is all about though is it if one believes the publicity.

You know what I keep now. For the number of chickens my egg supply isn't that great. Yes, it was nice to think we were giving these chickens a better life but it was not our primary reason. The amazing thing to me is they kept laying even though they were in such poor shape when they arrived.

 

[Shadrach]

The one place I know who does rescues around here takes preorders & only get the number of hens they have homes for, with perhaps a few extra. They let people know & the hens get picked up the same day. They are quite strict about it from what I've seen. Some places you can buy directly from the farmer from his about to culls.

Even if the hens are pre ordered to carry out proper health checks etc takes some time and while the hens are waiting for collection or delivery they need somewhere to stay.

 

[Ribh]

Even if the hens are pre ordered to carry out proper health checks etc takes some time and while the hens are waiting for collection or delivery they need somewhere to stay.

Yep. I don't know how that part of it works. I've never gone that way but she advertises in a number of places when she's ready to do a pick up so I know about that part of it.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I would love to take in battery hens, if nothing more than to give them some amount of respect when they do pass on and allow them to die with some amount of dignity. Maybe it's still in rose colored glasses for me, even though I know it likely will just end in heartbreak for me

However, I do not for 2 reasons:

1) I cannot find anywhere close enough to drive that does the rescues (maybe I'm not looking good enough, but I've hardly found any rescues in the U.S. for battery hens. Surrendered animals amd extra roosters, heck yeah, the local shelter always has at least one. But battery/egg factory hens, I cannot find any remotely close).

2) I feel that it's an either/or. You can either have battery hens or other sourced flocks and keep them healthy. I order birds every year and raise and sell my own birds. I'm petrified that bringing in a battery flock would put those at risk, not to mention I'm pretty sure that it would result in NPIP being a no-go, unfortunately.

 

[Shadrach]

They only got an hour and a half in the allotment run today.

 

[Shadrach]

You know what I keep now. For the number of chickens my egg supply isn't that great. Yes, it was nice to think we were giving these chickens a better life but it was not our primary reason. The amazing thing to me is they kept laying even though they were in such poor shape when they arrived.

Sad really isn't it.

 

[Ribh]

Sad really isn't it.

I think so. I was apalled @ the condition they arrived in but like any rescued animal I've had they were incredibly grateful for even the improvemnet in their lives we could give them.

 

[Shadrach]

A few weeks ago I contacted Pear Tree Farm and asked what checks they undertook to ensure that the hens they rehome went to somewhere "suitable".
I know for example the The British Hen Welfare Trust would not let my elder sister rehome because she already had three hens and the her coop was not big enough in their view to take the two Ex Batts my sister wanted.
My sister doesn't keep hens promarily for the eggs. She's been a UK backyard chicken keeper for 25 years and was hoping to give a couple of Ex Batts a retirement home.
I know of two other people who have been refused Ex Batts by BHWT, one because the coop wasn't large enough and the other because the run wasn't big enough.
It would seem that BHWT do actually do some checks about where their hens go.
Pear Tree Farm sent me an email stating that they do check the conditions their rehomed hens will be living in, but stated they couldn't check every placement.
I sent them some pictures of the conditions the allotment hens are living in asking if they thought they were suitable and would they be interested in publishing a bit of a story on these hens. Needless to say they didn't take up my offer. I don't expect the pictures I sent quite fitted the lovely fluffy hens running around in green pastures and getting cuddles from loving keepers image they portray.
The thing is, they rehomed two lots of Ex Batts here. Just asking for a picture of the coop or even the dimensions would have had any responsible rescue center hitting the alarm buttons.
Say they asked if the rehomer currently kept any hens and how many would seem a good starting point. Then for any subsequent rehoming one would expect the same question. If C got asked and answered honestly before the most recent group arrived the answer would have been 18 hens and a rooster all in the coop you've read about earlier. There is no way in the world any responsible organisation would allow that plac/person to take another six.

 

[Shadrach]

Just as a reminder. That little coop with the nest box hanging off the side housed 25 chiickens.
That muddy patch of ground inside the fence you can see is the main the run.
It meets the oft quoted 10 square feet per chicken with some to spare even with 25 chickens in it.
That small space with the OSB which I screwd into place to give some wind protection is the coop run.
The chickens you see in the picture are in the allotment run which I cleaned up so I could let them out into it. While it does have a fence it is not suitable for unsupervised roaming. It's this that I let the chickens out into every day for a couple of hours usually.
All thos pictures of the chickens on green stuff and spread out doing chicken things were taken in the allotment run.
When they are in the main coop run they stand around in a huddle usually.

 

[MaryJanet]

A few weeks ago I contacted Pear Tree Farm and asked what checks they undertook to ensure that the hens they rehome went to somewhere "suitable".
I know for example the The British Hen Welfare Trust would not let my elder sister rehome because she already had three hens and the her coop was not big enough in their view to take the two Ex Batts my sister wanted.
My sister doesn't keep hens promarily for the eggs. She's been a UK backyard chicken keeper for 25 years and was hoping to give a couple of Ex Batts a retirement home.
I know of two other people who have been refused Ex Batts by BHWT, one because the coop wasn't large enough and the other because the run wasn't big enough.
It would seem that BHWT do actually do some checks about where their hens go.
Pear Tree Farm sent me an email stating that they do check the conditions their rehomed hens will be living in, but stated they couldn't check every placement.
I sent them some pictures of the conditions the allotment hens are living in asking if they thought they were suitable and would they be interested in publishing a bit of a story on these hens. Needless to say they didn't take up my offer. I don't expect the pictures I sent quite fitted the lovely fluffy hens running around in green pastures and getting cuddles from loving keepers image they portray.
The thing is, they rehomed two lots of Ex Batts here. Just asking for a picture of the coop or even the dimensions would have had any responsible rescue center hitting the alarm buttons.
Say they asked if the rehomer currently kept any hens and how many would seem a good starting point. Then for any subsequent rehoming one would expect the same question. If C got asked and answered honestly before the most recent group arrived the answer would have been 18 hens and a rooster all in the coop you've read about earlier. There is no way in the world any responsible organisation would allow that plac/person to take another six.

The allotment crew are ex battery hens, I take that to mean they were caged.

My point is, it might also be relevant to ask what sort of egg farm do hens come from? I know of at least one egg farm with very high standards of hen care: free ranging on pasture. Those hens would be worse off if they were "rescued" into crowded, muddy conditions.

PS I'm not thinking of breeding decisions here (or male chick disposal), only hen care. Personally, I can't support the jump from "need to make profit" to "selectively breeding so hens lay fast and die young" nor "kill most of the male chicks"