Hello and good day to all.
I am a late eager follower to this thread and still have a dozen page to catch up.
I have learned much, and am really interested to learn more. I have been sharing my six ex-batts life for two years now and still feel very ignorant and sometimes helpless.
Through unusual circumstances in January 2020 we got six pullets directly from a battery when they were only about ten weeks old. They had grown up in the most artificial conditions but were not yet physically damaged. We knew absolutely nothing about chickens when we got them, so it is difficult for me to say how much their behavior differed from that of a "proper" chicken. I must specify that they are not free ranging but they are kept in 300m2 outside all day, in very steep land with a few trees and bushes, and a lot of flying predators.
What I can say is that they took about two weeks getting out of the coop and they were both very curious and afraid (just like my kittens were). They took to dustbathing and scratching very quickly after coming out, maybe a week or ten days after. In the coop, it took them about a week to figure out how to roost, the first night they just huddled in the straw, then just above the floor, then one hen got the idea of sleeping on the perch and the others followed.
I remember we were surprised how quick they figured out the predator from the sky situation, although they had never seen anything like it from their cages. Not only did they immediately sought to seek shelter but they also made the special cooing sound "predator in the sky alert" : we thought this was instinct as there vas no way they could have learned this. On the other side they took a very long time to start eating things they were not used to, apart from grass. I think it took them almost a month to start eating corn we gave them. 5 to 6 months onwards they eat very different kind of things dead or alive, they happily chase mice and snakes. They do seem to have individual preferences and also seasonal (they only eat kale and cabbage in winter when greens are sparse).
I'm ashamed to say we knew nothing about what we were getting into when we got them and ran into the usual health problems, and unfortunately also made mistakes. I'm afraid we still do even though we try our best. There is much information to be found online but it is often conflicting and we have no vet anywhere near. I dread the day we will have to put one of our girls down.
Latest development was that we were "gifted" at the end of November a cockerel and a pullet of a mongrel farm specie by a very old-school farmer from our village. They were raised the traditional way and let's just say cohabitation with our ex-batts has been complicated.
We will not be getting ex batts again because even though I do think they lead a happy life here, I am now convinced that this rescue thing is part of the battery system. I don't know how it is in your countries but here in France an ex-batt is sold one euro for rescue, which is two or three times what the battery would sell them to the slaughterhouses. One unkept promise of our president was to put an end to cage poultry in 2021. Let's just say I will never buy eggs from a store again even organics.
And now tax to excuse myself
for such long rambling.
The hen as pullets in February 2020
The hens as adults dustbathing
Vanille, our alpha hen that nearly died in September, playing with food when she healed
The bantams thingies.
