Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[saysfaa]

Well, how much do you put out? How often? What is it? How long had her?

 

[ManueB]

She just eats until everything I put out for her is gone. So maybe I’ll try scheduled feeding??

I had the same problem when I brought my ex-batts home, and now with pullets I got from a bad breeder.
I do the counter intuitive thing and give them access to food all day round. The idea is that either they have been used to not getting enough food and are afraid to starve, either they lack a specific nutrient and need to gorge to have enough of it
I try to give different kind of foods, but with production birds it takes them a long time to eat something that looks very different from what they are used to. I offer milled layer feed, starter feed, and fermented grains. (And animal protein such as egg and mackerel but from experience it takes about a month before they try it). And they are outside to forage all day.

With both my ex batts and my actual pullets after two weeks things got back to normal and they stopped gorging.

 

[-Chanticleer-]

I had the same problem when I brought my ex-batts home, and now with pullets I got from a bad breeder.
I do the counter intuitive thing and give them access to food all day round. The idea is that either they have been used to not getting enough food and are afraid to starve, either they lack a specific nutrient and need to gorge to have enough of it
I try to give different kind of foods, but with production birds it takes them a long time to eat something that looks very different from what they are used to. I offer milled layer feed, starter feed, and fermented grains. (And animal protein such as egg and mackerel but from experience it takes about a month before they try it). And they are outside to forage all day.

With both my ex batts and my actual pullets after two weeks things got back to normal and they stopped gorging.

Thank you for this I will try Im just worried she’ll eat too much and it’ll be a issue.

 

[-Chanticleer-]

Well, how much do you put out? How often? What is it? How long had her?

I usually do morning and evening I let her roam free and I’ll have the other chickens in the run to keep them separate. But I’ll just put a feeder out so maybe she’ll get use to not worrying about food

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Ex Batts good morning one and all!

How is Fret doing?

Temperature is in the 70s.

Have a great day!

 

[ManueB]

Thank you for this I will try Im just worried she’ll eat too much and it’ll be a issue.

I was also worried, but it worked out for us. I'm not saying it will systematically ! You could give it a try for two weeks and see if it helps. Maybe other will have different suggestions.

When we got our six ex-batts they were our only chickens, so it was easy to track how much food they were consuming weekly, which is how we were able to see that after two weeks of gorging on the all you can eat, the amount of feed consumed began to slowly diminish.

I think these production layers are inherently afraid they won't have enough fuel to produce an egg.

 

[triciayoung]

In April 2021 I returned to the UK having spent the last ten years living with and studying various groups of chickens on a small holding In Catalonia Spain.

Some of you may have read some of my posts and seen pictures of what I call The Tribes, in my house and free ranging on the land. I’ve written a number of articles here on BYC based on my observations of these tribes and there is an as yet unpublished book that deals with the lives of these chickens and what I have learned from a decade of observing them and the experience of helping out with the care of free range chickens on my uncles farm in my youth.

I had decided even before leaving Catalonia that should I have to leave the tribes and my home what I would like to do was look after ex battery chickens and rescues given the opportunity. That opportunity arose in September of this year 2021.

A family member, knowing how much I miss the Tribes, mentioned that she though she knew where there were some chickens and one evening when out walking we visited the site. There was a rather old and partially illegible sign on the notice board at the entrance to the site asking for someone who would be prepared to help looking after the chickens. I contacted the person concerned and this thread is in part a record of the subsequent events.

The sign.
View attachment 2906940

I know I am late reading this...but, this is so awesome

 

[-Chanticleer-]

I was also worried, but it worked out for us. I'm not saying it will systematically ! You could give it a try for two weeks and see if it helps. Maybe other will have different suggestions.

When we got our six ex-batts they were our only chickens, so it was easy to track how much food they were consuming weekly, which is how we were able to see that after two weeks of gorging on the all you can eat, the amount of feed consumed began to slowly diminish.

I think these production layers are inherently afraid they won't have enough fuel to produce an egg.

Poor babies.

 

[Perris]

I think these production layers are inherently afraid they won't have enough fuel to produce an egg.

actually if they came from a commercial outfit they were raised on very carefully controlled diets, specifically tailored, on as short as a fortnightly basis, to determine their growth, food consumption and crop size, in order to maximize their egg laying capacity and performance. See e.g.
"Feeding program
The diet for the rearing period must be adapted to the actual evolution of the frame and bodyweight development.
Starter diet is recommended from one-day old to 4 weeks old and can be extended up to 5 or 6 weeks to secure frame development. Frame development occurs for the large part during the first 8 weeks of the rearing period.
Grower diet is recommended from 4 weeks old to 10 weeks old and can be extended up to 11 or 12 weeks old, in order to secure growth. As the rearing period objective is also to develop the digestive tract, this grower diet is high in energy content and should not be given after 12 weeks old. The risk being to reduce the development of the digestive tract and feed intake at the start of lay as a result of using feed with too high energy content.
The distribution of a developer diet up to 16 weeks will help the development of the crop capacity thanks to a lower energy level than grower feed, and slightly lower than the pre-lay or layer feed.
In order to secure the development of the medullar bone which acts as a reservoir of calcium used for shell formation, we advise the use of a pre-lay feed for the two weeks before 2% production.
The detailed specifications for each of these diets are explained in a separate chapter.
Feeding techniques
The feeding techniques used between 5 and 16 weeks are designed to:
• avoid the build-up of fine particles
• encourage crop development through rapid feed intake
Birds are grain eaters by nature, with a strong preference for coarse particles. Fine particles are more difficult for birds to eat, therefore they spend more energy for the same quantity consumed. The accumulation of fine particles in the feeding system leads to under-consumption. Therefore, it is essential that the feeders are emptied every day. This rule applies equally to pullets and layers. Feed management in rearing has an impact on feed consumption later in production. The idea is to develop the digestive tract during the rearing phase to prepare the birds to eat enough during the laying phase, especially immediately after transfer, when feed intake should increase sharply in just a few weeks" (emphasis added).

Given the firm's confidence in its ability to completely control their stock via their feed, it is perhaps surprising that ex-batts will revert to more normal eating habits in just a few weeks after release from these conditions.

 

[Molpet]

Birds are grain eaters by nature

Mmmmm... isn't grain usually found in the fall and not year round in nature.....
I wonder how much grain is found where jungle fowl originated anyway.

Goes to show how much people have changed chickens