Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Perris]

I want hens straight from the battery

dates and locations of hens up for adoption with the BHWT here
https://www.bhwt.org.uk/hen-adoption/

Bristol, Locking​

Saturday 22 July 2023, 114 caged hens need homes

 

[ManueB]

Thanks, I'll do more reading. I know I read somewhere that ovarian cancer was something hens and women suffered from, but it wasn't a peer reviewed science paper, more like a blog. I'll look more into it.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119324691
From the synopsis:

Commercial laying hens also spontaneously develop ovarian cancer at a high rate, and susceptibility to this disease has been associated with ovulatory events in women. (...) Genetic selection for high productivity in commercial laying hens has generated an efficient and valuable food source as well as an important animal model for human ovarian cancer.

 

[TropicalChickies]

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119324691
From the synopsis:

Thank you. I see it says:

"The high rate of egg production in commercial laying hens is not without consequence, as chickens are one of the few animals, other than humans, that develop a high rate of spontaneous ovarian cancer."

So not the only, but one of a few.

 

[Shadrach]

dates and locations of hens up for adoption with the BHWT here
https://www.bhwt.org.uk/hen-adoption/

Bristol, Locking​

Saturday 22 July 2023, 114 caged hens need homes

I think these are probably leftovers.
From what I can gather it works something like this.
When such an organization has enough potential rehomers they make a request to a battery for that number of hens. Usualy this is hundreds if not thousands. Not all those who offer to rehome go to collect. Inevitably some hens are too sick to rehome and some organizations hold these hens for an unspecified period of time to get them fit for rehoming.

I've seen a couple of the rescue pens where the hens are kept and dsitributed from. All sorts of people come and go. They are a biosecurity hazard. The longer a rescue hen is kept at the distribution center the more chance there is they will pick up parasites and worse.

I have asked about exactly when the hens still wanting homes were rescued and the replies I've had, if I got a reply were less than enlightening to put it politely.

The rescue centres just can't afford to feed and house hundereds of hens. They need to collect them from the batteries and move them on as quickly as possible. The larger resue concerns have some leftover housing capacity and not at all encouraging is the practice of temporarily moving the hens to volunteers who will take a few until permenant homes are found.
Bio security and adequate vet checking just isn't possible no matter what the organizations may write in their promotional blurb.

 

[Molpet]

Well done. My Uncle used to farm them. They would chew through the cage wire to get at the one in the next cage. My Uncles son lost a finger tip from a mink bite.
We got the black American mink as an invasive species. Not a fan.

Today female weasel. Much smaller than the mink
ETA didn't make a sound. Not nursing.

 

[micstrachan]

Three hours today. Everything looks better for yesterdays rain. Still need more.
I didn't get much done. Too busy chatting to my favourite Russians, mainly about what we are going to do about the neglected fruit bush patch and the finer points of the five types of garlic they planted. I dunno. What have I come to?
Hnery, Fret and Carbon came out and made absolutely sure they hadn't missed any of the low hanging berries, then went and dug around in the unkempt patch on the other side of the fruit bushes. I fed them tea, cleaned out the coop, fed them supper a couple of hours later, after which Henry headed for the coop roost bar with Fret following. The large back door was still open but they settled down napping more than ready for a nights sleep as I went about shifting more stones out of the run and doing a bit of weeding around the edge of my plot.
They seem to like their coop as well as the extension. Carbon stayed out with me for an extra twenty minutes or so.
Todays poop check suggests they're becoming used to the mash rather than pellets. It was all a bit runny at one point but looked a lot more solid today.

I've run into a problem with both places I've expressed an interest in taking Ex Battery hens from. They don't have any, or rather they have hens still from the last rescue and the organisers have been rather cagey about exactly when that was. I want hens straight from the battery, not hens that have spent time in an environment I know nothing about and have little trust in. While hens straight from the battery may look dreadfull, maybe even dying, they are very unlikely to have the diseases that most other options risk.

On the other hand, I've been offered a pair of Crested Cream Legbar pullets from someone I do know something about and have seen at some detail the keeping conditions.

View attachment 3567357View attachment 3567355View attachment 3567354

View attachment 3567358Carbon is in there somewhere.
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Hi Shad. Are you down to these three?

 

[Shadrach]

Hi Shad. Are you down to these three?

I am. It's been a bit rough the last few weeks.

 

[Shadrach]

Took inventory of my Dark Cornish. Haven't been sure if it was 11 or 12 left after some losses. It's 3 cockerels and 9 pullets for 3 pens of 4. That should be a start for a scattering of the gene pool. The question is will my deciding which rooster goes with which 3 pullets will put a monkey wrench in the happiness in the house or not. If I pair them up now before the pullets start choosing just maybe I can get by with it you think?

I would let the pullets choose.

 

[Shadrach]

If you put it to them like this (and just this bit ) I'm sure they'd understand why you want 'fresh' rescue hens

So far my experience has been they are less than honest. I've spoken to a couple of people who have gone to collect rescue hens and their comments are not encouraging.

 

[Perris]

I recall you raised some spectres about one of those places and their owners early on in this thread. It's such a shame.