Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[fluffycrow]

I am sure I have mentioned this in the past, but one week after Cruella had hatched her chicks, Ursula stopped brooding, and started co-mothering Cruella's bunch. They have been doing a good job ever since. This young cockerel seems to prefer the company of her adopted mother, all the others still follow Cruella religiously

 

[Molpet]

Then we are going to get ready for the turkeys. I think that we are going to go with the White Holland breed, they are supposed to be good breeders and the white feathers should help them cope with our summers, and the Harvey Speckled, @Molpet suggested these heritage breeders , they have 2 small farms, about an 8 - 10 hour drive. Thank you @Molpet we are super excited about them!

Porter is shipping poults only due to Bio security issues. No pickups. And date of shipping depends on hatch. Best to order early, if you wait they ship late maybe even in August

 

[MrsNorthie]

Oh my gosh. These are those chickens. I've heard about the conditions and would rather live without eggs than buy eggs from the grocery store.

I didn't even know that they could be rescued. How do you find out about rescuing them?

Wow, everyone that I've see on here who's rescued some, bless you.

If you read Shad's story through, you will see there can be a lot of heart break, a lot of the ex-batts have a lot of health issues due to deplorable conditions. It is not something to enter into lightly, it is a labour of love and huge commitment.

There are a few rescues in the US, like this one: https://adoptabirdnetwork.com/chickens-for-adoption.php.

 

[MrsNorthie]

Porter is shipping poults only due to Bio security issues. No pickups. And date of shipping depends on hatch. Best to order early, if you wait they ship late maybe even in August

I saw that when went to place the order.

 

[RoyalChick]

If you read Shad's story through, you will see there can be a lot of heart break, a lot of the ex-batts have a lot of health issues due to deplorable conditions. It is not something to enter into lightly, it is a labour of love and huge commitment.

There are a few rescues in the US, like this one: https://adoptabirdnetwork.com/chickens-for-adoption.php.

The US rescues, like the ones you linked to, are mainly not battery hens. They are hoarding situations, chickens not allowed situations, abandoned roosters etc.
I don’t know that it is any better, but they look in better health than the true battery hens we have seen posted.

 

[Dragon Slayer Trinket]

If you read Shad's story through, you will see there can be a lot of heart break, a lot of the ex-batts have a lot of health issues due to deplorable conditions. It is not something to enter into lightly, it is a labour of love and huge commitment.

There are a few rescues in the US, like this one: https://adoptabirdnetwork.com/chickens-for-adoption.php.

Absolutely. I'm on page 20 or something like that and there's so much sadness already. As I said before, bless everyone who's taken on the challenge, but after reading through some more pages, I have a ton of respect for them too.

 

[MrsNorthie]

The US rescues, like the ones you linked to, are mainly not battery hens. They are hoarding situations, chickens not allowed situations, abandoned roosters etc.
I don’t know that it is any better, but they look in better health than the true battery hens we have seen posted.

They had some ex-batts on the list for adoption too, but I noticed that they had a variety of birds, and some cockerels/roosters too. There were a few that came up when I searched, but it may not be easy to find, true ex-batts here, sadly, I think they end up as food for other animals, a lot, but no proof to back that up, just a feeling about the way a lot of US companies do business. Besides, if the ex-batts were adopted, they would have a harder time claiming that their chickens are well cared for because there would be living evidence to the contrary. (may I am just being cynical? )

 

[Shadrach]

Will you explain what this means, please?

Well, I'll try.
Imprinting is generally used to describe the behaviour of chicks to form a bond with whatever they see first once hatched.
I believe from what I've seen that there is another possibly more true form of chicken imprinting. It is most obviously seen when a mother hen introduces her chicks to her rooster. There are other examples with hens, but not usually obvious and easily mistaken for another behaviour.
Here's a picture taken by Perris. I have a couple somewhere.

What happens is the hen backs off a little and her rooster bows his head to the height of the chicks head and locks one eye onto the chicks eye I assume. The rooster will stand there, motionless for quite a few seconds and so on with each chick. Some keepers have seen this and think the rooster is about to harm the chicks. To me and many others who observe their chickens and have males this is true imprinting until someone can come up with a more plausible explanation. It would seem that in this behaviour information is passed from the chick to the rooster and may work the other direction. Once this "imprinting" is done the relationship between the rooster and the chicks and the mother changes; it's almost impossible to describe how.
What information is passed in these exchanges? It would be really interesting to know. If it is just dad showing whose boss I think he's wasting his time. It's a bit like telling a six month old baby "I'm boss". It will probably giggle and fart a bit, but won't have a clue what you're on about.

So, this is one of those not often observed behaviours that we know very little about.
In the picture of Henry and Dig I posted the behaviour could be mistaken for a similar kind of imprinting but frankly looking at the them and having thought about it I think it more likely Henry was trying to get Dig to groom him.
If one cant find any obvious deep and complex meaning to something look for the selfish and work forward.

 

[Shadrach]

It definitely is a labour of love. You'd have to reach out to organisations near you, that do the rescues directly from the factories. I do not know if one can rescue directly, I'd think not. Depending on where you live, this might not be an option. Here in Greece, for example, I have not heard of a confirmed case of a true Ex Battery hen being rescued. It could have happened. There are no organisations that go to rescue them on a regular basis, however

Labour of love can imply a task for which there is no reward. I found the whole experience extremely rewarding. The downside is it's heartbreaking.

 

[Shadrach]

They had some ex-batts on the list for adoption too, but I noticed that they had a variety of birds, and some cockerels/roosters too. There were a few that came up when I searched, but it may not be easy to find, true ex-batts here, sadly, I think they end up as food for other animals, a lot, but no proof to back that up, just a feeling about the way a lot of US companies do business. Besides, if the ex-batts were adopted, they would have a harder time claiming that their chickens are well cared for because there would be living evidence to the contrary. (may I am just being cynical? )

Finding out exactly what the carcasses are used for is difficult. We know some go to feed peoples cats and dogs but from what I can gather there is nothing to stop them being used for human consumption.