"surprise"chickens purchased but not really prepared 4 that , advice wanted plse

[anvia]

You are awesome ! today we had orders over the 60 !! with more it goes so much better ! But still , it is not me behind all this good ! it is this man who decided to take them ! and rehoming them in a very bright way haha ! you know this is the best psychologic approach to buyers in fact , why ? because first of all , money is asked but the price is too good to leave that be ! secondly ? he was so smart not to mention the fact they carry a horrible history and look like , well naked chickens or plucked , they are in fact .. and since he offers a delivery service people are laaaaazyyyy so they contact this man ! and when he arrives ? well , yes could be difficult to decline ! because you just met the chickens already and you see how they need love , the love you are willing to give , right ? and those who do not wanna be so close to their flock ? well they just think it is fine because they do not mind their outlook etc , they are healthy and are toplaying hens , I could not decline even tough this man noticed I got shocked and really had to keep myself from crying he offered to take them back and get other ones but that moment I could not even stand it to think about the fact they would have travelled so long for no reason while they were so kind towards me ( ok 1 of them said hi by pecking at me and screaming but she is , now that I have spend a little bit of time with them obviously sevearly damaged in every possible way ) .

So here a little update on the hens ! and warning , very horrifying things have happened , it has been a busy day and quite heartbreaking ...

Last night the chickens were taken in , they were even shaking of the cold and it was not that cold at all and they had shelter so obviously this has to do with their nibbled of and plucked out feathers , now I just have selected some babyclothing from my little girl who has totally grown out of it because the night inside has been a disaster ( heartbreaking they have told a huge part of their story in that way + they are NOT safe , these chickens are just exactly the kind of person they would lock up in a psych. ward , really , they are not even safe from eachother despite so much effords to distract them to keep them busy , they are deeply ' poisened and wounded " ) . ... I will spare the psychologic mambo jambo because I am writing an article about certain things as in the prime instincts etc ..

so , this morning , oh a sunny day ? nice , the chickens are gonna have a blast ! mh gonna sleep an extra hour . now I was woken up by excessive screams coming from downstairs and i could not even tell that it was a chicken ! I was clueless and ok in the morning I react kinda slow -_- , which in this case almost costed the life of the smallest one with the more injuries and the clearly pecked of feathers , she only has some fluff left underneath her bum .
She was sticking her head in a bucket of feed like a giant I dont know whats it called but letterly she has let it all happen , given the fact she was eating while getting pecked on I did not immediately replied to this , you'd xpect it wouldn't be in her flesh ofcourse but guess what ? As I went for the girls to get them some babyclothing on i didn't know what I just witnessed , the two other girls were simply EATING HER ALIVE !! she now has an excessive wound on her tigh and she is not even complaining about it this was already shock major nr 1 because usually chickens do not peck just out of the blue untill they get the meat out of you and a hen that gets pecked in a sevear way usually does scream but she was not screaming anymore ?
I assumed a little fight in the new pecking order , nothing more or less but still caution .
This afternoon I see the same hen after being ' dressed ' hanging on the tub ( used for warm days with water but now with some sprouts in it for the chickens ) she was hanging with one wing TROUGH the vassel ?? how did she do that , so I decide the following : ok enough bullying there , lets seperate you !
I got this hen out of the whole from the vassel but now the most shocking and really questionable part ... this hen has now two broken wings wherefrom one is openwounded to the bone , two broken legs AND FEET ( covered with massive injuries ) she is eggbound , does not drink on her own and just lets the other ones peck her if they could , now everyone says to put her down but no , why not ? this hen is under age of a year and CAN recover , if she would be older she would indeed be lost , if she is not lost yet ( I am hoping she is not and she gets medical attention , while living inside the house for her recovery and I can only cross my fingers here ) .
Now what did i see , what did I learn from this ?
in the batteries I assume the dead ones just get eaten , or halfdeath is also fine ? The fact the hens are so cannibalistic to eachother is a clear red flag from having experienced anything a chicken is NOT ment to be . And if I then again would give anyone advice on taking these hens ? then read this please :
1. Be certain that you have other chickens if they are under age of 2 years and honestly just in all cases it would be good ,
why ? chickens , are social animals as we all know BUT we are at this point not dealing with just any chicken at all , they are horrible because this is what they are used to , no matter what kind of distraction u have given them , it is now in their nature to act like this , just like drinking a coffee , would you suddenly stop drinking coffee and take water instead ? no you are in a pattern .
If the chickens get exposed to an invorenment where there already are ' normal ' chickens ? they will learn from those ( you know as well as I do how a chicken loves it when you imitate them right ? so do they ;-) )
2. Be prepared emotionally about their outlook and characters at the start because it tells their story !
3. be prepared for things like dissapointments , losses , deaths , and anything you honestly did not expected to happen because to be fair , they are kind to you one time , the other time they run of screaming bloody murder and the other time they attack chickens or you . or they kill their family To say the last thing just short and flat ,
these chickens do not always just start to learn about " cool , what is this green ? I love it , they call this grass ! " they have acted .... like abused kids , teenagers . and not anything like chickens and yes I am aware they can be cannibalistic but in this case ... it is very much uncommon behavior ...
4. do NOT give up on them because they are far from stupid and can learn very fast and become your loviest healthy chicken as in a CHICKEN !!
5. Do not blame yourself if things go wrong , just observe , learn from it and soon you are on track without asking questions here given the fact they are still individuals and each case in keeping chickens is individual ( with overlapses here and there and there ;-) ofcourse )
I also like to thank all the people giving advice and having a heart and the common sense to know that these chickens deserve a new chance in life , it is true .
Wishing you all much of love from a warm house with its own cross

You are a star for understanding these poor abused animals and sharing their story.
We are rehoming 10 ex batts next week - we've done it before a couple of times, but it is indeed an emotional rollercoaster!
You sound as though you are doing really well - if you don't mind a little advice what we learned previously was don't be afraid to isolate bullies - it reshuffles the pecking order and as you say these birds have had to fight their whole lives for their lives. In time we found our ex batts to be amazing personalities and they do "learn" amazingly fast - they will adjust in time - but they need lots of time and lots of care - both the tough nuts and the victims.
We learned initially lots of small coops (3 birds in each) worked well as they created less competition and less attacks in the early days - bullies were isolated and then reintroduced. Fighting for resources is all these poor creatures know - the fewer birds they have to dominate = an easier settling period. They will adjust & well done for supporting their cause - I wish you every success!

 

[anvia]

Again I hope you don't mind the ex batt advice - we found warm baths & heamarrhoid cream helped with the egg bound girls. We found they learn to find the bath soothing - she may fight you first time - it will be messy! And plenty of haemorrhoid cream around her bottom may help her to pass the stuck egg.

I also echo lazy gardener - try feeding cat food short term - if they are in moult ect they are craving protein - this might help stop the attacks whilst you can get them to adjust to a new diet with you.

And apologies for spelling - spell check keeps interfering!

 

[hippiestink]

Hi all ,

Today after a horrifying discovery a short while ago now I had not one single chicken anymore ...
So therefor I finally decided to buy either chicks or fully grown chickens . I noticed an ad that sounded interesting but one little detail was left out ...
I responded to the advertisement of the seller that I loved to have a few chickens and I wanted to start to build up by adding only three , fine for this man and even better ? this man was willing to drive them all the way trough my village !
When he arrived I noticed one curious chicken already popping its head out of the cardbox , I guess she is the funny one ?
Now when he opened up the box the surprise came : these chickens are ex battery hens and are extremely sensitive but soooo lovely ! they lack feathers on most parts of their bodies , do not know how to act like any other chicken either , so as mentioned I am not really prepared for this BUT the man said " look , if I say they are batteryhens they are missing a lot of chances to get a home , if you do not want them I apoligize and take them back and you can really if you want pick out the best ones , some of them are still more feathered but they all do not know how to act like a chicken yet , I am sorry . " I said " no wait ! its ok , they are vaccinated , you drove all the way with these hens , I think the both of you travelled enough and still why would I reject them if they are further in good shape ? they are so kind I keep them , perhaps it is indeed for the best you left that detail out to give them more chances " so I am now having 3 poor ex battery hens all crawling up to eachother due to having cold constantly . I really want to get them strong again , certainly given the fact it is kinda cold here in Belgium already they should be able te regrow those feathers back soon , also they are a bit skinny .
What is the best way to give them more or better quik growth in feathers ? I was using beeryeast since last week due to loss of hair a little bit and on the bottle it says this : helps in stronging nails , hair and skin , but the amount for a human being is totally different for these girls ofcourse , so here I have some questions :
first of all : in the coop the girls seem to have it way too cold , I guess I should take them in for a while ?? outside the temp is at night close to freezing already , yesterday it measured a warmer night but the night before the temp was only a 5 ° Celsius so what do I do ? take them in ??

Secondly : can I give them something strong to get their feathers grow better ? or do I have to leave it be naturally ?

Third and last : what can I give them as food to gain some extra weight on a healthy way ? what are the most common foods used that give a lot of power for chickens ?

I do thank you in advance and so this girls too ! they adore you for just the tiniest little bit of normal acting towards them , they are always gratefull for ANYthing you do or say to them , unbelievable right ? poor things ! pff one little extra : can u believe the moment he opens that box and I notice the chickens are so ... screwed up I just stupidly asked something like " omg what happened to these girls ? " *slaps herself again *

Living in Belgium and having had chickens for three years now, I'd say you're better off leaving them in the coop. Hens put off 100 watts of heat per bird on their own so if they cuddle up they will be fine. You can try putting blankets on the walls to insulate the coop more if you're very concerned.

For feather regrowth (especially when it's a really severe molt) I supplement my birds' feed with canned dog or cat food once a week until the feathers grow in. They really need protein to grow back lost feathers so this method is one you can try fairly easily. You can also give them protein-rich supplements like cooked quinoa if you don't want to give dog or cat food.

If you want them to gain weight you can switch them to a grower feed meant for meat chickens (Aveve will sell it, as will Horta). You should switch them back to a layer feed when they reach a healthy weight, or they could become overweight and not lay at all. You can also feed vegetable scraps from your kitchen to help round out their diet and give them variety. I will give bread scraps, lettuce, carrot tops, celery, cabbage, paprikas, sprouts, basically anything I end up not using in a meal or which I know is not so fresh but not molding or rancid. The variety helps stimulate their brains and that keeps them healthy. A good rule is that snacks of this kind should make up only a small percentage of what they eat daily.

I hope I helped a little!

Edit: Also don't be afraid to talk to the people at your Horta or Aveve! The Aveve Niclaes in Tienen is excellent, one of the women who works there is also a chicken owner and we try to stop by every month for a new bag of feed and a chat.

 

[strangeanimal]

https://theiwrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Duerr_Splinting_Manual_2010.pdf
This is an interesting article about caring for broken bones.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/yikes-large-wound-on-hen.1141144/#post-17736677
This is a thread I started about an injured hen and how I treated her.

You can start a new thread on helping the injured girl. But I thought you could browse those two to start.

Hi ty for these links , unfortunately she didn't make it but they are still usefull ofcourse !! a new arrival of two hens today that were given back by the new owner with only explanation " they do not lay and they make a mess of anything , had enough of them " so went to pick them up and noticed one of them is often lifting her foot , gonna check that foot and leg !

Living in Belgium and having had chickens for three years now, I'd say you're better off leaving them in the coop. Hens put off 100 watts of heat per bird on their own so if they cuddle up they will be fine. You can try putting blankets on the walls to insulate the coop more if you're very concerned.

For feather regrowth (especially when it's a really severe molt) I supplement my birds' feed with canned dog or cat food once a week until the feathers grow in. They really need protein to grow back lost feathers so this method is one you can try fairly easily. You can also give them protein-rich supplements like cooked quinoa if you don't want to give dog or cat food.

If you want them to gain weight you can switch them to a grower feed meant for meat chickens (Aveve will sell it, as will Horta). You should switch them back to a layer feed when they reach a healthy weight, or they could become overweight and not lay at all. You can also feed vegetable scraps from your kitchen to help round out their diet and give them variety. I will give bread scraps, lettuce, carrot tops, celery, cabbage, paprikas, sprouts, basically anything I end up not using in a meal or which I know is not so fresh but not molding or rancid. The variety helps stimulate their brains and that keeps them healthy. A good rule is that snacks of this kind should make up only a small percentage of what they eat daily.

I hope I helped a little!

Edit: Also don't be afraid to talk to the people at your Horta or Aveve! The Aveve Niclaes in Tienen is excellent, one of the women who works there is also a chicken owner and we try to stop by every month for a new bag of feed and a chat.

Hi , happy to meet another one from here ! well I have made their coop isolated with foam , insulationstuf used for houses , got it for free from a house recently build !
so I used first just plywood and on the outside attached the insulation followed by real wood on the outside , as for their roof used some kind of plastic white transparant hard stuf because I wanted them to be able to see when sun comes up , here too I added on the sides ( all corners ) some of that foam , now guess what ? these chickens still are freezing ! cant believe it ! but no I am leaving them outside ! they have to get used it . I went to get some feed as you mention here at AVEVE for broilers and I notice it helps them A LOT ! Now we had some " misunderstandings " with the two new ones against the two that were still here so again my garage gets used for them but only for the night and by tomorrow another coop is ready , reason why we are building so many coops at this point ?
I am expecting a few others , around 25 + , depending on the correct measurements ! tomorrow we know the exact number that is going to be rehomed as a sort of from battterycage to first grass station and to go to a new home because once these girls are gone they are constantly going to be here , every time there is about room for 10 atleast we put ten new ones here to either stay or get elsewhere rehomed , all of them get the same chances , today I had the lovliest e-mail again ! they are going to take a look for an amount of 10 hens , so they will have to show their best haha . now they just had a warm bath and honestly ? these hens then again have a lot of feathers in comparison with the two other hens , hmm odd but GOOD !

And a little update here :
Mona and Lisa are fine , they have concluded not constantly to eat eachother but are still eggbound so therefor they have been given a warm bath , yet no results yet .
Behavior : scratching is fun ! OMG look there that is cool ! me saying ow gosh forgot to move that thing out , no girls it is yikes ! naaah you are sooo wrong , this came out of a horse ? gosh you have no idea how great the taste of that is !
Hmm ok guess it doesnt harm them given the fact these horses are indeed always nicely fed , so OK then but I need it back to be honest , that was for our porridge , kale and other plants girls ! oh you are gonna follow me around ? what is up with you Lisa ? how are ya ?
following me like a dog lol and we are building trust here , yet cant get the one that got pecked to ... go not out of my mind , it is so unfair , she should be given the same new chances as the other ones but there was no heaven on earth for her and when I think about her , I know she will always be a little light in my heart with a tear , I just named her after her death " Davinci code " because she was closest to Mona and Lisa ( I know perhaps it is silly but I wanted something I did not hear yet ) , I have been blaming myself but it took all my " energy , motivation " away so I cant do that , there are manyyyy more to rescue and a lot of work ( and it is work indeed but its done with the heart ) ...

I do see how they are slowly turning around to be fair , from bullies they went to curious nosy little CHICKENS now , well , close , atleast they now even cuddle up and indeed scratch ( instinct) and move a bit more but if you leave the house just for a while ?? they do not do anything at all ?? that is one thing I find weird , they do not even move huh ?? but ok we gotta keep trying !
Oh just made a toy too ,
if anyone is interested : take some wire (steel ) , make a curly ball from this , put in feed ( I used eggs here , boiled soft ) and hang it in the coop : they are busyyyyyy and love it ! just a simple piece of wire will do the trick if you can curl it all up , or buy a birdfeeder like this ! costs you like zip ! and your chickens have a lot of fun !
having the camera ready ! because tomorrow we have a huge upload and I love to share all with all of you !!! just because they are lovely and because I find all of you just the same
( no battery should exist ! )

 

[hippiestink]

Hi ty for these links , unfortunately she didn't make it but they are still usefull ofcourse !! a new arrival of two hens today that were given back by the new owner with only explanation " they do not lay and they make a mess of anything , had enough of them " so went to pick them up and noticed one of them is often lifting her foot , gonna check that foot and leg !


Hi , happy to meet another one from here ! well I have made their coop isolated with foam , insulationstuf used for houses , got it for free from a house recently build !
so I used first just plywood and on the outside attached the insulation followed by real wood on the outside , as for their roof used some kind of plastic white transparant hard stuf because I wanted them to be able to see when sun comes up , here too I added on the sides ( all corners ) some of that foam , now guess what ? these chickens still are freezing ! cant believe it ! but no I am leaving them outside ! they have to get used it . I went to get some feed as you mention here at AVEVE for broilers and I notice it helps them A LOT ! Now we had some " misunderstandings " with the two new ones against the two that were still here so again my garage gets used for them but only for the night and by tomorrow another coop is ready , reason why we are building so many coops at this point ?
I am expecting a few others , around 25 + , depending on the correct measurements ! tomorrow we know the exact number that is going to be rehomed as a sort of from battterycage to first grass station and to go to a new home because once these girls are gone they are constantly going to be here , every time there is about room for 10 atleast we put ten new ones here to either stay or get elsewhere rehomed , all of them get the same chances , today I had the lovliest e-mail again ! they are going to take a look for an amount of 10 hens , so they will have to show their best haha . now they just had a warm bath and honestly ? these hens then again have a lot of feathers in comparison with the two other hens , hmm odd but GOOD !

And a little update here :
Mona and Lisa are fine , they have concluded not constantly to eat eachother but are still eggbound so therefor they have been given a warm bath , yet no results yet .
Behavior : scratching is fun ! OMG look there that is cool ! me saying ow gosh forgot to move that thing out , no girls it is yikes ! naaah you are sooo wrong , this came out of a horse ? gosh you have no idea how great the taste of that is !
Hmm ok guess it doesnt harm them given the fact these horses are indeed always nicely fed , so OK then but I need it back to be honest , that was for our porridge , kale and other plants girls ! oh you are gonna follow me around ? what is up with you Lisa ? how are ya ?
following me like a dog lol and we are building trust here , yet cant get the one that got pecked to ... go not out of my mind , it is so unfair , she should be given the same new chances as the other ones but there was no heaven on earth for her and when I think about her , I know she will always be a little light in my heart with a tear , I just named her after her death " Davinci code " because she was closest to Mona and Lisa ( I know perhaps it is silly but I wanted something I did not hear yet ) , I have been blaming myself but it took all my " energy , motivation " away so I cant do that , there are manyyyy more to rescue and a lot of work ( and it is work indeed but its done with the heart ) ...

I do see how they are slowly turning around to be fair , from bullies they went to curious nosy little CHICKENS now , well , close , atleast they now even cuddle up and indeed scratch ( instinct) and move a bit more but if you leave the house just for a while ?? they do not do anything at all ?? that is one thing I find weird , they do not even move huh ?? but ok we gotta keep trying !
Oh just made a toy too ,
if anyone is interested : take some wire (steel ) , make a curly ball from this , put in feed ( I used eggs here , boiled soft ) and hang it in the coop : they are busyyyyyy and love it ! just a simple piece of wire will do the trick if you can curl it all up , or buy a birdfeeder like this ! costs you like zip ! and your chickens have a lot of fun !
having the camera ready ! because tomorrow we have a huge upload and I love to share all with all of you !!! just because they are lovely and because I find all of you just the same
( no battery should exist ! )

That's great news! Misunderstandings will happen, as long as they don't draw blood it should be observed but not really stopped. It's the birds just working out their standings. It's a good decision not to take them inside because while your insulation sounds great they do need to learn to be used to the cold! And I agree, battery farms are awful. I read somewhere (I think HLN) that the government has recently given notice that battery farms will be closed down in the next few years and that's why rescues have so many ex-farm hens now. I can't say I'm upset or disappointed over the decision.