Swap Meet In Ohio Sept 27!! I had a great time!!!

[winstonsgrrrl]

He told me the browns were born August 24th. He didn't know how old the goldens were, but said they had been laying. They were molting when I bought them, and still are. No eggs at all around here yet! Overall, they're doing well but I did lose 6 last week to a coon. They're now kept in the garage. I'm anxious for some eggs!

 

[catwalk]

I'm so stoked for next year! I should have plenty of EE's, some Seramas (really nice ones), Silkies, and Cochins. If enough people tell me that they are interested in adopting ex- battery hens, I may be able to obtain some of those!

 

[lilcrow]

Speaking of battery hens..............
I don't want to hijack this thread, so if I started a new thread about them, could you tell me a little bit about them. I'm not looking at "real" battery hens, but I'd just like to know how you can tell if a hen has been one and if she has been, how do you rehab her.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
Any idea what month you will be setting this up in the Spring?

 

[catwalk]

Quote:
Debeaking is a dead givaway: the beak will be stumpy, and the bottom will be longer. They have to scoop their feed, so they need a deep bowl. Big red floppy combs are another clue. They are packed together, so they need a way to cool off. I have access to these hens when they are "at the end of their commercially usefull lives" as well as when they are pullets, at point of lay. I am going to be Mafia- quiet about who has them and where they are, but I have "connections." I'm only raising show bantams, so I don't want them, but I can get some if there is interest. I'd be interested in knowing if the rehabbed birds lay a better quality egg than when they worked for the store.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
Does the place where these battery hens come from someone who's last name starts with a De and ends with a Mange?

 

[lilcrow]

Well, no not actually. I'll PM you.

 

[lilcrow]

On second thought, I don't want to name names. I'm not actually asking about a real and true battery hen. The hen I am concerned about is a bantie and she is not making the transition to living in a coop very well. She is not able to sit on a perch comfortably as her feet are deformed, and of course she hasn't been able to scratch and peck like everyone else with those poor little crooked feet. When I open the coop in the morning, she doesn't come tearing out like the others, she hangs back. The first time she did that I thought she was dead, then I thought she might be egg bound. She turned out to be OK (after I took her in the house) so I put her back out, but she just doesn't stay up with all the rest. I put feed and water next to her on the days when she doesn't come out. It's been unusually cold here in Ohio and I'm afraid she just may not make it through this winter. I think I've got an old bird on my hands.

She strikes me as a hen that has been kept on wire all her life and just made to crank out eggs. I suspect she has been AI'd also, not exactly what I thought I was getting. She's a beautiful bird, but more issues than I knew when I got her. I think I would have taken her anyway, I just wish I had known her history so I could have been better prepared for her sake.

 

[cparian]

I finally got some pics of the hens I got at the swap meet. I bought 2 of Gary's "project hens" he is trying to create a blue laced red Brahma. As you can see from the pics I fell in love with them & their gorgeous feathers. Even if they were his rejects! Also is a pic of one of the Buff Cochins I got. I guess they were raised in cages, they have no idea how to use their wings & lay in a pile on the coop floor at nite. They'll learn soon though I'm sure.

 

[jen5680]

Quote:

Any idea what month you will be setting this up in the Spring?

I was thinking March would be a good time. Everyones input
when they would like to have it would be good.