Thinking about starting a 'chicken rescue'.....

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

@Lacy Duckwing , you and cluckmecoop both live in Maine, AND You know of a nearby farm that is shutting down and euthanizing their layer hens?!

If/before you go this route, please do thoroughly research and be prepared for all their special needs beforehand. Be aware that the hens will come to you in very poor physical condition, & they may not live long lives despite your best care. (And then again they may.) Also, if they are white leghorns and not red sex-links, they may always be somewhat skittish and aloof despite your best efforts, since white leghorns often possess those traits anyway. (What breed is Beth?) Whatever their breed, if you decide to do this you will be "rescuing chickens" to the ultimate degree.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

@Lacy Duckwing , you and cluckmecoop both live in Maine, AND You know of a nearby farm that is shutting down and euthanizing their layer hens?!

If/before you go this route, please do thoroughly research and be prepared for all their special needs beforehand. Be aware that the hens will come to you in very poor physical condition, & they may not live long lives despite your best care. (And then again they may.) Also, if they are white leghorns and not red sex-links, they may always be somewhat skittish and aloof despite your best efforts, since white leghorns often possess those traits anyway. (What breed is Beth?) Whatever their breed, if you decide to do this you will be "rescuing chickens" to the ultimate degree.

The farm used to be called DeCosters, and is very well known in my area. I don't know if they've gassed all the hens yet, but that's what they were planning on doing. I've known of plenty of people who worked in there, and was told that the place is closing and what's going to happen to the birds by someone who is getting layed off because of the closure. As far as I know, they're Leghorns and Red Sex Link, but the person calls them RIRs which they're often accidentally called.
My Beth escaped from a smaller scaled factory farm that I'm assuming wasn't poultry barns and cages. She's a Red Sex Link. I don't think she's from DeCosters, but from somewhere on a much smaller scale. I got her because my Mom found her in a very busy highway. Another person had stopped, who appeared to be her owner, and was yelling at the cars going by to go ahead and run over her. Beth was very lucky that my Mom was able to rescue her, and another person in the area rescued another hen from Beth's old flock too.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

The farm used to be called DeCosters, and is very well known in my area. I don't know if they've gassed all the hens yet, but that's what they were planning on doing. I've known of plenty of people who worked in there, and was told that the place is closing and what's going to happen to the birds by someone who is getting layed off because of the closure. As far as I know, they're Leghorns and Red Sex Link, but the person calls them RIRs which they're often accidentally called.
My Beth escaped from a smaller scaled factory farm that I'm assuming wasn't poultry barns and cages. She's a Red Sex Link. I don't think she's from DeCosters, but from somewhere on a much smaller scale. I got her because my Mom found her in a very busy highway. Another person had stopped, who appeared to be her owner, and was yelling at the cars going by to go ahead and run over her. Beth was very lucky that my Mom was able to rescue her, and another person in the area rescued another hen from Beth's old flock too.

Could you please please try to get in touch with then and ask if I can adopt some of there hens??

 

[The Moonshiner]

Here those places don't give a sh!t if you want to rescue or save some of their spent hens. It's not gonna happen and they won't even entertain the idea.
They have a way of doing things and they ain't gonna change that for bleeding heart individuals.
I believe some here have mentioned they may have issues or aren't well cared for?
They aren't cared for in the way most of use care for ours but they arent unhealthy or sick. Unhealthy birds don't produce well and that's bad for buisiness.
I have had some of these birds a few times. They don't know how to be backyard chickens. They had no idea what a coop was and had to be rounded up and put away nightly for weeks before any of them got the idea and some never did.
In the coop they wouldn't roost and wanted to pile up in the corners. Then outside they had no idea what grass was and took days to even get used to the idea of walking on it and having the freedom to move about the yard.
I won't have them again. Trying to give them the good life seems very streeful and full of terror for them.
It's sad all the way around.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

Here those places don't give a sh!t if you want to rescue or save some of their spent hens. It's not gonna happen and they won't even entertain the idea.
They have a way of doing things and they ain't gonna change that for bleeding heart individuals.
I believe some here have mentioned they may have issues or aren't well cared for?
They aren't cared for in the way most of use care for ours but they arent unhealthy or sick. Unhealthy birds don't produce well and that's bad for buisiness.
I have had some of these birds a few times. They don't know how to be backyard chickens. They had no idea what a coop was and had to be rounded up and put away nightly for weeks before any of them got the idea and some never did.
In the coop they wouldn't roost and wanted to pile up in the corners. Then outside they had no idea what grass was and took days to even get used to the idea of walking on it and having the freedom to move about the yard.
I won't have them again. Trying to give them the good life seems very streeful and full of terror for them.
It's sad all the way around.

From everything ive seen and read, the various varieties of red sex-links adapt much better than white leghorns. Your comments reinforce that fact. Ive had quite a few white leghorns, and can understand that with their temperments, a year crammed tight in a battery cage would literally drive them insane. Yes sad all around. But after your input, if i find the opportunity to adopt ex-bat hens, will only adopt red sex-links.

 

[The Moonshiner]

From everything ive seen and read, the various varieties of red sex-links adapt much better than white leghorns. Your comments reinforce that fact. Ive had quite a few white leghorns, and can understand that with their temperments, a year crammed tight in a battery cage would literally drive them insane. Yes sad all around. But after your input, if i find the opportunity to adopt ex-bat hens, will only adopt red sex-links.

The ones I've had were red sex links.
I've very really seen the white.egg layers for sell around here. From the factories or from individuals selling second hand.
I don't really consider them Leghorns as in the kind of Leghorns I want. They've been developed for decades to be smaller and lay at a maximum rate.

 

[Tclloyd0812]

Hello, I've finally caught up with this thread and have gotten the following information out of what you're trying to do (correct me if I'm wrong): You are getting rid of your current flock and rescuing just one other flock to have as laying hens since yours are getting older. You want to get hens or possibly battery hens from a local farm. ?

While I don't think this plan is something I would choose because the hens you plan on getting will just get older and not lay as much too, if you're happy go for it.
The only thing I'm really concerned with is that you may be rescuing the new hens from an egg farm. If you have any knowledge of Mycoplasma, let me just tell you A LOT of the chickens that have this disease are egg farm chickens. While you won't be getting more chickens or keeping the originals, you may find its extremely difficult to work with and hens with mycoplasma will go through bad spouts of not laying at all and possibly even falling over dead.

I'm not saying you're getting into this, but I'm just warning you because of my own past experience. I added 9-10 laying hens that came from a local mennonite egg farm where they "free ranged" and slowly realized they had mareks as well as mycoplasma. They looked healthy and we quarantined but sadly the ones that didn't die had to be culled (including our first ever chicken flock).

All I'm saying is you never know what you're getting in to. Sure egg farmers usually have NPIP certification, but that usually only covers salmonella and sometimes mareks, depending on your state regulations and requirements.

Do your research and ask lots of questions. Good luck.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Could you please please try to get in touch with then and ask if I can adopt some of there hens??

I can do my best, but I don't know if the person who worked there got laid off yet or not, and if they've gassed all the chickens yet. I'll definitely ask around, though.

As far as any diseases or anything, this farm is very strict. They'll kill a pigeon if it ever comes near to prevent the spread of disease. The only thing I'd be concerned about with these birds, is basically the major things you got to worry about with any production bird. Water belly, insides coming out, and etc. but other than that, no disease concerns. Again, they are very strict.

 

[TheCluckyClucker2]

Did you do it? If so, what hens did you adopt?

 

[cluckmecoop7]

No. I haven't, at least not yet.
I ended up downsizing for the winter, but I haven't taken the next step yet.