Totally foreign enviroment

[ChickenCanoe]

Imagine all that time in a cage when she really wanted to sit on eggs and raise a family.

This story reminds me of an expression I once heard. I'm paraphrasing - 'I'd rather be a small bird in a hawk filled wood than a caged hen on an egg farm'.

 

[CCUK]

Thanks! Hesta was indeed, awesome. Ex batts are expected to live not much more than a couple of years, at most, after rescue due to the huge amount of stress they have endured. EYP is also very common as they lay so intensively. But dear, dear Hesta lived to be eight and a half years old, raised two broods, one of which was 16 bubbas, and was top hen for most of her life with me.

I used the chooks as therapy animals for primary aged children with difficult backgrounds and Hesta was often my 'comparative story of inspiration'....she started off life abused, beaten and hurt but with love, care and encouragement, she rose above it all to become a beauty to behold!

They burn out. The stress of being high egg producing birds takes everything from them. There bones are brittle because they are calcium deficient. Ex batts ate prone to broken bones until their calcium levels increase. They are also prone to real world bacterial infections because of the sterile environments they live in. They do need alot of care when escaped/ rehomed but they make fantastic pet hens.

 

[CCUK]

Awesome! We should start up an Ex Batt thread elsewhere....we have somewhat hijacked poor Lineapayne's thread....so sorry hon xxx However, this subject does perfectly highlight how well birds can and will adapt if they are given the right treatment xx

Exactly. There does need to be more awareness of these hens and more opportunities to be rehomed and give them a second chance. They deserve it.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

There are several threads on the subject.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threadloom/search?query=battery hens&tab=618

 

[happyhens1972]

Exactly. There does need to be more awareness of these hens and more opportunities to be rehomed and give them a second chance. They deserve it.

They do indeed! I am intending to rehome some in Spring

 

[CCUK]

Last night I brought home 3 older black silkies. These birds have never seen fresh air sunlight or any food other than from a bag. I felt horrible seeing the conditions the have lived in for 2 yrs.
So on the one hand I'm happy to get them out of there, but on the other they have no clue about the new enviroment.
I have them in a good sized tractor on the dirt where there is abundant bugs, grass, plants, air sun, rain etc. I am also prepped for a variety of homemade food.
I wish I had a bird to show them the ropes but I dont.

Do you think instinct will take over as they adjust?
I dangled a huge worm right infront of them and nothing. They still havent come out of the box I brought them home in so I am gently tipping the box a bit each time i check on them.
So has anyone out there experienced this? How did ot go?

What had these hens been used for?

 

[lineapayne]

I moved 17 chicks out to the coop a couple weeks ago. They were raised indoors because it was below zero F back then. They are 2 months old now and the door has been open for 4 days and they have yet to venture out. Likely, if I had raised them in the building, they would have ventured out by now.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news to explain that DE has no effect on intestinal parasites nor does it possess any qualities that affect heavy metals in the system.
If you believe that, could you cite some scientific studies to support the claim?

I applaud your passion for holistic nutrition. I'm a fan too. But to provide a healthier diet than what comes out of a bag with a guaranteed analysis tag on it would be extremely expensive and you'd need to have the ability to assay the nutrients in the resulting feed at home. That bag contains the result of over a century of nutritional research into what the needs of chickens are and in precisely the ratios they need.
https://extension2.missouri.edu/G8352[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]

I moved 17 chicks out to the coop a couple weeks ago. They were raised indoors because it was below zero F back then. They are 2 months old now and the door has been open for 4 days and they have yet to venture out. Likely, if I had raised them in the building, they would have ventured out by now.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news to explain that DE has no effect on intestinal parasites nor does it possess any qualities that affect heavy metals in the system.
If you believe that, could you cite some scientific studies to support the claim?

I applaud your passion for holistic nutrition. I'm a fan too. But to provide a healthier diet than what comes out of a bag with a guaranteed analysis tag on it would be extremely expensive and you'd need to have the ability to assay the nutrients in the resulting feed at home. That bag contains the result of over a century of nutritional research into what the needs of chickens are and in precisely the ratios they need.
https://extension2.missouri.edu/G8352[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]


DE works quite well for us, for many years. Oregon is the land of year round fleas and therefore tapeworm.
DE is fantastic at getting rid of tapeworm and keeping it away.
Permaculture practices take living back to before prefab foods. I understand buying prefab food, I love pizza too. But check out abundantpermaculture.com How to feed your chickens without grain.
Also on his you tube is an interview with how a farmer raises 600 birds on no purchased food. Check it out. Is very cool way to curb costs and still have awesomely heathly animals. Check out Joel Salatin, or Geoff Lawton for awesome learning.
'Cooking' for your pets is the same as cooking for your family. Instead of buying food in a box or bag, you grow it yourself or buy whole foods and dyi. Its healthier and more diverse.
I'm fortunate to be able to spend a fair share of kitchen time to do this. If I had to work 40 hrs a wk I wouldnt be able to do this stuff by myself.
Over 12 years practicing natural health/nutrition has enabled me to set up my lifestyle this way. SO much cheaper (and healthier) way to live. Easier on the enviroment too.
In the end either way will get you a happy birdy

 

[chickencheeper]

Do their combs shrink back down after growing that big? Or do they just stay that way?

 

[lineapayne]

Yes, ChickenCanoe is right. Battery birds, at the time that I took some on, were legally allotted a space equivalent to a US letter sized piece of paper, in a cage of up to 6 birds. The cages were then sat side by side in their thousands....that's what a battery is....a battery of cages. The birds live in the cages from the age of 16 weeks to 72 weeks before being replaced by new stock. During that period, all excrement from the birds drops through the wire floor of the cages and accumulates underneath, leading to an ammonia filled stench. They are kept under artificial light and heat for 18 hours a day to maximise laying. This causes their combs to severely over-grow as they are the birds' way of cooling off and it gets very warm in those batteries. When I rescued mine, they were almost bald from stress and pecking, had huge, almost white combs, had been de-beaked and had sores and scabs on their bodies and legs. They were completely overwhelmed by their new found freedom to begin with but, with careful and sensitive, gradual exposure to the good things in life, six months later, they were stunningly gorgeous 'little red hens' and one of mine later went on to be a mama too

This is not one of mine....my pictures of them when they first arrived are on a different laptop....but this is almost identical to what mine looked like, except that mine also had half their beaks missing.
View attachment 1258214

This is one of my girls, Hesta, about a year after rescue x
View attachment 1258215

I didnt know they were called battery. The way our food livestock is treated is nothing short of sadistic!
The birds I got were in better conditions than that, thank goodness. Vote with your pocket book. Dont buy it, and fight to change it.
Update tho. When I got home from errand running, 2 girls are on the ground eating the dandilions! Yay!

 

[Mrs. K]

I would be quite surprised to have silkie hens as battery hens? They have a strong tendency to go broody and lay less eggs.