Hello!

Just a quick note to say hello to everyone.
I know nothing about keeping hens, but I'm hoping to add a few to our family and I love the idea of adopting battery hens and allowing them to free range over our land.

Any tips would be appreciated. It looks like May is going to be when we bring our new feathered friends home.

Nicola

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Beautiful Bengal Kittens from Dollycats
Beautiful Savannah Kittens from Teardrops Savannahs

Hi there,they will probably look `oven ready` when they arrive and have their beaks clipped,they are usually friendly and will let you pick them up.They are good layers and soon get their feathers back!
Also its very pleasing knowing they are not in a can of dog meat somewhere!!

Only problem is that these birds will only lay well for 3 years, then after that you will be lucky to get one egg a week for the next 9 years

I don't think that's a problem. We seem to go through fits and starts with our egg eating, so I don't think it would be a big deal to have slow layers.

Are you commenting specifically about battery hens, or about hens in general?

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Beautiful Bengal Kittens from Dollycats
Beautiful Savannah Kittens from Teardrops Savannahs

I'm sure you will really enjoy having some chickens around the place and rescuing some battery hens - even better.
We have 7 hens and one cockerel, these are mixed rescue and ones that we hatched out ourselves.
Ex battery hens sometimes won't perch to sleep, as they're not used to having the space to, and this can sometimes lead to breast blisters as they sleep on a surface where they poo. But they can be trained to perch by blocking the area they choose to sleep off.
Our rescue hens are 18 months and we got them at one year old and they are laying very well, even all through the winter, so it can vary a lot. By 3 yrs old a hen is well past peak laying but most will still deliver a few eggs.
Apart from the eggs though they are just great to have around the garden, interesting to watch and add real character to your garden.
Good luck with them.

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John
AnimalLoversWeb.com

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Great, thank you.

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Beautiful Bengal Kittens from Dollycats
Beautiful Savannah Kittens from Teardrops Savannahs

Hello,
I have just rehomed 6 ex-battery hens and they are brilliant! It will be the best thing you ever did. So long as you have a secure coop, shed etc, (i have a converted childrens playhouse!) perches, enough nest boxes ( i acquired some plastic boxes that they deliver sandwiches/bread in to shops) some sawdust on the floor and strraw in the nest boxes. For the first day i would leave them in the coop to settle in, and have a enclose them in a run for a few days after that ( obviously when you leave them in the coop put in food and water but when they are in the run put their food and water there). I have had my girls for 4 days and have only just started letting them free roam in the garden. If you get ex-batts they will be ok together for a few days and then they will start establishing the pecking order, i have one hen who is being picked on remorselessly, the scrawnier birds seem to be feistier! It's like world war 3! The hen that is being 'picked on' actually flew onto my shoulder to get away from the others! They will need 'layers mash( it's what they are used to when they were on the farm) and either grit or oystershell, it helps them grind and digest their food and has calcium to help produce good eggs. I was presented with an egg before i even got my hens home, and since then have had on average five eggs a day, i have had 5 eggs the first two days, 6 the next day and today i had 4! Also collect the eggs asap as if you leave them too long the hen sit on them thinking they're going to hatch and get broody and will stop laying. And you must let them out of their coop as soon as it gets light in the morning and they will want to go back in when it starts getting dark, ( mine start clucking like crazy around the coop at about 6ish at the moment, and you just know they are ready to go to bed! well enjoy your girls when you get them and if you have any questions don't be afraid to ask! Have fun!

hi i am new to keeping hens and just wonder how soon after rehomming should they strat laying eggs again theses are free range ones no ex bat hens thanks andy

Well done for giving some of these lovely girls a much deserved free ranging life.

The BHWT will send you an email, when the time is near with instructions on how to bring your girls home. They say sturdy card board boxes with narrow windows cut in all 4 sides or a dog or cat carrier or crate to allow for ventilation.

When you do get them home, they may be in a bit of a state, some just tatty others not a feather on them (known as oven readies). It is best to give them a good spray with Anti red mite spray or powder, the spray is easier if your not used to handling birds.

Put them in their coop, with a good layer of an absorbant bedding such as Auboise and non hollow straw like nedz bedz in the nest boxes, maybe even a cardboard box filled with straw on the floor to be used as a nest box, a water and food hopper.

Some times they can't figure out what to do with the water drinker, so put a bowl (like a dog bowl) out with water if they are struggling and fill the feeder with a good quality layers mash/meal. This is what they have eaten all their lives and is what they are comfortable with. Introduce corn and or pellets if you prefer to use them slowly.

Leave them in the coop for a couple of days to get used to space, each other, the drinker, nestboxes, the feeder and perches etc. Keep an eye on them, ex batts can have all sorts of injuries both physical and mental in the first week.

After a couple of days open the pop hole and let them out in to a run of some sort, until they have got to know each other and you and your commands. Once the pecking order has been estabilished then you can start letting them free range.

When letting them free range for the first few times let them out of their run just before dusk, as they will naturally stay near to their coop.

Ex batts are very friendly birds and will love to have your company and once they have learnt to trust you will follow you around like a dog, come on your command, mine will even greet me when I have come home from work.

They will need letting out as early to first light that is appropriate and locked in safely at dusk to save them from the foxes and badgers. Keep their coop clean and droppings free and you shouldn't have many problems.

My girls have rewarded me with lots of eggs, more than I could ever eat in fact which is a great reward for your efforts. The biggest reward has to be the transformation of scrawny, featherless frightened hens, turn in to heavy, beautifully feathered and confident garden destroyers

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Thanks
Lea

http://www.vanityfurgrooming.co.uk/