Adopt a Battery Hen

[minnie]

I was sent this information this morning to put on a website and thought some of you may be interested in this:

"The Battery Hen Adoption Project was started in Brisbane, Queensland to give ex-battery chickens a second chance at life."

There's more information on their website http://homesforhens.net

My Mum got some batteries hens years ago and they were wonderful hens with many laying years still in them.

Vicki

[Hayhay]

So good that people commit to finding homes for the hens. Wouldn't it be lovely if battery farming was phased out so this didn't become necessary....

Last year we were all set to get some in Vic - some dedicated women found homes for something like a thousand chooks and the farmer was going to give them without any charge. Sadly someone intimidated the farmer and he pulled out.

[minnie]

Hi Hayley,

Yes I have wanted the cage eggs stopping for more years than I care to think about. We've had ex battery hens years back and they were lovely hens and good layers for years.

It disappoints me every time I see people at the checkout with 'cage eggs', they'd be better to get a couple of chooks in the garden and it would work out cheaper and better eggs!

I love how the RSPCA support 'Barn Eggs' and it's depicted as this lovely old fashioned barn, in reality it's a big long shed (I've worked in a poultry shed picking up eggs), 'Free Range' is still the best option if you have to buy. In saying that I got 'free range' from someone advertising on the side of the road and the poor chooks were free range on dirt, the eggs were awful and I felt like pinching the chooks and taking them home.

Vicki

[Hayhay]

Yeah I find the same with the rspca barn eggs......it ain't nothing like that! We had a farm up the road where we used to live and nothing like the packet picture!

When we went camping in summer we ran out of our own eggs so bought some from the shops - we went the best, brought organic free range....and wow we could barely eat them - pale yolks, no flavour, all runny when cracked! And they were so much better quality than the cage or barn eggs; makes me wonder why people buy food that, well, has no life to it.

Were glad to get home to our own eggs again i tell ya!

[minnie]

I'm going to have to buy eggs, our chooks are off the lay at the moment, but first I'll ring the neighbours and ask if they want to sell a dozen before I succumb to the supermarket.

Sadly I bought a dozen last year from the side of the road, advertised as free range and the yolks were sooooo pale they were nearly invisible... her free range meant free range on dirt and no green pick... awful.

I look forward to my chooks locked in their yard, but it's big and they'll be let out for a few hours each afternoon for green.

Vicki

[Shadowgirlau]

Hope you manage to access some good free range eggs while you wait for your girls to come back into lay. My own girls have been off the lay for what seems like months. One went clucky and hatched out 4 eggs (these chicks are now at point of lay) although Mum has not returned to laying mode yet. The other 3 hens went off the lay so I bought two new girls at point of lay. One of the new girls laid for 3 days then went off the lay for a month while the other hen has only just this week started to lay.
So 3 eggs in the past month from the new girls and still no sign of the older girls getting back into do it.

Have tried everything, changed diet, thought they might be bored so let them out every day for a couple of hours to pick some green etc checked them for mites/lice and although I found no evidence of this I still dusted them with poultry dust as a preventative. Maybe worms I thought then so I added some apple cider vinegar and garlic to their water (I do this once a month anyway), another week I decided maybe they were lacking vitamins so I added some multi vitamins to their water. Lastly I took everything out of their coop and disenfected it, sprayed it all out with malaban wash and locked the coop up for the day to dry out. Renewed the flooring in both the main coop area and the nest boxes. Nothing seemed to make any difference so I have had to resort to buying eggs myself.

Maybe they are just too well looked after?

Kathleen

[brandubh]

Thanks for the info.
I found the Victorian website, I plan for chooks later this year, so guess where they will be coming from?
Brandubh

[minnie]

If I was starting from scratch I'd go the battery hens as well Brandubh, great choice, you won't regret it once they get their feathers and learn to be hens.

Kathleen, maybe they're too clean If you have one that's clucky it can turn them off the lay as well, or I've found that... I think mine it's a case of being too feral, once living in their big yard with a new house that's dry I'm sure they'll be back. Some breeds are not as productive either.

Vicki

[Shadowgirlau]

Some breeds are not as productive either.

Tell me about it, I research all the breeds thoroughly to which would suit the area where I live (hot summers very cold winters)
lay a reasonable amount of eggs consistently and be good for the pot on occassion. Well I thought I had it reasonably right by taking on board Barnevelders, Buff Sussex, Welsummers and Bovan Goldlines with the latest new ones being a Lavender Australorp and a Wyandotte/ Blue Australorp cross. Since taking these on I have discovered the Welsummers go broody at the drop of a hat, the Barnvelder is hit and miss, the buff sussex and the bovan goldline both went off the lay and haven't gone back to doing it for several weeks now and the australorps well they lay but not consistently either.
Actually had to buy eggs today - darn it!

Kathleen

[minnie]

Hi Kathleen,

I found our aracanas the best layers and the eggs were good, bigger yolk than our others or the shop ones. Is was a rarity for them to go broody and usually just the same one did, other than once.

Then we bought on the spur of the moment 3 hens, all New Hampshire cross, so australorpX, leghornX, rhodeisland redX. Didn't have them long and they were all going broody and sending the aracanas off too... Mum now has the australorp, she went with her 10 chickens (9 were roosters) and I'm going to get 3-4 aracanas when the yard is ready for them (no little moos in it) because they just worked so well.

If I was closer to the battery hens I get them, as my experience they are good layers and nice calm chooks.

Only thing is I don't eat my hens, so the aracana aren't for eating, I think there's still a lot of jungle fowl in them They can fly a good distance, perch high in trees but in some ways that's good for foxes (none of which we've seen mind).

Vicki

[Shadowgirlau]

Getting into chickens certainly provides one with a steep earning curve particularly when all the information you read is different along with all the advice from others.

I am not sure what I am going to do about my girls, shall probably just put up with them. I Have decided to add 4 new hens every 6 months and will choose a different breed each time until I find a breed I really like. The plan is to have hens at various ages to compensate for the "off the lay" time although at the moment it isn't panning out seeing as my newer birds laid briefly and then stopped.

Kathleen

[minnie]

Hi Kathleen,

Jo would be able to give a better answer, but I think that when some go clucky it sends others off the lay.

The sudden cold here I think is one of the reasons mine are off.

In my experience (using that of my Mum's from her many years [since I was a child] of having a few chooks), it's feast or famine and it's easier to go with the flow and find someone whose aren't off the lay at the same time and you can keep each other in eggs.

Unfortunately for me Mum's are off too... hence I think the cold.

Vicki

[Shadowgirlau]

Well you could be right as most people around me who have chooks have said theirs are not laying too well at the moment although several have said they are getting enough as in 3 or 4 a day from their dozen chooks. Mine seem to be just too well fed and too lazy

Kathleen

[Mojojo]

Hmm, not sure on the clucky and off the lay thing, my Dad might know more about that. He's coming down to stay this weekend so will ask him.
They are coming to look at houses and see if they want to retire down where we are, which would be lovely for us.