Ex-battery Hens & Chicken Advice Generally Please

beetrootjuicer

Further to some of the other threads on this board discussing food price rises; a dozen Tesco organic eggs are £3.29 and I've started thinking about keeping a few hens. I've already got a purpose built chicken house which was here when we moved in. Think it would house 6 hens comfortably - it's about 8' x 6' x 8' high and scruffy but basically sound and dry, so wouldn't have to spend much money on that but would have to make a run which wouldn't be a problem but these are my doubts:

I'd like to have ex-battery hens just to give the poor creatures a few years decent life but as they won't have many feathers at first should I wait til spring when the weather's warmer?
Now the big fear, rats... :eek: . Terrified of the things. We had them in the compost heap, so they are around. How do you other chicken keepers cope?

Lastly, I'm not expecting it to be hugely moneysaving and I expect the greatest gain will be the pleasure of the new pets but is it economically viable? How much will they cost to feed? Would be very interested to hear what you chicken-keepers think.

Muppet81

Hello there,

I adopted 6 ex-battery hens, from The Battery Hen Welfare Trust, at Easter 2006. We still have 4 of them, having had our second loss only yesterday.

I have loved every minute of owning my girls and they have repaid me with lots of lovely eggs. Enough to keep OH and myself going, and I eat a lot of eggs, and to sell some too. Everyone wants them and they love the idea that they are from retired ex-battery girls. We get quite a few people who come up to see the girls on a regular basis, they are local celebreties.

You would be fortunate that you have a house already prepared, we had to buy a hen house but since then expense has been just feed which works out about £5 every 2 months for Layers Mash.

What amazed me was how each has a different character and how much they like people, especially if they are holding grapes :rotfl:

I would recomend getting some ex-batts, it is a lovely thing to do and they repay you over and over interms of eggs and just general fun. I admit there were tears yesterday when Norma died. She was my favourite, she 'talked'to me when i was out in the garden and followed me around everywhere I went.

We knew nothing about chickens when we got ours and I relied heavily on advice from the Omlet website. If you have any worries and you post them on the Omlet forum (don't need to own an Omlet Eglu to use this), you will get loads of helpful advice.

Do let us know if you decide to go ahead.

PS I have applied to my local coordinator for The Battery Hen Welfare Trust for a further 3 when she does a rescue in October/November. So looking forward to getting them.

Magentasue

This is a subject close to my heart as we are on our second lot of ex-batteries. Ours have a coup and the run of the garden except for the veg patch and that's fenced off. Your chicken house sounds fine - they only sleep and lay eggs there so it can be very basic.

Outside needs to be secure from dogs, foxes etc and should provide some shelter. Ours huddle under the hedge when it rains. Even when there's been snow on the ground, they want to be outside. If you are going to have a permanent run, think about where they could go to keep out of the wind and rain.

Our first lot were almost featherless, the second lot not so bad. They do vary. It takes a long time to feather up and it would make sense to wait but, unless it turns very cold, they'd probably be OK. They spend more time in the coup in the winter. In the middle of summer, they're out from 6am until 10pm when it gets dark. By the shortest day, it's more like 8am-5pm so they're in the warm for a lot of the time.

We don't have rats but then we keep cats and we're careful to lock the food away at night and keep the sacks of food in plastic dustbins.

We have nine hens now and a sack of organic layers' pellets lasts a month or two (about £8, less for non organic). You will also need to buy bedding (straw and wood shavings or hemcore) and sundries like oyster shell and grit if they don't free range but they're inexpensive. We supplement with scraps and grow cabbages so they can have the outer leaves. For all this, we get at least three eggs a day in the winter. Summer we get seven or eight. Autumn and spring, somewhere in between.

We give eggs away but you could sell them to friends and neighbours. The only other thing to worry about is holidays - they don't need much care but they must be shut in at night.

Took us a long time to make the decision but wouldn't be without them now!

Penelope_Penguin

Give it a go! Once you've had the pleasure of a fresh egg, still warm from the hen, other eggs will be a disappointment!

We keep hens for the pleasure of it, so haven't looked into the economics to closely. We figure that you don't expect dogs and cats to pay their way, so why should the chooks? However, as the price of food seems to be rising, they may become more economic, though chicken corn is on the rise, too.

Penny. x

Poet_2

good on you guys, if I had the room (and I didn't have asthma) I'd get a few hens-would love to see some piccies of your hen coups/runs/hens etc- let me enjoy them vicariously!

kate83

Hiya,

The practical poultry website is really good for advice and has a section for people who have rescued ex-batts

http://kelseyinfo.co.uk/yabb/YaBB.pl

beetrootjuicer

You're all talking me into it aren't you? I really do like the idea. The food costs less than I imagined and if you can supplement with scraps and food from the garden that would be great. Magentasue - your point re. shelter in bad weather for chickens in permanent runs - they'd have access to the chicken house all the time so presumably they'd go back in in bad weather or would they? I'm envisaging 2 large runs, one in use, one resting, and high enough for us to walk around in.

It's great that the locals love your girls, Muppet. I have a feeling our neighbours may not react so favourably. It may well be like the Good Life all over again with a disapproving Margot & Gerry! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Never mind, eh?

DD has been checking a few websites - she's very keen on this project and says she's found photos of featherless ex-battery chickens wearing little red jumpers or am I being had? :rolleyes:

Magentasue

beetrootjuicer wrote: »

Magentasue - your point re. shelter in bad weather for chickens in permanent runs - they'd have access to the chicken house all the time so presumably they'd go back in in bad weather or would they? :rolleyes:

You'd think, wouldn't you? None of our two batches of ex-batteries have had that much sense. They do get the idea of getting under the hedge but the coup is, well, that's for laying yer eggs in, innit? And roosting, of course. At night. Not on a rainy, windy wintery day.

Having two runs is a good idea - although hens are very keen gardeners, their lawn management leaves something to be desired.

beetrootjuicer

Magentasue wrote: »

You'd think, wouldn't you? None of our two batches of ex-batteries have had that much sense. They do get the idea of getting under the hedge but the coup is, well, that's for laying yer eggs in, innit? And roosting, of course. At night. Not on a rainy, windy wintery day.

Having two runs is a good idea - although hens are very keen gardeners, their lawn management leaves something to be desired.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: Bless their hearts!

Spirit_2

Our chooks are not ex batts but are lovely. I dithered about getting chickens for about 10 years and my only regret now is that I did not do it sooner.

As well as the chooks we have a dog and a cat (and a free ranging rabbit) they all get on well and we do not have a problem with rats.

If you are interested in rescue birds you will see from the poultry forums, cockerels are always in need of being rehomed. Despite being firm in the resolve not to have a cockerel we have two!

craftynutters

hi i've been thinking about getting some hens for a while do you know where i could get battery hens? I"m in Kent. thanks