The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Marketplace => Topic started by: Roxy on June 08, 2009, 03:21:29 pm
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We brought 2,500 out of the farm at weekend, and I do have some hens available for immediate homing. All seem to be laying, and actually have some feathers, some look quite good in fact.
Minimum donation of £1.50 which covers paying farmer for the hen - any additional donation gratefully received as this helps pay the fuel costs of volunteers who went to the farm.
PM me if you are interested. We are within travelling distance of Derbyshire/Cheshire/South Yorks/Staffs
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Oh my those numbers make our numbers of almost 100 seem insignificant!
I hope you are successful and good luck! It is such a wonderful thing you have done!
Kate - Normandy :pig:
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What an undertaking. Well done, I hope you find good homes. I am over my alowed number of chickens by about double at the moment( wifes rules, but meant to be ignored). I wish I could help you but have got too much on at the moment. I have just rescued some from a chap who is giving up with chickens. I could find homes for @4 to a neighour. I will ask them.will pm you when I find out.
what do you do if they all lay eggs before you've rehomed them?
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I do not have 2,500 at my farm I hasten to add!! Most have been taken by co ordinators from all over the country, to be rehomed. At one point on Saturday I had 350 hens including my own. By Saturday night, I did not want to see another hen or another crate again for a while. I lost count of how many hens I carried along those planks out of the cages and passed them to a lady who gave them their first view of the outside world for 15 months. It was a nice feeling, and nice that other people feel the same way and were willing to be there to help.
I have taken 6 of the hens this time, and quite often I take in any sorry looking ones and get them well again. But my flock has increased dramatically, so thats it now ....no more!!
Hens are definitely laying - I have already got alot since they came on Saturday. Have to keep them separate from our free range eggs - my egg customers would not be happy if they got a pale yolk instead of a bright orange one. Some have plenty feathers, and are heavy, not scrawny looking too.
Just quite hard work keeping the battery hens fed and watered and cleaned out, as well as my own hens to see to and the other livestock.
I have managed to rehome some of the lodgers already, and have had a few enquiries, but still some available like I say.
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my egg customers would not be happy if they got a pale yolk instead of a bright orange one
They'll be normal free range egg coloured within a week or two!
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I will have six if you still have some.
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Hi Chicken Lady,
I have a few left, so will put your name on 6. Thank you so much for helping these lovely girls!! Can drop yours off, as you are just up the road, if you want.
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Thats fantastic. When would you like to?
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The last 10 hens have just been booked - so all gone now until the next rescue. Thanks to those on this forum who have taken some of our lovely girls. Cannot believe the response I have had to rehome these spare hens. At least they have been saved from slaughter.
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Roxy, I think you deserve a medal for what you did for so many chickens. I am pleased you have also managed to rehome them and I am sure they will all start to enjoy their new lives now.
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Thank you for the nice comment. But I get my thanks seeing those hens in their cat carriers and crates going off to their new homes.
Just a bit worried sometimes, as people do take them on to keep in gardens etc. which is all well and good, but then the hens make the lawn muddy, and the people get fed up. Someone was telling me their local feed store is full of ads selling ex battery hens and their coops. We have a policy that if rehomers are unable to keep the hens for whatever reason, they refer back to us, and we will do our best to rehome them. We never judge people, circumstances change and we understand that. We would rather they came back, that go on to unsuitable homes.
I took in 4 hens - not ex batteries, last week, for a man who got them 6 months ago. They ate his lawn, he paved it over, they started on the borders. It was like a bomb site. Not an ideal view on your posh housing estate. His wife had enough, as she is a childminder, and she had to clean the patio before they could play out. I and others had given him advice before he started, but he thought it would be fine. Well, it wasn't, so hens now free ranging at our place. I do take in hens for people when I can, but there is a limit to how many I can house!!
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hi Roxy
i rescued 30 ex battery hens from a local farm and I'm afraid iv become a chicken fan!They love being outside and are so inquisitive and love sunbathing!I went back to get more but they had all gone to be killed.So if you have any more left i would love to have more,another 30.we are planning to put them out in our paddocks,(we have 4 acres)."lady Matilda's" or " the cheeky chickens "as i call them all are roaming around my big garden and chasing my 2 geese "the Kray twins" and my 3 ducks.
We have a friend who is a carpenter and we were thinking about making chicken houses and selling them with a couple of ex battery hens for free or at low price,just to help as many chickens as we can.My husband and i went in to one of the battery sheds and the smell was horrendous.
The chap who was getting our chickens,who was a really nice friendly man,was dragging them out of their cages,i managed to get some photos so i can show the people who buy our eggs were they came from.
We also breed saddleback pigs, all outside and enjoying their swimming pools i have dug for them,all 5 of them!!!!
anyway if you get any more put my name down on some.
keep up the good work
Lorraine :pig: :&> :chock: :cat: :shoe: :farmer:
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Hi Pinkylol,
They are very addictive these battery hens. All little characters aren't they!! I have one who climbs on to m shoulder at feeding time, and two get on the sheeps back and ride round the field. I really will have to stop adding to my numbers now though.
Our next rescue will not be until later in the summer. I will pm you the website address.
I would love to see your pigs swimming!!
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I have 7 :chook: :chook: :chook: :chook: :chook: :chook: :chook:battery hens and they are very entertaining. 2 look like bantams, they are both little sods!!! they are always first to get stuff and one ran around th garden a few times with a long bit of white material that must have blow into the garden,
:chook:
it finally hid behind a tree only to find it was nothing to eat, it also started attaching all the other hens that went in to roost, I got a feather duster to shove it away and she had a go at that!! Now, after2 week they are or appear to be, happy as Larry, sunbathing, routing around in the soil and being chickens, I watch them at every opportunity.
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I had 6 hens from Roxy. I have been surprised how quickly they settled in. Within afew days they were out feeding with the others. They are totally free range. Their combs started to redden up within a week and they are so friendly. They follow me about when I go to feed them and the other chickens have been fine with them. My little white silkie gets picked on by them but has always been the one at the bottom of the pecking order. It has now moved into one of the other cotes and is fine. I will have another six Roxy when you have some more. :chook: :)
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i have 1 old ex-bat, shes only just started laying again;- yesterday she laid 2 eggs 1 of which was a double yolker and another egg today, just as i thought she had stopped laying for good!
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Hey Roxy
Are there any ex-bats left that need homes? We are in derbyshire, but unable to collect (Don't ask!) so would cover delivery costs. Though I suppose I'd better check with the other half before I agree to take many more...
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Hi Little Blue, the next rescue is not until August, due to some volunteers having holidays. I have just discovered the map for the first time .....did wonder what people were on about when they said pinpoint the map - now I know. I can see you are not far from Ashbourne. We are probably your nearest co ordinators - next one is up on the MI Sheffield area. We could probably sort our delivery for you.
I will PM the website details for you to fill in, if you have any problems doing this, let me know and I will sort what hens you want. Better do it sooner rather than later, as book soons fills up, and some people end up disappointed when they cannot have any hens. Remarkable we run out when there are usually 3,000 hens coming out.