The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: Roxy on August 05, 2010, 11:59:23 pm
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Having been involved in battery hen rescues for a while now, I have seen some poor looking hens. Quite often I have kept them here and not rehomed them. To be perfectly honest, the rehomers would run a mile if they saw them. One that came out nearly two weeks ago, was not in good condition when it came, and it seems no better, or maybe worse.
Its been walking round the field with the other hens, and my hubby saw it tonight, and asked whatever that was? Its small, skinny, and just a few feathers hanging from its wings. I have moved it into a run, and am going to try and build it up with extra feed, and boiled eggs etc. If someone goes past the field and sees that, they will be accusing me of cruelty.
I am not going to post a pic, as it may be upsetting to some members. But if the hen makes it (and its not looking too promising) I will post a before and after pic. I will do my best, but sometimes they are beyond help.
I wish I could go and stand in the egg aisle of the supermarkets and when people pick up the caged hen eggs, I could bring out my sad looking hen, and say she could have laid those eggs!!
Some people just blot the image out of their minds, but if they saw my little hen, I am sure she would tug at their heartstrings, and make them change their egg buying.
I appreciate that budget is an issue, and the cheapest eggs are a lot cheaper than free range etc. but there must be a compromise.
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how terrible, fingers crossed for the poor wee chook :hshoe: :chook:
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What a life those poor things have, I hope you can give it a real good time - what life for a hen is supposed to be! Fingers crossed she'll recover.
A lot of people just don't care, but most of those eggs are hidden in ready products these days. That's the worst, you don't even make the choice.
:chook: :&>
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Arrhhhhhhhhh,the rescue 7 hens I had were not too bad and now some are a bit fat!, I realy hope she perks up, she at least has a chance otherwise she would have been in the bin by now!!
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Well I've posted pics of my latest lot - here they are again. I have stood beside the caged hen eggs in Morrison's and told people what these hens live in - one or two look at me like I need to be an asylum but others have said 'I didn't know' and moved to the barn or free range - not much better but those are the only other choices. It is criminal to let them get to this state in my opinmon. There is absolutely no need for it. These hens are checked every day so they MUST see what is happening to them.
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Why the authorities allow this abuse to go on is in itself surely unlawful?
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Perhaps, but how do you get them to act?
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That's the million dollar question, no idea how you would start action. ???
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Well even BIG celebs have tried but ££££ talks and out of sight out of mind.....people just do their shopping and maybe for a few days take heed of the cruelty but then carry on...I know as until I had hens I would!!! and I am at least being honest. Anne, you are a suffragette and will get yourself arrested for harassing customers in Morrisons!!!!! well I suppose that WIll get into the papers and will be a change from the stabbings and usual murders around here ;)
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Thanks for the laugh Sandy. ::) ::)
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My ex bat hens are doing great. Just got them last Sat. They still have pale faces. But they are beginning to get their feathers to grow. There are 2 that I have a job and a half to get them in their house at night. They see me coming and hide. I have to go into the field to pick them up after the dog sniffs them out. Only been getting 2 eggs the last few days. I am delighted with the hens. Admittedly, thye were a sorry state when I got them, and there is no weight at all in them. One is quite cheeky and tries to peck the dog. Wish I had taken more now.
Cheers Helen
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Hi Helen, mine are doing well too - even the two scraggy ones. They are going to get porridge with honey and poultry spice tonight as I couldn't get them to eat the last lot I put down for them - they wouldn't peck off the dish on the ground. But Scraggy Aggie 1 and SA 2 showed them all how. I had eggs from all of them last three days but some are getting smashed as they aren't used to the eggs being in the same place as them selves. So now I need to find an outlet for the eggs. ::)
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Some of those farms could have 30,000 hens - not sure they check every hen in those cramped cages every day?
The RSPCA surely must check these farms, as they do the intensive pig farms etc. But, are hens like Doganjo's and mine considered "acceptable" - not to me they aren't!!
Barn eggs are a little better, but again, there are issues there. And free rang ....well, this is debatable. Having seen a free range egg unit, I was rather amazed when the side of the big shed opened, and down a ramp walked probably 500 hens, into a small paddock. Some did not bother coming out, probably knew there was not room for them all. So, people are buying free range eggs, off hens that are so tightly packed, there is no way they can walk round the field.
Yes, there are proper free range places. I was speaking to a man at weekend, who said he had a new venture of 16,000 free range hens on 20 acres. That sounds a lot, but with that many hens on .......I wonder. I wished him luck, as it was his first time keeping any hens (talk about in at the deep end!) He did tell me how much feed he used, forgotten the amount, but it made me gulp at his weekly feed bill!!
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I had no eggs at all today. I have given them boiled egg chopped with the shells and 'chrunchy nut clusters' mixed together in one dish the other dish has the hen feeding and oyster shell grit mixed in. They drink a lot tho. They all came out of their house today which was nice to see. :chook: :chook: :chook: :chook:
Cheers Helen
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Yes, my ex batts who came a couple of weeks ago, have stopped too. They laid for 5 days, because thats how many days eggs they store, and then stopped. Do not expect to see an egg for a couple of weeks or so, now. The other hens are not laying as good as they ought to be either.
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And free rang ....well, this is debatable. Having seen a free range egg unit, I was rather amazed when the side of the big shed opened, and down a ramp walked probably 500 hens, into a small paddock. Some did not bother coming out, probably knew there was not room for them all. So, people are buying free range eggs, off hens that are so tightly packed, there is no way they can walk round the field.
Slightly off topic, I know, but I thought to be able to call your eggs 'free range' the chickens had to have a minimum of 10sq meters each to range in - which is precisely why my 7 in their 60 sq m run are producing 'farm fresh' eggs ;)
Roxy, how is your wee one doing ? Any improvement ?
Annie, I've started doing the egg thing in the shops - to the point even the kids start talking very loudly about 'battered chickens with no feathers' as we pass the eggs, and god forbid anyone takes them on, cos they just launch into their version of my speil ! ;) ;D ;D ;D
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HH, that made me laugh!
I too rant about various animal - related things... one of my so-called friends says "Micro pigs" just to wind me up and watch me go... :)
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we stood behind a lady the other day who put a tray of 15/20 eggs onto the tesco conveyor and they were labelled " battery farmed eggs". My 8 year old looked at me with tears in her eyes and said "mummy, that is just SO wrong, you have to say something" but the woman buying them was a polish lady, probalby a farm worker on a pittance. goes to show though that the next generation of our kids have a good idea of what is right and wrong with egg production. maybe one day we'll see a change for the better :-\
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no eggs today either from the ex bat. They are eating and drinking plenty. Love being outdoors.. Its a job and a half trying toget them in before dark LOL Theyare happy so thats the main thing
Cheers helen
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The little hen died this afternoon. With doing the hen rescue, you do have to harden yourself sometimes, but this little hen was the worst I have brought out. Her breast bone was stuck out, and she hardly had any feathers. She was eating well enough, but obviously it was not doing her any good. Yesterday, she wanted to go out in the field, so I let her, and she wobbled off with the other hens. Today, she was all hunched up, and I could see she was on the way out.
I am used to hens dying, but do feel sad that I could not help this one. But at least she had a little time out of the cages, which is something.
If people saw her, they would certainly think twice about what eggs to buy.
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Thats is a shame Roxy but as you say she certainly enjoyed a far happier end to her wee life than she did the start of it. :)
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I'm going to print the photo of Scraggie Aggie and take it to Kinross Show on Saturday with a notice - don't buy eggs from caged hens. Hopefully Carol will let me put it on the display board.
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I think that's a brilliant idea Annie. Until I actually saw some ex-bats (at Adam Henson's farm) I didnt' realise just how bad it was - I think we all try to conjure up and idea based on what we are told but seeing is believing.
I remember standing there and not being able to stop the tears, must have looked like a right daft woman but those poor hens :(
Tony goes to assess farms where 'barn eggs' are laid and says things are really not much better.
A far cry from mine who get goats milk daily, fresh veg, toys and porage in the winter !!
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When we first started keeping hens we proudly took some free range eggs as a gift to a new acqaintance. We were stunned that they didn't want them :o The reason was that they thought free range eggs were dirty (ours were immaculate) and that they were 'dropped in the dirt' wherever the hen happened to be when the egg came out :D :D and could be any age as we just 'picked them up when we found them' >:( They preferred battery eggs because they were laid in nice clean cages ::). Obviously we did our best to educate them, telling them that we collect the eggs from nice clean nest boxes several times a day and that the hens are happy and healthy, but they are the type of townie who likes everything immaculate and sprayed with bactericides, disinfectants, anti-this and anti-that. So we gave up there, having previously not suspected that such people could exist, with such ignorance and no concern whatsoever for animal welfare. We did invite them out to see for themselves but we might as well have invited them to the deepest slums of Mumbai (apologies to Mumbai :)) such was their distaste.
My point is that publicity needs to be aimed at educating people to the high quality of outdoor reared hens and their free range eggs as well as putting them off the battery system, or you risk just putting them off eggs in general.
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My point is that publicity needs to be aimed at educating people to the high quality of outdoor reared hens and their free range eggs as well as putting them off the battery system, or you risk just putting them off eggs in general.
We will have some lovely fluffy young hens and chicks there too. ;D
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One of my egg customers took some extra eggs for her neighbour. The next time she came, she said the lady said they were not nice - a funny colour, and very rich tasting. She said she preferred the cheap eggs from supermarket. The lady had tried to explain thats what a free range egg looks and tastes like. Well, it takes all sorts .......
Some people just avoid knowing the truth about where their food comes from. What they don't know will not hurt them, and they are happy to live in ignorant bliss.
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It's a sad and scarey world we live in is it not? ::) :o
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i tried a while ago to get people interested in my quail eggs,now theyl eat them at resteraunts because they are an expensive delicacy,but free?no way could eat them .organicly fed outdoor acess, fresh veg and not kept in sheds,
but theyl pay through the nose in posh places ???
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People are very strange, aren't they? I would have thought the posh people would be stampeding for your quail eggs, to impress their dinner guests!!!!
I have ever had a quail egg, although a friend said they would let me have some. Must have forgotten.
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theyre really posh looking in salads..taste yummy too .pester for some eggs.....or keep some yourself theyre really easy just need a rabbit hutch and a run..cheap to feed as well and you can have roast quail for dinner really posh.. ;D
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I've got quail eggs if anyone's interested!
Although there's a fair few in the incubator at the moment....
I sell them to my top boss at work (she can afford it!!) :)
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I LOVE quail eggs! I'd love to keep quail but i heard they were awkard b's and like sheep - have a death wish the second they are born. If you have any left send them up here please! :o
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they are dead easy to keep... as long as you keep your wits about when opening the pen!!
and they eat less than chickens.... we have Japanese (corturnix) is a variety of colours
:)
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I was told they need to be in a hutch, inside another building, as they are susceptible to draughts, and that they fight with one another to the death
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We could keep some in our garage, Beck loved them...they are also prone to preditors as they are so small....I would love some too!!
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... well, ours survived all that snow and high winds we've had
Its like anything - some are nice, some can be vicious / escapees / bad tempered / prone to illness.
Ours are in a chicken coop type thing, with added run and paved floor to keep the rats out.
they like to stay up late...
:)