[moody_mare]

i am contemplating getting a few ex battery hens to replace our old girls. we haven't had ex battery before, always got 10wk old birds, or hatched our own.

what is the laying rate like for the ex battery hens? how long should they lay for?

[doganjo]

How long is a piece of string?  Only joking.  I find my ex-batts lay about 5 days out of 7, more or less from whenever you get them.  but as to how long - they sometimes die after a couple of weeks or even days - and sometimes live for long enough.  I think with the new cage regulations there may be less opportunity to get ex batts.  The ones I got recently were ex 'supposedly' free range.  They are more feisty and flighty than the ex-batts - never been handled!

[Hopewell]

Ex batts will tend to lay a little less frequently than younger birds - from our experience I'd probably agree with 5 eggs every 7 days, although we generally find they don't lay as well during the winter. However they will have bigger eggs than those younger birds. We've had ex batts in the past but our last acquisitions were from a small free range unit on a farm that also helps to rehabilitate people, so now we have chickens that follow you around and knock on the back door They also were much better feathered than our previous ex batts.

[Roxy]

The majority of my 80+ free range flock are ex battery hens.  Have to say that some batches of hens  have laid very poor, others brilliant ....none laying at all just now.  They are better at laying than most of my purebred.

They come out of the farms as spent hens ......but mine live two years plus, and a few have been here 4 years.  Had a few prolapses, and some just die for no reason, but on the whole, cannot complain about them.

[hughesy]

We had eight a few years ago. They laid 7 or 8 eggs every day for about a year then one by one they all dropped dead over the course of a couple of months. Only one was left and she was one who'd never grown any feathers back but was the liveliest and healthiest of them all. No more eggs though so we culled her.

[Cinderhills]

Gosh, I am a softy then.  Just because my ex-batts have stopped laying they are with me forever... well until they die naturally.  That's why I gave them a home in the first place, eggs were just a bonus.

[doganjo]

Gosh, I am a softy then.  Just because my ex-batts have stopped laying they are with me forever... well until they die naturally.  That's why I gave them a home in the first place, eggs were just a bonus.

Me too, I'm not bothered whether they lay or not - I just like having them .  Whether I'll say that tomorrow after spending a  morning cleaning the shed in bucketing rain is a different matter.   Where they'll go while I'm in there I don't know.

[JEP]

my lads soft with his at the moment 1 egg a day
didn't lay that much this year normally 20 a day he sells surplus eggs but got about 8
so having a clear out in spring 6 staying to breed 1 staying first bird he bred she is 6 no eggs at all

[Roxy]

Most of the battery hen rescues state when you take on the hens - they are spent hens, looking for kind, forever homes - which they deserve after being cooped up in a hell hole for a year.  They will tell you that the hens should lay, but the eggs are a bonus.  If you are looking to make a profit from your egg laying birds, then quite frankly ex battery hens are not the way forward.

You know what they say about a Dog is for life, not just for xmas.  Well, the same goes for my ex batts - some are old and wobbly, but they will live out their time here in my fields.  Yes, they cost me a fortune in feed, but during the summer they do on the whole lay well and that covers their feed through the year. 

[JEP]

are hens aren't ex battery hens but are the same breed but after about 3 years old they don't
lay many eggs and ares aren't for profit just to try and pay some of the way but with the first one he bred he
loves her to much to let her go