Rehabilitating Battery Hens

[SuzieV]

Hi All
Is there someone out there that can help me with the period it takes to rehabilitate battery hens if I want to sell the eggs as organic. All my feed is organic homegrown feed and the hens are pastured after a weeklong quarintine period.
Regards
Suzie

[JulieSherris]

Hi Suzie, I can't give you a definite answer to your question I'm afraid, but wanted to raise a few points here.....

Firstly, depending on whereabouts in the world you are, you might have to look at the ins & outs of selling 'organic' produce.
I know that for a lot of places, you have to have the organic certificate which will allow you to advertise your wares as being true organic. My chooks have an organic diet & are free ranging as well, but because I won't put us through the organic boards hoops, I am not allowed to use the word in my description. Most of the regular folks who are buying from me know how I feed the birds & how I keep them - I seem to have been giving a lot of 'guided tours' lately, & am just glad that they like what they see!!

I'm also not allowed to box the eggs either - if I do, then I'm grading the eggs & for that, I need to have my egg certificate... more expense! So I just leave the eggs in baskets & the customers pick their own eggs to pop in the boxes.

Have a look at the organic website relevant for your country - there should be some guidelines there for you though.
The Wiki page has a few links & starters... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_certification

While I know it's a goodly thing to rescue ex-bat girls, I still can't help thinking that it's just yet another way for the chicken factories to make even more money out of these poor birds. Lots of folks rescue them, only for the factory to turn right around & replace the stock with new birds & so the cycle continues.

[SuzieV]

Hi Julie

Thanks for your answer. I live in Namibia, Africa. Namibia's organic association (NOA) was only launched this month and even the chairman (one of my best friends) can not tell me how long the rehab perion is. She talks guessingly about a year, but I can not see how it can take a year for the 'chemicals' to leach from a chicken's body.

I agree completely with you on 'pushing through the organic hoop boards', but I do not have much of a choice as I market most of my products through my friend and I do not wish to harm her.

[bonniethomas06]

While I know it's a goodly thing to rescue ex-bat girls, I still can't help thinking that it's just yet another way for the chicken factories to make even more money out of these poor birds. Lots of folks rescue them, only for the factory to turn right around & replace the stock with new birds & so the cycle continues.

Don't worry Julie, it doesn't work like that - when we rehome for the British Hen Welfare Trust (formerly the Battery Hen Welfare Trust) we are taking hens which were destined for the catfood factory anyway. Whether we take 500 of them (and pay the same rate as the catfood/chicken nugget manufacturer) or they go off with the 9,500 others which we can't take (the houses are usually 10,000 birds) the farmer will replace the flock every year anyway. In most cases, the farmer takes less money from us than they make sending them off for catfood.

So it isn't people buying ex-battery hens which is fuelling the industry, it is people buying Mr Kipling cakes and supermarket own-brand coleslaw etc! The BHWT takes the stance that the ex-batt hens are such good ambassadors for the cause that even if we cover the farmers expenses in gettnig rid, it is worth it for the PR and discussions it will trigger.

Sorrry - will step off my soapbox now!

[sarahkeast]

Kipling cakes and coleslaw ????? how do you figure that out ?

I have 8 ex-bats, took them around 2 months to 'recover', grow back feathers and generally chill out and start to lay a few eggs. Had them 4-5 months now and they are full of character, get into mischief, all have their own personalities and lay well. Recently put them onto organic pellets when I found out the regular layers pellets had genetically modified stuff in them, but we just eat them at home and give a few to friends.

Good luck to yours.

[Millymollymandy]

Eggs used in mass produced cakes, mayo etc no doubt are battery ones i.e. cheap.

[bonniethomas06]

Kipling cakes and coleslaw ????? how do you figure that out ?

Unfortunately Mr Kipling only uses battery eggs in his exceedingly good cakes.

And the majority of supermarket coleslaw (or anything ready made with mayo in it) is made with battery eggs, unless it specifically says 'free range eggs' on the label, you can be confident that it is definitely made with battery eggs.

The more expensive own brands often use free range though...I know the Sainsbargs 'Taste the Difference' and Te$co 'Finest' do.

Sorry, as you might have guessed, a bit of a touchy subject for me!

[Millymollymandy]

I always buy horribly expensive bio mayo here for that very reason, but sorry when I'm in the UK I go straight for Mr Kipling's cherry bakewells. Well it's only once every year or two so you may slap my wrists Bonnie but I do like them. Mind you I hadn't actually thought about the eggs used in the making of them so maybe I'll be good in future. I'ts just that there isn't an M&S food dept in my mum's village, just a little village shop.

[SuzieV]

Unfortunately 'free range' does not have the same meaning everywhere we go. I recently read an article about free range chickens showing a huge flock on bare ground. Yes, they can scratch and have a dust bath, but they are still getting the same medicated chemicaly produced feed.