Chickens; ex-batt or not?

[bonniethomas06]

Hi,

Just to add to the arguement regarding supporting the industry by getting ex-batts:

I volunteer for the Battery Hen Welfare Trust. Sometimes we have to pay the farmers for the birds, but more often than not, they let us have them for free. It costs battery farmers to get rid of their birds when they come to refresh the stock, so they do not mind us having a few hundred. Contrary to popular belief, and whether you agree with what they do or not, battery farmers are not unreasonable people and often are happy to see some of them going off to a happy retirement.

Sometimes we have to pay them the going rate - for the larger farms where they have deals with pet food manufacturers etc to use the carcasses. I don't think you could argue that this is supporting the industry - often the best a farmer can hope for by selling old birds is to break even against the cost of getting rid of them, hiring the packers etc.

What is more valuable is the free PR that we get. As well as raising funds for the charity, re-homing is the best way to spread the message about buying free range - or more importantly, processed food made with free range eggs. Seeing these skinny little naked birds running around at the rehoming session always generates huge public interest, and hopefully gets people talking about the subject over the fence of back gardens all over the country. They really are the best ambassadors!

So I think you needn't worry about 'supporting the industry' - the benefit to the cause from an educational perspective far outweighs the negligable financial gain that a farmer gets from selling his hens to the Battery Hen Welfare Trust.

I can't speak for those buying from farms directly though.

[TrallwmFarm]

We at Trallwm Farm are pleased to announce that we have saved 550 birds from a flock that is now slaughtered.

These birds are now ready for homing having been wormed and Oxoided.
Hens can still be laying at five or six years old so rescue hens are great value and Karma catchers. You are saving little people and giving them a life.
We just ask that they are pets and egg layers and not for the freezer

http://www.trallwmfarm.org.uk

[Ron and Jean]

I quite like the idea of hen rotation and it is what we plan to do when our ex-bats egg production goes down. They can live our thier lives in our coop and it is big enough to hold more hens than we need, so their will be no problem if some of them are not laying.

[red]

I've tried to eat an 18 month old hen (the fox had the poor girl's head) and, quite honestly, I wouldn't bother. The meat is so tough that no amount of slow cooking will make it edible. Cook up for stock perhaps, but little point thinking about eating the flesh. Even the cat wouldn't touch it.

Zoe

we recently despatched a 3 year old bird, after a long slow spell in the stock pot, the meat was fine, and I made soup.

[red]

I quite like the idea of hen rotation and it is what we plan to do when our ex-bats egg production goes down. They can live our thier lives in our coop and it is big enough to hold more hens than we need, so their will be no problem if some of them are not laying.

I'd be very interested in hearing how you get on with this plan

it might be useful to others planning to go that way (ie letting hens live out their lives after they give up laying), if you manage to come up with a system, eg how often you have to get new girls, how many chickens you should figure on having at any one time to still have eggs etc. I realise it will take a few years to develop a plan, but it would be good to see how it works out for you.

[Ron and Jean]

Hi Red, it will take some time to figure it out if. Our run is 6.5m by 2.5, and includes a large shed. Given that the hens need 1x1m each we have room for over 12 girls. We have 6 ex bats at present and are now getting 3 or 4 eggs per day due to the short days (down fron 5-6/day). We are a family of 5 so use 12 to 18 eggs per week. I suppose given years of experience we will work out a system, but getting 3 new ex bat hens when our egg production goes down should be fine. We have plenty of space and the live about 12 months once they stop laying so I am hoping it will all work out. If we have 9 hens and no eggs we could then get 3 POL's until space became free for more ex-bats. I love the ex bats we have and it is great for our kids and their friend to see them and hear where they came from. Our 7 year old took 2 hens to beavers to get his pet badge...

[red]

nice - I think it is really good for kids to be able to see where their food comes from, and the added lesson of the 'alternative' system is a bonus too. (although I will always dispute that chickens are 'little people', as someone else mentioned )

i hope your plans work out - I was thinking that someone starting out - and planning to keep all ex-batts until natural death - would find it very useful to see how a system like this would work, how big a run and house to make etc etc. as we agree.. it will take some time.

i have a different sytsem - sticking to mostly traditional, or home bred cross birds, and they tend to live longer, which might not be so viable in your suggested plans as ex batts (which are older and hybrids), but as we also raise chickens for meat, we are on a different plan.

horses for courses (or should that be hens for hen runs... )