rescue chickens

[Melinda_dd]

My partner and I picked up 10 more rescued battery hens yesterday for my mum.

Just over a year ago she found out about the bhwt ....British Hen Welfare Trust
and rehomed 6 hens .... after my partner and I build her a coup, with run that's fit for the golden geese!
She loves them so much that they now have half the garden sectioned off just for them.

She recently had an e mail from the trust asking if anyone can take some more as they're doing another rescue from the battery farms
Mum's flock now stands at 14.

So anyone considering ever keeping chickens... give these a thought. the chickens that are not ear marked for rescue....
When you first see them (check out the website, go to vans album.. picture 5.... this is how battery hens spend their lives) it's very eye opening, then when they are all nurtured and back to good health it's a nice feeling.
http://www.bhwt.org.uk

 

[Max Power]

Terrible the way theyre kept Melinda :evil: . Im going to get myself half a dozen shortly, they still lay really well when the batteries are done with them. :deer
Its a shame more people didnt get behind that guy from River Cottage

 

[Lowlife]

I heard something about this on the radio in the last couple of days, how the last battery hen in the UK has just gone to a new home? The EU has changed the rules about the size of enclosures, they now have to be free to walk about and have a laying area seperated by a curtain from the main area, about time too.

The new rules are not what I would consider ideal, still a million miles from how I keep my birds, but I guess any improvement has to be better than the disgusting conditions in which they were kept previously.

Here's the news item http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/29/last-battery-hen-home-liberty, the new rules come into force tomorrow, and the last battery bird has been appropriately named Liberty.

Of course birds will still be available for rehoming despite the new rules, as egg production declines with age they won't be economically viable, at least they'l have had a marginally better life beforehand though and shouldn't arrive at their new homes in such poor condition as previously.

 

[Melinda_dd]

This is true about the eu.

And yes, they only keep them while they're at their peek of laying. So rehoming will still take place.
It astounds me that this country has the rspca, yet it's taken this long to outlaw battery hens! i expect that's a whole different argument but that's what I think!

As soon as my partner and I are settled (Not renting, or renting from an animal lover :wink: ) we will be rehoming some girls too.

 

[Lowlife]

The RSPCA's main focus is cats and dogs and assorted small furries, they do a pretty good job there but can be very inconsistent when it comes to some other animals.

 

[devonwoody]

I've got a 30'x 6' space between a brick wall and a hedge and would consider the above scheme, but their only daylight would be from overhead.

Also what does it cost to feed half a dozen chicks a week, the big one I have already got costs a fortune. :wink:

 

[Sawyer]

'Battery' hens may have been stopped but the reality which remains is scarcely any better. Melinda: yours must think they've died and gone to heaven!
Try Youtube for some info on the egg industry and you'll never want to buy supermarket eggs again

Rescue hens are still good layers so well worth while. So if you want to do something good for 2012, why not start keeping your own chickens? You'll create yourself a woodwork project at the same time

Chickens, I've got already - my resolution for 2012? Start beekeeping.

 

[Melinda_dd]

that space i think would be fine.maybe a couple of bags of chicken feed a week but i would think only 1.
a bag of feed is around £6 a bag of corn for treats probably not much more will last a few weeks. and in the summer my mums love scraps from the kitchen.
the reward of eggs and watching them get back to top health is priceless

 

[Melinda_dd]

bee keeping now that's cool. went bee keeping once and loved it.
the guy we went with has half a dozen hives at a nature reserve. while we were there a swarm went over head so he caught those too!
fascinating
when we're settled we're definitely going to rescue some chickens.
mum went to check they were ok last night because of the fireworks ... they were fine

 

[Lowlife]

We used to have a few beehives at my secondary school and I was one of about half a dozen kids who looked after them, the school regularly got calls from local residents who had found swarms in their gardens, and we used to go out with a big cardboard box and smokers to get them back!

We have 3 Brahmas and 4 bantams, complete opposite ends of the size scale, feeding them costs around a fiver a week for corn and layers pellets, and they get to forage around the garden most days. We get far more eggs than we can use ourselves, the excess ones get swapped with neighbours for other produce.

 

[marcros]

Start beekeeping.

Any questions, just ask- been keeping bees for the last 16 years or so...

 

[Lowlife]

Sherlock Holmes became a beekeeper in retirement.

 

[marcros]

Sherlock Holmes became a beekeeper in retirement.

Everyday's a school day. I didn't know that!

 

[Lowlife]

It was mentioned at the end of the last of the Conan Doyle novels "His Last Bow", and the theme was picked up a few years ago in a novel called "The Beekeeper's Apprentice" by Laurie R King, where Holmes takes on a young female apprentice.

 

[Melinda_dd]

As already said.. you learn something new everyday

 

[Digit]

According to the Sunday Telegraph a total of 13 EU countries are simply ignoring the the new regs for hens, so once again British industry is lumbered with an uneven playing field.

Roy.

 

[Melinda_dd]

this is the problem. there's nothing stopping us from importing cheap battery eggs from those countrys that are hard of hearing... just moving the problem from here to there. i agree it will therefore effect the price of our new colony eggs and free range...... but i will feel better knowing this country no longer thinks its okay to treat chickens how they were. and it means less chickens are in those horrid cages in this country.

 

[Digit]

and it means less chickens are in those horrid cages in this country.

Indeed it does Melinda, but, in the economic world the result will be that people here will buy the cheaper option, this will likely increase the demand from Europe, which will then increase its production to meet the increased demand, that will mean more battery hens in Europe and less here.
Way of the world I'm afraid.

Roy.

 

[Melinda_dd]

unfortunately your right.... but it all had to start somewhere. i won't be buying the cheap euro battery hen eggs so my conscience is clear and hopefully others will follow. my mums girls and at least 290000+ are free to live out their lives .... more if people get involved and support our countrys new ways

 

[Digit]

i won't be buying the cheap euro battery hen eggs

That of course assumes you know the origin of the produce, too often the labels simply state, 'Produce of the EU.'
Also that decision would mean that you are not purchasing eggs from hens that are confined to the new rules, which will simply discourage those Europeans from making the change over.
A Catch 22 situation I fear.
France apparently is one of the offenders, in between trumpeting the glories of the EU they remain one of the biggest offenders when it comes to ignoring those rules they don't like.
You may not be aware of it Melinda but the EU countries have had many years in which to implement these changes.

Roy.