Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[Kizzamozza]

I was reading this website before that describes the plights of factory hens and it says

 

"Hens in the wild lay only 20 eggs a year, which will mostly have been fertilised by a cockerel and will hatch. There are no cockerels in battery sheds so all eggs are infertile. The battery hen has been bred to produce an unbelievable 300 eggs a year - nearly one a day."

 

My chickens definately have one egg a day. Is this cruel???? WHat do I do?

[motherhen]

Panic not Kim

 

It isn't the laying of an egg every day that is cruel, but the conditions battery hens are kept in. Most agricultural animals have been naturally bred to perform better and as long as they are kept in the right conditions and fed the right diet and given plenty of opportunity to express their normal behaviour then they'll be fine.

 

You may have heard about broiler chickens that have been bred to grow very quickly in intensive conditions and they put on more weight than their immature leg bones can carry so get fractures

However, similar or even the same breeds, when reared free range on a diet that means they grow more slowly are happy and healthy.

 

As long as your girls are getting most of their diet from a good quality organic/gm free/other top quality feed specifically for free range hens they will be very happy. If they were kept in intensive conditions on a battery diet they would lay even more eggs and be in a dreadful state. I'm sure yours look in the peak of good health and are extremely happy

[Kizzamozza]

ok thanks

[buffie]

Spot on!! As our girls age their egg laying will be less frequently and that's a fact of life. I won't mind a bit!!

 

Bx