Single hen

[quirkas]

Hello there

 

A friend has a cube and last year rehomed 4 ex bats (her first chickens) tragically she is now down to one, she has spent a fortune at the vets and fretted and worried over them. They have the run of the garden during the day and when I saw (there were two) looked marvellous and were very much enjoying themselves. In my experience of 10 years of chicken keeping she is doing everything right One of the things she has decided is that they need a very simple diet versus my chickens who will eat a pretty varied diet and live for years and years and hardly ever need the vet.

 

What are others experiences, she is very bothered?

 

Thank goodness this barbaric practice is nearly at an end.

 

Angela

[Guest]

it's hardly suprising that they're frailer than normal chooks is it

[Egluntyne]

When you say 'a simple diet' what do you mean exactly?

 

My ex batts charge about the garden eating whatever they can find and have layers pellets and all sorts of extras and are unrecognisable as the poor specimens that arrived a year ago. Maybe she is oversimplifying things and missing something vital out.

[helenarees]

Hello,

 

How sad to have lost 3 of her girls. I've had my 6 ex-batts for 18 months and I'm a first-time chicken person, what works for me is I always feed them organic layers pellets which are always available (with organic mixed corn for the afternoon) and I always give them organic veg/lettuce as treats. They also free-range and we don't use any pesticides at all in the garden. I'm not sure if the organic makes any difference (but I feel better giving them it). They are very big and strong now and bear no resemblance to the poor girls I had on the first day I brought them home (same as Eglutine below). Not sure if that helps at all!

 

I've also got 3 black rocks (also rehomed as unwanted by original owner) and the ex-batts now seem as tough as these.

 

What have her chickens been treated for at the vets - perhaps someone here (more knowledgable than myself ) would know what are the causes for problems that have previously been treated?

 

Helena

 

P.s. I always have mixed grit available for them also.

[Guest]

3 of mine were treated for peritonitis, we lost one girl after 2 courses of baytril. She was always the frailest but she had a good life with us for 12 months. The other 3 are happy and healthy at the moment but 2 of them have had 2 lots of baytril too.

[Barkisland]

I'm so sorry to hear your friend has been so unlucky with her ex batts. I rehomed my first ones in January. Sadly, I lost one within the first 24 hours, she was just completely traumatised by the shock of being rescued. The other two are still alive & very well indeed. They are just like normal chooks now, one is completely clothed in a gorgeous new suit of feathers and the other is coming along nicely too. They both lay whopping great eggs, and they both eat smallholders pellets and mixed corn, plus they also love treats of grapes, apples, cabbage, broccoli, sweetcorn etc.

I will definitely rehome more ex batts in the future, and I hope your friend is not dissuaded from having some more.

[Guest]

I'd certainly get more ex batts in the future, the ups have far outweighed any downs

 

ex batts were my first chickens too and I did stress out at every little thing at the beginning as I was so worried about doing anything wrong. I'm sorry your friend has lost some of her girls but reassure her, like you said, that she's doing everything right. It just happens with some of them as they don't have the strongest constitution to begin with

[BeckyBoo]

Hello, I think the thing to say to your friend is that sometimes ex-batts do just keel over. For a start off they're at least 18 months old when you get them, they've had a pretty rough life fighting for food, no room to move, no fresh air, then a very traumatic rescue and a complete culture shock as they go to their new homes. I had four a year ago last January and only have two left but I don't consider that to be a failure. For a battery hen to even have one days freedom is better than most ever see.

I can see why she wants to treat them so carefully, they really do deserve tlc after their awful treatment at the hand of man, but no matter what you do, and this goes for "ordinary" hens too, sometimes they get ill and sometimes they die. I don't think they need a simple diet, I think they deserve a varied and rich diet. Mine live with "ordinary" hens and as such have layers pellets all day, corn and grit every day, plus sometimes they free range and every day they get the kitchen s"Ooops, word censored!"s which can be uneaten or half finished fruit from the children ie; apple cores, melon skin and pips, grapes or ANY fruit which is over-ripe pasta, mashed potato, sweetcorn, occasionally breakfast cereal and mine scoff it back just like the others. I don't think anything I did or didn't do led to the death of the two ex-batts that died, they just died.

 

If your friend is thinking of getting some more chickens to befriend her lone chook, she could consider a mixture of ex-batts and "ordinary" hens. She'll have to quarantine the new ex-bats anyway as the old one will be in much better condition and will need a slow introduction anyway.

 

Hope she gets some more, and I hope she can relax a bit with her new hens, they can be a worry but if you get too stressed about them then it takes away the enjoyment

 

 

 

BeckyBoo