4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[toonfamily]

In the last 3 weeks we have gone from 3 Hens in the Eglu, then 3 hens at the allotment in an ark, and today we now are the proud owners of 12 ex batts that were rescued this morning.

 

They are locked in the coop at the moment. but I did find it emotional when I took them out of the box and into the coop. seeing them all featherless and defenseless was heart rendering,

 

hopefully they will have a peaceful night. And 2moro is the start of their wonderful new life.

 

So not including the 2 bantam chick boys we now have 18 hens. And thats it.

 

Any tips on the ex batts muchly appreciated.

Edited June 20, 2009 by Guest

[poachedegg]

Wow! Well done you.

[legend21]

We have 6 ex batts, they are a great laugh and all have different personalities. Well done you for taking on 12, when they find their feet expect fights over the food. I was amazed at how much they like human company I expected them to be running in the opposite direction from us but they just love when we come into their part of the garden. They love treats and rightly or wrong we let them have them as they have had a miserable life and I want to make it nice for them

 

good luck

 

Jackie

[Kit]

Toon Family

 

Wow well done you and lucky girls! Hope they settle in very soon and start enjoying the good life!

 

Kit

Edited June 20, 2009 by Guest

[Karen & co.]

That's fantastic, congratulations I rescued 4 girls a few years ago, but lost the last one a few weeks ago They were wonderful to see, as they realised what being a chicken is all about

 

Karen x

[Bunnyish]

how will you introduce them to your other chickens? i bought 2 new ones today and my other 3 ex bats dont like them one bit! i have seperated the run into 2 and kept them seperate to stop any fighting but they can still see and hear each other, im hoping they will get used to each other and not want to peck and bully, then maybe take the divider out later on in few weeks?? im not sure, this is the first time ive kept hens and first time ive had to introduce new ones into my little flock..

 

i have 3 ex bats and the 2 new girls are 8 month old ISA browns (same breed as the ex bats)

[poachedegg]

how will you introduce them to your other chickens? i bought 2 new ones today and my other 3 ex bats dont like them one bit! i have seperated the run into 2 and kept them seperate to stop any fighting but they can still see and hear each other, im hoping they will get used to each other and not want to peck and bully, then maybe take the divider out later on in few weeks?? im not sure, this is the first time ive kept hens and first time ive had to introduce new ones into my little flock..

 

i have 3 ex bats and the 2 new girls are 8 month old ISA browns (same breed as the ex bats)

 

Some excellent info on introductions:

 

viewtopic.php?f=42&t=25886

 

[mostin]

How fantastic that you have brought home 12 .

 

My girls stank when they came home , it took a week for the smell to wear off. After about three days of living with me they realised that it was worth preening because their feathers would stay nice once they cleaned them, and they began to look a lot better.

 

They came out of their shells after about a week, I was really surprised, they love my company. They were tired all the time in the first few weeks though. Even walking tired them out. They would take about 6 naps a day, just falling asleep in the middle of chickening around . They seem to have the energy to make it through a whole day now though.

 

I was worried about introductions, thinking that my 7 girls would pick on the new ex-batts, but it turns out that it was the other way around . The ex-batts are very aggressive about food and will chase my old girls away from the food bowls, and then started jumping on my oldies at treat time . I had to introduce the water pistol at treat time to teach the ex-batts acceptable chicken behaviour , they are much improved now, with only the occasional squabble.

 

Sorry if I've rambled on abit . I've done intros with chickens before, but it has taken a lot longer with the ex-batts due to their lack of social skills. They stole my heart on the day they arrived though so every moment has been worth it .

[toonfamily]

Thank you so much to everyone for there support.

 

The three hens i have in the same run as them, are young warrens and very friendly. They have been chucked out of there coop tonight and gone back into their ark. so the new girls can relax and settle in.

 

I will leave them in there till 2moro afternoon and then I might let them have a peek outside if they want to. but i plan to introduce in the run on Monday. and slowly let them adjust. If they do squable then I will seperate for a bit longer. hopefully by the end of the week they will be sharing the lovely coop my hubby made for them.

[toonfamily]

 

Introducing some of our new girls

[SAB]

Oh bless them. Well done you for rescuing them.

[MadAboutChooks]

OMG They are wonderfull!, I am soooo Jealous I really wanted to get some ex batts! Not enough room at moment, but shhhhh... secretly planning a WIR!!!

Well done to you.

[Must be mad]

It has been interesting reading about the introductions, as I have 9 chickens at the moment in a big WIR and we are collecting 8 ex-batts on thursday . We have 2 cubes and will split the run in half with fencing. Hopefully this will help with the intros as they will be able to see each other but not actually get to each other.

 

My 11 yr old son is very excited as he is trying to raise awareness about battery hens in school. He wrote a puppet show, (had to by a chicken puppet!), charged children 20p to watch and sent the proceeds (£21.40) to the BHWT.

[Sarahsausage]

Aaah bless them! I have 3 ex-batts and would love some more but not enough room for more! You will adore them once they come out of their shells and start showing their personalities, they really are a delight! Such friendly, nosy, funny, charming little things! They may seem a little greedy at first but that's probably because they have had to fight for their share of food when they were incarcerated but they will soon settle down once they realise there is enough food for everyone (no need for water pistols!). The Battery Hen Welfare Trust website has comprehensive info on how to look after ex-batts but you probably know that already? Enjoy them!

[mostin]

They may seem a little greedy at first but that's probably because they have had to fight for their share of food when they were incarcerated but they will soon settle down once they realise there is enough food for everyone (no need for water pistols!).

 

I'm really glad your three ex-batts settled in so well . Unfortunately, as you say, they have had to fight for every mouthful of food they have ever had in the cages and this breeds aggression. When you are introducing ex-batts with lovingly raised hens, naturally these problems escalate, especially at food time. Unfortunately for me, and no doubt many others on here, when I introduced them to my 7 existing girls they did not like sharing their food, hence the water pistol treatment.

 

From experience I know every introduction is different, I have had easy intros and also difficult ones, hopefully it helps to see lots of different points of view so you know what you might expect.

[Egluntyne]

Well done.

 

A bit of TLC and they will be unrecognisable.

 

Twelve names will take a bit of thinking about!

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Well done.

 

A bit of TLC and they will be unrecognisable.

 

Twelve names will take a bit of thinking about!

 

 

.......I wonder how many colours leg rings are available in for ease of recognition

 

Congratulations on your new "babies"! At least your girls have entered the "real" world during the summer, ours arrived with the snow

 

Sha x

[mostin]

.......I wonder how many colours leg rings are available in for ease of recognition

 

Congratulations on your new "babies"! At least your girls have entered the "real" world during the summer, ours arrived with the snow

 

Sha x

 

Oooooo you could give some of the girls more than one colour, to make enough different options , they will look very pretty .

[toonfamily]

omg Now i see why you might need leg rings.. What an amazing idea, i was wondering how i was ever going to name them.. thanks for that..

 

They seem to have coped fine in the run today but they bullied my 3 young hens. I kept them seperate last night but as they spent the day together i put them all in the coop tonight. Hubby is going to go and let them out very early so they don't get pecked once daylight arrives. hopefully they will calm down and get along.

 

someone on the allotment told me to get a sign saying they were battery hens as they thought someone might think they are just mistreated. hopefully that wont be necessary..

 

my only concern tonight was as i was putting them in the coop i saw what looked like the insides of an egg but no shell it was everywhere. it was in the nesting box. I am hoping they havent eaten the shell and it came out like that. I am asuming this is what is meant by a softy.

 

I am taking lots of pics and will post them on once they start to improve....

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Yes that would be a softie, I'm surprised it wasn't eaten instantly, my lot almost always get there before me (no matter how close I am!) & snaffle a softie in nano-seconds !

 

Don't worry too much about them, the shock of the "life changes/house move" will have shocked their little systems & simply shot the egg past the shell department too quickly. They should settle down soon enough.

 

Make sure they have all the usual grit, oyster shell, limestone flour, baked egg shells & various supplements & everything should come out ok. Do be aware though, that the little girls may not have the energy & laying power anymore......mine are laying most days....some look like they are wrapped in a duvet rather then a smooth shell , but I believe that some are simply worn out & don't lay once they are released. Just keep an eye that they are healthy & happy.

 

Sha x

[mostin]

Yeah, loads of softies from my rescue girls when they arrived , for quite a few weeks actually. some of the weirdest eggs I've ever seen too.

[Chickencrazy1]

Hi

We have 8 ex-batts all together and it took the oldest girls 2 weeks their feathers back, but because we were beginners we had the chickens with the most feathers.

But our younger girls have been here about a month and they are no where near getting thier feathers back; so it does take some time to get thier feathers back, and these had some feathers!!

To see a bald chicken is disgraceful, the farmers shouldn't be able to keep them in the poor conditions they keep them in.

The chickens should take up to 2 or 3 months, who knows?? it could even take a year but i doubt it.

One question, where did you get the ex-batts from??

[toonfamily]

We got the chickens from the midlands coordinator for the Battery Hen Welfare Trust - BHWT

 

They seem to be loving the big wide world. We only had 5 eggs today and no softies that I could find but I am sure there may be more.

 

We have decided that as 2 of the larger ex batts are terrorising our 3 liitle warrens, we have moved them out.

 

My husband couldn't take the stress. he was so upset when he rang me at work to tell me Curly, Larry and Mo were scared and huddled in the corner of the run and they were being pecked. Then he rang me to say Curly has scaled the 7 foot run and spent the afternoon hiding in the potatoes on the allotment.

 

When i got home the three of them sat on our shoulders like parrots and wouldn't go back in. So they are going to live at the other end of the allotment in the Ark. Bless em. They had a great time roaming in the veggie patches. They havent been eating since we got the ex batts so i think it was a good intervention and i don't plan on returning them. So now the 12 ex batts have a massive run and coop all to themselves.

 

They are still a bit skittish. we had to round em up to get them back in tonight.

I must say that it sickens me to the stomach when i pick some of the bald hens up. it really is upsetting.

you can see everything. they look prehistoric. Im sure they will feather up soon enough.

[mostin]

Poor Curly, Larry and Mo . What a day they've had, but at least they'll get some peace now. It's terrible what the system turns the ex-batts into, it makes me so . Keep the faith though, it is reversible. My 4 ex-batts were complete terrors to my girls when they arrived, my OH got really upset by it all . 7 weeks on, and a lot of fence line feeding and gradual acclimatisation later though, and I have 1 happy flock.

 

"Ooops, word censored!"ody guards the food anymore, they have finally realised that it will not run out , the poor loves. I think with regrowing that many feathers too it makes them extra hungry, which doesn't help matters.

 

My girls still look scruffy and moth-eaten, but the few feathers they have are now shiny and beautifully preened . They are beginning to love cuddles as well, I can't wait until yours are following you round for treats . I cried the first time my ex-batts sunbathed, it was such a magic moment.