Sooo much pooping

[Blue-DiamondChick07]

I'm pretty sure that the fox was old footage with a bit of trickery thrown in too. They would not be allowed to do that for real nowadays

.

 

My OH was quite shocked at how determined the fox was to push under the wire and now realises why I'm so paranoid about foxes

 

That did scare me a bit, it looked quite evil too in that footage. I was relaxing about Foxes, but not now!

[Egluntyne]

I enjoyed it but was very disappointed how acceptable they made intensive farming seem. I appreciate it's the BBC and they love to sit on the fence but the fact that the lady (Jane?) merely made the comment that "yes, the adapt very well" was heartbreaking.

 

The BHWT are always at great pains to work with the farmers, so I expect she was being diplomatic so as not to alienate anyone and consign more hens to chicken pie status.

[the bradley bunch]

the footage at the beginning of the chicks going through the factory and dropping off the conveyor belt was horrible

 

I enjoyed it but was very disappointed how acceptable they made intensive farming seem.

i agree with roobaloo...

 

whilst the programme 'humanised' chickens making them become a bird more thought about, it wasn't emphasised enough the terrible trauma they go through and the sadness of the lives they lead (battery, barn, meat and even 'free range' chickens, who i believe we've been very misleaded about but that's a story for another day).

males like lloyd are normally culled as chicks after being chucked around a factory conveyor belt and from pillar to post, yet it's almost like they never existed. but all that was said about lloyd was that he must have 'slipped through the net'... i think they missed an opportunity to bring to attention the fact that hundreds and thousands of chicks are culled as babies simply because of the way the egg industry works. many people just assume that males are used for meat and females are used for eggs, and not that males are just discarded like faulty parts. it's just so sad that "Ooops, word censored!"ody gives them a thought, like their lives were never a part of this world.

 

lloyd was also an example of how little attention battery hens are given and how little care is given to their welfare... for a cockerel to go unnoticed for 18months is shocking. i mean you only needed to take one look at his huge waggles and floppy comb to know he's a male, and surely he must of crowned? but the show made it seem like some funny error . well i didn't think it was funny at all. the reality it brought to light made me feel sick to me stomach.

 

i don't think it's jane's fault tho... i imagine she was given strict guidelines on what she was and wasn't allowed to say (plus what egluntyne said about maintaining relationships with farmers), and of course the bbc will have edited things out too.

[The Dogmother]

I agree with you on animal welfare Bradley bunch, but the programme was about the lives of chickens, not a forum for welfare; I think that they probably used Jane because Jimmy knows her well, and she's used to doing TV interviews.

 

Jane treads a fine line (as Egluntyne said) with keeping the farmers onside as well as educating the public. Most of the farmers they take birds from like the battery system no more than most people, but the pressure on the market by consumers who buy battery eggs or products containing them means that they are under enormous economical pressure to produce battery eggs. Educating the consumer is the way to go.

[the bradley bunch]

yes you're right claret i had said on a previous post how i'd enjoyed the programme and took alot of positives from what it taught me about my own chickens (as a newbie owner)... i think it's easy to get a bit carried away and caught in the issue whenever the word 'welfare' is mentioned!

 

i just really wanted to reach into the tv screen and take lloyd home with me!... although i think he'd be alot happier with jane's lot as my top girl would be very rude to him i imagine! bless him... i wonder how he's doing with his cockeral practicing!? does anybody know if jane's an omletter? she seemed like such a lovely lady, would be a fabulous addition to our looney forum!

[jellykelly]

With regards to boys in the battery farm. It does happen. In every shed there is at least one.

The battery shed they showed in the documentry was small. Double the length of that and add another 6 aisles exatly the same. Then add another six sheds with the same number of chickens.

The only real checks that are done in the sheds is a daily walk down the aisles to sniff out the dead ones. You can hear the cockerals in the shed, but to find them is to find the 'needle in a haystack'.

[whoopsie]

I thought Jane came across very well, it must be hard for her to maintain good relationships with the farmers.

 

I couldn't believe the claws on the ex batts though - mine must have been done before I got them or the farmer had taken some care (the woman I got the birds from said he was one of the better ones).

 

Want more chooks!

[ewoodpugz]

Interesting. I guess on here you hear about the problems they have. I'm considering getting some myself but I've heard so many negative things recently I'm reconsidering. Sorry, I've strayed off topic.

 

ex batts are the most rewarding, gentlest, lovely creatures ever. We'll never have any other sort of chicken ever again and when (hopefully) there are no more ex batts to rescue, we'll have ex barn or free range hens. We've had 11 so far and we adore them, warts and all!

 

Hear hear. Few teething probs at first but only for a few days. They are wonderful and it gives me so, so much pleasure seeing their daily contentment and to know that they can now enjoy their lives to the full. If I had space I would of loads.

[Nicola O]

one thing that did confuse me - jimmy stated that no hen who has ever laid an egg will be eaten. i didn't think this to be true, as i'd always thought that ex-bats are used in processed foods and pies, etc. and not just pet food

i feel silly now someone please set the record straight for me!

What Jimmy said was the other way round, that 'no hen we eat has ever laid an egg'.

 

I watched (and recorded) last night and just watched it back. It was about 35 mins into the program and it was when he was talking about a new hybrid that was introduced to the UK in 1953 and the poultry industry was split into egg layers and meat birds, as I believe that meat birds are slaughtered long before they are old enough to lay.

 

Nicola .

[WarrensWorld]

We were amazed at the cog­ni­tive abil­i­ty of the rescued ISA browns. They may have taken the Chicken out of the jungle, but they haven't taken the jungle out of the Chicken. Loved the programme stuck it on the hard disc. So no more bird brain jokes.

[Griffin]

Having spent time on a battery farm in the farm in the past, I was led to believe that the 'old' hens were used to make baby food, animal food, soups etc?

I'm hoping what they meant was that no chicken that has passed an egg in that enviroment will be sold as 'proper' chicken - eg. Whole chickens, legs, breast or thigh portions?

Supermarket chickens are slaughtered at around 56 days of age, no time to lay an egg because they're never given the chance to reach that age. Mind you, they'd probably be off their legs at point of lay anyway.

[Space Chick]

I was quite embarrassed when I recognised a few people at the chicken show that I have seen in lots of chicken shows.

 

Didn't think it was Tarzan, but will re-watch. Tasha will be beside herself if it is

[Jennifer Jane]

I thoroughly enjoyed the programme and agree with most of the comments.

 

I was horrified by the fox getting through the tiniest of gaps and it has made me more paranoid, especially as I spotted a dead fox (road kill) just round the corner from me yesterday. I was starting to get a bit complacent and leaving the girls to FR while i popped down the shops. I made sure they were locked away yesterday.

 

My ex-batts (both sets) were in dreadful condition when we got them - oven ready in appearance with pale floppy combs and the second batch had long claws too. Maud had a huge semi-healed gash down her back and a useless wing, but is a right bruiser now. I have to say i was a bit suspicious that the ex-batts in the programme were "plants", especially going on the size and colour of their combs, but my DH did comment that some battery farms are probably better run than others and reading the comments on here suppports that. I too wished that they had featured some of the poorer specimens to make people sit up and take notice. I know it was about chicken habits but they had no qualms about showing the fox attack and the baby chicks on the conveyor .

 

And the intelligence test - how come they know what shape to peck to get a mealworm, when some of mine can't even remember where the door to the WIR is when I get the mealworms out? Do I have particularly stupid hens???

 

I was also facinated by the cockerel alerting the girls to the hawk and them taking cover under the bushes from a possible aerial attack. We have buzzards around here and my poor girls don't have a cockerel to protect them! Perhaps I can use that as an excuse for getting one. And Lloyd was the cutest, even though he was only half-cock .

 

I do remember Jimmy saying that ex-batts get used in cat food and chicken paste if they're not rescued. I hardly ever eat chicken now (it would be like eating cat) and would never buy sandwich paste, but now I feel a bit guilty about occasionally buying chicken-flavoured cat food. I will have to look on it as organ donation.

 

I was almost behind my sofa when Jane introduced another bird to her hospital - I was expecting bloodshed, but it was actually U-certificate stuff and posing and posturing. It made me wonder if it would have been just as well to bung all my lot in together from the start but I wouldn't like to risk it.

 

And yes! Ex-batts are so rewarding. I must admit that sometimes I would like to have different breeds, but I won't while there are still ex-batts to rescue.

[ISCA]

I was almost behind my sofa when Jane introduced another bird to her hospital - I was expecting bloodshed, but it was actually U-certificate stuff and posing and posturing. It made me wonder if it would have been just as well to bung all my lot in together from the start

I had similar thoughts. My introduction last month also went suprisingly smoothly, so I do think the "throw 'em all together and let them get on with it" approach has some merit to it.

[migsy]

And the intelligence test - how come they know what shape to peck to get a mealworm, when some of mine can't even remember where the door to the WIR is when I get the mealworms out? Do I have particularly stupid hens???

 

 

Exactly! My speckledy doesn't even realise you can't get out of the run unless the door is open.

[Mollie333]

I'm watching it again..

[majuka]

We really enjoyed this, apart from the fox sequence, but thought ourselves that this looked much older footage that had been used from a previous programme.

 

We have had two lots of ex-batts, both from the BHWT, and the difference between them was quite noticeable. Our first girls were very bald, very pale and very nervous of us. Our second batch, which was a new farm for the BHWT, were slightly bald, slightly pale and fairly confident of us. I think that a lot depends on the individual farm. They said that this farm was quite close to Jane so perhaps she had some influence as to their conditions?

 

I was so pleased they drew attention to the fact that the majority of battery eggs are used in other products like cakes and pasta rather than being sold as eggs, something that a lot of caring consumers just don't think about. I think if the programme had been overly preachy about the battery hen industry it would have got people's backs up. I thought it was very informative and interesting. Obviously there is only so much footage that can go in an hours programme and I guess the BBC chose what they thought was the most interesting.

 

I have had the great pleasure of speaking to Jane once when we lost our first ex batt, Veronica. We found it so hard to accept that, despite veterinary care, we were loosing her. Jane was so kind and spent some time talking to me about Veronica. I knew at the time that she was the founder of the BHWT and, the fact that she took the time out of her very busy day to talk to a distressed chicken keeper spoke volumes for her passion and dedication to ex battery hens.

[mostin]

And the intelligence test - how come they know what shape to peck to get a mealworm, when some of mine can't even remember where the door to the WIR is when I get the mealworms out? Do I have particularly stupid hens???

 

 

Exactly! My speckledy doesn't even realise you can't get out of the run unless the door is open.

 

I once had this explained to me by a really old chap at a hen show last year......." Your hens ain't thick, there's just no doors in't jungle! "

 

I loved that program too , although as a couple of people already have mentioned, I immediately shouted at the TV when Jimmy said with authority "None of the eggs we eat are ever fertilised" .

 

Well all of my girls eggs are, and I know the free range ones sold by the farm shop up the road are .

 

OH threatened to turn the TV off when I got hysterical giggles over Lloyds walk, but he was such a darling. When I got my girls from hen-rehomers-uk it wasn't a very big rescue but they got at least 3 cockerels out .

 

I hate to see chicks on conveyers belts , but hopefully it will have changed some peoples eating and shopping habits .

 

I wasn't too upset by that broody looking so anaemic, as I know after the full 3 weeks some of mine can really loose condition and look very pale, but as soon as they get outside with the young they pink up again. There was no excuse for the state of that bum though , the poor girl must have been very uncomfortable .

 

I love to see all the cockerels looking after their women , it was great to see and hear the same things that my boys do, even though I see it every day. It never gets old .

[the bradley bunch]

I was also facinated by the cockerel alerting the girls to the hawk and them taking cover under the bushes from a possible aerial attack. We have buzzards around here and my poor girls don't have a cockerel to protect them! Perhaps I can use that as an excuse for getting one. And Lloyd was the cutest, even though he was only half-cock .

 

i must admit i too tried using that excuse on my hubby for getting a cockerel!

but he said i'd have an even harder time convincing the neighbours of it!

...although next door's little boy whose grandpa breeds chickens keeps asking me if i'd like a cockerel for my birthday - i think he'd very much like one in our neighbourhood, he keeps trying to assure me that our street needs an alarm clock to wake people up! although i'm not so sure they'd all agree! ...but just out of interest ..what time do cockerals normally crown (is that the right word?)

[Lavenders_Blue]

If the cockerel near us is anything to go by, they can start crowing from 4am onwards in the summer!

 

(So do my girls... )

[Redwing]

the broody was an absolute state poor thing

[abwsco]

but just out of interest ..what time do cockerals normally crow (is that the right word?)

 

My friends cockerel has been known to crow at 2am!

[Jools]

I wasn't too upset by that broody looking so anaemic, as I know after the full 3 weeks some of mine can really loose condition and look very pale, but as soon as they get outside with the young they pink up again. There was no excuse for the state of that bum though , the poor girl must have been very uncomfortable

 

I'd agree with that, mainly because we have no way of knowing how long she had been sitting. They lose condition very quickly when broody and if she'd been sitting for a long time, she would look that pale. I suspect the dirty knickers were are result of her eating layers pellets instead of corn while brooding, in which case it's little wonder the eggs were so dirty.

 

My friends cockerel has been known to crow at 2am!

 

I have one like that, my Silver Sussex aka Sylvio Berlusconi (handsome little devil with a lot to say for himself). He is crated every night and moved to the barn to lessen the pain of my nagging husband!!

[whoopsie]

Next door's cockerel starts about 5.30 every morning and then does a bit more shouting later on.

[Alis girls]

Not seen it is it on I player or equivalent - I bet its more interesting than human equivalent big brother.