New Hens...

It seems like an age ago that we collected our 'new' rescue hens. At the time, I hadn't even thought of names for all of them, so I asked for suggestions from you... and I'm pleased to say that the two 'nameless' ones now have names. Gretchen and Miss Marple are the lucky ones (the other two already had names of Betty and Ellen).

Here's a now rather oldish image of them enjoying their first time truly in the sun. I think it was taken late March this year and the ground was still too wet for them to enjoy a dust bath so they stretched out on the paving near the old tennis court and, I think, enjoyed their first taste of true freedom. You can see that they are still in pretty tatty condition. Ellen is at the front of the photo, Betty to the right behind her and Miss Marple is to the left of Betty.

From Hens clematis and pear trees

Here's Gretchen - she's very sweet and probably can't quite believe that a) she can stretch out rather than being cramped in her cage and b) she's free to do whatever she wants... I've rather cropped her jaunty little tail feather which looks like a feather sticking out of a 'Robin Hood' type cap!

Back when these photos were taken, the new girls were still being kept away from the other hens as I was very concerned about the strong territorial instincts of the existing hens. The two groups are now being permitted to mix together during the daytime but they are still not very keen on each other. I guess before too much longer I will put the four new ones in with the others at night and hopefully that should sort the problem out. Why haven't I done it before now, I hear you ask. Well, because the older ones try to keep the weaker ones away from the food and so they become even weaker...

Miss Marple (above) was very badly damaged on arrival. Very, very bruised and she still holds her right wing in a rather peculiar fashion, although she is now able to use it quite well. She is such a character! As soon as she sees either of us, she comes running full tilt towards us, chattering away and weaving herself through and around our feet. She's so tiny that utmost care has to be taken not to hurt her whilst we try to walk with this little thing scurrying along between our feet...

There is no doubt in my mind that these little creatures very definitely know that they have been given a new and different life.

This photo above shows you that they were still in quite poor condition, feather wise. They are slowly improving and growing new feathers to cover their little pink tummies. They are becoming so much stronger and I know it won't be too much longer before they fully integrated with the other girls.

I hope you are enjoying warm weather and sunshine! With warm wishes to you, Vxx

Rescue day for our new hens....

Yesterday was the rescue day for our four new hens. We had to be at the collection point between the hours of 2pm and 4pm so we planned to drive to the town of Maldon (home of the superb Sea Salt for cooking) and to have a little picnic by the water, take a few photos and then pootle slowly along to collect our girls.

The weather had other ideas and Saturday dawned cold, wet and pretty miserable. So the picnic plan was abandoned for another, sunnier and warmer day. By the time we arrived at the collection point, the weather had deteriorated even further! Ugh, what a day to have to collect poor, frightened little hens. It was raining so hard that the hens had had to be kept in the horse boxes they'd been stacked into when they were removed from their battery cages. Here's one of the good volunteers lifting them out ready for those of us who were there to collect them and bring them home.

Here the hens are being placed into open pens so that they are easily lifted out and placed into the new owners assorted boxes or crates. They look a pretty motley crew but in fact are in excellent condition by and large for ex-battery hens. It was raining so the plastic you can see piled up is to cover the hens in case it really started to belt down. They have never been outside in their lives before this.

Two more wonderful volunteers from the Battery Hen Welfare Trust - they are holding the girls up as the hens' claws have to be clipped before they leave the collection point. The hens have always lived in their cages so their claws grow long - no scratching at the grass or ground you see.

It's all done very quickly and efficiently; the hens are fine afterwards. Not too much off the claws but just enough to help them walk on the ground.

Then back into their little pens to await their new owners.

When they arrived home with us, we popped them into their new but temporary accommodation. Our existing girls are pretty strong and hens being territorial little things, we want the new hens to have a chance to regain some confidence and strength before being allowed to mingle with the others. In the photo below, you can see Madge and Ginger inspecting the new arrivals.

Once again, we were lucky with the girls we were allocated and all are pretty well feathered. Just very pale and quite stunned at all that happened to them over the course of the day!

If we had not collected them, if the Battery Hen Welfare Trust had not organised to collect and pay the farmers for these hens, then today they would all be at the slaughter yard. A quick end by either electrocution or gassing and then they would have become either dog food or good old Chicken Nuggets. Yes, you read correctly... Chicken Nuggets. It's so easy to blame the farmers but we have to look a little closer to home I'm afraid. We are the ones who demand cheap eggs, cheap chicken and egg products so this is the result. If I buy a cheap cake from the supermarket then I can bet my bottom dollar that it will have been made with battery farm eggs. Poor little hens.


She'll be OK with lots of new, good food and fresh water and fresh air. In a day or so, when they have settled a bit from their stressful day yesterday, we'll move them onto a larger area where they can roam a bit more. Hopefully, we'll be able to introduce them to the others in a few weeks.

Two have names already.... Ellen and Betty... but the other two are currently anonymous so if anyone has some nice ideas for a couple names, please do send them through!

Warm wishes to you and I hope you are enjoying your weekend! Vxx

Hens, havoc and I must be crazy...

I must be crazy... there's no other excuse. Here you can see the kind of havoc my dear little rescue hens have made around one of the walnut trees in the garden. There used to be bulbs here. Lots and lots of bulbs. Now all I have is the dessicated remains of some lemon balm/melissa and lots of dust baths. You may even be able to see the original levels to the soil surrounding the walnut tree. The hens have excavated, fluffed their feathers and enjoyed many, many dust baths here. As you can see.

They've had a wonderful time (times) fighting over the prime spots. Even though these images were only taken about 3 weeks or so ago, now the craters are so deep that the hens can actually disappear from sight if they want to.



But make no mistake, I love them dearly and just grit my teeth whilst I sweep the path yet again.

However, back to the crazy part. I've just committed (hmmm, that's an appropriate word...) to take on FOUR MORE rescue ex-battery hens. They should be ready for collection on Saturday 28th March... So that's 40% more destruction in my garden. Crazy but I can hardly wait... stay tuned!

Warm wishes to you Vxx

Hens

When we were first thinking about getting some rescue hens via the Battery Hen Welfare Trust we were told that we should expect them to be in pretty bad shape. It was to be expected that they would be terrified, very weak and probably with few feathers (if any). It is not unusual for the hens to be 'oven ready' - that is with no feathers at all due to the overcrowding and having to fight for their food and drink, as well as being so stressed.


We were told that the girls would be unlikely to come out of the coop for some days and that when they did, they might not be able to walk very far or even able to stand for long periods of time. We were lucky. And I guess that by comparison to many others, so were our girls. Clearly they were not in top show condition and had pale faces, combs and what feathers they did have were in pretty tatty condition. They were indeed terrified but they came out of the coop almost immediately. And within about an hour, were already starting to scratch and peck at the grass. (The picture above shows them on their first afternoon with us).

My husband had made a tiny little run for them as we were also told that they would be terrified of wide open spaces and so a small run to start with was 'a good idea'. We soon realised that our girls were made of much stronger stuff and within a couple of days had moved them to an interim run - our old tennis court! And within two weeks, when they were pretty settled and had established their pecking order (not a pretty sight!), we started to give them more and more access to our entire garden.

We had also been told that we should not expect too much from them with regard to egg production. After all, they had had the stuffing beaten out of them every day and would be pretty much 'spent' as far as egg production was concerned. Not our girls! We usually run at 90 - 100% production which means that there is a surplus of eggs. I believe that this is because they are given free range (unless we are away from the house when they are locked in their run) access to fresh grass, lots of good food, plenty of fresh air, clean bedding and water every day, and Mother (me) gives them a cooked meal every day of vegetable peelings and rice/pasta.

Their eggs are delicious and are highly sought after by locals who buy from us. So much for being 'spent'. I wish I could explain to you the sheer joy and delight these little creatures give me - simply knowing that they have had some sunshine on their backs is reward enough. Bless them.


Here is their new home and run which we built especially for them. It is warm and secure with shade from the apple trees and the fencing is strong and dug deep into the ground as well - designed to keep Mr and Mrs Foxy out. You can see some of them here on their 'moving in day' having inspected their new 'palais de poulets' for the first time - the palais is a converted child's play ranch and is perfect for them. Standing room inside for humans and warm, airy and secure for the girls!

In case you're wondering, yes, they do have their own names and personalities to match. I was warned before getting them that they would enchant and captivate me. So I warn you too if you're thinking about it...

Hens

And here they are, legging it...

Freedom!!!!

Hens

Our 10 rescue ex-batts are insatiably curious and always eager to get to the other side of the fence where the grass is always greener and far more tasty than in their pen. Here they are, eager for me to let them out so that they can go exploring...