19th March 2011 .
The picture on the left outside the new Hen House, Hetty, Betty, Peggy & Maud, with few feathers and not knowing what to do, dazed & frightened, but this is the 1st day of their new life outside the battery farm.
But compared to the picture on the right, taken today 19th March 2012. One year on, don't they look healthy & happy, as a chicken should be. As many of my regular readers know we take the Chickens to our Allotment which benefits us and especially them.
The picture on the left outside the new Hen House, Hetty, Betty, Peggy & Maud, with few feathers and not knowing what to do, dazed & frightened, but this is the 1st day of their new life outside the battery farm.
But compared to the picture on the right, taken today 19th March 2012. One year on, don't they look healthy & happy, as a chicken should be. As many of my regular readers know we take the Chickens to our Allotment which benefits us and especially them.
Here is Peggy and it's nearly bed time, what a difference a year has made.
What has surprised us is how many Eggs we have had over 12 months, it's an unbelievable 1,048 from our 4 'girls' that's an average of 262 each, plenty of Cakes & Omelets for us and of course fresh eggs for breakfast.
Why the battery farmer thinks their egg laying time is over at 18months old, is a mystery, but if we hadn't taken them, they would have been destroyed and probably turned into pet food. But thanks to the British Hen Welfare Trust many thousands (currently 312,025) have been saved from that fate. http://www.bhwt.org.uk
But if you wish to re-home some poor Hens yourself, you should register with the BHWT and then you can search for your nearest re-homing helper & get some useful information about keeping hens on their site.
When we decided we wanted to keep Hens we went on a one day Poultry Keeping course at Reasheath College, which was a big help. You can get lots of useful info from books & on the internet, but meeting & learning from a retired hen farmer and getting hands on experience can not be beaten.
I hope you liked this Blog, please leave a comment if you can, I love reading them.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian.
What has surprised us is how many Eggs we have had over 12 months, it's an unbelievable 1,048 from our 4 'girls' that's an average of 262 each, plenty of Cakes & Omelets for us and of course fresh eggs for breakfast.
Why the battery farmer thinks their egg laying time is over at 18months old, is a mystery, but if we hadn't taken them, they would have been destroyed and probably turned into pet food. But thanks to the British Hen Welfare Trust many thousands (currently 312,025) have been saved from that fate. http://www.bhwt.org.uk
But if you wish to re-home some poor Hens yourself, you should register with the BHWT and then you can search for your nearest re-homing helper & get some useful information about keeping hens on their site.
When we decided we wanted to keep Hens we went on a one day Poultry Keeping course at Reasheath College, which was a big help. You can get lots of useful info from books & on the internet, but meeting & learning from a retired hen farmer and getting hands on experience can not be beaten.
I hope you liked this Blog, please leave a comment if you can, I love reading them.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian.
That is a brilliant sight. We hope to re-home some ex battery hens some time this year, we have been thinking about it for a while. A fellow Allotmenteer has done this and will give us some tips. Well done you!
ReplyDeleteSo glad your hens are well and happy, you have looked after them so well (some very early mornings!) and I have enjoyed reading about them here and on Twitter.
ReplyDeleteThey look so happy, well done you! We have a farm at work and we have rescued battery hens, it is so rewarding to see them flourish and start enjoying life. I too always enjoy your blog, keep up the good work x
ReplyDeleteLovely happy hens, they've come on so well!
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