# Ex battery hens - where did you get yours?



## Sprig (12 November 2013)

As above really. We are looking to get some towards the end of the year or beginning of next year and were looking for recommendations as to where to get them from. We are near Devizes in Wiltshire.


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## Amymay (12 November 2013)

Going to follow this one with interest, as we'll be doing this hopefully next year.


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## Clodagh (12 November 2013)

Easiest way is to go to your local chicken farmer and ask him when he is having a clear out. In Essex, for instance, I know of one happening at Christmas.
Or there is a Battery Hen Trust you could contact.
If they are your first hens, just remember they are prone to disease, having no immunity, and will quite likely not live very long. They often get egg peritonitis as they get older. It is a nice thing to do but it can sour peoples perceptions of what easy things to have chickens really are.


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## Honey08 (12 November 2013)

The British hen welfare trust have a website  (www.bhwt.co.uk) that gives you a lot of info on looking after ex-batts, and they have regional rescue days which will be listed on there.  There are a lot of other private individuals that do rescues too, for example Lucky Hens in Wigan in the North west are great.

ps, I have had six to ten  hens a year for the past five years, all of which were ex-batts.  My first hens were ex batts.  I had no problems with looking after them or illnesses.    None of them were diseased.  A couple died after a few months (they have had stressful lives prior to leaving the cages, so some will die..)  For me its not about getting eggs (although we get loads, ex batts seem to lay in winter too, and they pay their own way from what we sell) but more about  giving a creature that has had a miserable existence a good life, however long that will be.  Some of our ex batts have been with us three or four years (and they are 18 months when they leave the cages).

If you want an easy life, young hens etc, perhaps ex batts are not the route for you.  If you want the joy of seeing something that is scrawny and poor looking re feather, learn to walk, scratch in mud, and generally learn how wonderful being a normal hen is, there is nothing more rewarding.


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## Carlosmum (12 November 2013)

I used 'freshstart for hens' they rehome across a large part of the south  I'm not sure if they go further than the midlands.  I have had 2 batches, one was from commercial free-range the second were 'barn hens' but they do ex-batts too it just depends on which is the next available.


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## JCWHITE (12 November 2013)

Just to say, the 6 hens we got in October have laid just over 200 eggs, are a joy to have,and the best stress reducer we could have had following the loss of a loved horse. 
They chuckle away, are such little mates, and give us a lot of fun.
 We started with a house made of pallets and bamboo poles, whatever we could find at no cost. 
After a couple of weeks, they got their own Palace delivered flat pack, and are happy in a large run on a prevously abandoned part of our land. They were 15 months old, and cost 2.20 euros each, following a clear out.


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## WelshD (12 November 2013)

The BHWT are very good, I am a volunteer for them and rescues are always well organised and the volunteers very efficient (even if I do say so myself) They will put you in touch with your nearest rescue team, rescues over winter tend to be less frequent but there should still be some in your area

I breed pure bred bantams for showing but even I have fallen for the ex batts and rescued some myself, they are great little characters


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## Oliver12 (12 November 2013)

Honey08, how easy did you find it to integrate the different batches of hens. As a newcomer to chickens I bought six young hens this August as I had read about various problems with ex-batts and wanted to gain a bit of experience. I would like to have some ex-batts next year but I'm concerned about them being bullied.


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## Sprig (12 November 2013)

Thanks everyone. I have just registered with the British Hen Welfare Trust as they have a collection point not too far from us. I have asked to go on their waiting list but we will not be getting hens until towards the end of December at the earliest as we go on holiday mid-Dec so would not want to leave them in the care of somebody else so soon.


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## WelshD (12 November 2013)

Oliver12 you would need a separate area for the exbatts to start with, the exbatts will need to adjust to a very different life and the climate and whole day/night thing which they wont be used to. A batch of stronger healthier chooks on home turf is not the sort of thing you want to add to the mix. The exbatts need to adjust, get stronger and more feathered before coping with the home chooks


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## MiJodsR2BlinkinTite (12 November 2013)

Agree with "Honey08" above basically.

But bear in mind that as Welsh D above says you need to keep the ex-batts and your normal hens apart, at least initially until they feather up, or else you'll get a whole load of bum-pecking.

On that subject, the ex-batts DO tend to bum-peck each other and you'll need a contingency plan for when this happens........... also, if you're using the sort of hutch that they have to fly up to at night, bear in mind that (1) they won't know HOW to do it and (2) they won't be able to do it, full stop, simply because they've never in their lives EVER done it, and having been confined all their lives they will have muscular wastage anyway. But ours have learnt to do it, but it took about three months!

The best thing to do with ex-batts, we've found, is when you get them to put them somewhere enclosed but lots of room, like a shed, initially, with some natural daylight, but not too bright, but so they can see to feed, and let them recover in plenty of space and feather-up a bit, and THEN turn them outside into an open pen. We got ours last winter, about this time, and put them out into an open area with a hen-house where they had to jump up to get into it at night, and looking back that wasn't the best thing we could have done because they were all huddled together and obviously cold, and couldn't/wouldn't jump up to bed at night. So we transferred them to our old cow-byre, in the warm and dry, and they thrived. Then in the spring we let them out into a more open pen, and just now we've brought them in for the winter again.


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## Clodagh (12 November 2013)

We always have a couple of 'brown hens' that we buy at POL and they are destined to be battery hens so have only lived in a barn. The farmer we get them from is very insistent that they need to be under a roof to start with as anything flying over the top completely freaks them out. Ours go in a stable for a few days and then we open the door so they can come out if they want to. It generally takes a few more days before they venture out. It must be worse for ex batts who are older and more set in their ways, poor things, so what MJR2BT says would work.


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## Honey08 (12 November 2013)

I have to say though, while I understand the theory of keeping them apart and in a shed or something for a while, I have actually always put mine straight in with the others.  We have a very large run and I dot empty dustbins around on their side so there is lots of shelter outside the coop too.  We've very rarely had any fighting.  There are trees and hedges in the run that the newer ones seem to hide under for a few days.  At night they all go into "sleep mode" and any squabbles seem to be put aside.  Old and new hens huddle up together on the perches.  You have to dot food and water around the run in several locations so that everything gets some, even the meekest.  

The ones we intergrated a few weeks ago have been the easiest ever to introduce.  Our existing hens were seriously moulting, so a little bit quieter and less cocky, so it went amazingly smoothly.  The hardest "batch" we ever had were our initial six ex-batts, so possibly the new hens could take some confidence and guidance from the existing ones??

I'm lucky in that I have a part time week every month, so we get new hens when I am around all day and can keep more of an eye on what is going on.  We also have a spare stable or two if need be, and if any are bullied or sick they go in there.


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## Oliver12 (12 November 2013)

Thanks everyone for the excellent advice. I'll definitely be looking at rehoming some ex-battery hens in the spring/summer. Luckily I've got a spare stable so that should be a perfect home for a while.


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## Fionalex (13 November 2013)

Oliver12 said:



			Thanks everyone for the excellent advice. I'll definitely be looking at rehoming some ex-battery hens in the spring/summer. Luckily I've got a spare stable so that should be a perfect home for a while.
		
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And you know those farmers who get rid, saying they aren't good layers are sooo wrong! They are brilliant layers. They deserve lovely homes. Enjoy x


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