A New Lease of Life for our Rescued Hens
Are you considering keeping some in your back garden? Is it better to buy point of lay birds or to offer a new lease of life to ex-battery chickens?
Why Do Hens Need To Be Rescued?
We have rescued ex-commercial hens through a local charity, Homes4Hens, a few times now. These poor birds look very sorry for themselves initially; bald patches, their combs are pale and floppy, and they all have a sad look in their eyes.
These hens will have been kept in controlled conditions indoors for their entire lives, to maximise their ability to lay an egg every day.
Generally, these hens are around 12-18 months old; this is the age when egg production typically begins to decline. And therefore, this is the age when commercial laying hens are sent to slaughter. Thankfully, there are charities such as Homes4Hens that step in at this critical moment to give some lucky girls a second chance at a happy life.
Without human intervention in terms of genetic selection and carefully controlling their environment, hens would only lay approximately 15 eggs per year. Commercial laying hens have been bred and are kept in conditions which encourage them to lay at least 200 eggs per year.
Needless to say, this places a huge strain on the hens, which is why they arrive at the rescue in such a sorry state.
A few weeks of TLC is all they need though! With fresh air, grass under their feet and plenty of nourishment, they soon regrow their feathers, their combs become more vibrant and their eyes light up again.
How To Get Set Up For Rescued Hens
Our hens live outdoors all year round. This means they can enjoy 14 hours of daylight in midsummer, and get a rest from laying as the days are shorter over winter. They love scratching around in the grass for weeds and grubs.
We decided to contain them within a 50 metre perimeter of electric fencing for their protection against foxes and other predators. Though we have not seen a single fox since the alpacas moved into the field. More recently we re-homed a cockerel, so we are fairly confident that the hens will be looked after! So much so that we no longer electrify the fencing.
My husband built a modified “chick-shaw” after watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTnpvzh3iVM . We have been really happy with it! The combination of the chickshaw and movable fencing has made it so easy to move the hens around the field once a week, providing them with fresh grass, grubs and stimulation.
We feed the hens layers’ pellets and also use pecking corn to encourage them to scratch around for weeds and grubs. In the interest of self-sufficiency and reducing our impact on the environment, we are working towards a more home-grown diet for the hens. We are growing some sunflowers this year to feed to them and intend to grow extra corn for them in future years.
They always have plenty of fresh water and a dust bath to keep themselves clean.
All of this is significantly different to their previous home; they were most likely kept in barns without natural sunlight, and up to nine hens per square metre. They would have been fed layer’s mash.
How Many Hens Do I Need?
There are two factors to consider when deciding on the size of your flock.
The first is space. Hens will enjoy as much space as you can offer them. If you want to maximise the quality of life for your rescued birds, try not to overcrowd them.
The second consideration is the number of eggs you could work with. We currently have 10 hens and Gerard the cockerel in our flock. Between April and September we get half a dozen eggs per day, which is more than enough for our needs. This dwindles to one or two eggs most days over winter, which is fine as I revert to vegan recipes during these months.
Our fresh eggs are far better than any shop-bought egg; lovely vibrant yolks and full of flavour. Happy hens really do lay better eggs!
Could you do make space to re-home some ex-commercial hens? If not, would you consider purchasing eggs from a local keeper of free-range hens, rather than buying commercial eggs? I would love to hear your thoughts!
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