Batt in Business

[dinosaw]

Looking down the photo postings here it was March 20th last year that I gave up my lovely birds to move abroad which makes it just under a year without chickens and what a long year it has been. Just moved into our new house (3rd move in under a year 07 ) and the first priority was to get some birds, luckily there was already a large fairly decent run and a very well made house already in situ. I looked at the BHWT site and saw they had a collection in Oxfordshire on Sunday, we have always talked about giving a home to some ex batts and now I am a very happy chicken keeper once more. We went with the intention of getting 6 but when there were going to be some leftover and we have the space we have ended up with 9. They were really good on their first day, took them about an hour to come out of the house and I managed to coax them in by by opening up the side door and calling to them, once a couple of the more curious came to have a look the rest followed. Next day there was bit of blood from comb injuries as you can see from the blood on the feeder but nothing too bad, they are adept at the comb grab I have to say, but mostly they have been too busy digging and eating. The feathering levels are variable but I have put a photo of the worst couple of birds on here, strangely enough the one at the feeder is also the most confident of the bunch and spent the first hour here putting every other chicken in its place. Amazingly I got 6 eggs from them on my first day, which is way more than I would have expected. Hopefully in a few months a will be able to post some photos of fully feathered hens.

 

[chrismahon]

Pleased to see you are back Dinosaw. They look surprisingly healthy hens, considering what they have been through.

 

[Marigold]

Hi Dinosaw, great to have you back. As you've been getting birds I expect that you're home for good now?
What an interesting collection of hens. It'll be fascinating to watch them getting used to life in the outside world, and the before and after photos will be revealing. A good time of year to be rehoming birds who are having a bad hair day, as well - you won't have to worry about whether they're feeling the cold.

 

[dinosaw]

Yes, back for good Marigold,it was only after moving abroad that we realised how many things we missed about Britain and by the end of our time we were counting the days to come back. Have managed to get the amount of land that we had been looking for to keep a lot more birds, so hopefully in the summer will take on some geese and going forward the next project would be to hatch my own flock of Barnevelders or Faverolles but I'm getting ahead of myself as usual. These particular hens came out of the barn system Chris which may explain their condition, in terms of the space requirements it can be worse than cages at 9 birds per square metre as the legal maximum but they do get to perch and move about and I think this is reflected in their strength compared to what you would expect from caged birds.

 

[dinosaw]

Some better photos now they have settled in, they are already mobbing us at the door when we come up to the run, amazing what a few grapes will do for your popularity.

 

[Marigold]

Brilliant photos, dinosaw. What a lovely grass enclosure, they must think they've died and gone to heaven. Have they got names yet? I mean, can you reliably tell them apart at this stage? It looks as if their combs are already beginning to go a better red.
I spent the hen rescue who organised the rehoming would be very pleased to have some of your photos for their publicity.

 

[dinosaw]

Thank you Marigold, I can only tell three of them apart at the moment, two who are poorly feathered and one that is particularly inquisitive, I agree with you they are already looking so much better and have gained hugely in confidence, two of them jumped out of the coop when I opened the door to poo pick yesterday and started exploring outside of the run. Just looked on the BHWT website and they like you to send photos and have a link to send them in so I will do.

 

[BabyBantam]

I have to say I'm horrified at the condition of them even though they come out of the 'improved' farming system just glad I dont eat eggs or contribute to the ongoing welfare issue of these poor hens. Good on you (and everyone else) that makes room to give these lovely intelligent birds a chance to retire in style
Knowing how beautiful Pootie looked (next door) once she feathered up, you should have some lovely looking girls at next moult.

 

[Icemaiden]

Great photos, Dinosaw. You clearly don't mind lying (sp?) down in chicken poo to get a good picture!

I'll be interested to see how long the lovely grassy run lasts. Mine looked like that once 10

 

[chickenfan]

Good luck with the birds Dinosaw. I'm shocked by their condition too. Its great they are finally having a proper life.

 

[dinosaw]

Thanks everyone, they are coming along well,the little girl in the second photo is getting a bit of bullying around feeding unfortunately (she is lovely, very friendly but also very timid) but aside from that they are rubbing along well enough together. They had their first communal dustbath today in semi damp soil bless them, still they seemed to enjoy it well enough with a couple of them having forty winks while they were at it. Half the grass has already disappeared Icemaiden, don't think the other half has long to go. Not the only thing that disappeared either, we accidentally left half a dozen eggs on top of the roof of the house (which is outside the run) and while we wondered if something might have eaten them, were surprised to find absolutely no trace of them when we went up to see, no shell, yolk or anything they had been snatched whole, reckon it was either the crows or the Red Kites that got the meal of a lifetime.

 

[dinosaw]

They are looking a bit better feathered now and all this refeathering while continuing to lay non stop bless em, they all have the same little bit which hasn't regrown because they can't resist pecking each other there, right at the upper front of the wing. They have turned out to be a lovely fearless little bunch of chickens and despite some of the extra problems that they bring with them I would say that taking them on is well worth it.

 

[Marigold]

Brilliant, how gratifying to see so much improvement in such happy birds.

 

[chickenfan]

They look great now Dinosaw!