Ex-Battery hens and rain

[Anonymous]

On a slightly different note and following on from another post regarding hens out in the rain.
I have, over the past 2 months, lost about 7 ex batts.
The loss has always been after heavy rain. I cannot stop the ex batts from going out in the rain and many of them do not have the sense to comein from the rain.
I assume that the rain for them is a bit of a shock and when they come back into the chicken house wet, they seem to succumb to distrees during the night either by crushing or just the exposure to the rain.

I have observed them during the night and notice that they actually walk and sleep on top of each other (sometimes 2 or 3 deep. No amount of effort will get them to use the perches and if I do leave the nest boxes open, then they sleep 4 or 5 to a box and once again crush each other.

They have ample floor space but still insist on cramming together in a pile on a night time. I honestly believe that the cold rain saps their strength to escape from the bottom of the pile and they suffer from a form of crushing. The two I took to the vets were slightly inconclusive. The vet said there was nothing wrong with them disease wise and internally nothing was amiss, he assumed they had died from distress but could not say exactly what the cause was.

So I understand that many people leave their chickens out in the rain with no detriment to them at all. However, I now trully believe that quite a few ex batts, whom, for the last 70 odd weeks of their lives have been kept in an environment with a constant temperature, cannot handle the shock of even summer rain and manage to make it through the night whilst soaking wet.

I have managed to rescue 3 hens which were unable to walk or even stand, having placed them away from the others and introduced some warmth to them for a few hours in a quiet place and they have recovered fully.

Yet many of the other ex batts quite happily go out and get soaked with no ill effects whatsoever.

Sorry to go on for so long and to go off track slightly, but it is just an observation from my experience over the past few months with a large flock of ex batts (presently over 200 and more to arrive in a couple of weeks).

cheers

steve

 

[Tim]

Hi Steve,

That's interesting. I've found ex-battery hens don't have much sense at first and will get soaked through to the skin if left to their own devices!

They do seem to learn after a while though.

With the crushing - I've experienced youngsters that aren't fully feathered doing this - but only if there is a draft in the brooding area. It might be worth checking they aren't doing this for the same reason if they aren't fully feathered.

I have split the last topic, making a new topic out of your last post. Hope you don't mind, it helps others to find relavent topics when searching for help.

Cheers. Tim

 

[Davidd]

Hi, well i would try and get them perching if you can- it will take a few nights of hard work but worth it in the end- you need to wait until just after dark and physically put every one on the perches ( i know you have 200 but it shouldn't take that long :shock: )It is much better for them to perch- they can't get crushed and once some start the others will follow- they are creatures of habit. They will get the hang of it after a very short time- as to the rain- once fully feathered they should be fine- especially with the warm, summer rain. My hens all go in when it rains apart from the polands who just stand there- so i have to put them in - during the winter they are in all the time- they have big sheds and plenty of space.
regards, David

 

[Lucylou]

I read of someone who kept ex-batts 'teaching' the girls to perch by having things around like old tyres. They got used to something large to perch on to begin with & gradually got used to the whole idea of perching, then went onto something narrower. Not sure if I'm right but I think I also read that they have to strengthen their legs not having been used to walking let along perching.

Good luck with them, 200, quite a task

 

[Anonymous]

Hi I have had loads of ex battery girls

I kept mine in our stable for a month or so so that they could get used to not being in the climate controlled conditions they had been used it. We fitted a full height mess door and then started to keep that open during the day and closed at night.

I didn't start with perches until they were stronger as I had been told that is some cases who have very low calcium levels in their bones can damage their legs if they jump off a perch and land badly.

Once they were stronger and more used to us we then moved them out to our big converted garden shed and did have to teach them about going to bed but it took only a couple on nights.

Some never did like to be on the perches and preferred the floor but each are different.

I understand with 200 that it would be a lot harder to keep them in initially but could you splint them up some how and do this?

Hope you get them settled soon as all our girls were lovely. We have also had ex free range girls which end up going the same way as the battery girls after the same amount of time but they are used to being out side which does help.

Please let us know how you get on,

Greenhen

 

[foxy]

I am wondering if offering a low grid of perches might help? A bit like the forsham arks have? Not too high quite close together allows them to perch with ventilation underneath perhaps.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies, I am a little late in replying because I didnt realise this post had been separated, silly me.

Anyway, I've had some of the ex batts for about 3 months now, I have spent hours trying to get them to perch some of them do, about 50 of them, and I have tried all sorts to get the others to follow suit including physically sitting them on the perch.
I even tried sprinkling feed along the top rail of the paerch where it is mounted along the wall. The ex batts walk up the ramps onto the perches, eat the feed, then jump off and go and lie on the floor.

I've increased the bedding layer to about 6 inches all over and since doing that have not lost anymore hens but have noticed the egg production has gone up. What is it they say about every action having an equal and opposite reaction?

Just out of interest, these ex batts are producing over 7 dozen eggs a day between them and 1/3 of them have still not settled so should start to produce hopefully in the near future.
I suppose 7 dozen eggs from 200 hens is considered unprofitable by the battery farmers, yet i still wonder if the demise of 19.000.000 battery hens every 72 weeks is the most profitable solution for the battery farmers.

cheers

steve