Frozen Chicken

[Lesley Jones]

As Hamish knows, rescued battery hens often arrive without most of their feathers. I collected this trio just before the bitterly cold winter the year before last. Within days of installing them in the old goat pen in the field shelter, I spent my day off making little fleece jackets which they wore until the spring

 

[Pete Askew]

Very stylish. I guess you have to keep them separated from the others though. In case they get jealous!!

Nice quirky shot - I like it.

 

[Brian Moore]

That's very sweet. And a good picture, too. (How did you know they were Manchester United fans?)

What's the deal with "battery" hens? Why are they called that,...where do they arrive from,...why are they without feathers?

 

[Pete Askew]

They run off batteries Brian - Huh, some people!!

 

[Pete Askew]

They are effectively factory birds kept in tine cages for the few months of their life to produce eggs. Hence battery farm etc.

And, that just shows what I know - I'd assumed they supported Arsenal - being battery hens that is!!

 

[Darren Turner]

That's very sweet. And a good picture, too. (How did you know they were Manchester United fans?)

What's the deal with "battery" hens? Why are they called that,...where do they arrive from,...why are they without feathers?

see here for pics via google search
its quite a shocking way of keeping chickens that are literally egg laying mahcines, they spend most if not all there life in cages simmialr to these.

nice pic Lesley, great idea with the jackets, Keep up the good work

Daz

 

[Brian Moore]

They run off batteries Brian - Huh, some people!!

Pete: !

 

[Lesley Jones]

They are actually kept in cages with no more space than an A4 sheet of paper for about a year before being stuffed in crates by a team of "catchers" and sent off to be made into soup or stock cubes. We have had dozens over the years - I used to take them direct from the farm myself and what I saw there is the stuff of nightmares (and he was quite a good farmer). They are affectionate birds and will happily follow you around to see what you are doing. Unlike our rescued pedigrees, they are quite happy to be picked up and cuddled.

We're getting some more at the end of this month - the first batch from the new enriched cages.

 

[Brian Moore]

see here for pics via google search
its quite a shocking way of keeping chickens that are literally egg laying mahcines, they spend most if not all there life in cages simmialr to these.

Thank you Darren. It's nice to get a mature and informative response to a question for a change. (Pete: )

 

[Pete Askew]

Looking forward to hearing about the new batch / flock Lesley. I admire that you can give them a few happy years after such a miserable start. I have a friend in Germany who does similar.

 

[Lesley Jones]

Sadly they often don't last long. You see, they aren't bred to have lives of their own - it doesn't matter if they are prone to certain problems as long as they live for 18 months and produce as many eggs for as little feed as possible. Ours often go down with peritonitis or tumours, especially of the liver.

There is a charity over here trying to make people aware of the plight of battery hens and so far they have rescued and rehomed over 300,000 British Hen Welfare Trust. Hamish has some of them

 

[Hamish Gill]

Very cute!
We had the current 6 one year when it snowed for weeks
We kept them in the shed and put a mains powered radiator in there until the spring!
It cost me a fortune in leccy, but they are still with us now!
Probably should have just made them some coats

 

[Lesley Jones]

Ours had the coats, an infra red heater all day long and they were tucked up in bed with those microwaveable heaters at night

 

[Paul Lange]

Great photo Lesley and a great story behind it too. When I saw them I immediately thought you were packing them off to the North Pole to help cover for a helper shortage over their. Apparently there is some industrial action going on due to Elf and Safety issues.

 

[Chris Dodkin]

They do look festive Lesley