Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[TropicalBabies]

We lost our first and favorite hen Vanille yesterday. (Sorry for the repost for those who read the fluffy butt acres thread!) She was a frequent photobomber on this thread, so I'll share a bit about her health issues as an ex-batt, which I feel has to do with the subjects this thread deals with.

Although she was only for three months in a battery, it became very quickly clear that she was suffering like many high production hybrids of reproductive disease. After her first month laying, she started having egg retention problems : she would not lay for 24 hours, then lay two eggs a few hours apart that looked like this as they came in contact in the oviduct.
View attachment 3195404
She was always in pain throughout this process, which sometimes happened only once in two weeks, sometimes for whole weeks in a row, but she was a fighter and she loved life.
After a severe illness this september and a hard molt she stopped laying for a few months. When she started laying again, her eggs were very fragile and soon enough she was passing soft shells that sometimes broke inside her.

We did what we could to support her throughout these ordeals all her life, warm baths, calcium in different forms, lubrication, trying all kind of layer feed...which we did less and less when we saw they didn't help. She always pulled out of it, until yesterday she didn't. She couldn't push the egg out, and just went unconscious after about a day of trying.
Classical fate of ex battery hens and I knew it would happen but I still feel awful about it. She was 33 months, my stupid goal was to take her to 36.
View attachment 3195405

Sorry for your loss @ManueB . Vanille is such a beauty. Pretty awesome that she made your favorite list, bet she never dreamed she could have the life you gave her along with the loving status of deserved favorite. Bless her little heart. You did very well by her ♡ she, eventually, was a very lucky girl ♡ RIP Vanille

 

[pennyJo1960]

I am sorry she lost the battle @ManueB
I am certain you gave her a better life.

 

[Ribh]

We lost our first and favorite hen Vanille yesterday. (Sorry for the repost for those who read the fluffy butt acres thread!) She was a frequent photobomber on this thread, so I'll share a bit about her health issues as an ex-batt, which I feel has to do with the subjects this thread deals with.

Although she was only for three months in a battery, it became very quickly clear that she was suffering like many high production hybrids of reproductive disease. After her first month laying, she started having egg retention problems : she would not lay for 24 hours, then lay two eggs a few hours apart that looked like this as they came in contact in the oviduct.
View attachment 3195404
She was always in pain throughout this process, which sometimes happened only once in two weeks, sometimes for whole weeks in a row, but she was a fighter and she loved life.
After a severe illness this september and a hard molt she stopped laying for a few months. When she started laying again, her eggs were very fragile and soon enough she was passing soft shells that sometimes broke inside her.

We did what we could to support her throughout these ordeals all her life, warm baths, calcium in different forms, lubrication, trying all kind of layer feed...which we did less and less when we saw they didn't help. She always pulled out of it, until yesterday she didn't. She couldn't push the egg out, and just went unconscious after about a day of trying.
Classical fate of ex battery hens and I knew it would happen but I still feel awful about it. She was 33 months, my stupid goal was to take her to 36.
View attachment 3195405

This is why I won't do battery hens again. I admire those who can but the losses take a devestating emotional toll . It makes me so angry we've done this to chickens. Your Vanille was one of the lucky ones. She got you.

 

[Shadrach]

We need a better name for this. Two here do it, both of the 'peck inferiors' variety. With three coops there's a safe alternative, but for some reason I don't understand, the juniors still prefer to run the gauntlet of a guarded one. The cleverest birds dash past the guard in the wake of one of the roos, who are able to pass unmolested. This is a hen thing. Maybe the origin of the term 'hen-pecked'?

It does seem to be a hen thing.
I think term hen pecked comes from observing hens grooming rooster. Sort of, "you can't go out looking like that dear and have you got your handkerchief in your pocket" while she picks bits of lint off you jacket.

 

[Shadrach]

We lost our first and favorite hen Vanille yesterday. (Sorry for the repost for those who read the fluffy butt acres thread!) She was a frequent photobomber on this thread, so I'll share a bit about her health issues as an ex-batt, which I feel has to do with the subjects this thread deals with.

Although she was only for three months in a battery, it became very quickly clear that she was suffering like many high production hybrids of reproductive disease. After her first month laying, she started having egg retention problems : she would not lay for 24 hours, then lay two eggs a few hours apart that looked like this as they came in contact in the oviduct.
View attachment 3195404
She was always in pain throughout this process, which sometimes happened only once in two weeks, sometimes for whole weeks in a row, but she was a fighter and she loved life.
After a severe illness this september and a hard molt she stopped laying for a few months. When she started laying again, her eggs were very fragile and soon enough she was passing soft shells that sometimes broke inside her.

We did what we could to support her throughout these ordeals all her life, warm baths, calcium in different forms, lubrication, trying all kind of layer feed...which we did less and less when we saw they didn't help. She always pulled out of it, until yesterday she didn't. She couldn't push the egg out, and just went unconscious after about a day of trying.
Classical fate of ex battery hens and I knew it would happen but I still feel awful about it. She was 33 months, my stupid goal was to take her to 36.
View attachment 3195405

She looks lovely in the picture.
This is in part the message I would like people to take away should they read the thread. Ex Battery hens are not going to live long. While I and others find them extremely rewarding to care for, they are also very hard on the heart.
Part of the problem is people often get a few when they decide to take some on.
Most will have lived 18 months in the battery. What this may mean for you the keeper is, one month you may have six hens and three moths later none. Most die in a fairly narrow age range and for most there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

 

[BDutch]

It does seem to be a hen thing.
I think term hen pecked comes from observing hens grooming rooster. Sort of, "you can't go out looking like that dear and have you got your handkerchief in your pocket" while she picks bits of lint off you jacket.

This insult is not allowed by the emancipation committee.

 

[Shadrach]

I had a friends and family visit at the allotments. I had been invited to supper but it was during chcken time so I couldn't stay to eat. They brought what they had saved for me down to the allotments. I don't think I've seen that many people at the allotments at once before.

I found a soft shelled egg in one of the nest boxes, I assume from the sick looking hen in the picture below.

I had some sausages that needed cooking. I ate three and cut up the other three for the hens along with 4 plums.
I think I've got a few fingers left.

I managed to get some mesh over the air vents. I can still open and close them.

 

[Sequel]

We lost our first and favorite hen Vanille yesterday. (Sorry for the repost for those who read the fluffy butt acres thread!) She was a frequent photobomber on this thread, so I'll share a bit about her health issues as an ex-batt, which I feel has to do with the subjects this thread deals with.

Although she was only for three months in a battery, it became very quickly clear that she was suffering like many high production hybrids of reproductive disease. After her first month laying, she started having egg retention problems : she would not lay for 24 hours, then lay two eggs a few hours apart that looked like this as they came in contact in the oviduct.
View attachment 3195404
She was always in pain throughout this process, which sometimes happened only once in two weeks, sometimes for whole weeks in a row, but she was a fighter and she loved life.
After a severe illness this september and a hard molt she stopped laying for a few months. When she started laying again, her eggs were very fragile and soon enough she was passing soft shells that sometimes broke inside her.

We did what we could to support her throughout these ordeals all her life, warm baths, calcium in different forms, lubrication, trying all kind of layer feed...which we did less and less when we saw they didn't help. She always pulled out of it, until yesterday she didn't. She couldn't push the egg out, and just went unconscious after about a day of trying.
Classical fate of ex battery hens and I knew it would happen but I still feel awful about it. She was 33 months, my stupid goal was to take her to 36.
View attachment 3195405

I’m so sorry Manue! You not only gave her the best retirement possible, you also memorialized her in your beautiful photos!

 

[Windrider]

Maybe you could ask on BYC if people from so cal know of good breeders ? Not sure if you would get good advice, but it might be better than craigslist.

Sorry I missed this advice. I will definitely try here, but the usual advice is to get shipped eggs and hatch them. That will be a last resort for me. We do have more rural areas in California, it is just more of a drive. I'll be traveling several hundred miles up the very agricultural Central Valley sometime later this year to pick up a puppy, so I might see if I can just go full traveling ark and find chickens at the same time.

I am sorry for the loss of Vanille, Manue. I don't always have much to say on these threads, but I do follow along and have enjoyed getting to know everyone's tribes. She will be missed. I sometimes look at Shad's pics of the allotment tribe and feel that something is missing without Cloud.

 

[micstrachan]

Tax for the show trash: Chirk is positively glowing in the morning sunshine
View attachment 3194224

Glowing indeed!