Anyone keep Chickens?

[brightspark]

ive worked on chicken farms and they stuffed 5 birds to a cage they are quite nasty and attack each other and cant move same as on pig farms it pi....ses me off to see it and id rather pay more for food than see them suffer

 

[Barking Mat]

ive worked on chicken farms and they stuffed 5 birds to a cage they are quite nasty and attack each other and cant move same as on pig farms it pi....ses me off to see it and id rather pay more for food than see them suffer

My shortest lived job was...
Cleaning sh1t in a battery chicken farm.
I was 18, back from India, would do anything to earn a grand, and go travelling again.
I didn't last 6 minutes.
Horrible with a capital F prefix.

 

[mike os]

Me too, I hate unnecessarily suffering

 

[TechnicAl]

My mate had a chicken farm when we were at school....60 years ago........thousands of the bloody things....all free to roam and then they would go into these massive sheds at night......always wondered how they knew which was their shed....before they invented battery hens....his Dad would just grab one, ring its neck, pluck it and cook it.

 

[brightspark]

I used to have to wear overalls with elasticated cuffs and flea spray when working in the battery hen houses used to get bitten and one night a few fleas jumped off me at the dinner table me mam went off it

 

[Barking Mat]

Pure greed, over animal care.

 

[ronan]

Pure greed, over animal care.

Yes, which is why so many are going veggie or vegan. I can see why.

 

[Barking Mat]

Yeah, but not me.

I only got in to veal since I lived over here.

Ooh.

That'll go down well.

 

[TechnicAl]

Yeah, but not me.

I only got in to veal since I lived over here.

Ooh.

That'll go down well.

My missus wont eat Veal......Im not keen either but for me its the taste.....also she wont eat Lamb because they look like puppy Golden Retrievers

 

[brightspark]

I wont stop eating meat but id rather not see what goes on before it reaches the shop

 

[Barking Mat]

Lamb doesn't do it for me.

The one meat I won't eat.

The smell.

 

[brewdexta]

We buy ex-battery hens occasionally, lovely friendly birds and still got a lot of laying left in them. Last lot was just over 2 years ago and still going strong, otherwise they would have ended up as tinned dog food. The two red/brown hens in the foreground are two of them.

 

[ronan]

We buy ex-battery hens occasionally, lovely friendly birds and still got a lot of laying left in them. Last lot was just over 2 years ago and still going strong, otherwise they would have ended up as tinned dog food. The two red/brown hens in the foreground are two of them.

View attachment 246694

Yes, they thrive when they get a chance.

 

[bigegg]

Yes, they thrive when they get a chance.

I reckon the scrag-ends I bought were ex-battery hens. It was amazing how much they bloomed within a month - they even grew feathers.

 

[Bobtail4x4]

One of our last lot of rescue hens was named "oven ready" only 5 or 6 feathers on her body, cant tell which is which now.

 

[Dev]

I reckon the scrag-ends I bought were ex-battery hens. It was amazing how much they bloomed within a month - they even grew feathers.

Some of the images you see on Facebook of scrawny chickens showing how awful battery farms are - are really just moulting.
The fact they grow feathers back and look healthy again is just part of a regular cycle.

We’ve 2 ginger hybrids at the minute and 2 eggs a day regular as clockwork. Never seen a rat but maybe the cat is responsible for that (it’s come home with a dead rabbit in the past and injured a passing duck once, somehow)

 

[johnakay]

only till it get chucked in the oven.

 

[brightspark]

We buy ex-battery hens occasionally, lovely friendly birds and still got a lot of laying left in them. Last lot was just over 2 years ago and still going strong, otherwise they would have ended up as tinned dog food. The two red/brown hens in the foreground are two of them.

View attachment 246694

the true meaning of being put out to grassbet your neighbours love you with that rooster

 

[brewdexta]

the true meaning of being put out to grassbet your neighbours love you with that rooster

Unfortunately the badgers took him and a hen from the old hen house a couple of months ago. The new hen house is built somewhat better so should prevent that.

Our nearest neighbour is a few hundred yards away, he keeps cattle and definitely doesn't mind, his parents had an old fashioned free range chicken farm. The next nearest are old and deaf, and the next one has a right mix of hens, ducks, geese, doves and Guinea fowl and is looking after our hens and chicks for a few days while we have a wander around pembrokeshire.

We have 9 five week old chicks so may end up with a few roosters. I've provisionally got homes for at least 2 cockerel, so I'm hoping no more than 4 out of the 9 will be cocks.

 

[eSCHEn]

One of the hens went missing about three weeks ago. Regular readers will know where this is heading already I fear. She didn't turn up at lock-up but was there the next day. She's a fast and small wee girl and there's no chance of catching her.

After a few nights of this she went for a week but turned up again. I've already got the date she did her first night out marked in my mind so this is T+7 days or so.

This carries on for another week whilst we search for the outside nest she's obviously brooding. We have more than enough chickens right now and don't need more.
At T+17 I find the nest. In what is now a really obvious spot, she's got a clutch of waaaaaay too many eggs under her, looks like nine or more

By this stage I don't want to just stop the eggs so leave her to it. As there's so many and she's so wee I'm not expecting any/hoping for none.

Today: T+21 on the dot and she is basking in the sun in a way that makes me super suspicious and yup, three wee chicks under her. Sigh.

Ps @brewdexta How are the chicks coming along? Should be nine or ten weeks old by now and showing some sexual dimorphism to get an early idea of sex?