Hello All. I usually get my hens from The British Hen Welfare Trust and they have asked me if I can take any on 20th December when they will have 500 for re-homing in the North West. We are going away for Christmas on 19th for two weeks so can't help out. I said I would see if anyone on this site co...

Hello, Chris. We have 7 ex batt hens that we need to rehome due to us not being here for several months soon. They are in good health and most of them are laying. Don't know if you are looking for fancy hens or not. These are not fancy but are great fun! They are free to a good home plus some feed a...

Replying to my own post in the hope of keeping it at the top of the forum

Hello everyone. Is anyone out there interested in homing our girls. We have had ex-batts now since 2009 and in that time have rehomed about 30 hens. We are down to 7 at the moment. In the past we have been able to manage holidays and other absences easiy enough with family members and friends doing ...

Fab! Welcome. You are officially hooked for life!!

Hi there. Sorry to hear your chicken is unwell. Also sorry to say that she is probably not going to improve. It is most likely egg peritonitis. You don't say how old she is but, if she is getting on or an ex-bat, this is probably the cause. I have had this lots of times. Sometimes they can rally for...

About £150 for a really tatty wooden coop off internet with a most inadequate run attached for three ex-batt hens. So had Cluckingham Palace built to put the coop inside. Built it over 12'x12' paved area with small raised bed - now their playground. Cost about £780. Wooden coop then became infested ...

Hello Hiroko. I would be concerned about the hen with the swollen hard belly. When I have had any hens with this, they have been diagnosed with egg yolk peritonitis (EYP) and either died of it or had to be put to sleep. Search this forum for advice on this condition.

Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. Today one egg was quite heavily covered in blood and another had a small amount. Will keep on watching. They all seem happy enough, if fighting and squawking all day long is happy!

No Obvious injury and I don't know which hen it is. The whole egg was streaked with it.
I will just keep an eye on them. I may spray one that I think it could be with gentian violet around her vent to see if we get a bloody purple egg. Thanks

Hi. I wonder if anyone can advise. I have seven ex-batts and this morning one had laid a normal egg but there were streaks of blood all over it from where it had obviously emerged. Never had this before. They all seem their usual feisty selves. Thanks

Hi can anyone remind me where to get chicken netting the square stuff galvanised? Ta

Just seen there is one in Stroud - is that near you?

http://www.tjmorris.co.uk/tjm/stores/

I don't know if you have a range of shops near you called Home Bargain (they are often linked to Linen Warehouse shops). I buy my meal worms there for about £1.29 for 100g packet. I think this is amazing and bulk buy every few months.

They do keep you on your toes, don't they? When we got our first ex-batts, we put an old plastic sledge in their run filled with a mixture of half a bag of compost and half a bag of sand in case they wanted to dust bathe. Within an hour and a half they had eaten it! And they had just come straight f...