x battery hens

[suncaddie7]

hens not laying still, Ok may be in rushing But since i have had my chooks since october Ive only had 3 eggs, my other girls lay yummy blue eggs, But from the new ones Nothing, when will they lay? and will they lay.

[perchy]

Are you saying the hens that are not laying are ex batts? if so they are either worn out or waiting til spring, I think you will find eggs are a bonus with ex batts, some of them are so worn out they just retire, and rightly so

[aishakali]

I didnt even expect my ex batts to lay, when they do I take it as a lovely little gift

[LittleBrownFrog]

I've been lucky, all my ex-bats have laid well, but, as the others have said, eggs are a bonus. They are culled when they are at the end of their commercially useful life as layers, and that's the point at which some of them are lucky enough to be rescued.

[poncharetta]

We re-homed four ex-batts one month ago. One lays around 5 eggs a week and has been for two weeks, two are moulting so no eggs from them and one hen has internal tumours located in such a way she probably couldn't lay if she wanted to and probably doesn't have too long left to enjoy a real life. Like the others say, they just need a good time, safe places, all their needs and comforts met, if you get eggs then your gratitude to those hard worked hens should flow over . . .

[LisaB]

I got 6 more ex-batts in October, and only one of them I don't think lays, or may have just started, and another one I know only started laying 3 weeks ago, their bodies are so worn out some take a while to recover until they start laying again, others may have laid all their eggs and are now "retired".
At the moment from 9 I get about 4 eggs a day, but I got them for a better ending to their life, I didn't mind at all if none of them laid

[MissEllie]

Me too. We just got our ex batts a couple of weeks ago and no sign of eggs but not fussed - seeing them growing new feathers and doing chickeny stuff is reward enough for me
Maybe as Perchy says, you'll get some eggs in the spring.

[gromit]

our four x batts have been laying since we got them in october, well three of them anyway, flopsy went into a moult and refused and now looks an absolute picture and will probably start laying as the weather improves. The other three look pretty scruffy to the point where I have taken them off layer pellets and just feed them corn and scraps so they can have a rest and get some new feathers.

Given that we haven't bought an egg since we got them I reckon it's time they had a rest, seems ages since they didn't know what a worm was, they certainly do now and I note a steady increase in empty snail shells in the run.

I love em they are sweet natured, friendly, endlessly curious a joy with a great dislike for cats of which they are not at all frightened and will mob if one dares venture into their run.

sorry I ramble and a little off topic too, oh and they eat anything they like and just leave anything they don't, the dislikes include citrus so they are pretty self policing on the food front

[GingerSi]

We get 1 a day from our 3.

Whatever we get, as said, is a bonus.




They better have one ready for brekkie tomorrow ;-)

[GingerSi]

We got two full eggs and a mini one today :-)

[debby]

if im lucky i get 2 every other day from my 6 but so many smiles from me love them to bits xx one of them is the ex bat !!!!

[lizziedoggarden]

I get 1 egg a day from 22 ex bats.....

[suncaddie7]

well im going to have to Find a new home for my Girls, im not feeding with nothing in return, and also were Moving house this year. seems i was cond, we were told they would lay eggs, and they were about 1 year old. if you want to Buy them let me know.

[AL37]

Hi, Did you get the hens direct from a farm (dont name it) or was it from one of the rehoming organisations?

[Totally Scrambled]

Dom