Battery vs Free range

[Snadger]

Some of mine are ex bats and some I bought as pullets that were destined to be battery hens! They are excellent layers.
As Lynda has found out, sometime you just have to take whatever is in your area, or hatch your own!

Ex bats or chooks destined for the battery are basically laying machines and if all you want is eggs they are ideal. Forget about eating any as they are quite scrawny.

If you want dual purpose and multi coloured jobbies you basically have to go down the purebread route............which in your case would probably be best I think!

If you're wanting a few for the pot as well, you would need to look at large fowl (LF)

[MaureenHall]

Got to put my twopennorth in here (bet you knew I'd poke me nose in! Mrs Busybody, or chookybody that's me )
I've got ex-batts and "posh" chooks, had the ex-batts since February and the others since October. Out of 11 chooks (7 ex-batts and 4 "posh") I'm getting 7 eggs a day at the moment. None of the chooks look as if they'd ever be any good for the pot, as Snadger says they're too scrawny, besides which they're too old now, chooks for the pot are dispatched before they're 30 weeks old (usually)

Pros for getting ex-batts:
1 They get a life of comfort, freedom, can feel fresh air, sun, rain, wind, ground underfoot etc
2 They're already laying so from 6 you'd get between 3 - 4 eggs a day, sometimes more
3 The pleasure and satisfaction you get seeing them change from "oven-ready with heads and feet" to beautiful girls with feathers all over
4 Become very tame very quickly, may even eat out of your hand on day 1 or 2

Cons:
1 Might not be available in your area so may have to travel (carbon footprint)
2 Remaining life expectancy might be fairly short (I've lost 3 out of 14 in 10 months)

I'm sure there's many more pros and cons, and someone else will doubtless mention them. At the end of the day, it's what you want from your chooks. Pets? Egg producers? Meat birds? Make a list of what qualities you'd like from the chickens and take it from there.

Good luck, and whatever you get, you'll have a wonderful time playing with and talking to them (I should know, I'm fluent in chook now!)

[vicky]

I don't know how many you're thinking of getting, but what about a mix? Then you can get longer living pets and a couple of ex batts? I have 3 ex batts and one posh bird (supposedly!) and it's quite a good mix, plus your daughter would probably like pets she can tell apart and the ex batts do look quite similar.
There's an essex rescue around Tolleshunt way where we got ours and I seem to remember there's someone in Stortford too (it will take a while to remember...).
(Also when you are looking to get them there's a breeder near us who I got my posh bird from and I wouldn't reccommend her! (mine came with every louse/worm under the sun!)- pm me sometime in the future!)

[Noodle]

At Little Hen we quite often get pure breeds in as well. WE have 3 cochin ladies at the moment that are being rehomed this week. I took 2 bantams and we also had 4 others. So you can rescue pure breeds. The only draw back to thisis that it's often not clear how old they are. The breeders tell you one thing and it's obvious it's not true! I've had one bantam egg so far! (am going to frame it!)

I'm going torescue a load of amber links on Thursday and they are supposedly free range although in the past they are often in a worse physical condition than the ex-batts, they just have feathers to cover up other sins!

What ever you decide on you will love!

As far as the price of feed goes. We buy our layers pellets for £7.30 a bag (15kg) and that lasts my 6 a good couple of months.

[Flummery]

I decided to get some hens in the spring - we love birds and have had budgies and cockatiels at home. I initially fell for the idea of rescuing birds but having joined 2 chicken forums I came to feel that I needed experience with hens that were in good condition and used to doing chickeny things before I felt confident to cope with abused hens. Don't know if that makes sense. Also up in the north we don't seem to be close to any rescue groups and would need a long drive to get them - also very stressful for birds in poor condition. I think I'm just going to see what's available locally in 2 or 3 months time and go with that. THEN I might rescue some hens.
I also feel there's something to be said, if you're looking for good egg production, for buying hybrid hens of the sort that are usually kept in battery farms, and in effect, rescuing them BEFORE the cages, not after.

[MaureenHall]

As far as the price of feed goes. We buy our layers pellets for £7.30 a bag (15kg) and that lasts my 6 a good couple of months.

That's expensive food!! I'm paying £5.50 for 20kg layers pellets, and Snadger's buying the same at £4.95. It's Farmgate. I did start off using Smallholder but the price of that has rocketed and with all my lot it was costing me too much. Farmgate is GM free and the chooks love it

[Noodle]

That's expensive food!! I'm paying £5.50 for 20kg layers pellets, and Snadger's buying the same at £4.95. It's Farmgate. I did start off using Smallholder but the price of that has rocketed and with all my lot it was costing me too much. Farmgate is GM free and the chooks love it

I know, it is pricey, but it's all that's available to me round here! Unless I want to drive for miles and miles, which in itself has a cost!

[Snadger]

I know, it is pricey, but it's all that's available to me round here! Unless I want to drive for miles and miles, which in itself has a cost!

To make it more economically viable (even though I only have to travel about 7 mile!) I usually buy 3 or 4 X 20Kg bags at once. It has a long shelf life ...........usually over six months, so it makes sense!

[Noodle]

To make it more economically viable (even though I only have to travel about 7 mile!) I usually buy 3 or 4 X 20Kg bags at once. It has a long shelf life ...........usually over six months, so it makes sense!

I know, but I'd have to travel more like 30 miles and then find somewhere to keep it all while they work their way through it!!

[Suechooks]

I'm paying £7 a bag for Farmgate! All the others are even dearer around here. I go 9 miles for Farmgate!
Have to agree with you regarding the ex-batts and normal chooks. I too have a mix. I'm getting between 6 and 9 eggs a day from 9 ex-batts and 5 others.
Someone said the ex-batts are "coming to the end of their laying life". Not so. They are merely becoming less efficient and not laying 6-7 a week but only around 4. No one has mentioned this to my girls and they have layed non-stop since they arrived last January! I've also lost 3. That said I wouldn't hesitate to have more but I don't have a 4 year old who would get upset if they die- just a 60 -something-year-old - me! They are dear little souls who are always so grateful for any kindness and care. I wonder what right we as humans have to make any creature suffer the way batteryhens do.

[janeyo]

Our nearest shop is about 4 miles and costs just over £7 for 20kg. And they put it in the car for me!

Think it's gone up each time I've been though for the past 4 times, it started off at just over £6.

janeyo

[MaureenHall]

There's only 1 sensible solution then - you/we all move near Snadger or to Stafford. My supplier is half a mile away, and he loads it into the car for me too
(sorry, just got my silly head on today )

[Noodle]

I have a mix of them although have barn not battery hens, although I have a sneakey feeling OH will come over all concerned for a cuople of the ex-batts in few weeks time! It's him I swear, I swear!

[tony warner]

Layers pellets

Hi all
I just paid over £14 for a 20 kg (organic)

[Hashette]

I' got 4 ex-bats in October, have never kept chooks before, and can't recommend them highly enough. They are still laying on average 3 eggs per day even in this freezing weather, they've got fabulous little personalities, and they got the hang of putting themselves to bed/laying in nest boxes etc, within days.

They seem healthy enough now, although they were incredibly scrawny when we first got them, and I really didn't think one of them would last. She's now a very fat and happy little hen - very vocal as well, she comes charging out of the coop as soon as I open the pop hole in the morning demanding breakfast!