rehoming some exbatts

[Bramble-Poultry]

if it helps, the little hen rescue have published a pattern for fleece jackets on their website. i have attached it to this email, but please do remember its little hens rescues design not mine and credit should go to them.

[petal]

They are here!! 2 names so far beaky and baldy. They are currently discussing their lucky escape from prison!Photos when I find camera!

[Glutton4...]

Congratulations!

I reminded mine that they'd been free for over a year, this morning. They were happily dust-bathing under the Conifers, in the Sun! Hopefully they've now forgotten their previous lives.

[Bramble-Poultry]

well done you. bet those girls havent really sussed out how lucky they are at the moment!

if anyone else wants to rehome ex-battery hens, then please register your intent with the BHWT (British Hen Welfare Trust) who will try and put you intouch with your nearest rehoming event.

Whilst i am on my soap box, for all of you that dont have ex-battery hens can i ask that you seriously consider what type of egg goes in your food? ideally, you will be using your own eggs. but i am more worried out hidden eggs, such as in mayonaisse and the like.

I assume that you are all aware of the European Wide ban on the use of eggs from barren cages from the 1st of January 2012 (under the egg directive 1999)? Britain are conforming at the cost of millions to the industry in an attempt to better the lives of the hens. However, even though countries such as France, Italy and Spain signed up at the same time as the UK, they are no where near to complying and the EU being what they are will no doubt drag their feet over forcing compliance.

This means that the British egg Producer, having spent a lot of money to meet com,pliance will now have to compete against European imports of eggs, produced more cheaply by what is in effect illegal egg units.

Please show your support for the British Egg producer. He is trying to do the best for his hens in the conditions he has got. Make sure that any product you buy that contains eggs, such as cakes, pasta etc are all made with British or free range or even better British Free range eggs.

Dont give the supermarkets an excuse to buy their eggs from europe and under mine the efforts of the British Producer

[Glutton4...]

well done you. bet those girls havent really sussed out how lucky they are at the moment!

if anyone else wants to rehome ex-battery hens, then please register your intent with the BHWT (British Hen Welfare Trust) who will try and put you intouch with your nearest rehoming event.

Whilst i am on my soap box, for all of you that dont have ex-battery hens can i ask that you seriously consider what type of egg goes in your food? ideally, you will be using your own eggs. but i am more worried out hidden eggs, such as in mayonaisse and the like.

I assume that you are all aware of the European Wide ban on the use of eggs from barren cages from the 1st of January 2012 (under the egg directive 1999)? Britain are conforming at the cost of millions to the industry in an attempt to better the lives of the hens. However, even though countries such as France, Italy and Spain signed up at the same time as the UK, they are no where near to complying and the EU being what they are will no doubt drag their feet over forcing compliance.

This means that the British egg Producer, having spent a lot of money to meet com,pliance will now have to compete against European imports of eggs, produced more cheaply by what is in effect illegal egg units.

Please show your support for the British Egg producer. He is trying to do the best for his hens in the conditions he has got. Make sure that any product you buy that contains eggs, such as cakes, pasta etc are all made with British or free range or even better British Free range eggs.

Dont give the supermarkets an excuse to buy their eggs from europe and under mine the efforts of the British Producer

Ditto That!!!!

There's plenty of room on that Soap-box!!!

[chris]

I can't understand why people buy battery eggs, the thought of them makes me feel sick.. well said though!

[polo]

Glad you have them safe and sound! How are they settling in - are they doing the funny walk thing?

Been very interested in this thread as I would love to home some this year..

Polo

[Suechooks]

Anyone see CountryFile tonight? It emphasised all Mike/Jeni have said about foreign imports.

[chris]

I think people SHOULD support their home country, but more so if possible local community too. I try to use local shops/local businesses for things I need whenever I can, and often now look for the country of origin on most products I buy (bar things that I know we can't get over here that we buy). BTW - well done petal! Looking forward to seeing these oven ready pics! Be good to see how they come on in spring too.

[vicky]

Looking forward to seeing your photos!
We named ours after Spice Girls and Childrens TV characters....children....although OH does have a hankering after Geri Spice....
I have found myself in supermarkets staring at someone picking up battery eggs and muttering under my breath at them!

[petal]

I am really proud of my new girls. They have such character and bravery after their ordeal. i told them off for laying eggs this evening - i said' you don't need to do that if you don't want to!" its actually brought tears to my eyes and then brought anger - how can this abuse be acceptable in this country.?

[polo]

That picture brought tears to my eyes. How is that right? I'm sure they will look and feel fab in just a few weeks.

On the discussion of local food - I got half a pig from my local farmer - he was very apologetic when he said it wasn't totally local food. He had had to send the pigs to Halifax for slaughter and so he didn't want to claim they were local. I had to laugh - Halifax is about 6 miles away, hardly far away.

There's still some good folk around...

[Bramble-Poultry]

the current battery hen system as we know it came into existence just after the first world war, created by Harper Adams University College in Shropshire in a direct response to the government of the day's plea for a cheap and plentiful source of protein for our nation.

But before we all go out and burn HAUC to the ground, they are the very same college that pioneered the free range system in the UK, and currently have one of the UK's best Free Range unit. THe run both systems, so that they can teach the students to be able to work in whatever system they end up in.

Also think long and hard before we attack the farmers. they are only running battery systems in direct response to their customers - the supermarkets who are demanding cheap and plentiful eggs for their customers - you and I.

The BHWT work with these farmers to help them better their lives and those of the hens, and if you want to stop the trade in battery hens, then as customers we must demand the ceasation of use of battery eggs in our food - and that means all the food such as the obvious egg custards and mayos, down to the hidden foods such as mints and the like that use egg whites as thickeners.

If there is no demand from the customers at the supermarket, this will be passed on to the farmer. It is the customer that can affect the lives of these birds by pressuring the supermarkets.

[chris]

I am really proud of my new girls. They have such character and bravery after their ordeal. i told them off for laying eggs this evening - i said' you don't need to do that if you don't want to!" its actually brought tears to my eyes and then brought anger - how can this abuse be acceptable in this country.?

Bit of an odd question, but something I've queried myself with for a while. Originally we wanted to rehome ex-batts - but a few forums and people advised me not to, as I had no idea about chickens. We decided against it incase it put us off, but something we'd like to do in the future. Anyway - for the first few days, if they lay - well first day I guess... is this egg still a battery egg? Would you eat it? I don't know if I would, I don't know if you'd be able to feed it back to the bird either if they've just come out of such an intensive environment?

Well done, keep us posted about their developments!

BP - in mints? Whoa, didn't realise that.. I'm sure there's food we consume daily that without research we'd not know that contains eggs.

[polo]

You know Chris and Bramble thats just the thing. I feel as though I support battery farming because I'm sure I unwittingly buy things with battery eggs in. I wish labelling was clearer - or is it? Maybe I haven't been looking properly!

Which brands are better and which should we avoid? I'm thinking this is a can of worms here!!

Polo