chickens.
- Thread starter sargie
- Start date
Just found this site, i can get ex battery hens from about an hour away from me. Re-Home some ex-battery hens
Ordered this coop as we plan to keep 2-3 hens COCOON CHICKEN HEN HOUSE COOP POULTRY ARK RUN BRAND NEW | eBay we are getting some rescue hens at 1 year old £4 each just up the road from us too also ordered water and food containers and a 20kg bag of food.
Penners
Inactive User
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,088
- Reaction score
- 158
Nice coop! That should do the trick nicely.
With the hens being ex battery I would order some poultry spice and some apple cider vinegar. That should help with the stress etc and bring them back to full laying / full feathers in no time.
Best thing about ex bat is they will be good layers and usually the breed i.e ISA browns are very easy to handle and not as skittish as some of the other breeds. When you approach these they will squat and allow you to pick them up easily where as my Wyandotte’s on the other hand are a nightmare to pick up lol. I’ve had my ISA Brown (AKA Sarah) 3 years old now and she’s top of the pecking order even though she is smaller than the Wyandotte’s. She also allows my 2 year old to pick her up lol
Just had a phone call from the company off ebay, they wanted to know the breed and how many hens i would be keeping in it and when i toldd him he said that wass fine and to make sure i let them out when ever possible which i thought is excellent of a company.
Ive ordered the coop, red mite organic powder, apple cider vinegar also organic, flubenvet wormer, water and food hoppers and a big ass bag of layers pellets with oyster grit in it.
Ive cleared a space for them just got to move an 8x6 shed today lol and im good to go. The guy with the hens said he has 40! so im going to pick up 2 or 3 depending on how big they are once ive set the coop up and seen them.
The breed is warren.
Ive ordered the coop, red mite organic powder, apple cider vinegar also organic, flubenvet wormer, water and food hoppers and a big ass bag of layers pellets with oyster grit in it.
Ive cleared a space for them just got to move an 8x6 shed today lol and im good to go. The guy with the hens said he has 40! so im going to pick up 2 or 3 depending on how big they are once ive set the coop up and seen them.
The breed is warren.
Penners
Inactive User
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,088
- Reaction score
- 158
If the breed is warren that should be ISA browns (I think lol !! some call them warrens or ISA warrens or like me ISA browns. They are a lovely breed very docile you can't go far wrong with them mate.
Good luck with moving the shed I hope you’ve got some help lol Either that or a crate of beer for afterwards as encouragement.
My neighbours keep chickens in there garden, the coop he made himself out of old fence panels what we didn't need any more it looks great and the chickens are happy running around the garden.We have no complaints over this in fact they are pretty quiet really. So yes a great hobby and free eggs what more can you ask for sargie. 
sargie I haven't seen my neighbours do this but here is how to do it mate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hr9ioWrmis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hr9ioWrmis
Penners
Inactive User
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,088
- Reaction score
- 158
I wouldn't. From experience they can't fly far anyway only very short distances so shouldn't be a problem. Also if you are free roaming in the garden the little bit of flight they do have could help them get away from a predator etc.
no need to clip there wings. a couple of things about x batt hens
@ 1st they will be very wary of there new home and want to stay in the coop as there not use to being outside and seeing daylight.
they have never been aloud to scratch the floor looking for grubs etc but it takes about a week or 2 and it will come naturally to them
they will lay good size brown eggs every day and after a week or 2 will get use to being in contact with humans and are very tame .
Do not be tempted to use a household cleaning product as many contain caustic chemicals which can be absorbed by eggs.
we clean our coop every other day put in fresh wood shavings and straw in the nest boxes ,we use a red mite spry which we do weekly to prevent mites.
(edit) when using a spy or powder make sure the chickens are clear of it, and keep the door shut on the coop while the spry does its job,then well vent the coop afterwards before your chickens enter it.
plus check out other products like scaly leg treatment etc.
Last edited:
well coops up and all ready for the hens which we are going to pick up this afternoon wormer should arrive today got everything else. Im going to order some scaly leg spray thanks for that srgberian.
Penners
Inactive User
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,088
- Reaction score
- 158
Good luck Sargie, hope all goes well mate.
P.S take some pics of your hens when they arrive and then again in about 2 months. The difference will be unbelievable as you bring them back to full health. It certainly makes you realise how poorly treated battery hens are.
Also don't worry too much if there’s a little squabble / pecking going on. Once the pecking order has been established this will stop.
P.S take some pics of your hens when they arrive and then again in about 2 months. The difference will be unbelievable as you bring them back to full health. It certainly makes you realise how poorly treated battery hens are.
Also don't worry too much if there’s a little squabble / pecking going on. Once the pecking order has been established this will stop.
Very true,when you 1st see these hens they look in a poor state but doesent take long before they loook like chickens should
these our latest chickens growing up the smaller ones are now 4 weeks old the larger one is 6 weeks. will sit on my mrs shoulder for ages,being the only 1 that hatched from the 1st set of eggs we did it has taken to my mrs like she is its mom
Glad yo said that i got 3 and 2 of them are pecking at the smallest least feathered one of the 3.
Ill get some tomorrow bud when i let them out of the coop for a roam. They are all settled in the house part of the coop now 2 are on the nests and one is asleep on a perch ive closed the door to keep them safe until morning.
