Battery Hen Welfare Trust

"Working to inspire a free range future"

Patrons: Jamie Oliver, Harbour & Jones, Duchess of Richmond, Hens re-homed to date ... 185,517 Pam Ayres, Amanda Holden, Antony Worrall-Thompson

Caring for ex Bats

This information has been designed to help owners, who have not had spent battery hens before, understand their needs and how to care for their new girls. We don’t claim to be expert on hens - there is plenty yet for us to learn - but this is just some simple guidance, which we hope may be helpful:

Accommodation

When choosing accommodation number of hens and space available are the key issues.

The henhouse needs to be sturdy and secure to protect from fox and badger.

When selecting a house we advise you buy one to accommodate more hens than you actually intend to keep. For example, if you want six hens, we would advise you purchase a house to accommodate at least eight hens. This will ensure they have plenty of space not only to roost and nest, but also to take shelter from the weather during the day.

There are houses which are static with attached runs and others which are movable. You will need to assess the best option for you taking into account that hens like to peck and scratch grass - the bigger the run you can give them the better, not only for their own enjoyment, but also to keep the ground they are ranging in good condition. (Hens like to create dust bath areas which will become mud baths in the wet weather). If you decide to select a house you can move regularly and free range the hens you will need to ensure that the hens are well homed before allowing them complete freedom.

Many people choose to adapt a standard garden shed with perches and nest boxes. As a guide a 6’ x 4’ shed will comfortably accommodate 10 - 12 hens.

Bedding

A number of products are commonly used on the house floor: chopped straw can be used for larger numbers of hens and shavings for small numbers. If you are using shavings it is important to buy ‘first grade’ shavings with the dust extracted. This is available from most country stores and comes in bales.

Nest boxes ideally need some soft material in order to make a cosy place in which to lay an egg. Shavings with some straw on top is a good option, although this can sometimes be a favourite hiding place of the red mite (more on bugs later).

General Fitness

Your girls will, of course, have done nothing other than stand in a tiny cage for their entire lives. Consequently they will be very unfit to begin with and usually completely unable to jump up to a roost or nest box.

This problem can be overcome by placing a ramp up to the roost/nest box or giving them access to a nest box on the floor (even a cardboard box on its side with shavings will suffice until they are fit enough to use the proper facilities). It doesn’t take them very long to build up their strength and within a couple of weeks most are capable of jumping to a standard roost height.

Cockerels

For the same reason as above, we always advise it is best for the girls if they are kept separate from a cockerel for at least a month - (a) they’ve never seen a cockerel and it’s a pretty scary experience when they do and (b) if he’s big and keen, he may do damage by jumping on a hen with weak legs and/or bald backs. Allow the hens time to build confidence and strength.

Health

We never knowingly allow a hen to go to a new home with health problems, although occasionally one does slip through the net because of the large numbers we are dealing with.

When the hens first go into the cages they will have had a long list of vaccinations to protect the farmer against large losses. These are usually administered through spray misting the chicks or in the drinking water. The most common diseases vaccinated against are Marek’s disease, infectious bronchitis, salmonella, Newcastle disease, Gumboro disease and epidemic tremor.

One of the more common problems with spent battery hens is bruising, often to legs, sometimes to wings. This usually occurs when they are removed from the cages and can be so bad the hen finds it painful to stand. If you look you will see dark bruising under the skin and arnica cream rubbed in works wonders. As long as you see that she gets food and water, a bruised hen will recover within 7-14 days with no lasting ill effects. (If possible, do not separate her from the other hens, as when you return her to the group she will be seen as an ‘outsider‘ and bullied).

Occasionally, a hen will have a broken bone and in this instance it is advisable to ask your vet to set the bone - wings and legs can be mended quite successfully.

Weather Conditions/Temperatures

The hens have been used to very warm conditions within the battery unit; this is why so many have large, floppy combs (they act as heat dissipaters) - the combs will not only redden as they are exposed to the weather, but usually shrink as the hens need to ‘lose’ less heat.

Obvious precautions need to be taken - if the sun is very strong the hens can suffer sunburn, especially the ‘oven-readies’. Equally if it’s really cold, wet and windy, they will initially need to be encouraged back into their new homes otherwise they tend to just stand still and get wet - this in turn can lead to sniffles and worse.

Homing the Girls

When you first take your girls home, it's usually best to put them in the hen house and leave the door/pop hole open so they can see their new surroundings. Some are initially reluctant to come out and providing the house has plenty of room, good ventilation and there is no danger of the hens overheating, it is fine to allow them to discover their surroundings at their own pace.

If your hen house is within a fenced area most hens will naturally go into their house as dusk falls, although you will need to check they are all safely tucked up for the first few nights as some ex-bats don't get the hang of going home to roost straight away.

If you do not have a permanent fenced area for the birds and you intend to free range them; it is vital you provide a temporary boundary to prevent the birds from straying. This temporary fencing is best kept in place for at least one week or until you are confident all the hens are roosting safely in the hen house at night.

Egg production/nesting

Although there is no guarantee of how many eggs spent battery hens will lay, generally you will get about a 40-50% production rate, ie 10 hens will lay 4-5 eggs daily. THIS IS A GUIDELINE ONLY.

Battery hens have absolutely no concept of a nest box facility. You will find eggs will be dropped wherever they happen to be walking at the time of lay. Rubber or china egg balls are a wonderful way of teaching the hens about the pleasure of laying in a cosy nest. They can be quite clumsy to begin with and the rubber eggs are ideal because they’re realistic and indestructible!

Nails & Beaks

Toenails are often very long, although a new regulation now in force stipulates that cages should have a claw shortening device. They will often wear down quickly as the hen free ranges, but occasionally they are so long they will distort how the hen places her foot on the ground. We do try to clip as many as we can, but if we haven’t had time to clip the nails, and they are too long, dog nail clippers will do the job. Always take care not to cut the quick.

Beaks have nearly always been debeaked; it is the top beak which is cut, making the bottom beak very often look like a shovel. DON’T be tempted to trim the bottom beak, in most instances it will wear down to its natural size and shape whilst the hen free ranges. The hen will cope with what she has, after all she’s lived for a year with the beak.

Food & Water

We strongly advise feeding the Smallholder Range Ex-Bat Crumbs for the first 4 to 6 weeks; we have trialled this feed and found it provides the best possible start for ex-bat hens. You can keep them on the Ex-Bat Crumb permanently or start slowly introducing Ex-Bat Pellets, whichever your hens prefer. Both Smallholder Range Ex-Bat Crumbs and Ex-Bat Pellets can be fed to all poultry, but have been specifically designed for ex-bats, to encourage feather growth, support egg production and replenish and maintain all the nutrients your hens need. Battery hens will have been fed a dry mash all their lives, so the Ex-Bat Crumb is the perfect feed as they start their free range future. It is fine to feed a small amount of mixed corn in the afternoon, although this is not essential as the Ex-Bat range provides a fully balanced diet.

For the first few weeks in order to help the hens settle, it is useful to place down several feed and water points in order to ensure all birds get access and low ranking hens are not kept away by more dominant birds.

If you have any questions on feeding, health or welfare of your hens please call the BHWT Careline 01362 822904 or e-mail bhwtcareline@smallholderfeed.co.uk.

TO RECEIVE A FREE £3 VOUCHER OF A 20KG BAG OF EX-BAT CRUMB OR PELLET PLEASE VISIT the Small Holder Feed web site

Establishing the Pecking Order

You’ll probably find the girls will be in total awe of everything around them for the first few days and they will be very polite to one another. However, once they get the hang of the daily routine, usually within 2-3 days, they will then start to squabble. You really have to let them get on with it, they are merely sorting out the pecking order, ie who’s going to be head of the household. Try to observe that all the hens are eating and drinking and that no blood is drawn! If blood is drawn, you’ll need to separate the hen as the others will only continue to bully her.

You’ll most likely find that it is the smallest, most feather bare hen who causes the most disruption, having at go at anybody and everybody. Please understand that this hen is only behaving as she is because she’s probably had to fight for every mouthful of food and water within the cage and every time she’s managed to get some, someone behind her has been having a peck at her - hence her threadbare appearance. It will sort itself out in a couple of weeks and the most disruptive hen will realise there are far more interesting things to do rather than worry about her position within her new family.

Bugs and Parasites

The most common problem you can import when you take on battery hens is red mite. This is a tiny mite that feeds on the hens’ blood at night and then during the day lives in the shed - usually under perches or in the nesting area or simply in cracks and joins in the house.

It is something which can be controlled with many products on the market and like fleas will flare up in the warmer weather and die down during the winter months. It does not usually prove fatal to hens, though in extreme cases if left untreated can cause death.

The above gives just basic guidance; we’re happy to answer any other questions we’re able to.
Enjoy your hens - thank you for giving them a second chance.