The arrival of our new rescues

We rescued 3 more beautiful ex-battery girls this weekend. So a big welcome to Myrtle (stood in the foreground) and her sisters Luna and Helena. We had a bit of a hectic time picking them up as alas James car decided not to start, so I had to go by taxi. Thankfully we had some egg money standing by for just such an emergency! Although their plumage isn't in too bad a condition all the girls have very pale combs & feel very thin when you pick them up. We'll soon sort that out though. They've been out socialising with their new sisters all day today & although there have been a few pecks being thrown its getting better all he time and they all went to bed together this evening so hopefully they will carry on bonding tomorrow. Here are a couple more shots of them enjoying their new home.

   This is Helena in the rhubarb patch, she has  a beautiful sort of gradiented colour on her feathers going from almost ginger to a pretty caramel colour, really pretty!

Luna, her name suits her well as she has a lot of white both on her face and also in speckles on her feathers.
And a final shot of Myrtle, I will be keeping a very close eye on her (I will have to if today is anything to go by as she has already managed to escape...twice!)

Chicken shots

I took some photos of the girls the other night with the express intention of submitting them into the BHWT's calender comp (you send in your photos of your ex-batts they publish the best ones in a calender to raise more funds, everyone's a winner). I sent mine off 4 days before the deadline but I haven't had an acknowledgement or anything so I assume we haven't been successful. Still they were too nice not to share...

I call this one the strawberry thief, Bellatrix, I swear she spots the strawbs before I do. And a couple of moments later...

Success!
Here is Mineva

She is top hen at the moment which may explain the mischievous glint in her eye. Bellatrix again in the setting sun (she poses so well & is always the one who follows me to the back door)

  

 Golden girl/I'll eat anything Ginny

And finally a couple I didn't send in, I tried to do a bit of gardening while the girls were out the other day. This was what happened

Yup they tried to eat the plants I was re-potting. Never mind :-)

A sad farewell

 So yesterday after two weeks of worry we had to take our beautiful ex-battery hen Trelawney to the vet for the very last time. A couple of weeks ago she started being very wobbly on her feet & seemed to be loosing her balance quite a bit. I had a look through my chicken books (and sought the knowledge of the fantastic ladies on the Omlet forum) and it looked like all the symptoms pointed towards Merrick's disease (something that battery hens are supposed to be inoculated against). We took her to the vets and he confirmed the diagnosis (although the only way of being completely certain is by post mortem). Very much hoping it wasn't he sent her home to be kept in isolation with some baydrill to see if things improved.

 

She has been living in our back room for two weeks, having her food garnished with mealworms & generally being spoilt rotten. Every evening I'd pick her up and go and sit outside, her sisters free-ranging around her. Trelawney was the vanilla of the chicken world, never threw a peck in anger and happy to let her sisters scoff her share of the treats as long as she had their company. When she first got ill I went to check on her in the coop only to find her best friend Aurora keeping her warm. When she was in the back room they would still call to her through the open window, checking she was okay. After two weeks she was no better & so I forced myself to phone the vet. Through many tears we got an appointment for yesterday morning. Just before we went I took her out into the back garden to say goodbye. She snuggled up in my arms and closed her eyes and I knew she was ready to go and so we made the final journey with her. I know now that even though we will miss her she is out of pain & I hope she will free range in freedom fields forever.

 I am determined however that her life will not be in vain. Birds like Trelawney are a waste product of intensive farming. They are kept in cramped cages all their lives never experiencing fresh air, rain or sunshine. Our girls have come on leaps and bounds since they were rescued at Christmas, regrowing their feathers and developing their own special personalities but there is some damage we can never repair & not all birds are guaranteed a rescue or a safe retirement. Figures have just come out that show free range egg sales have dropped & consumers are yet again opting for the cheaper battery alternatives. As human beings we have a duty to put a stop to battery farming for good. I know times are tight at the moment but by buying free range eggs you are supporting those farmers doing the right thing and sending a very clear message to those battery farmers, we will not tolerate this barbaric practice. The fantastic BHWT  have launched an initiative called free range Friday to raise awareness about free range eggs with all funds going towards future battery rescues more info can be found here http://www.bhwt.org.uk/cms/freerangefriday/     

  

The arrival of our new chickens

After what seemed like weeks of anticipation we set off to collect our new chickens from the British Hen Welfare Trust on the 28th December. Our pick up time was 3.45 so we knew we probably wouldn't get to see much of the girls that night but could look forward to getting to know them over the remainder of the Christmas holidays. We turned up at the collection point and after picking up another bag of food (as the shops wouldn't be open) and some bedding we made our way into the collection shed. We had put down to have 5 new girls, and as our eyes adjusted to the shed we got our first glimpse of them as the volunteers brought them out and put them into our carriers. First impressions were that they didn't look too bad but there were two who were in a bit of a state, one with just the quills of her feathers remaining on her wings and a smaller girl who seemed to have lost most of her body and tail feathers with just the white downy under feathers showing. The journey home took about half an hour and then we lifted them into their new (or as one of my friends refers to it their forever) home. This photo was taken wth the hen who made the biggest impression, Bellatrix, top hen as far as she was concerned she had a good go at pecking my jacket and Jam's finger when he tried to move the ramp for her the next day. She was also definitely the noisyest when we were getting the back door open. After spending the following day outside talking & generally watching them names were quickly decided, I stuck with a Harry Potter theme for all but one, so let me introduce you to them.

Bellatrix/big bird (also the chicken I'm holding in the top picture)- Bellatrix takes no nonsense from anyone and as well as being one of the biggest is also definitely the most noisy. Upon hearing the back door unlocked in the morning she starts chatting to be let out immediately, also if you say hello to the girls its usually Bellatrix who will answer for all of them. 

Completely different is Ginny, the baldest girl we have, Ginny is a meek little thing but already great improvements have been seen in her comb and plumage plus she was the first one of the girls to find a worm and successfully deal with it, clever little Ginny, she is usually second out of the coop after Bellatrix (because they have both worked out they get mealworms in the morning) and makes soft coos if she hears you outside the coop.

Next up we have Aurora, named after the goddess of the dawn as when she spreads her wings it looks like a golden sun, her damage wasn't as bad as Ginny as she at least had some tail feathers but her wing feathers have very much been reduced to quills. Despite this she is quite cheeky and spends most of her time trying to work out ways to test the coop defences or 'helping' me when I go into the coop.

Mineva - very similar in looks to Bellatrix but not as noisy, can usually be found near Trelawney after having a bit of a disagreement with Bellatrix on the first day. Mineva is really handsome & we've seen great improvements in her comb as well as her initial shyness.

And finally last but my no means least Trelawney, Trelawney worried me a little at first as she didn't seem to want to come out of the coop and was snicking (its sneezing but apprently chickens can't quite sneeze the same way as humans). I phoned the vet and he said it was likely a cold and dispatched instructions that we were to keep her fed and warm & keep a good eye on her. Having done so the snicking seems to have stopped but she still likes to be in the hen house if given the choice. So there they are my little brood, we are getting  2-3 eggs a day but my main concern is that the girls get back to their beautiful selves as soon as possible. At the moment they get mealworms in the morning and corn at night, I can't wait for the days to get longer so I can see them properly when I get up and spend some time with them after work. Some of our first external visitors were my friend Fi and her son Alex. Alex wasn't too sure of the chickens (recognising their dinosaur roots maybe?) but was prepared to be convinced when we told him there might be an egg in the nest box). As luck would have it there was so Alex took it home for his tea and here is Alex complete with chicken cusion holding his egg carefully!

Give a hen a happy Christmas

 

As Christmas approaches my focus tends to shift from the high streets filled with flashing lights and mostly festive tat to the world at large. Being a pagan I don't celebrate Christmas as such but I do celebrate Yule, as the dark wanes and we look forward to the light. I try and bring that same philosophy into my Christmas activities. Last year I completed the santa run (you run, but dressed as the guy in red) to raise funds for Helen and Douglas hopice (a local Oxfordshire hospice dedicated to supporting children and their families) and went caroling in aid of the NSPCC. OXFAM also have a fantasic range of gifts so I try and tick off as many Christmas presents there as I can. This year there is also another very specific plea which I'll be taking part in. The British hen welfare trust are a fantastic charity who try and counter the effects of mass production and unethical purchasing. They take on older battery hens who are past what is seen as their 'useful' life and rehome them. The birds are  often in terrible condition with most of their plumage missing and unsure of how to be chickens, having been kept in cages all of their lives. Within a couple of weeks however they can be transformed growing back plumage, laying eggs and regaining trust in humans.

 This Christmas however the criteria for what is a useful bird has been changed somewhat, because of new EU regulations famers will be forced to redo all of their cages. Unfortunately this means that all birds will be got rid of. The email that I received stated the facts
As we are approaching the end of the year and the new laws are coming in for the enriched
cages, all those hens that are currently in the old style cages must beout of the cages by the end of the year, therefore, sadly this will mean that there a lot of hens going to slaughter by 31st December 2011.  BHWTare doing our best to rehome as many of these hens as we can and we need your help, if any of you have the room for more hens and are able tokeep them separated from you existing hens for a few weeks to give the
hens chance to regain strength. Can you give a ex-battery hen the best Christmas ever on 28/12/2011?

 I was lucky enough to be given two hens for my birthday a couple of years ago but with so many birds needing help we've bought a bigger run and look forward to receiving our new arrivals after Christmas. I believe you should choose you battles and that only by working together can we make a difference. It is really tempting to watch the news and despair of the world but there are some wonderful people out there and by taking part in these small acts of kindness you can make such a difference. If you've got some space or are looking for some hens please get in touch with the British Hen Welfare Trust via their website http://www.bhwt.org.uk/