Battery chickens get a second lease on life...thanks to ahumane farmer!
The story of Isolde
Every year, a professional egg farmer a stone’s throw from my hometown hosts a kind of 'sale' of battery chickens. This farmer sells some of the chickens who are a year and a half old. Why so young? The reason is simple. A hen starts laying when she is about 6 months old and lays for about a year - a period called a wreath. After a wreath, the chicken takes a much-needed break in laying and instead grows a new plumage - a period known as the moult. During the first laying period, the hen lays the highest number of eggs. After this, egg farmers often discard hens, sometimes inhumanely. The reasoning is that the farmer has to feed them during the moulting period so that they start lay eggs again. But once these battery chickens go back to laying, they lay less than before, which for an egg farmer isn’t profitable.
Giving battery hens a chance
If you already have chickens, try to keep them apart for a few days. Give the new chickens a while to recover. That way you can also easily medicate them or add extra vitamins and minerals to their water. Having lived their whole lives in cages, they don’t know about lofts and the sleeping stick. They haven’t lost this instinct but need a little help to get the hang of it. Accompany them into the loft for a few evenings and put them on the sleeping stick. After a while they’ll start to do it themselves. Finally, you need to give them time to find their feet. It’s important to understand that these animals have gone from one extreme to another. Let them get used to this. They won't provide you with eggs just yet, but they will! Besides being true egg machines (because they are bred to lay as many eggs as possible) they are also very grateful. It’s almost as if they realize what you have done for them. In my experience, they are even more affectionate and tame than other chickens. Enough reasons to keep your eyes peeled when such a sale takes place in your area!
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