[idea]Homing Ex-battery Chickens

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[idea]Homing Ex-battery Chickens

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joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 12:46 pm Post subject: [idea]Homing Ex-battery Chickens

As there seems to be quite a bit of interest in this and I know others have done it as well - Would an article on homing ex-battery Chickens be a useful addition ?

Obviously its going to take me all year to do as I'd need before and after piccies - I've no idea what state my girls will be in when I get them

I'm also intending to introduce some pure breeds to them once they have recovered and I thought that might be useful as well

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 12:50 pm Post subject:
I think that would be very well received.

MarkS

Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 2626

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 1:04 pm Post subject:
I assume this is going to be a bit 'rural terrorist'? How to extract them from the clutches of the Matthews etc? I hope so because I think paying for them is just a way of subsidising the continuation of hell.

joanne

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7100
Location: Morecambe, Lancashire

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 1:10 pm Post subject:

No - I'm getting my girls through the Battery Welfare Trust - I do somewhat agree with you - that paying the farmer doesn't help stop the battery process but the Trust works with the farmers encouraging them to convert to Free Range egg production and they have a very good relationship with the industry

Nick mentioned the story about the starfish in a previous discussion about this very subject

Quote:

As the old man walked down a Spanish beach at dawn, he saw ahead of him what he thought to be a dancer. The young man was running across the sand, rhythmically bending down to pick up a stranded starfish and throw it far into the sea.

The old man gazed in wonder as the young soul again and again threw the small starfish from the sand into the water. The old man approached him and asked why he spent so much energy doing what seemed a waste of time. The young man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun.

"But there are thousands of miles of beach, and miles and miles of starfish. How can your effort make any difference?"

The young man looked down at the small starfish in his hand, and as he threw it to safety in the sea, said, "It makes a difference to this one!"

Anonymous

That has really stuck with me - and thats why I'm offering these girls a home

MarkS

Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 2626

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 1:42 pm Post subject:
Fair enough, but I don't think that that is a good analogy. Sometimes you have to think about the greater good of the greater number rather than individuals. Its like Accountants.

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 1:43 pm Post subject:
What? We should throw them into the sea?

frewen

Joined: 08 Sep 2005
Posts: 11405

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 1:45 pm Post subject:
and see if the good ones sink?

sean
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 42219
Location: North Devon

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 1:50 pm Post subject:
If you're going to sort Accountants by maritime immersion surely you'd hope that the good ones would float. Otherwise you'd have to dive through a Bad Accountant Slick to rescue the competent book-keepers.

Louisdog

Joined: 22 Mar 2005
Posts: 716
Location: South Wales

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 1:58 pm Post subject:

Yes I would be interested in reading an article on rehoming exbatts, my friend is planning to have some this year and I have always wondered about getting some but can never decide if that is supporting/condoning the battery farners in some way, plus I have heard that they can have health problems which scared me off a bit. Plus, I am not allowed any more chooks at the mo!

Anyway looking forward to hearing how you get on.

kevin.vinke

Joined: 19 Dec 2006
Posts: 1304
Location: Niedersachsen, Germany

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 3:52 pm Post subject:
I thought pigeons were more traditional than homing chickens (battery or othere wise).................sorry Yes it would be very interesting

MarkS

Joined: 01 Aug 2006
Posts: 2626

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 4:03 pm Post subject:

sean wrote:

If you're going to sort Accountants by maritime immersion surely you'd hope that the good ones would float. Otherwise you'd have to dive through a Bad Accountant Slick to rescue the competent book-keepers.

Tempting (oh so very tempting) though it might be to throw all accountants into the ocean......

What I meant was that the greater good often means going against the individual good (aka the tryant requirement).

And a typical example of this that most people will see is when accountants get control in a business.

Once you get infected with cost centres you find that even something simple that would be very advantageous to the whole organisation does not happen if the dept that needs to spend the cash doesnt see an immediate benefit.

Mary-Jane

Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 18397
Location: The Fishing Strumpet is from Ceredigion in West Wales

Posted: Mon Jan 28, 08 4:36 pm Post subject: Re: [idea]Homing Ex-battery Chickens

jocorless wrote:

Would an article on homing ex-battery Chickens be a useful addition ?

Are they anything like homing pigeons?

Marches

Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 171
Location: Nr Peak District, England

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 11 11:25 pm Post subject:

Been there, done that.

Just go to any livestock auction which sells poultry and there'll usually be a few pens of straggly looking hens which no one will touch with a ten foot barge pole.

They go for peanuts, I think I bought some for 75p per head before compared to �3 for POL Warrens on average and upto �20 for something special like Orpingtons.

They were very good layers. Poultry farms get rid of them after 2 years because the 2nd year is the peak, after that starts a slow decline but they are good until about 5 and live to around 7ish.

They soon moult and gain new feathers, chickens can moult due to a number of reasons, including new environment and they usually look fine after they've got their new feathers. They make a mess of the yard though.

In buying them you'd probably be saving them from the pot. At my local auction a lot of them are bought cheaply as fresh, cheap ingredients by take-aways - I'm not making this up, I know a regular person at an auction that does that.

Marches

Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 171
Location: Nr Peak District, England

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 11 11:28 pm Post subject: Re: [idea]Homing Ex-battery Chickens

Mary-Jane wrote:

jocorless wrote:

Would an article on homing ex-battery Chickens be a useful addition ?

Are they anything like homing pigeons?

I wouldn't mind an article about Homing pigeons. I used to take in a few strays as a kid, one flew into my window when it was shut during a storm before.
I took it in and put it with a handful of others I had in a old chicken coop - after three weeks I let it out with the others daily, it went out in the morning and returned by teatime everyday.
Fascinating creatures.

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