Tags
backyard chickens, battery chickens, chicken, chicken rehome, chicken slaughter, chickens as pets, freedom for chickens, intensive farming, new start for chickens
5 little chickens came into my life around 6 years ago, they stayed a couple of years and changed my life.
We lived at the time in a small house in a small town. The garden wasn’t massive but it was big enough for what we needed. At the time, we had a 3 year old, a young dog and no social life. Onn one of the evenings, I saw an article on a new movement on battery chickens. The idea was to save as many battery hens as possible from the chopping block.
Naive though I was, I had no idea where chickens lived or the conditions they were kept in. I pictured happy little chooks skipping around a field, laying eggs and then carrying on their merry way. How wrong can a person be! Battery hens farmed for eggs were kept cramped together, often unable to stand due to insufficient space or also due to muscle wasteage. The barns used to house them were carefully controlled, using lighting systems to mimic artificial sunrises, increasing egg production to 2 a day instead of 1.
The diet the hens were fed wasn’t good either, using layers mash mixed with totally unsuitable bulking agents. The hens were washed up in intensive farming terms by 18 months old, no longer able to produce the extra egg required to make their existance worthwhile. They would be headed to slaughter for use in pet food etc.
We
cleared a space in the garden and in due course, took delivery of 5 ladies. The picture above is my favourite. They settled in. They put my dog in his place (he was terrified!) Most of all, they adapted to a life outside. Have you ever seen a chicken look confused? The first rain shower was totally alien to them, they looked up at the sky totally mystified, although they seemed to enjoy it after deciding that it was ok afterall.
They weren’t in as bad a condition as I’d been prepared for, they all had missing feathers but were by no means bald. They learnt to perch, scratch around and dust bathe, basic chicken skills for those not confined Iin bad conditions.
One thing I wasn’t prepared for was the fact that they had personalities. The basic battery hen looks much like another but their individual traits made them distinctive. Miss G was a pitbull crossed with a rattlesnake, although no-one told her she was a chicken. She disliked my dog and enjoyed being a guard chicken for the rest of the girls. She was the first out in the morning and last in at night. The other 4 were very friendly and would eat from your hand.
A
s far as pets go, they are undemanding. Let them out in the morning, feed and water them. Generally, they put themselves in the coop and night, secure the door and your job is done. I liked to talk to my chickens, they don’t judge. They need cleaning out and worming but for the most part, that’s pretty much it.
We enjoyed having our chickens for 18 months, until the shock of a neighbour’s industrial strength firework display finished them off. It was a very sad day and we all felt their loss. We didn’t get anymore in case the same happened again.
Times have changed, we’ve moved. The number of children has increased, our young dog is now grey around his muzzle and a cat joined our family. We still have no discernible social life but ho hum. I’m thinking that the time is right for more feathered friends. I’ll be sorting a run and coop out in time for the big rehome in December