All posts tagged Chickens

My Old Brown Rescue Hen

Old Emily hen

Old Emily hen

This is Emily. Her life as a laying hen started in a barren cage roughly the same size as an A4 piece of paper, caged with many other hens to lay cheap eggs for the consumer and food industry. I rehomed her (along with 5 other hens) via Bedfordshire based hen rescue Free At Last on 20th April 2008. That was 5 years ago.
Emily rotavating soil in the veg garden

Emily rotavating soil in the veg garden

At 15-18 months old, Emily and many hens like her are considered ‘spent’ (meaning she was in her second year of laying and egg production tends to dip slightly), mass production units such as battery farming simply replace spent hens with younger ones. Emily would’ve been sent to slaughter if it wasn’t for the great work of hen rescues up and down the country. Barren cages have since been replaced with enrichment cages (a perch, nesting material and slightly more room) but it’s still a cage at the end of the day.
Emily quickly became part of the family

Emily quickly became part of the family

Emily with her favourite friend

Emily with her favourite friend

Emily blowing a kiss

Emily blowing a kiss

Emily enjoying a dustbath

Emily enjoying a dust bath

Homes are always needed for hens like Emily, if you’re interested in rehoming some ex-caged hens please take a look at Ex Battery Hens – The Hen Rehoming Hub to find your nearest hen rescue. Emily is the last of my original ex battery hens, outliving the many others that I rehomed over the years and that makes her extra special to me. Sadly, she isn’t in the best of health at the moment and I know deep down I have to do the right thing by her and let her go with the help of my superb avian vet. It’s breaking my heart into million pieces, I’m not good with these situations and it never gets any easier. I know she’s had a long life for a hen that was never bred to be a happy garden hen, but I always want more for rescue hens, for me, it’s never long enough.
ex battery hen
Thank you for reading her story and for your interest in rehoming hens just like her.
33 Comments
by The Garden Smallholder on April 21, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Garden Smallholder on April 21, 2013

http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2013/04/21/my-old-brown-rescue-hen/

Wordless Wednesday

Eh? What the?!

Eh? What the?!

Well it isn't mine, hrmmph!

Well it isn’t mine! Hrmph!

8 Comments
by The Garden Smallholder on March 20, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Garden Smallholder on March 20, 2013

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Our New Garden

Part of our new garden. Can you see our chicken run over there?

Part of our new garden. Can you see our chicken run over there?

It has been a month since we moved house, how time flies. We’re more or less settled in the new house with just a few boxes left to unpack, just bits and pieces that we didn’t really use before so they’re sure to find their way to the loft space at some point. The weather has been bitterly cold and dreary for weeks on end but today was just glorious, feeling as if spring had finally sprung in the warm sunshine. I took the camera for a wander to snap a few photos of the garden to post to the blog, it was a perfect opportunity to get an idea of where the sun reaches throughout the day. I take it as a good sign if an area of garden receives sunshine during early spring, going with the theory that it should be better once the sun is higher during summer.

We have a number of very tall huge ex-Christmas trees down one side of the garden, planted over the years by the previous owner, whenever I see these lovely pine cones I think of all the wonderful things I could do with them for Christmas/Yule celebrations. We’ve heard pine cones are edible but we have no idea if these actually are.

pine cone

We positioned the chicken run in the shade these trees create to eliminate the heat problem we had in our previous garden during summer. The trees also protect the chickens from snow and frost too.

chicken run

The girls have settled in well

The girls have settled in well

There are 9 fruit trees in total (with a couple more of our own to be planted). The exciting part is finding out what they all are. The area at the bottom of the garden is probably where our new veg patch will eventually be. It needs a bit of clearing first and new fences are being erected soon.

fruit trees

fruit tree

Nearer the house there’s a pond full of Koi and a well planted rockery surrounding it, screening the house as well as the pond. It must have taken some doing to get all those rocks into the garden.

koi pond

rockery

At the bottom of the garden there’s a greenhouse tucked away, the staging is now in place and ready for seed sowing once conditions are right. I’m really looking forward to spending some time in there, sowing seed for the allotment and planning our new little veg patch for the garden.

27 Comments
by The Garden Smallholder on March 4, 2013  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Garden Smallholder on March 4, 2013

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Beautiful Poppy

I wish this post was about beautiful red poppies, just like the ones currently growing in the wildflower area of my veg garden. Sadly, this post is about the loss of my beautiful hen, Poppy. She had a heart attack yesterday, it was all very quick and a huge shock.

Rescued in 2009 from a battery farm, she came here as a tiny bald hen. Her feathers started to grow back, the colour returned to her once pale face and she grew in confidence. I watched, as she blossomed into one of the most beautiful hens I’ve ever cared for. Recently she bonded well with my bluebell hen, Myrtle. Typical of her calm nature.

Poppy helping herself to the brassica in the veg garden

I shall miss her terribly and I’m sure Myrtle will too.

9 Comments
by The Garden Smallholder on August 4, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Garden Smallholder on August 4, 2012

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Chickens in the Garden

It’s been a while since I posted some photos of the hybrid hens, these were taken last month. Emily and Poppy, the old ex-battery hens make an appearance too.

Our Speckledy hen lays dark brown eggs. She’s lovely and very placid unlike the white Coral hen, she’s a lunatic!

Myrtle the Bluebell hen loves hanging out in the herb patch, it’s her favourite place to have a dust bath.

Emily, our old ex-battery hen has taken quite a shine to our Coral hen, Fleur. As you can see, Emily is a big old bird!

Hermione and her fabulous ‘hair’!

Myrtle hanging out in the herb patch again, we gave her the correct name!

Each hen lays a different coloured egg which makes it really easy to tell who laid each morning, this can be useful sometimes. I was hoping our Skyline hen would lay blue or green eggs, turns out she lays pastel colours instead but they’re still pretty!

18 Comments
by The Garden Smallholder on July 27, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Garden Smallholder on July 27, 2012

http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2012/07/27/chickens-in-the-garden/

A Rare Moment of Sunshine

The sun came out yesterday, just briefly, but long enough to let the new rescue hens out in a run, allowing them to feel the warm sunshine on their skin for the very first time in their lives.

Thanks for all your lovely comments for Willow and Grace!

6 Comments
by The Garden Smallholder on July 11, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Garden Smallholder on July 11, 2012

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Goodbye Old Girls

It has been a tough old ride with my chickens lately. Yesterday morning I opened one of the coops and discovered Dot, one of my old ex battery hens had died suddenly in the night. Another of my old girls, Ethel was diagnosed with cancer a while ago. She was doing really well on supportive care but recently time had caught up with her and today she was finding her condition hard to cope with. It’s heartbreaking to see a hen literally use every muscle she has to take a breath. I believe the death of Dot worsened matters, they were literally joined at the hip. Today I took Ethel to my very supportive avian vet and allowed her to go, ending her suffering.

Goodbye old girls x

8 Comments
by The Garden Smallholder on June 1, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Garden Smallholder on June 1, 2012

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Why You Shouldn’t Get Up Close to a Dustbathing Hen

Myrtle my bluebelle hen is feeling and looking much better, she’s now living with the old ex battery hens and things are going well. Due to her docile nature, I believe this is for the best.

She has taken to dustbathing in the empty veg beds recently and really ‘purrs’ with delight. I decided to get really close to her and take a photo close up. Trouble is, this tends to happen.

Yikes!

*No eyes were harmed by taking this photo, thanks to my camera*

6 Comments
by The Garden Smallholder on May 30, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Garden Smallholder on May 30, 2012

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Introducing the New Hens

I thought I’d share some photos of the new hens, taken when they first arrived almost 2 weeks ago. First up is Ginny, a Speckledy hybrid hen bred from a Maran. She’s very sweet and easy to catch, she quite likes to be picked up and handled and eats from my hand etc. She should lay brown eggs.

Then we have Fleur, a pure white hen called a Coral, when she begins to lay her eggs should be pure white. Since this photo was taken her comb has grown considerably, she’s taking more notice of the nesting boxes so perhaps her first egg will come soon. Being very skittish I can’t get near her just yet, however, she appears to be top hen of the younger girls.

Next up is Hermione, a Columbine hybrid bred from a Cream Legbar. I love the pattern and colours of this hen, and of course her funny hair do! There’s an 80% chance of her laying blue or green eggs, otherwise I can expect a range of pastel shades. Again, very skittish and nervous of me, I can’t get near her yet. She’s very sweet and appears to be the bottom hen now that Myrtle’s (bluebelle) no longer part of the flock.

Myrtle is a bluebell hybrid bred from a Maran and Rhode Island Red. She’s very docile and friendly and when she begins laying I can expect brown eggs, sometimes with a ‘plum blush’. She hasn’t been very well recently, fingers crossed she seems to be making a good recovery.

I can’t leave Emily out, here she is with her magnificent comb!

The eagle-eyed amongst you would have noticed a theme with my new hens names, let’s see if anyone can guess. EDIT:  Fleur laid her first egg a couple of hours ago, a pure white little egg!

23 Comments
by The Garden Smallholder on May 25, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Garden Smallholder on May 25, 2012

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Baby Steps

Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, take my new hens for example; since my last post I’ve been really busy integrating hens (which can be a nightmare at times), unfortunately I’ve also had to nurse a very poorly one. Myrtle, my Bluebelle hen became ill not long after I got her, she had to be quarantined and needed meds from my vet, the good news is she’s slowly on the mend. Myrtle hasn’t been with the others for a long while and was leaning towards being bottom hen when she was, sadly, her chances of a smooth and peaceful return to the flock are minimal. The others have sorted their pecking order out and have bonded well, they will reject Myrtle now and view her as an outsider. The trouble is, she wasn’t with the flock long enough to form any firm friendships or find her place in the pecking order, instead, she’s petrified of being anywhere near them. The others will give her a hard time and stop her from eating etc, perhaps even cause her serious injury. I’m not being over dramatic, as much as I love keeping chickens they can be really cruel at times.

I’m going to try something else to suit Myrtle’s temperament and needs. Once she’s fitter I will have a go at integrating her with my old ex battery girls. I’d never normally advise integrating a lone hen but at the moment I haven’t got many options left. My old girls are very nice natured birds, they hardly squabbled when I first got them and there has never been a single peck since. I couldn’t tell you who is top hen and who is bottom, that’s how laid back they are. Due to battery cage injuries to their legs, two of my old girls won’t chase Myrtle, the other girl is fitter and would be the only real challenge. Being docile by nature, I’d be very surprised if Myrtle attacked back if she were to receive any pecking. I’m sure there will be some ‘argy-bargy’, but I’m confident that with a lot of supervision from me and plenty of mealworms I can bribe my gentle old girls into taking baby Myrtle under their wings. Eventually.

It’s a matter of baby steps, slowly, in the right direction. I will let you know how it goes.

12 Comments
by The Garden Smallholder on May 24, 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by The Garden Smallholder on May 24, 2012

http://thegardensmallholder.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/baby-steps/

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