The ex-Batts

We get hens from the British Hen Welfare Trust

When we started , it was called the Battery Hen Welfare Trust.  Egg production drops off as hens get older.  In a commercial chicken battery farm,  as soon as production starts to fall off , the setup becomes uneconomic - the hens are cleared out , going to pies, dog and cat food and the like, and another lot are brought in .
The BHWT rehomes hens when the battery  is finished with them .  Some don't survive coming out of the battery.

We've had them for a few days , locking them in a henhouse with food and water so they get used to the new 'home' . And even in this setup they have more space than in a battery.
And today we let them out , so they have their first experience of soil, scratching for food, wind and rain .

Weve got an additional 10 hens.  And some are out exploring

Missing feathers is very common  - crowded together in  a cage , they  still have a 'pecking order' ( where do you think the term came from ? ) . The industry solution to this is to trim the beaks of the hens .

And in a battery , the eggs are laid and then roll down an incline. So the idea nest and stuff like that hasn't developed . So you find eggs laid all over the place

 And to compare , here's one of this lot of Ex-batts  and one we got last year

All to save a few pence on the cost of an egg .

More hens

The hens are getting old - and as they get old they dont lay as frequently. And  producing eggs is light-dependent and as the days shorten , we get fewer eggs.  And none for the past 2 weeks.

So something must be done.

And we heard that the British Hen Welfare Trust  were sending some rehomed hens to Orkney.
We've had  resuced hens before. So for a donation to BHWT we are restocked.

So our 20  need fetching -  they are part of a consignment that came up on the boat from Aberdeen.

And its 5 to a box.

And after overnight in their new accommodation they get to explore their new surroundings .

Or perhaps not. For mass-produced chickens they dont get to go out much. So these have spent the day hanging around the henhouses. over the next weeks they will gradually get the hang of exploring and foraging for food. .

And the other thing about mas-produced hens is they are a bit deficient onthe feathers front.
This lot arent too bad. Some we have had in the past have been feather-less

Its mild at the moment so its not so criticla if they dont know how to go into the henhouse at night .

And we got 14 eggs over the last day and a half !