Rescued Hens

[Cameron Burns 1]

Hi everyone thanks for reading this topic!

 

well the story goes like this: on tuesday i was out ratting at a chicken farm (barn hens) and the hens had mostly been taken away but about 20 remained and as the owner was culling all he caught so my request to take some was taken very well, after catching 8 hens with the help of my fellow ratteurs the best 6 were chosen and put into the van. The hens were settled that night in temporary housing on the decking of the house. the next day (wednesday) they were released into the open garden and decided they liked sitting under the quad trailer so i put up some windbreaks (xmas trees) and put some food and water down (the food was samples from the farm, layers mash) and I found the best looking hen had laid an egg about 1pm the next two days i have found another egg in the same place and as that particular hen is the only one i see sitting there i presume their hers. now I have found no other signs of eggs from the other five worse looking hens. these chickens have been at the farm for a month after the chickens got removed so had no guarenteed food source. I have looked everwhere but no eggs have been found except those mentioned before. grit is provided for them and there well looked after. i have come up with a theory that the undernourished hens aren't laying because there bodies aren't strong enough yet to produce more eggs. all the chickens have settled well so i dont think its stress. can anyone provide a better answer and solution? any other details please ask for

[scottishlass 57]

It will just take time i take some hens in from time to time and it varys some start laying really well and some take weeks ,are they well feathered ???

[skycat 6,172]

In my experience some never do really get into lay again. Their systems have been so stressed by artificially long days to encourage them to lay more than one per 24 hours, that they have been worn out permanently. Out of 6 12 month old ex layers (yes, finished at 12 months in the industry!)only three are now laying every day. From the first they looked the better: the others had very white combs and even round their eyes the skin was all white. Although these hens have now reddened up they still don't lay, though some tried to lay for a bit and just did soft shelled eggs or eggs which broke up inside them. (Soft shelled eggs encourage egg pecking and are often eaten before you realise that an egg has actually been laid. I reckon to give them another week or so (we've had them a month now) then they'll be ferret fodder if they don't improve.

 

To get hens back laying I feed: layers' pellets, Vitalin (cheap dog food but contains fish and meat meal which is extra protein), plenty of oyster shell (calcium for shells)continuous access to greens: grass, spinach beet (is particularly good), plenty of grit, a warm safe house at night with a choice of nest boxes all of which are dark and in corners. You can also feed milk (mixed with the feed), yoghurt, cooked meat for extra protein: in very cold weather I put lumps of hard beef or lamb fat into their run for them to peck at if they want.

 

Also make sure they are free from mites and internal parasites: I use Diatomaceous Earth: dusted on to their skin, round the house, perches, nest boxes, and internally: about 1 tsp per 6 hens daily in their food.

 

Properly cared for a hen which you've had from a youngster should be able to lay for at least 3 years, though production does slow down in the third year.

[Hardfeather 56]

Hens are older than 12 months when they get kicked out as they don't got into the units until they are point of lay at about 20 weeks,I've never had any that didn't lay and the ones i've got now still lay like engines a year later.

Try not to give them too much hard feed initially like grit,pellets or even long grass as they've basically been living off powdered feed for so long and the gizzard is a muscle that needs time to work as it should do naturally and grind food prior to digestion Other than that you shouldn't have any problems aslong as you don't get any red mite in the shed

cheers

[craigyboy 1,274]

In my experience some never do really get into lay again. Their systems have been so stressed by artificially long days to encourage them to lay more than one per 24 hours, that they have been worn out permanently. Out of 6 12 month old ex layers (yes, finished at 12 months in the industry!)only three are now laying every day. From the first they looked the better: the others had very white combs and even round their eyes the skin was all white. Although these hens have now reddened up they still don't lay, though some tried to lay for a bit and just did soft shelled eggs or eggs which broke up inside them. (Soft shelled eggs encourage egg pecking and are often eaten before you realise that an egg has actually been laid. I reckon to give them another week or so (we've had them a month now) then they'll be ferret fodder if they don't improve.

 

To get hens back laying I feed: layers' pellets, Vitalin (cheap dog food but contains fish and meat meal which is extra protein), plenty of oyster shell (calcium for shells)continuous access to greens: grass, spinach beet (is particularly good), plenty of grit, a warm safe house at night with a choice of nest boxes all of which are dark and in corners. You can also feed milk (mixed with the feed), yoghurt, cooked meat for extra protein: in very cold weather I put lumps of hard beef or lamb fat into their run for them to peck at if they want.

 

Also make sure they are free from mites and internal parasites: I use Diatomaceous Earth: dusted on to their skin, round the house, perches, nest boxes, and internally: about 1 tsp per 6 hens daily in their food.

 

Properly cared for a hen which you've had from a youngster should be able to lay for at least 3 years, though production does slow down in the third year.

she knows her stuff,only one thing i'd add to that,get some acv and give it em everyday in their water

[Moll. 1,769]

Quite common for hens to go off lay for up to two weeks when they are moved. I wouldn't worry about it at the mo, just get some good grub and fresh water into them ready for them starting again

[skycat 6,172]

Yes, sorry: forgot to say I sprinkle water on their feed to soften it. T'ain't natural for hens to eat only dry food so I never feed pellets bone dry, just enough water to soften but still hold the shape; The Vitalin shouldn't be dry either but as I mix it in with the pellets it gets the same treatment.

 

BTW my latest lot were kicked out at 12 months, though this was a breeder/broiler unit so maybe different to just laying farms.

[ashleybee 7]

Commercial layers kept in barns will be fed somewhere around 140 - 170 grams to keep them in peak lay thats depending on the average weight of the birds so you need to make sure they are getting at least that much and make sure they arn't getting fed whole wheat as they will lose condition further as there digestion system won't be able to break the wheat down and will pass it whole however they will eventually be able to as they adjust to life out doors.

A big factor to concider is the big change from indoors to outside thats alot of stress for a bird to go through which will also put them off lay

ATB Ashley

[comanche 2,799]

Hens go out of lay in preparation for the moult. Left to their own devices they would come back into lay a few weeks later .

This gap in production is not acceptable to intensivly commercial farmers and it is more cost effective to clear out the non-layers ,muck out and disinfect the sheds and buy in a new lot of POL hens .

These strains have been developed for a short and intense commercial life and are not bred or tested for healthyness into old age unlike the fancier's breeds and backyard types which are expected to last a lot longer .

Having said that, many ex commercial hens will perk up after a month or two with a good diet, some grass under their feet and sun on their backs .Some will even live to a reasonable age .

Don't expect commercial quantities of eggs but they will still out-perform some of the pure and fancy breeds. The odd one will keel over for no apparant reason and those that don't do well or look right won't get any better but are fine for ferret food .

Edited May 22, 2011 by comanche

[Plank 8]

Hi everyone thanks for reading this topic!

 

well the story goes like this: on tuesday i was out ratting at a chicken farm (barn hens) and the hens had mostly been taken away but about 20 remained and as the owner was culling all he caught so my request to take some was taken very well, after catching 8 hens with the help of my fellow ratteurs the best 6 were chosen and put into the van. The hens were settled that night in temporary housing on the decking of the house. the next day (wednesday) they were released into the open garden and decided they liked sitting under the quad trailer so i put up some windbreaks (xmas trees) and put some food and water down (the food was samples from the farm, layers mash) and I found the best looking hen had laid an egg about 1pm the next two days i have found another egg in the same place and as that particular hen is the only one i see sitting there i presume their hers. now I have found no other signs of eggs from the other five worse looking hens. these chickens have been at the farm for a month after the chickens got removed so had no guarenteed food source. I have looked everwhere but no eggs have been found except those mentioned before. grit is provided for them and there well looked after. i have come up with a theory that the undernourished hens aren't laying because there bodies aren't strong enough yet to produce more eggs. all the chickens have settled well so i dont think its stress. can anyone provide a better answer and solution? any other details please ask for

 

Hello,

 

I agree with the folks who say that chickens go off-lay when moved. It takes time to make an egg and they will lay any eggs that started production before they were move after they were moved. To tell if an individual chicken is laying you can feel it's pelvis. The bones around the gap the egg comes through will be wider for a chicken that is 'in-lay' than for one that is 'off-lay'.

[Plank 8]

Yes, sorry: forgot to say I sprinkle water on their feed to soften it. T'ain't natural for hens to eat only dry food so I never feed pellets bone dry, just enough water to soften but still hold the shape; The Vitalin shouldn't be dry either but as I mix it in with the pellets it gets the same treatment.

 

I'm glad wetting the pellets works for you but different makes of pellet use different 'binders'. By binder I mean the non-nutritious 'stuff' that holds the powder together in a pellet shape. For some, usually the cheaper, pellets this binder can react with water, not in a dangerous way but to change the flavour of the pellet which can reduce consumption of the pellet by the chicken. If the food is available in a powdered form then it can be mixed with liquid as a mash without a reaction as their is no binder. In the good old days cheap layers mash was mixed with a little surplus milk when chickens went into moult to improve the food. Now, of course, you'd have to be wary of EU regs.

[longbow 14]

ITs the moult, no one ever mentions the moult when talking about rescued hens, they just go on about "horendous conditions" etc. All hens wether kept outside or under artificial lights have to moult sooner or later (autumn for outdoor hens). When they have moulted and recharged their batteries (no pun intended) they will begin laying again, not so much as in their first year though.

[Plank 8]

 

I agree with the folks who say that chickens go off-lay when moved. It takes time to make an egg and they will lay any eggs that started production before they were move after they were moved. To tell if an individual chicken is laying you can feel it's pelvis. The bones around the gap the egg comes through will be wider for a chicken that is 'in-lay' than for one that is 'off-lay'.

 

Also,

 

Hybrid chickens have been bred to convert food into eggs not meat so compared to pure breeds they will be very thin. The chickens may have had eggs inside them nearly ready to lay when you were catching them if these eggs were broken when you pounced there egg making bits could be completely http://www.thehuntinglife.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/censored.gif although if that happened they would usually look ill with a few days. Of course you've had a couple of whole eggs so at least one must be working.

 

Although as I said I expect the stress of the move has stopped them one thing to look out for is the eggs being layed and then eaten. Some chickens also eat up the bits of shell and I've heard anecdotes about weasels stealing whole eggs, although I take those with a pinch of salt.

 

I noticed you said that you thought the chickens weren't suffering from stress, and hybrids usually cope well (they have altered stress genes), but when folks want to keep (or at least delay) a chicken from laying they keep moving it from coup to coup. Although it's too late now a useful tip to mitigate the effects of a stressful event in poultry is to give them a vitamin supplement in the water. One of the ways stress causes them damage is that it interferes with the the way some vitamins are processed into the chicken's blood so the extra vitamin in an accessible form helps compensate.

[Moll. 1,769]

Great info there Plank

[Plank 8]

 

To get hens back laying I feed: layers' pellets, Vitalin (cheap dog food but contains fish and meat meal which is extra protein), plenty of oyster shell (calcium for shells)continuous access to greens: grass, spinach beet (is particularly good), plenty of grit, a warm safe house at night with a choice of nest boxes all of which are dark and in corners. You can also feed milk (mixed with the feed), yoghurt, cooked meat for extra protein: in very cold weather I put lumps of hard beef or lamb fat into their run for them to peck at if they want.

 

Also make sure they are free from mites and internal parasites: I use Diatomaceous Earth: dusted on to their skin, round the house, perches, nest boxes, and internally: about 1 tsp per 6 hens daily in their food.

 

 

I'd wish I'd read the above more carefully before I replied to your later post, you already know about feeding milk.

 

Your obviously knowledgeable but it might be worth making clear to people new to chickens that like feeding vegetable waste from the kitchen like peelings (not garden waste), feeding meat scraps is technically illegal, something to bear in mind if anybody official is likely to be about. Although according to an episode of last weeks 'Farming today' on R4 their are signs the EU regs might be relaxed. Also while cooking the meat is a very good idea there is some evidence that disease can still be passed on by cannibalism even of cooked poultry.

 

I see you feed Diatomaceous Earth, have you taken worm counts and if so what change has it made for you?