Irish Battery Hen Cull

genie

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ten-farmers-forced-to-cull-thousands-of-battery-hens-2976187.html

Are there no organisation(s) in Ireland like the BHWT or Lucky Hens who re-home ex-battery hens? I'd love to think that some of these poor hens could be saved.

meoklmrk91

genie wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/ten-farmers-forced-to-cull-thousands-of-battery-hens-2976187.html

Are there no organisation(s) in Ireland like the BHWT or Lucky Hens who re-home ex-battery hens? I'd love to think that some of these poor hens could be saved.

That bloody article made the farmers sound like poor victims of the evil EU, they will loose every penny they have in order to follow these silly rules. Well maybe if they hadn't held out until the last minute and started making the changes earlier they would be in a better position make them. That is a biased article if I ever saw one, the indo should be ashamed of themsrlves for supporting animal cruelty.

Themadhouse

I have seen some rehomes on some welfare sites. They can be brilliant pets if you put the effort into bringing them back to health and its not that much effort really. I am glad to see the laws are changing, they are not just egg machines, they can be fantastic pets too, fun to have around and they give something back to you.
The article did cry of "poor farmer" vibe which pisses me off in this country. They were given a grant of 30 euro per hen and this wasnt enough enough for some! really! i'm sure it was plenty to provide adequate housing, perch and run.

Sigma Force

There are a few people taking on ex battery hens and finding homes for them but there are only so many they can take and only so many homes out there.
There is no one large organisation doing this in Ireland but anyone thinking of getting hens should consider battery hens they still lay well and with some TLC do very well in their new surroundings.

What we need is no more battery farms best way people can help is to buy free range eggs only and ideally free range chicken, and products using free range eggs. Free range eggs are slightly more expensive than battery but they are still dirt cheap as a food source I mean under 2 euro for 6 eggs is really cheap when you think about it. Free range meat is getting cheaper, wish there was more free range pork on the market.

Or buy local from a farmer or farmers market if you know the seller is a free range farmer.

If more of us do this then that will help the over all problem.

genie

Just read this on the politics.ie website -

http://www.politics.ie/forum/environment/178749-battery-hen-cull-read-kill-3.html :-

"<snip> have already spoken to IFA National Poultry Chairman Mr Alo Mohan and have made an offer to find ‘forever homes’ for some of these hens to allow them live out their natural lives. Mr Mohan was open to our suggestion and has offered to help us if the farmers agree to give us some of the hens instead of killing them. We already have a foster offer for 30 of the birds. We thank Alo Mohan for trying to help us with this endeavour and we genuinely hope we can save some innocent lives in the coming weeks. CONTACT Press Officer: Bernie Wright <snip>."

So there may be some hope for these poor hens.

doctor evil

I think it is very wasteful that farmers aren't allowed to keep the 'overflow' birds until ready for slaughter. Does the farmer get any recourse at all?

Ireland sure as heck cannot compete on cost in this case with other countries, the only card we have to play is the quality.

<snip> I wouldn't trust as far as I could throw, they're only in it for the photo op or they big up any bit of exposure.(remember homeless fella who jumped in the Liffey after his rabbit - <snip> gave him a framed plaque and a big pat on their backs for themselves - what good is a plaque to a homeless person?)

In Dublin 'farmer' markets are a joke, very few if any are real farmers. Don't know about the rest of the country.

golden8

Where the farmers not given enough time for a change over to the new equipment that is required.

Traonach

golden8 wrote: »

Where the farmers not given enough time for a change over to the new equipment that is required.

They had 10 years to prepare. Now there playing the old "poor farmer routine". Only in Ireland.......

Kristopherus

No use moaning about the Irish poultry farmers, folks, the situation is a 1000 times worse in the UK, bearing in mind that their rearing units would dwarf any Irish unit.

The Sweeper

doctor evil wrote: »

I think it is very wasteful that farmers aren't allowed to keep the 'overflow' birds until ready for slaughter. Does the farmer get any recourse at all?

Slaughter wouldn't gain them much money, and as for recourse, they get a supplement per hen or so it says in the article - grant aid of about 30 yoyos per bird.

My understanding - and I'm open to correction on this - is as follows:

Most chicken on the supermarket shelves for consumption is 16-20 weeks old. Non-organic and non-free-range chicken has often been fed various growth hormones to make it plumper at that age, but basically it gets to 16 weeks and it's sent to slaughter. (Organic and free range chicken is allowed grow and mature at a natural rate instead of being fed growth hormones and is usually older at point of slaughter. Ironically this can make them a tougher bird, though they will always be more full of flavour than an intensively farmed chicken slaughtered at 16 weeks.)

Chickens don't start to lay until about 16 weeks, so whether you farm for meat or eggs, your money doesn't start until 16 weeks (and probably later in the case of eggs). A laying hen can take weeks past the 16 week mark to get up to laying an egg a day, and its best laying year is usually between six and 18 months of age.

Battery farmers do a number of things to keep their hens laying year-round, including use of light (hens need 12 hours of light a day to lay, so they'll often go off the lay in the winter - all they need is as much light as you'd get from a bulb to read a newspaper and that keeps them on the lay). Some battery farmers also create artificial days - instead of 12 hours on, 12 off, they switch the lights on and off in a shorter cycle, so they may get, for instance, three eggs over two days instead of two.

Basically at the end of a battery hen's useful life (end-of-lay point) she goes into production as pet food or chicken stock - she wouldn't go to slaughter for human consumption. If there are no pet food manufacturers or stock makers on the waiting end for end-of-lay hens, the farmers will cull and incinerate, because there's no money to be had otherwise. (I'd personally say it's highly likely that end of lay hens go into the chicken nugget industry too, but I don't know).

The only way to stop battery farming is to buy only free-range or free-range organic eggs. Ex-battery hens will be rewarding to you as a chicken keeper if only to watch them learn to scratch, roost and dust bathe, but they will often have short lives as a result of the physical damage that intensive farming did to them in the first 18 months.

I'm very vocal about not buying ex-battery hens - if you can rescue them for free, they make a good addition to a household. If you have to pay for them, that's not 'rescue', that's giving the bastard who'd normally simply cull the chicken or sell it to the petfood industry far more money than he'd normally get for his chicken, so it rewards intensive farming.

Buy only free range chicken and eggs (I know it's more expensive, but you don't have to eat meat and eggs seven days a week you know), and rescue battery hens you're offered free of charge.

genie

Charities and organisations who rescue battery hens charge at least £3 per hen. This covers their own costs. Whether they actually pay the battery farmers for the hens, I couldn't say.

Vince32

just read the article and some of the comments, and I don't see the point in killing 1000's of birds just because a clock got to zero...

If the birds are in good general health and laying as they do, there is no need for a single hen to die... let alone 1000's

Graces7

The Sweeper wrote: »

Slaughter wouldn't gain them much money, and as for recourse, they get a supplement per hen or so it says in the article - grant aid of about 30 yoyos per bird.

My understanding - and I'm open to correction on this - is as follows:

Most chicken on the supermarket shelves for consumption is 16-20 weeks old. Non-organic and non-free-range chicken has often been fed various growth hormones to make it plumper at that age, but basically it gets to 16 weeks and it's sent to slaughter. (Organic and free range chicken is allowed grow and mature at a natural rate instead of being fed growth hormones and is usually older at point of slaughter. Ironically this can make them a tougher bird, though they will always be more full of flavour than an intensively farmed chicken slaughtered at 16 weeks.)

Chickens don't start to lay until about 16 weeks, so whether you farm for meat or eggs, your money doesn't start until 16 weeks (and probably later in the case of eggs). A laying hen can take weeks past the 16 week mark to get up to laying an egg a day, and its best laying year is usually between six and 18 months of age.

Battery farmers do a number of things to keep their hens laying year-round, including use of light (hens need 12 hours of light a day to lay, so they'll often go off the lay in the winter - all they need is as much light as you'd get from a bulb to read a newspaper and that keeps them on the lay). Some battery farmers also create artificial days - instead of 12 hours on, 12 off, they switch the lights on and off in a shorter cycle, so they may get, for instance, three eggs over two days instead of two.

Basically at the end of a battery hen's useful life (end-of-lay point) she goes into production as pet food or chicken stock - she wouldn't go to slaughter for human consumption. If there are no pet food manufacturers or stock makers on the waiting end for end-of-lay hens, the farmers will cull and incinerate, because there's no money to be had otherwise. (I'd personally say it's highly likely that end of lay hens go into the chicken nugget industry too, but I don't know).

The only way to stop battery farming is to buy only free-range or free-range organic eggs. Ex-battery hens will be rewarding to you as a chicken keeper if only to watch them learn to scratch, roost and dust bathe, but they will often have short lives as a result of the physical damage that intensive farming did to them in the first 18 months.

I'm very vocal about not buying ex-battery hens - if you can rescue them for free, they make a good addition to a household. If you have to pay for them, that's not 'rescue', that's giving the bastard who'd normally simply cull the chicken or sell it to the petfood industry far more money than he'd normally get for his chicken, so it rewards intensive farming.

Buy only free range chicken and eggs (I know it's more expensive, but you don't have to eat meat and eggs seven days a week you know), and rescue battery hens you're offered free of charge.

With respect, for many the difference in cost is too much, and I am one of those, living on a small pension and finding it very hard thus,

Facing the row of eggs in the supermarkets here - and you are not in Ireland of course- the price difference is huge. A mother with five children has thus a choice between six eggs and 18 at the same price and with chickens it is a greater gap.

Times are hard enough here at this time.

I sometimes buy eggs at farmers markets when we trade there but am always aware of the higher cost so then have to cut back on something else.

I buy chicken necks for the dogs and cats for a 3-5 euros for ten kilos.
From a local chicken factory. Buying organic is not an option in this household for financial reasons. We have to eat -period.

And at least we know exactly what we are feeding.

Nothing will change unless the law changes.

Refusing to pay for what ARE rescues is also self-defeating,
If you rescue a dog, you pay so no difference and no need for abusive names!

Refusing to take in these hens causes suffering only to the birds.
And many of the rescues, as others here say, live long and happy lives.

Some realism is needed, please, along with the idealism. This is something many of us have thought through caringly and carefully.

Graces7

re the bold type; it came out that way follwing the type of the last parte of the post I was responding to; it is far easier of me to use bold because of eye trouble and I honestly don't see an issue with it? I do this a lot in various boards. Never been altered before.

Ah you thought it was some kind of shouting? As in using capitals? Ah no;simply old eyes...

The Sweeper

Times are hard and you have to eat - you don't have to eat eggs and chicken. You just don't. They aren't staples. You don't have to eat meat seven days a week. You don't have to eat eggs seven days a week.

A mother with five children doesn't have to feed them chicken and eggs. I think a couple of quid in the difference is a poor excuse for continuing to fund the abuse of intensively farmed animals. If your five euro will only buy you six eggs instead of 12 there's a simple solution - eat half as many eggs and have porridge instead for breakfast on the off days.

Battery farmers are bastards in my opinion - they wilfully mistreat animals for profit, and I won't apologise for calling them that. 'Very nasty men' really is the same thing.

If you pay them for a hen, you further reward them for their mistreatment of animals. That's simple economics. If you fund something, the perpetrator will continue to do it because you reward them for their actions. If you do not fund it, they'll stop because there's no profit in it.

Paying for a rescue dog from a rescue is rewarding the rescue for their efforts - it contributes to their vets bills and food costs and so on. Paying a battery farmer for a clapped out, abused chicken is rewarding him for abusing that chicken. It's not the same thing at all.

Paying a rescue that takes on battery chickens three quid for a chicken is again rewarding the rescue - they take on these birds in their hundreds and may have paid a nominal fee to rescue them and that's fine because that nominal fee isn't a guaranteed profit that a farmer can factor into his budget.

This is really, really straightforward - if everyone stops paying for intensively farmed meat, there will be no profit in it. Farmers run a business. No profit = no business.

Plus it's far better for the health of the entire nation to substitute larger portions of fruit, vegetables and whole grains for eggs and chicken seven days a week.

Whispered

If we can't afford free range eggs, we simply don't buy them that week. I don't eat meat so the loss of those eggs really does impact me, but I care deeply about the issue, so I wouldn't even consider buying non free range. I was delighted when helmans started doing free range mayo. No more fiddling around with oil and eggs to create slop for me!

We were considering taking some chickens, but I don't think we're in a very good position to. A Town house with a relatively small garden, I have no chicken experience so would be dubious about my ability to help them heal. 2 large dogs, a cat, neighbours. I'm not sure. We had considered it before too actually. I'm sure they cost buttons to feed and lovely fresh eggs every day!

The Sweeper

By the way I've just taken a look on tesco.ie:

Ballyfree Eggs, half dozen, very large: €2.35
Ballyfree Eggs, half dozen, free range, very large: €2.65

€0.30? Thirty cents? That's it? The difference is only ten cents if you buy Tesco own brand.

Zapperzy

The Sweeper wrote: »

By the way I've just taken a look on tesco.ie:

Ballyfree Eggs, half dozen, very large: €2.35
Ballyfree Eggs, half dozen, free range, very large: €2.65

€0.30? Thirty cents? That's it? The difference is only ten cents if you buy Tesco own brand.

Free range egg prices have really come down, where I work as well they've reduced in price to nearly the same as battery eggs. I'm a student so naturally don't have a huge amount of money for food, always buy free range though, chicken breasts there's still a bigger gap in free range and battery but I just look for reduced stock that has a poor date and freeze what I don't use. Theres ways around things that doesn't break the bank.

doctor evil

The Sweeper wrote: »

By the way I've just taken a look on tesco.ie:

Ballyfree Eggs, half dozen, very large: €2.35
Ballyfree Eggs, half dozen, free range, very large: €2.65

€0.30? Thirty cents? That's it? The difference is only ten cents if you buy Tesco own brand.

Tesco are cheap on some things and dear on others.

I prefer to support Irish businesses and I refuse to darken to Tescos doors.

boxerly

I adopted 5 of the ex battery girls from cork on tuesday :)poor girls had lived a life of hell in tiny cages.Some could barely stand :(They have become so friendly already and one actually jumped on my shoulder earlier then onto my head hahahha.

David09

Seeing this article has got me thinking....

What exactly is required to keep hens? I ask as it's something I've never done before. We live out in a remote area so location is ideal, but what is needed to house them and what about pests, etc???

genie

A secure wooden hen house with nesting boxes and perches. They are available to buy but you might be better off building your own to suit your requirements and the number of hens you want to house. Some people are going for plastic, though, as it is easier to clean.

I have 4 foot high chicken wire fencing surrounding my small paddock. I paid around €50 for 50 meters. Next door have barking dogs, although while a pain, they are probably keeping foxes and other pests away.

I feed them layers pellets and kitchen scraps. One of my hens ate leftover pasta sauce yesterday and loved it! The pellets cost €10.25 for a 20kg bag here.

MaxFlower

boxerly wrote: »

I adopted 5 of the ex battery girls from cork on tuesday :)poor girls had lived a life of hell in tiny cages.Some could barely stand :(They have become so friendly already and one actually jumped on my shoulder earlier then onto my head hahahha.

How do you go about doing this. Is there somewhere I can contact.

I have been think about doing this for a while now as my wife loves to bake so a constant supply of eggs would be very handy, we have room for hens as the garden is plenty big and we have small kids who would get a kick out of keeping hens.

boxerly

Are you on facebook??A rescue in Kildare has LOADS,another in wexford and a few more.I got mine from littlehill animals rescue and sanctuary :)Susan is absolutely fantastic and gives you 100 % back up with any questions or probs.She told me to ring if there were any probs at all and she gave me loads of info on them as Ive never had them before:).Think she rescued over 900 from cork.Alot of them were very sick and she has been nursing them round the clock as well as looking after all the other animals in the rescue.We were going to adopt 3 but came home with 5:)They are fantastic and become very friendly with a bit of tlc:)Its great to see them spread their wings and investigate everything.They found straw amazing and were all dancing around in it.They do need a bit more care as everything outside a tiny cage is new for them.Ive gotten very attached to mine and they are only here since tuesday :)Plus fresh free range eggs for ye :)One of mine laid an egg today while I was cleaning the shed :)ye cant get any fresher than that hehehehe

BengaLover

Any updates from animal welfare on this issue? Personally I would be in a position to take a few dozen ex battery hens if they needed re homing, egg laying wouldnt really matter either.

boxerly

Here a pic of my ex bats

dogluver

They look great. I have five ex batts here too, and they now have all their feathers. They are great personalities and will give you loads of enjoyment

I wish their was a ex batt club in Ireland, like there is in the UK, it would be great fun for all the ex batty people to get together in some way and help and give info...

Graces7

The Sweeper wrote: »

Times are hard and you have to eat - you don't have to eat eggs and chicken. You just don't. They aren't staples. You don't have to eat meat seven days a week. You don't have to eat eggs seven days a week.

A mother with five children doesn't have to feed them chicken and eggs. I think a couple of quid in the difference is a poor excuse for continuing to fund the abuse of intensively farmed animals. If your five euro will only buy you six eggs instead of 12 there's a simple solution - eat half as many eggs and have porridge instead for breakfast on the off days.

Battery farmers are bastards in my opinion - they wilfully mistreat animals for profit, and I won't apologise for calling them that. 'Very nasty men' really is the same thing.

If you pay them for a hen, you further reward them for their mistreatment of animals. That's simple economics. If you fund something, the perpetrator will continue to do it because you reward them for their actions. If you do not fund it, they'll stop because there's no profit in it.

Paying for a rescue dog from a rescue is rewarding the rescue for their efforts - it contributes to their vets bills and food costs and so on. Paying a battery farmer for a clapped out, abused chicken is rewarding him for abusing that chicken. It's not the same thing at all.

Paying a rescue that takes on battery chickens three quid for a chicken is again rewarding the rescue - they take on these birds in their hundreds and may have paid a nominal fee to rescue them and that's fine because that nominal fee isn't a guaranteed profit that a farmer can factor into his budget.

This is really, really straightforward - if everyone stops paying for intensively farmed meat, there will be no profit in it. Farmers run a business. No profit = no business.

Plus it's far better for the health of the entire nation to substitute larger portions of fruit, vegetables and whole grains for eggs and chicken seven days a week.

Totally amazed at the presumptuousness of this post. It is way out of order to dictate what a family should eat. It really is an outrageous demand.

The tenets here are out of touch with the reality of the life many live. And of the nutritional needs especially of children and the elderly.

You write off what you call " a couple of quid"?

Many of us simply do not have that kind of cash to spare. Period, So, please spare us the demands. And the attempts to put guilt on others. Because it does not work any more here.

The only time we buy free range is when it is half price because it is sell by date. The difference is great; 2 or 3 times in some cases.

The nearest Tesco is many miles so that adds costs also.

And there is no way this country could be fed without intensive farming.

Idealism is fine and well, but your way is not feasible.

I was away from here last week and a rare chance to go to Tesco. At the reduced counter I chatted with the mother of five, by pure coincidence. She is very concerned for the health of her children; she has the means to start growing her own vegetables. Very few can do that. But they need good protein. Her concern by the way was not the welfare of the hens but re chemicals.

Because they are not cheap either. We grow our own else we would be in greater difficulties.

So as our health is important and as our income is small, we will work on to eat well and carefully; even eating chicken once or twice a week etc costs too much to choose free range. Every cent has to be counted now. We have lost out in the budget as many have.

And that goes for our dogs and cats too. All of whom are rescues.

So please, do what you think is right for you by all means. I don;t ask you to buy battery birds. Health of the nation indeed! REALLY! I just cannot take all this seriously any more. I really cannot.

We have choice and it is always an informed choice.

And I repeat, nothing will change until and unless the law changes. It has now but you ignore those changes. <snip>

The Sweeper

Six eggs. Ten cents in the difference. Nuff said.

Cherry Blossom

Graces7 - I suggest you watch the tone of your posts. Personal abuse and accusations towards other posters is not tolerated here.

Cherry Blossom

On another note - there's nothing wrong with barn raised chicken, my nan had them all her life. You pay neither the cost of free range nor compromise your ethics by supporting intensive farming. I'd almost guarantee that anyone on this forum that keeps chickens keeps them in a chicken coop with a run - safe from wildlife and other peoples pets.