Would you adopt a battery hen?

Wertz

Saw a few different features on UK and NI news the past few days about chicken farms having to comply with new EU laws on the size and layout of battery cages and how some farmers can't afford to make the changes or need to downsize their flocks and are instead giving up battery hens to people willing to take them on.
Then I heard something on RTÉ radio this morning about poultry farmers here talking about a cull but nothing mentioned about giving up some stock for re-homing.

Some of the birds on the news pieces looked terrible from their lives of being caged and looked bewildered at being handled and put out in a real chicken roost or a piece of grass.
I'd be the type that buys the cheapest eggs and meat with little thought about what the animal goes through in it's short life. The changes to cage size is a positive step but you get the feeling that many a farmer is going to crib and moan at having to spend the money.

I'd love to take on a few myself, but the garden simply wouldn't do and the local cats would make supper of them in no time, but I'm sure there are people who would have the space and the want for eggs and such. Is it something you'd consider?

There's probably a poultry forum or something knowing this place, but it's a general question for people and I'm not even sure if there is a way for it to happen in the Republic.

ItsAWindUp

I'd love to if I could

Logical Fallacy

Most battery hens are Cornish Rocks...which are only really good for dying any way. Very few people try to raise these free range more than once because they are basically so **** at living.

Wertz

They the white ones?

Ones I saw tonight on BBC NI news were russet coloured with the red comb and all, and apart from the plummage damage looked to be fairly hardy.

44leto

I am conflicted about this, I am appalled the way the fowl is treated, but we really need a supply of cheap meat.

Andrew Flexing

I'd adopt one and give it a free range life till it does naturally. the least the poor things deserve!
Pity free range is so expensive compared to battery.

Dartz

AAA, AA, or D?

chucken1

Wertz wrote: »

Saw a few different features on UK and NI news the past few days about chicken farms having to comply with new EU laws on the size and layout of battery cages and how some farmers can't afford to make the changes or need to downsize their flocks and are instead giving up battery hens to people willing to take them on.
Then I heard something on RTÉ radio this morning about poultry farmers here talking about a cull but nothing mentioned about giving up some stock for re-homing.

Some of the birds on the news pieces looked terrible from their lives of being caged and looked bewildered at being handled and put out in a real chicken roost or a piece of grass.
I'd be the type that buys the cheapest eggs and meat with little thought about what the animal goes through in it's short life. The changes to cage size is a positive step but you get the feeling that many a farmer is going to crib and moan at having to spend the money.

I'd love to take on a few myself, but the garden simply wouldn't do and the local cats would make supper of them in no time, but I'm sure there are people who would have the space and the want for eggs and such. Is it something you'd consider?

There's probably a poultry forum or something knowing this place, but it's a general question for people and I'm not even sure if there is a way for it to happen in the Republic.

They would be interested here Id say
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1511

Ive adopted battery hens over the years. Poor little things didnt settle too well though so my brother took them. He has 2 acres with 3 adopted donkeys and a newly arrived goose who didnt "make the grade" a few weeks ago

Wertz

44leto wrote: »

I am conflicted about this, I am appalled the way the fowl is treated, but we really need a supply of cheap meat.

There's cheap and then there's cheap.. I'm constantly amazed at the prices some of the larger supermarkets charge for a medium bird... roughly about a half hour's work on a minimum wage, including the packaging. I can only assume it's some sort of loss leader.

People will say if you don;t buy it they won't produce it, but they will... it's just that more will go unsold and go to landfill/composting, meaning it both lived and died in vain.

Pork and beef are relatively cheap once you get away from prime cuts...but yet don't live in anywhere near the same conditions... pigs are reared intensively but still get some freedom of movement.

EGAR

I have some ex-battery hens here, they are with me for 2 years now, free range and lay a lovely brown egg a day.

Immaculate Pasta

Only if I could call it Duracell :cool:

jumpguy

Andrew Flexing wrote: »

Pity free range is so expensive compared to battery.

I despise how battery eggs are labelled as "natural" and that, giving the impression they're free-range on a naive consumer. The only give-way is the small print about "caged hens". I'm surprised there hasn't been any legislation on just that, given how obsessed legislators have become with consumer rights and awareness...

admiralofthefleet

EGAR wrote: »

I have some ex-battery hens here, they are with me for 2 years now, free range and lay a lovely brown egg a day.

i lay a brown egg most mornings too

ejmaztec

Wertz wrote: »

There's cheap and then there's cheap.. .

Don't they cluck?

44leto

Wertz wrote: »

There's cheap and then there's cheap.. I'm constantly amazed at the prices some of the larger supermarkets charge for a medium bird... roughly about a half hour's work on a minimum wage, including the packaging. I can only assume it's some sort of loss leader.

People will say if you don;t buy it they won't produce it, but they will... it's just that more will go unsold and go to landfill/composting, meaning it both lived and died in vain.

Pork and beef are relatively cheap once you get away from prime cuts...but yet don't live in anywhere near the same conditions... pigs are reared intensively but still get some freedom of movement.

Its easy for some to say, but if you are unemployed and you want to put a cheap and tasty meal on a plate for your family Chicken is a better option then the cheap cuts of beef.

Besides the conditions of cattle are about to get worse, say hello to the beef and milk mega factories farms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuKwAnzBR6g

Sky King

These ones are groooooovey!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pollito_en_oaxaca.jpg

Ddad

I don't think we need more cheap meat, less if anything. Have a look around; we need to eat a few more salads.

It's nauseating the way these animals are treated and for what? So that people can have a cheap dinner. If people were on the verge of some form of starvation that only cheap chicken could solve I'd be all for it; but, we're not. Every economic group in this country needs to eat less meat not more. I've seen every walk of life buying this muck all on the price point. The argument is always affordabilty but IMHO thats crap. People can still afford beer, fags petrol but once a week they can't afford the extra fiver for a better raised bird?

I'd be all for having a few if the quality of life they get for a while makes up for the totally Sh@:e existence they'd had up to then. And yes I eat meat but I know where it's reared. I can see some of the animals from my house. My mates shoot others and I butcher for them. I am up past my bedtime and I'm cranky;)

Wertz

Sure, people need to put a protein rich meal on the table and be sure the kids will eat it; chicken is the way to go... and cheap sells. More so even to the food processing industry. I don't agree re: cheap beef cuts though...I grew up in a lean household and I still live on a low budget now, the problem is people don't have the time or knowledge to cook the cheaper cuts... they are just as protein rich as chicken and arguably a lot tastier.

I honestly don't think we'll see Irish cattle going that route here... our reputation abroad for grass fed free roaming cattle is worth too much. Perhaps with the continued price squeeze from supermarkets it goes that way in decades to come, but for now probably not. At least I hope so...

Tar.Aldarion

The kitties would eat them. Would love to some day!

gigino

Would you adopt a battery hen?

can the batteries be taken out and reused ?

Saila

Ddad wrote: »

I don't think we need more cheap meat, less if anything. Have a look around; we need to eat a few more salads.

It's nauseating the way these animals are treated and for what? So that people can have a cheap dinner. If people were on the verge of some form of starvation that only cheap chicken could solve I'd be all for it; but, we're not. Every economic group in this country needs to eat less meat not more. I've seen every walk of life buying this muck all on the price point. The argument is always affordabilty but IMHO thats crap. People can still afford beer, fags petrol but once a week they can't afford the extra fiver for a better raised bird?

I'd be all for having a few if the quality of life they get for a while makes up for the totally Sh@:e existence they'd had up to then. And yes I eat meat but I know where it's reared. I can see some of the animals from my house. My mates shoot others and I butcher for them. I am up past my bedtime and I'm cranky;)

agreed with you up to the last paragraph

Ddad

Saila wrote: »

agreed with you up to the last paragraph

Was it the cranky bit?

Saila

Ddad wrote: »

Was it the cranky bit?

yeah I suppose now you mention it, that wasn't cranky twas the truth!

also Id be lying if I agreed with the saving the suffering of the animals idea, id'd agree with it but wouldn't champion it as a personal reason tbh

more the stuff above, we eat far too much meat. and spend far to much money on ****e yet complain we dont have enough money for quality food

psychward

Is it legal to keep hens at home ? What about other livestock like a small pig etc ?
Does Dublin City Council have bylaws against it ? I'd take a Hen or 2 and let it run around my backyard as much as it wanted so long as it supplied me with eggs. How high does your backyard wall have to be to stop it escaping ? Do they make a noise at dawn like a cockerel ?

gsxr1

friends down the road kept them for a while.

dirty fecker they where, {the hens). sh1t and eat all day. destroy the grass in the garden after 1 week. Turns to mud.

Get one and keep in the fridge. Tesco adopt them. just go to the meat isle

Demonique

psychward wrote: »

Is it legal to keep hens at home ? What about other livestock like a small pig etc ?
Does Dublin City Council have bylaws against it ? I'd take a Hen or 2 and let it run around my backyard as much as it wanted so long as it supplied me with eggs. How high does your backyard wall have to be to stop it escaping ? Do they make a noise at dawn like a cockerel ?

They don't crow at dawn like a cockeral. Our two only do the stereotypical buc-buc-buc-buc-buc-buc-awk when they're alarmed by something like a cat coming into the garden. Most of the time it's quiet clucking

Wertz

Don't live in Dublin so not sure about how DCC deal with it. If you can have dog or cat then what harm a few chooks? think you need permission for a cockerel though.

psychward

Demonique wrote: »

They don't crow at dawn like a cockeral. Our two only do the stereotypical buc-buc-buc-buc-buc-buc-awk when they're alarmed by something like a cat coming into the garden. Most of the time it's quiet clucking

Do cats cause them big problems or can they defend themselves well enough ?

Saila

back when all this was fields there were just hens

now they put batteries in them, you kids dont know how good you have it :mad:

El_Dangeroso

44leto wrote: »

Besides the conditions of cattle are about to get worse, say hello to the beef and milk mega factories farms.

That's just patently untrue, the reason that cows are pastured in Ireland is because it is the cheaper option, we don't have massive amounts of grain surplus in the country to facilitate factory farmed beef or milk.

Sick of Irish beef being lumped into the same category as that factory farmed sh*te.

Chuck Stone

44leto wrote: »

Besides the conditions of cattle are about to get worse, say hello to the beef and milk mega factories farms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuKwAnzBR6g

What exactly is wrong with this way of dairy farming?

The cattle can move around, they get milked when they please, they are protected from the elements and they get veterinary care.

What?

blogga

Certainly. Electricity is the way forward.

EGAR

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

i lay a brown egg most mornings too

++FAIL++

bleg

Can't wait til we grow meat much like we grow veg using hydroponics.

El_Dangeroso

bleg wrote: »

Can't wait til we grow meat much like we grow veg using hydroponics.

Ugh no. Several years ago, Dr. Joan Gussow said, “I trust cows more than chemists.”:D

Tar.Aldarion

bleg wrote: »

Can't wait til we grow meat much like we grow veg using hydroponics.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056452151

nomnom

later12

Andrew Flexing wrote: »

I'd adopt one and give it a free range life till it does naturally. the least the poor things deserve!

People always put these things in the conditional (I would); rarely in the future tense (I will!)

More of a general statement rather than anything aimed at you Mr flexing.

WindSock

I prefer a plug in one.

idunnoshur

Adopting battery hens is a waste of time imo, they can't usually adapt to conditions outside the cage. In most cases you'd be lucky to get an egg every 2 weeks from one.

kowloon

Some of them when they're adopted just die of the stress, but the ones that survive will usually lay once they've settled down and gotten used to you.

They get rid of the birds when they're starting to lay less, but they're nowhere near the end of their laying life. It's just not economical to keep birds that aren't at peak output.

A small dog kennel or anything like that can house a pair of hens and they can eat scraps alongside their normal grain mix/pellets. Most high walls in a housing estate will hold them in. You can clip the feathers on one wing, it doesn't hurt them, and it'll stop them getting out. They use their wings to do a kind of flapping assisted leap, the clipping on one side unbalances them so they'll just happily peck about the garden.

My hens are never bothered by cats but they're large hens.

kowloon

idunnoshur wrote: »

Adopting battery hens is a waste of time imo, they can't usually adapt to conditions outside the cage. In most cases you'd be lucky to get an egg every 2 weeks from one.

Hens won't lay very well this time of year anyway, regardless of health. It's as much to do with light as anything else. Farms give them extra light to keep them laying all year round.

idunnoshur

kowloon wrote: »

Hens won't lay very well this time of year anyway, regardless of health. It's as much to do with light as anything else. Farms give them extra light to keep them laying all year round.

I'm well aware of that, I'm saying they'd lay fcuk all even when they have plenty of light.

phasers

I'm just curious, is there a huge difference in the quality of eggs between battery hens and free range? I taste the difference in the meat but eggs all taste the same to me.

idunnoshur

phasers wrote: »

I'm just curious, is there a huge difference in the quality of eggs between battery hens and free range? I taste the difference in the meat but eggs all taste the same to me.

To be honest I couldn't tell the difference between eggs my own hens had lain and the eggs from a shop.

genie

If anyone does want to adopt some ex-battery hens, they are available from:-

http://littlehillanimalrescue.ie

https://www.facebook.com/welovehens?sk=info

http://www.nuthousehenrescue.co.uk/

kowloon

idunnoshur wrote: »

I'm well aware of that, I'm saying they'd lay fcuk all even when they have plenty of light.

The ones you'd be getting aren't being discarded because they've stopped laying though, they're going to be culled, many of them will be at their peak. The shock will stop them laying for a bit though.

There's not much to lose by getting some and if they don't lay you can always eat them if you want.

genie

Ex battery hens available via Roscommon SPCA in Castlerea:-

https://www.facebook.com/roscommonspca

Location:- P.O. Box 10, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon
Visit: www.roscommonspca.ie
Phone: 087 0505594