Ex-Battery Hens

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Ex-Battery Hens
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alison
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Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 6:38 am Post subject:
do you think you may want pigs. What about an electic fence for the hens

Gertie

Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Posts: 1638
Location: Yorkshire

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 7:01 am Post subject:
I think we will just have to settle for hens, Alison. If I had my way and we had quite a bit of land I'd love to have all sorts of livestock. Only thing is they'd just be big pets. I must admit, thought about electric fencing, as we use some to divide the horses field up.

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 10:38 am Post subject:
The elctric fence wouldn't be a fox deterrent though. Clever buggers

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 10:40 am Post subject:
I did wonder about getting a pig to rear for market, but I think it's a bit of a tie if you want to go away, and I'm not sure about purchase and resale values. Any suggestions anyone?

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 11:38 am Post subject: This is funny!
https://www.kippenpagina.nl/

Gertie

Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Posts: 1638
Location: Yorkshire

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 5:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks for that, Madman. Hmmmn, apart from making sure there aren't any places that the fox can dig in, what else can I use to deter them. How deep would a fox dig to get under any wire? Any ideas, anyone.

There doesn't seem to have been any foxes around our allotments, but we do get the odd one or two travelling over the back of the horses fields, which is about 300 yards away from the allotments. So, can't guarantee any foxes snooping around!!!

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 6:29 pm Post subject:

Foxes and rats will smell the birds and their muck from miles away. If you want them free ranging without an enclosure to keep them in and predators out, you may be forced to secure them in their coop at night, letting them out each morning and in each night, and hope that the foxes around your way are nocturnal. Most are. I wouldn't have thought a fox would persist in digging for very long, unless it was very hungry. Maybe a foot or so. A better bet would be a six foot high fence of strong weldmesh but this may be too ugly for you. Expensive too. Why not have a portable ark and move it daily?

Mad

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 8:16 pm Post subject:

Madman wrote:

hope that the foxes around your way are nocturnal. Most are.

Foxes around urban, sub-urban areas are definately not nocturnal as we've had them in our garden during the day on a number of occasions. (One of our hens chased one off

) I've also seen them in the country out during the day.

I would only ever let our hens free range if we are in the garden. There can also be problems with people's dogs, even if they don't go for the hens they may wish to play and harm the hens.

On the other hand if a dog has been raised with free ranging hens it can be useful for keeping the foxes away.

I'd go for an enclosed run and letting hens out when you're about and moving the run around.

Foxes dig various holes in our garden but not more than 6 inches. They have never attempted to dig under our ark (it does have a wire bottom but I'm sure the fox doesn't know that).

I also thought that an open wire run should be flexable at the top to stop foxes climbing? Is this true? Most people these days use an exlectric fence if they have a number of high value chickens.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28237
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 8:17 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

Madman wrote:

hope that the foxes around your way are nocturnal. Most are.

Foxes around urban, sub-urban areas are definately not nocturnal as we've had them in our garden during the day on a number of occasions.

Interesting and disappointing

Around here I "would" have said that I thought they were pretty nocturnal.

jema

alison
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 12918
Location: North Devon

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 8:23 pm Post subject:
Another thought about ex battery hens. We have used our girls to educate visitors who stay here about the battery egg system and the befifits to the bird of free range. They are a fantastic visual, and we make many easy conversions that way.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 8:37 pm Post subject:

alison wrote:

Another thought about ex battery hens.

We have used our girls to educate visitors who stay here about the battery egg system and the befifits to the bird of free range.
They are a fantastic visual, and we make many easy conversions that way.

I think that also applies to any hens. Keep a few and let people see them and they should realise how bad battery farming or some of the dodgy barn chicken farming is.

Lloyd

Joined: 24 Jan 2005
Posts: 2699

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 9:58 pm Post subject:
I'm no raving communist agitator of the back to mother nature world, but I was shown around the battery farm when I got my chooks, and was appalled!....they consider themselves a market leader of battery farming, but the filth, the skips full of chicken corpses, the aggression between birds in confined spaces.....show people that and see if they won't buy fre range!!

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28237
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 10:01 pm Post subject:

Madman wrote:

I'm no raving communist agitator of the back to mother nature world, but I was shown around the battery farm when I got my chooks, and was appalled!....they consider themselves a market leader of battery farming, but the filth, the skips full of chicken corpses, the aggression between birds in confined spaces.....show people that and see if they won't buy fre range!!

I always buy so called free range now, but still need some convincing that supermarket free range is really that much better than battery

jema

Last edited by jema on Tue Jan 25, 05 10:06 pm; edited 1 time in total

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 10:03 pm Post subject:
Totally agree. People should also be made to see the slaughtering process of various animals and the way broiler chickens are raised. I'm not saying people should not eat meat, but many people need to be more aware of how it get's on the plate.

Gertie

Joined: 08 Jan 2005
Posts: 1638
Location: Yorkshire

Posted: Tue Jan 25, 05 10:06 pm Post subject:
Madman, so how did you come to get hold of your hens, were you aware there was an 'establishment' in the area, someone put you in touch with someone else, or what?

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