Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => The Hen House => Topic started by: Sophie1918 on November 10, 2018, 18:59
-
Hello, I’m new to the chicken game, took my son into the pet shop to look at the fish and walked out with 4 16 week old pullets, this was August, last week I drove to Rotherham and rescued 4 ex batt hens, they are very timid, won’t let me near them (my others follow me around and like to be picked up) smell funny like they need a good bath, very bald and odd looking, they are laying absolutely fine, just like my pullets however I get to the coop in a morning and have a couple of broken eggs due to shells being like tissue paper that you can’t even pick them up, also, we are having extremely clear water poops, any ideas on what I need to be doing??
Thanks
-
Hi Sophie and welcome to the forum. I've split your query off so you can have your own topic with specific advice for your problems with your new hens.
I've never had ex-battery hens, but they will have been fed solely on pellets, so if you are giving them greens or they have access to grass, that could be causing the watery poo.
They probably have not been able to dust bath and been kept in confined conditions, where boredom leads to feather pecking. They should feather up and their looks should improve, as should the smell.
Soft shell or very thin eggs can be age or diet related. Ex-batts are generally got rid of as their peak laying period is ending. If their diet is now good with a decent layers pellet as the base and access to crushed shells to pick at, that should hopefully help.
I don't know if you are aware of this, but this forum is part of a site where there are lots of poultry articles available. These may help you with some info and hopefully someone who has taken on ex-batts will be along at some point to offer some advice :)
Poultry Articles - Chickens, Ducks, Quail, Geese, Turkey | Poultry Pages (http://www.chickens.allotment-garden.org/poultry-articles/)