My New Ex-Batts Arrive

My 3 hens were laying fewer eggs over winter - I even had to buy some over xmas. So I began thinking about some new chickens. I'd always fancied ex-batts - giving a poor maltreated chicken a home, but not really felt confident in my chicken-keeping abilities. However after 2 and a half years I thought I was probably OK.

I sourced a 2nd had green eglu on the internet - I fetched it on my way home from work. I registered with the Battery Hen Welfare Trust BHWT . If I weren't convinced before I was now. I had my phone call with one of the coordinators - they need to be sure that you know how to care for these poor little scraps - and I was all set.
I set up an Ex-Batt photo-album on Facebook to track their progress. There is a more detailed description of their arrival and lots of pictures as they (hopefully) grow more feathers.

I assembled the eglu. That was a task of itself since the Omlet chicken Chauffeur had done my first one for me. Still, after several cold hours I had a decent looking home for them. Then it snowed! The collection date was put off a week. Finally I collected them in one of our cat baskets. They were very calm during the journey - this pic was of them when we arrived. All settled. It had been an exciting day for them, rescued from somewhere in the midlands, driven down to Hertfordshire, released in a stable, picked up, put in a cat basket and driven home with us.

On the day they I was to collect them, my ex-batt crumb feed had still not arrived. I phoned the coordinator to ask if there was anywhere near the rescue centre in Potters Bar where I could buy some on the way. She kindly put together two bags for me from her own stock. Thank goodness, it was enough to tide me over until my delayed delivery arrived. I quickly scooped the feed into the grub bowls before letting the ex-batts out. Good thing too - they seem to eat tons of the stuff.

The next morning I kept the ex-batts in their run, but let our three birds out to range free. They were curious about the new arrivals and a little bit of pecking went on through the bars, but not possible to do much damage. We're going to keep them separate for 4 to 5 weeks to give the ex-batts feathers time to grow, to let them settle into their own pecking order and just to allow all the birds to get accustomed to each other before having to establish who is boss hen.