Ex-bat Chicken Diary: Month One

Total number of Eggs: 95

Average per week: 22

Average hen egg production efficiency compared to an ‘unspent’ hen: 60% 

Day One

On the hens’ first full day in their new home some of them came out by themselves, Lily, Duffy and Becky didn’t.  We tired to encourage them out with food but they seemed intent on staying inside their home so we left them there.  In the afternoon we took them out of the henhouse. Over the course of the morning the girls laid five eggs and two unshelled eggs were laid; this is not an unreasonable thing to occur due to the disturbance during the re-homing process.  The hens spent the rest of their day outside discovering the rest of their pen area.  Due to the unfamiliarity of the house and the ramp up or the step up to the side door of the house some of the girls did not go to bed by their own means; this meant that we had to pick them up to their own displeasure.

Day Two

All of the hens came out of the henhouse by themselves, although this was not straight away.  Two eggs were laid over the course of the morning, one of these was in the pen the second was laid inside the henhouse; however as she wasn’t use to contact with her eggs she accidentally broke it.  All of the girls went to bed by themselves but one came back out and she had to be put to bed for which she was not pleased with so she decided to wake up most of the other girls because of this.

Day Three

All the girls were up and out of their house by 8am and made their way back by 8.30pm for bed. 2 Eggs were laid today one between 10-11pm the other between 4-5pm

Rest of the month

We built a small foldaway run for on the grass which we use at the weekends when we are in the garden to allow the girls access to the grass.  They do peck away and eat some but they do have the occasional scratch at the lawn.  We move the run around the lawn to minimise damage to a particular area.  Once we put them back we rake into the lawn any droppings; if left in piles on the surface they may burn holes in your lawn.

As the hens got use to their surroundings and their natural instincts started to return.  One of these was the ability to clean themselves which they do by having a dust-bath.  Basically the roll about and fluff up their feathers to move dirt particles in between their feathers and remove any dirt or mites.  Below is a photograph of Becky have a dust bath in the sun.

 Becky having a dust bath in the sun.

A fairly productive way of providing hens with grass, as we found, is to spread grass cuttings into the pen.  Not only does this provide the hens with some grass to eat but also provides a floor materials which can be collected and composted once it starts to degrade.

We fitted clear plastic sheeting to the top of the hens enclosed run to provide shelter for the hens in wet conditions.  They seem to prefer to stay dry and unlike a duck their feathers do not shed water.

Setting up  
Hen houses
Ex-bat v Chicks  
Feeding
Health/Welfare
Eggs
FAQ
Links
Ex-bat Hen Diary
  Our Set-up
  Collection Day
  Month One
  Month Two 
  Month Three 
  Winter Year One


Lewis Williams