Battery Hens
A 'battery hen' is a hen used for the commercial production of eggs. They are (almost always) white leghorns and they are called battery hens because they are caged in what's called a battery of cages. Wikipedia talks about it here. The cages are made of wire and constructed to stack on top of one another. Droppings fall through the wire onto the chickens below, but that hardly matters. Hens are placed into the cages, 8-10 per cage, upon maturity (that gives each hen about as much floor space as a sheet of notebook paper - which is about as much space as a chicken takes up while standing still). The sloping floor allows eggs to roll out. There's a tray clipped to the outside of the cage that contains food and a nipple that sticks into the cage that secretes water. That's the chicken's entire world, warehoused in a single, dimly-lit building with thousands or tens of thousands of other chickens. They last one or two egg-laying seasons before being removed from the cages and killed for hog feed. Cages are then sterilized and readied for the next batch of chickens.
From time to time, people who aren't in the commercial egg industry find out about this practice and decry the cruelty of the chicken's living conditions and the brevity of their lives. Rarer still, someone actually tries to do something about it, though generally these efforts are either protesting it or trying to rescue the hens after they're done laying and before they're rendered into hog feed. Two weeks ago, someone came into possession of 40 or so battery hens and as is often the case, didn't know what to do with them once they had them. Putting the birds to death makes pointless the 'rescue', right? They discovered my parents had chickens and enough space to have a few more, so the entire load was dropped off.
So far, about a quarter of them have died and we expect another quarter to not make it. The reasons for mortality vary from osteoporosis, having eggs broken inside of them during the move, starving to death due to a combination of beak clipping (normal for battery hens) and us not using feeding devices suitable for them, and mysterious death due to unknown causes (probably simple stress, as they've gone through a tremendous upheaval). That said, I was surprised at how well-adjusted the chickens were, how overall healthy, and non-psychotic. They were calm and even friendly. I don't think I've heard a one of them make a single sound (which is actually a bad sign, but it makes them easier to have around). I'm going to show some pictures of them. Be aware that they were taken at the end of their laying cycle when they usually molt off their feathers, and that chickens will also molt due to stress. You might not be able to see it in the pictures, but the ground in the hen house they've tended to stay in is covered with shed feathers. So ... yeah, they look horrible. But all those little spiky white things on them are new feathers starting to grow in. In a month or two, if they survive, they'll be good-looking and ready for winter.
Here's one I've been calling Tulip (aka Two-lips). She's the only one who is regularly trying to run with the healthier, non-battery hens, even if she gets shoved around and stepped on sometimes. The debeaking process melts or cuts (usually both, as it cauterizes) off the end of a chick's beak. This is to prevent them from pecking one another as they will if closely confined with absolutely nothing else to do to distract themselves. A debeaked chicken is usually unable to pick food up from the ground and may have trouble getting it out of a feeder if the feeder is too shallow (ie, if they are forced to bump their now-very-sensitive beak stub against the bottom of the feeder).
The hen at the bottom of the next picture is a White Austra, one of the ones I bought back in February. The four hens in the upper left are battery hens. You can see how much thinner they are in comparison. And you can see all the feathers everywhere. It looks like we had a plucking contest out there!
You can just barely see the really long claws the battery hens have. In their cages, they can't scratch and so never wear their claws down to normal length. Like the toenails on a dog, there's a quick/fleshy part inside the claw, so you can't simply trim back the whole thing all at once. After we see how many survive and don't, and after they're done with the molt, I might try filing them down as much as I safely can. Again, the healthy-looking, well-feathered chicken at the bottom left is the White Austra from above.
Because I find the above kind of depressing, here's a picture of a happy White Austra hen out in some greenery.
And here's some others (two Red Stars and a Welsummer) waiting to be fed bits of bread.
And here's one (a New Hampshire Red) getting away with her snack as the others pig out in the background.
And here's me, looking on as the chickens swarm around. You should note that the normal hens are all over here and the battery hens aren't mixing in with them. They're not separated from each other - there's nothing keeping the battery hens from being out here. It's just that the battery hens haven't figured out yet that people come bearing tasty snacks like the other hens have. It's something they'll pick up soon enough.
From time to time, people who aren't in the commercial egg industry find out about this practice and decry the cruelty of the chicken's living conditions and the brevity of their lives. Rarer still, someone actually tries to do something about it, though generally these efforts are either protesting it or trying to rescue the hens after they're done laying and before they're rendered into hog feed. Two weeks ago, someone came into possession of 40 or so battery hens and as is often the case, didn't know what to do with them once they had them. Putting the birds to death makes pointless the 'rescue', right? They discovered my parents had chickens and enough space to have a few more, so the entire load was dropped off.
So far, about a quarter of them have died and we expect another quarter to not make it. The reasons for mortality vary from osteoporosis, having eggs broken inside of them during the move, starving to death due to a combination of beak clipping (normal for battery hens) and us not using feeding devices suitable for them, and mysterious death due to unknown causes (probably simple stress, as they've gone through a tremendous upheaval). That said, I was surprised at how well-adjusted the chickens were, how overall healthy, and non-psychotic. They were calm and even friendly. I don't think I've heard a one of them make a single sound (which is actually a bad sign, but it makes them easier to have around). I'm going to show some pictures of them. Be aware that they were taken at the end of their laying cycle when they usually molt off their feathers, and that chickens will also molt due to stress. You might not be able to see it in the pictures, but the ground in the hen house they've tended to stay in is covered with shed feathers. So ... yeah, they look horrible. But all those little spiky white things on them are new feathers starting to grow in. In a month or two, if they survive, they'll be good-looking and ready for winter.
Here's one I've been calling Tulip (aka Two-lips). She's the only one who is regularly trying to run with the healthier, non-battery hens, even if she gets shoved around and stepped on sometimes. The debeaking process melts or cuts (usually both, as it cauterizes) off the end of a chick's beak. This is to prevent them from pecking one another as they will if closely confined with absolutely nothing else to do to distract themselves. A debeaked chicken is usually unable to pick food up from the ground and may have trouble getting it out of a feeder if the feeder is too shallow (ie, if they are forced to bump their now-very-sensitive beak stub against the bottom of the feeder).
The hen at the bottom of the next picture is a White Austra, one of the ones I bought back in February. The four hens in the upper left are battery hens. You can see how much thinner they are in comparison. And you can see all the feathers everywhere. It looks like we had a plucking contest out there!
You can just barely see the really long claws the battery hens have. In their cages, they can't scratch and so never wear their claws down to normal length. Like the toenails on a dog, there's a quick/fleshy part inside the claw, so you can't simply trim back the whole thing all at once. After we see how many survive and don't, and after they're done with the molt, I might try filing them down as much as I safely can. Again, the healthy-looking, well-feathered chicken at the bottom left is the White Austra from above.
Because I find the above kind of depressing, here's a picture of a happy White Austra hen out in some greenery.
And here's some others (two Red Stars and a Welsummer) waiting to be fed bits of bread.
And here's one (a New Hampshire Red) getting away with her snack as the others pig out in the background.
And here's me, looking on as the chickens swarm around. You should note that the normal hens are all over here and the battery hens aren't mixing in with them. They're not separated from each other - there's nothing keeping the battery hens from being out here. It's just that the battery hens haven't figured out yet that people come bearing tasty snacks like the other hens have. It's something they'll pick up soon enough.