Flock Diary:- November 1998 Part One

On 31st October ten hens from a Battery Farm joined the flock of fowl. These ten newcomers live in the back garden shed with the geese. Ernie, White Tara and Prunella currently live in the Poultry Ark in the front garden. Michael Caine Alan Partridge Brahma and her two foster chicks are living in a large cage in the bedroom.

November 1st would be the first ever morning the Battery Hens had not woken up in cages. (The conditions hens live in at Battery Farms are described on my page "The life of a Pet Hen compared with the life of a Battery Hen".) They would probably still be confused and frightened, coming to terms with the previous days' adventures. I opened the shed door, let the geese out, and found nine Battery Hens still on the droppings board and one on the ground. There was also an egg on the droppings board, and a few more which had been laid shell-less and had burst. All the birds were alive, which was pleasing to see because I thought that some would die from the shock of the previous day or the cold night. The day was sunny and the wind minimal, so I decided to put the hens in the run. Then they would be able to see the sky and feel the ground beneath their feet, and I could keep an eye on them whilst inspecting, treating and ringing each one. The hens were easy to catch, as they have never learned to run away from things they are frightened of - in a small cage you just have to cower and put up with it. Each hen was individually inspected and the details noted down before being ringed. I treated bald areas and combs and wattles with Vaseline, to protect the birds from the cold weather they were unaccustomed to. I also clipped the toenails of the hens who needed it, so that the abnormally long nails would not snag and break. The hens struggle when picked up, and can struggle surprisingly hard. However, once placed on the plastic garden chair for inspection, most of the hens looked around curiously at everything, with fascinated looks on their faces. During the inspection, one rescued bird jumped off the chair and started walking about on the grass. She scratched and pecked at it cautiously, as if she felt compelled to do that but wasn't quite sure if she was doing it right !

Above : Uniross, 1st Nov. 98

Above : Nicad, 1st Nov. 98

Above : Duracell, 1st Nov. 98. Notice the large bald area and scabby wound on Duracell's back, at the base of her tail.

On 2nd November I did indeed open the shed door to chaos. First of all, I saw the geese stretching their necks over the hens' droppings board, when they noticed me they came rushing silently out of the shed and on up the garden with guilty looks on their faces. I think they had been after the hens' eggs, and had broken though the partition to get at them. Only two hens remained on the droppings board. Another had jammed herself between the oven and the lawnmower, and another was huddled next to the oven. Four more were in the rabbit hutch, investigating the straw within and building nests for themselves. Two hens were missing, and on further investigation I found that they had crammed themselves into the lawnmower grass-bucket which holds up the perches. I checked each bird, and they all seemed OK, so I placed them into the run with some food and water. Congestion occurred in the doorway once more, as each bird paused at the pop-hole and needed to be nudged through.

Later that day the skies opened and torrential rain poured down so suddenly that it seemed as though someone had just put the world under a huge shower. I went out to see how the Battery Hens were coping with this. Seven were huddled in the run, submitting to the soaking rain. Three had been intelligent enough to find their way back into the shed to escape from the rain. I quickly retrieved the seven wet birds, and placed them in the dry shed with the others. I was worried that the partially bald hens would get chilled, catch colds and possibly die. They were not too wet, they had not been soaked to the skin, so I hoped they would be OK. I sat with them for a while, and none seemed fluffed or depressed. Eveready did not like the sound of the rain on the corrugated iron roof of the shed, and squawked loudly and with an extremely alarmed tone to her voice. After a few minutes, she calmed down and got more used to the strange alien sound.

About five eggs were laid today, plus a few shell-less ones. These eggs were discarded (because they are still technically Battery Eggs until six weeks have passed and the birds have completely recovered, their systems having adjusted to the Free Range system), all except one, which was huge ! (pictured on the left, next to a blue egg from Ernie, and an egg from White Tara.) The shell was thinned at one end, and unfortunately it did not stay intact. I was surprised to see that it didn't have a double yolk. I put all the Battery Hens to sleep on a perch that night. It took a while for them to work out how to balance on the perch, but they mastered it fairly quickly and thoroughly. Their feathers were still slightly damp, and I hoped the night would not be too cold for them.

On 3rd November, all the Battery hens were still alive. Their combs and wattles were looking healthier and pinker with patchy areas of colour recovery, but still nowhere near the correct colour they should be. I was a little concerned about Greencell, because first thing in the morning her right eye appared to be stuck shut. Greencell couldn't open it herself, I could see her trying, so I gently tried to have a go, but that didn't work either. Half an hour later, Greencell had opened her eye, which seemed perfectly Okay. All the hens were very interested in the fallen leaves strewn about in their run. They pick them up, play with them and try to eat them. But this is not right, because the leaves are indigestible and could be dangerous or poisonous for the hens unaccustomed to them. But when I removed the leaves from the run, the hens continued to pick up and play with objects unfamiliar to them even if abundant food was present. These Ex-Battery hens are intrigued by their new world and want to explore and investiagte it as much as possible.

Michael Caine Alan Partridge Brahma and her two chicks are still doing well. The chicks are feathering fast and moulting their downy covering - their complete backs and flanks are covered in sprouting feathers, as are the sides of their necks. The little black chick has tiny white tips to the feathers on its neck, white feathers on the tips of its wings, and a brown speckle at the tip of each other feather. The ginger chick has gingery chestnut feathers on the sides of its neck. Its feathers generally darken as the tail is approached, the back being the darkest area. The ginger chick's feathers are buff, brown, white and black barred. Both chicks have one or two tiny feathers each forming on the outer toe. Down still covers their heads and bellies. The chicks are increasingly active and amusing to watch. They run around the cage flapping their wings and leaping into the air. The two chicks also run at each other, each stopping at the last moment and raising its' head, so that the chicks' chests meet and their beak tips touch. They then stare into each others' eyes and bob their heads up and down, trying to establish a 'play' pecking order.

Below: the chicks on 4th November 1998.

Above: Lithium {centre of picture} about to challenge Alkacell {wearing blue ring on left leg} to a fight, 5th November 1998.

While observing the hens, I have noticed that Lithium is a ruthless bully. If she sees another bird in a corner, or somewhere else with a limited escape route, Lithium will home in on that bird and peck her. The pecked bird will sometimes stand up to Lithium, but she hates this, and bullies her victim into submission, only stopping when she has got bored with that victim, and searches for another. Alkacell and Greencell also peck others, but do not continue and victimise like Lithium. Alkacell and Greencell challenge Lithium often, and more submissive birds face each other off as if trying to avoid fighting. If this level of aggression continues, I am considering taking the birds with dangerously badly trimmed beaks to the Vet. The Vet will hopefully be able to alter the lower mandibles which protude and cause injury. In contrast to the bullying behaviour of Lithium, Nicad is an adventurous little hen who loves to explore and relishes her freedom. She is always first at the door in the morning, and last in at night. Duracell also is a non-violent, more adventurous type of hen. Congestion still occurs when one bird decides to perch on the pop-hole entrance, and watch the world go by. The culprit always appears to be Ever-ready......this evening she was perched blocking the entrance with the rest of the flock gathered around her, clucking at her while she stubbornly refused to move ! All the birds are now getting used to sleeping on perches at night, although they have to be placed there rather than jumping up themselves. When on the perch first of all, the hens bunch up so tightly that they start to climb on top of one another, causing much wing-flapping, annoyed squawking and falling off perches. After repositioning them a few times, the hens get the idea that they should stay further apart, and settle down for the night. However, little Energiser has so far tried to sleep outside on two occaisions - I have to watch her, because she sneaks out of the shed even if it is dark outside, and tries to perch in a bush or tree, or on some garden equipment.

On 4th November I decided that Ernie, White Tara and Prunella should join the Battery Hens in the shed permanently. My reasons for this were that the pecking order must be established, so that the birds would sort out their hierarchy and things would settle down more quickly. I also wanted to give the three pet hens the chance to gain a good place in the pecking order while the Battery Hens were still adjusting to their environment. In the evening, I placed all the birds on the perches together. They stayed quiet in the darkness, and I closed the shed for the night.

The next morning was still and sunny, and Ernie, Prunella and White Tara had peck wounds to their faces, combs and wattles, but that was to be expected. Before I put the birds in the run, I prepared it by placing plenty of food bowls around, so that the hens would be distracted by this and would hopefully not fight. The birds were hungry, and Nicad, Greencell and Duracell were first to the nearest food bowl, closely followed by Ernie and White Tara. They did not drive the pet hens away, they just ate more rapidly and exciteldy, disconcerting Ernie and Tara, who backed away. This happened at every food bowl they tried. This happened to Prunella also. I observed the birds interacting in the run, and found that the Battery Hens were attacking the other hens relentlessly, not even giving them a chance to fight back. I was worried, and let all the birds out into the garden so that they would have more room to escape from each other, and the pet hens would have more time to calculate their defensive counter moves.

At first the pet hens were totally overwhelmed and confused by the ten Battery Hens, but White Tara found some courage and chased Energiser away. Alkacell saw this, and challenged Tara to a fight. Alkacell won, and chased Tara away. Tara became very vocal, and attacked Uniross, who happened to come near her. But Ever-ready leapt in, and overwhelmed poor Tara. Ever-ready attacked and chased away poor Ernie as well.

The Battery Hens were all still surviving on 6th November. Duracell's scab has completely fallen offf now, revealing clear and normal skin. Twelve new feathers are starting to appear on the bald area of her back, too. Varta is growing three new feathers on the bald areas of the back of her neck and back. Nicad has five new feathers on the back of her neck and back, but is not growing any more on her head yet. Greencell has only one new feather coming on the feont of her neck, but there are ten on the back of her neck. Energiser is only growing feathers on one of her bald areas so far, the back of her neck. Some of these have been pecked at by the other birds. Everready has only one feather growing on the front of her neck, and four on the back. Lithium has ten new feathers on the back of her neck. 9-Volt has five on the back of her neck, Alkacell has ten on the front of her neck and two on her back. Uniross has lots of new feathers growing on the front and back of her neck, and on the back of her head.

These birds are definitely relishing their freedom - I saw Greencell leap high into the air, flap her wings vigorously, then jump around in a huge circle, keeping her feet together like an Olympic Long-Jumper. The hens are getting more used to me now - Varta will try to push my feet out of the way to reach grain. Lithium and Ever-ready still seem to be the more dominant birds of the group, both being able to intimidate most of the other birds in the flock at every encounter. Ever-ready still stubbornly blocks the pop-hole occaisionally, dictating who should be allowed to go into the shed or out into the run.

Although the Ex-Battery Hens are superb fighers, White Tara has started to challenge them more. She, Ernie and Prunella are enjoying their time out of the Ark immensely. They play together in the garden, running around each other, flapping their wings and leaping into the air, sometimes 'pretending' to be frightened of harmless objects such as fallen leaves or feathers.

Because of her colouring, Prunella is able to 'blend in' with the recovering Battery Hens quite well. She is able to creep among them, whereas Ernie and Tara get noticed and chased away more quickly. However, she was certainly noticed on 7th November, when Ever-ready challenged her to a fight and won.

On the morning of 8th November I noticed that White Tara was injured when I let the fowl out. I checked her thoroughly. She had a 1 centimetre long tear in the back of her right wattle, which had been bleeding but was scabbing up nicely. She had obviously been fighting, perhaps with Ever-ready, who seems to be challenging White Tara a lot at the moment.

On 9th November, Tara's left wattle was injured, although it was only a scratch this time. Ever-ready kept chasing her, as if to remind her that she intends to keep White Tara lower in the pecking order. I have noticed that Varta has been eating eggs today.When I checked the hens today, I noticed that some of their crops felt doughy and impacted:

On 10th November I noticed White Tara egg eating. She has become much more confident today, challenging many of the Battery Hens to fights. She managed to beat Greencell, Alkacell, Duracell and Energiser, and chased Duracell around the garden for a while. The hens get very muddy as a result of the fights, White Tara's feathers are covered in filth from being kicked and leapt at with dirty hen feet.

On 11th November Lithium started to crouch, waiting to be picked up, if I passed close to her. Today I examined the birds' crops again:

I repeated these checks for the next couple of days:

On 12th November, Alkacell, Varta, Duracell and White Tara were taken to the Vet. The Battery Hens had their crops checked, and White Tara had her torn right wattle checked. Tara's wattle was healing well, and was nothing to worry about. I was expecting the Vet to put Varta to sleep, because she had had an impacted crop for nearly five days now. But the Vet said that I had been doing the right thing by giving the birds the vomit treatment - and the next day's results proved his theory. He was happilly amazed that I had managed to get the birds so tame !

On 14th November I had a cup of tea in the garden while I inspected the hens. I left the almost finished tea unattended for a while, and looked around to see that Pseudo-Swan had waddled up to investigate the strange foreign object in his garden. He had his head in the cup, and was tasting the tea. When he noticed I was watching him, he looked at me, then slowly turned his head away and walked back up the garden.

The Battery hens have started moulting, and the garden, run and shed are becoming littered with rust-and-white-coloured feathers.

On 14th November the little chicks had grown lots of new feathers on their wings, and looked like this:

Above: the chicks on 14th November 1998

Below: the geese on 14th November 1998

To Flock Diary 2001 - January, February and March 2001 / April and May 2001

To Flock Diary 2000 - January 2000 / February, March, April 2000 / May 2000 / June 2000 / Stroud Show 1st July 2000 / July 2000 / August 2000 / Painswick Show 13th August 2000 / September 2000 / October, November & December 2000

To Flock Diary 1999 - January 1999 / February 1999 / March , April 1999 / May , June 1999 / Stroud Show 1999 / July 1999 / August 1999 / September 1999 / October 1999 / November 1999 / December 1999

To Flock Diary 1997 & 1998 - August to December 1997 / January, February and March 1998 / April 1998 / May 1998 / June 1998 / July 1998 / August 1998 / September 1998 / October 1998 - Part One / October 1998 - Part Two / November 1998 - Part One / November 1998 - Part Two / December 1998