GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

Janet · 13-12-2011, 08:00 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

In article ,
says...

In article , Jake
writes
But what I don't understand is that if 300,000 battery hens face
slaughter then, to produce the same number of eggs, another 300,000+
hens will need to be bought. Why cannot battery hens be converted to
free range which, presumably, is what people who adopt them will do?

Are they the same breeds? I mean do they have special breeds that are
more compliant in battery conditions and might be not so good free range
on a commercial level?

IME, the hybrids bred for battery production do extremely well on
freerange (in cold Scotland). I used to buy them as POL pullets for that
purpose. They are however, such prodigious egg producers that their bodies
wear out and even kept in hen heaven from infancy they won't live longer
than about 3 years... usually less.

That said, you can't just take battery-dwelling hens straight out of a
battery cage into an environment they are unused to.

I'd love to get some but it's got "no poultry" clause in my house thing.

We can all do far more for hen welfare, by supporting supermarkets which
only sell freerange eggs, and pressuring supermarkets and food producers
not to use imported dry and liquid egg which came from battery egg
systems, in processed foods sold in the UK.

Janet