On Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:00:13 -0000, Janet wrote:


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.

The producers have to empty thousands of hens out of the old cages, take
the cages out of the sheds and install new
complaint cages. Where do you park thousands of hens meanwhile, in the
middle of winter? It's too stressful for the birds.

Why cannot battery hens be converted to
free range which, presumably, is what people who adopt them will do?

You've never seen a battery hen? They are partially bald, have very weak
legs, have spent their life tightly caged in dim light and very warm
conditions. They don't even know how to make their way to a drinker or
feeder because all their life, it's been under their beak. If you put them
outdoors in January it would be cruel; they would die of starvation,stress
and exposure.

Years back when Edwina Curries wrecked the egg industry overnight we
took on some doomed ex-batteries. It took weeks before they grew feathers
and got strong enough to walk around all day like freerange hens do.
During that time they had to live in a shed doing chicken rehab.

Janet

Thanks Janet. I now understand what I didn't before. I might ask why
can't Bernard Matthews' empty turkey sheds be used for acclimatisation
but I won't. I can only hope that "the end" is quick and painless but
know it probably won't be.

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling (after the great storm) from
the usually dryer (east) end of Swansea Bay.