According to Amateur gardener this week battery hens must be abolished
by January and the British hen Welfare Trust thinks that nearly 300,000
will be killed as they won't be able to find homes for them..
Anyone interested in adopting some of the hens can call BHWT on 01769
580310 or email or you can go to www.bhwt.org.uk


--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article ,
says...

According to Amateur gardener this week battery hens must be abolished
by January and the British hen Welfare Trust thinks that nearly 300,000
will be killed as they won't be able to find homes for them..

That is nothing new, premature death has always been the inevitable fate
of battery hens as soon as their egg production rate falls off...usually
less than a year after they started laying.

The UK will continue commercial egg production from hens that spend
their entire short life in cages; just very slightly larger cages than the
previous "battery" ones.


Janet.

On Dec 13, 3:09*pm, Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...



According to Amateur gardener this week battery hens must be abolished
by January and the British hen Welfare Trust thinks that nearly 300,000
will be killed as they won't be able to find homes for them..

* That is nothing new, premature death has always been the inevitable fate
of battery hens as soon as their egg production rate falls off...usually
less than a year after they started laying.

* The UK will continue commercial egg production from hens that spend
their entire short life in cages; just very slightly larger cages than the
previous "battery" ones.

* *Janet.

Here are the new regulations http://www.broodyhen.co.uk/ket/fowln.../ecdirect.html

In article ,
lid says...

On Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:14:51 -0800 (PST), Dave Hill
wrote:

On Dec 13, 3:09*pm, Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...



According to Amateur gardener this week battery hens must be abolished
by January and the British hen Welfare Trust thinks that nearly 300,000
will be killed as they won't be able to find homes for them..

* That is nothing new, premature death has always been the inevitable fate
of battery hens as soon as their egg production rate falls off...usually
less than a year after they started laying.

* The UK will continue commercial egg production from hens that spend
their entire short life in cages; just very slightly larger cages than the
previous "battery" ones.

* *Janet.

Here are the new regulations http://www.broodyhen.co.uk/ket/fowln.../ecdirect.html

So 250 square centimetres more space per hen. Hardly earth shattering.

The new cages provide each hen a space the size of an A4 sheet of pape
:-(

http://www.rspca.org.uk/media/news/s...tMustStandUpFo
rHenWelfare_Nov11

quote

"Eggs as ingredients

Foods such as cakes or mayonnaise made with free-range eggs will often be
clearly advertised with the information on the packaging or in the
ingredients list.
Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and The Co-operative use free range
eggs in their own brand products or shoppers can look for Extra Special
from Asda, The Best from Morrisons and The Finest range from Tesco."

end quote

Janet.

Martin wrote in
:

On Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:14:51 -0800 (PST), Dave Hill
wrote:

On Dec 13, 3:09*pm, Janet wrote:
In article ,
says...



According to Amateur gardener this week battery hens must be
abolished by January and the British hen Welfare Trust thinks that
nearly 300,000 will be killed as they won't be able to find homes
for them..

* That is nothing new, premature death has always been the
inevitable fate of battery hens as soon as their egg production rate
falls off...usually less than a year after they started laying.

* The UK will continue commercial egg production from hens that
spend their entire short life in cages; just very slightly larger
cages than the previous "battery" ones.

* *Janet.

Here are the new regulations
http://www.broodyhen.co.uk/ket/fowln.../ecdirect.html

So 250 square centimetres more space per hen. Hardly earth shattering.

Yes Martin, but a step in the right direction. The goal is free to roam but
will it eventualy happen? I think it will, but by degrees and will put up
the price of our eggs. It would surely create employment?

Baz

In article , Baz
writes
Yes Martin, but a step in the right direction. The goal is free to roam but
will it eventualy happen? I think it will, but by degrees and will put up
the price of our eggs. It would surely create employment?

Baz

The hundred if not thousands of hens currently running around the
various wired off bits of Raans farm in Amersham have the right to roam
but only their part of the field, they have numerous flocks all
segregated by wired fences and the local foxes of course make a bee line
for them. They hens flap up and over the fencing and walk up and down
the footpath running alongside the field, whether they all go back into
their wooden arks affairs at night is anyone's guess. Not sure if that's
in the spirit of free to roam
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

In article ,
Janet writes
That is nothing new, premature death has always been the inevitable fate
of battery hens as soon as their egg production rate falls off...usually
less than a year after they started laying.

The UK will continue commercial egg production from hens that spend
their entire short life in cages; just very slightly larger cages than the
previous "battery" ones.


Janet.


But presumably some of these will be young battery hens? If they can
move them to bigger cages then I would have thought all these poor
"doomed to die early" ones will be passed on to the next concentrated
food production?

--
Janet Tweedy

In article ,
says...

In article ,
Janet writes
That is nothing new, premature death has always been the inevitable fate
of battery hens as soon as their egg production rate falls off...usually
less than a year after they started laying.

The UK will continue commercial egg production from hens that spend
their entire short life in cages; just very slightly larger cages than the
previous "battery" ones.


Janet.


But presumably some of these will be young battery hens? If they can
move them to bigger cages then I would have thought all these poor
"doomed to die early" ones will be passed on to the next concentrated
food production?

For sure people whose living depends on hens and egg production will
not get rid of producing birds if it's financially, practically
viable to move the same birds to bigger cages and continue meeting
production orders. But it's a big if. Battery hens are already, under
huge stress; under the additional stress of being decanted and stored
while someone changes their factory housing system, will almost certainly
go off lay and no producer keeps feeding battery hens that stopped laying.

janet

Premature death is already the inevitable fate of most male chicks, just crushed and discarded.

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?
I'd love to get some but it's got "no poultry" clause in my house thing.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

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

In article , Nospam@invalid
says...

On Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:22:25 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:


Janet.

And according to the BBC reports of a few days ago, many EU countries
are simply ignoring the directive. Typical!

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16047967

and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15731320

and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16112149

for more detail.

And if the UK refuses to import battery eggs, we'll probably fall foul
of some other EU directive about free trade so UK egg producers who
have to comply with the directive will suffer in every direction.
Particularly as the companies that produce things with eggs in them
will still, no doubt, source at the cheapest price.

The local Co-op supermarket stopped stocking battery eggs some time
ago and sells free range eggs at the price other supermarkets charge
for battery eggs. I don't know if it's psychological but to me free
range eggs taste better and I think the slightly paler yokes are the
result of no additives in the hens' food.

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

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.

In article ,
Janet writes
During that time they had to live in a shed doing chicken rehab.


Ah but that does appeal to the sentimental side i might have..........
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

"Janet Tweedy" wrote in message
...
According to Amateur gardener this week battery hens must be abolished by
January and the British hen Welfare Trust thinks that nearly 300,000 will
be killed as they won't be able to find homes for them..
Anyone interested in adopting some of the hens can call BHWT on 01769
580310 or email or you can go to www.bhwt.org.uk


--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Don't worry.

You are witnessing the start of the collapse of the EU.

Just wait a while and it will all fall apart .................... the sooner
the better

Mike

--

....................................

I'm an Angel, honest ! The horns are there just to keep the halo straight.

....................................