Happy Chooks

Here are a few of my happy chooks!!!

Let me know if you have a safe home for these chickens as they, and plenty more, will reward a kind heart with love and eggs in their last year or two of life.

It is so difficult to choose non-cruelty eggs. Most companies these days have all three types of eggs- cage, barn & free range. Personally, I am of the belief that even if you do purchase free range eggs from a company that also sells caged eggs then you're still supporting cruel practices. So I have started to do a bit of research into the matter. Please do add your comments, thoughts and suggestions. The easiest way to choose chook friendly eggs is to look for either of these symbols:                 Accredited organic eggs have a standard that they must adhere to. Here's an excerpt from the FRFA's website (see whole site here) Preface  – This document defines the FRFA Inc. accreditation requirements Part A - HOUSING   1. Hens must have permanent access to weatherproof housing with either slatted, mesh or deep litter floors that contain sufficient perches to enable normal roosting for all birds. 2. Stocking density in housing shall not exceed 15 kg per square metre of useable area.  3. Maximum flock numbers per house shall not exceed 1,000  hens.  Part B - FEEDING 1. The use of growth promotants and hormones is not permitted. 2. Clean dry feed comprising only natural products, grains and natural sources of vitamins and minerals must be used. If meat by-products are included in the diet they must be heat treated. No manufactured colouring additives are be included in the feed. Part C - FREE RANGE RUN.   1. The maximum stocking density must be sustainable and in any case not exceed 750 hens per hectare.   2. Hens must have unrestricted access to the free-range run during daylight hours.  3.The area where the hens are permitted to range shall have adequate shade/wind/predator protection and be capable of long-term sustainability with adequate natural ground cover. If vegetation disappears under adverse seasonal conditions then alternative natural range is to be implemented until ground cover can be re-established and/or supplementary green feed must be provided Part D - HUSBANDRY PRACTICES.   1. All bird mutilation practices are unnecessary at the allowed stocking densities and are prohibited. (Beak trimming, etc)  2. Under extreme temperature conditions the hens must have access to cool drinking water and other “keep cool” types of environmental relief.  Part E - GENERAL REQUIREMENTS.    1. All accredited farms must be able to demonstrate compliance with all State and National regulations regarding egg collection, cleaning, candling, packaging, labelling, storage and transport. In particular, farms must comply with temperature and hygiene provisions of the Shell Egg Code and Food Safety Victoria.  2. Audit trail records are mandatory for all eggs stored, sold and/or interchanged between accredited farms. This association does not allow packaged/unpackaged hen eggs produced by other systems and unaccredited members to be brought onto, held or distributed by its accredited farms. 3. Age dated vaccination certificates are required to Victorian Regulations.     One brand that is readily available from Coles is Family Homestead free range eggs And another brand that is sold at my local markets and at my local healthfood store is Freeranger. Before I had my chooks these were the only eggs I would buy- I can vouch that they are fantastic eggs.   If hen welfare is not enough to convince you to put the extra effort into purchasing accredited organic and free range eggs, here are some interesting results from a study showing that pasture chooks lay eggs that are in fact better for you. In short, it was found that eggs laid by hens who roam in pastures may have:

• 1/3 less cholesterol

• 1/4 less  saturated fat

• 2/3 more vitamin  A

• 2 times more omega-3 fatty  acids

• 3 times more vitamin E

• 7  times more beta carotene

  So, anyone out there have any other brands that they recommend? Or brands that they're not sure about? I'm happy to check them out 🙂  

Sherrie, Almond's mum, has kindly shared picture of Almond from when she was first rescued. Just imagine what conditions she must have been kept in to look this bad and ask yourself, are you OK with such cruelty? If you're not OK with it do then something about it, speak up, educate others.   And after Sherrie's fantastic rehabbing work:

After I laid Almond to rest yesterday I sat with the other girls for a bit. I noticed one of my girls, Alkaline, was standing a bit odd. Every so often it would appear that she was straining - a classic sign of being egg bound. So I took her inside & gave her a warm bath for 20 minutes. While giving her a bath I massaged her abdomen gently and tried to feel for any egg that might be lodged. I couldn't feel anything so I was concerned that perhaps I misdiagnosed but I kept at it. When I was done with the bath I popped her inside a mower box with a heat pad under a towel, as keeping an egg bound bird warm is vital. I made sure I put in a bowl of water in there in case she got too warm and put some liquid calcium in in case that would help her pass the egg.   In the morning I found this in the box: Two soft shelled eggs. Success! I then put her outside with the other girls and she's been fine all day. Now to figure out why she's laying soft shelled eggs. My girls get calcium grit, high quality feed and they free range so in theory they should be fine. For the next few days I intend on putting calcium in one of their water bowls to try and fix things up, we'll see how that goes. Fingers crossed things with my girls are a bit quieter for at least the next few days!   In other chicken news, I did my first sticker run by putting some of these beauties up on the boxes that contained caged eggs at the local supermarkets. If it makes even one person reconsider buying caged eggs then it's been a success. -Paula

As the titles suggests, we said goodbye to Almond at the vets today. My first ex-batt girl to pass on. I don't have a good poultry vet to go to but I do have a good vet who put it to me plainly and honestly - she's lost weight, she has some sort of internal growth and she now has something wrong with one of her legs. He offered metacam to see if that would improve her leg, but ultimately there were other problems that could not be treated. Despite being a beautiful bright and alert girl, I did not want her to suffer another day in her life so I made the hard choice to say goodbye. She went incredibly peacefully. Having held many birds while they've been given the 'green dream' I knew I definitely wanted her have some gas to knock her out before they attempted to get her vein. Doesn't matter how good a vet is and how much they assure you they can get a vein quickly, I've never seen lethabarb injected on the first go into a bird. I held her the whole time until she went to sleep and told her I loved her over and over.   Huge credit needs to go to Almonds original mum, Sherrie, for her fantastic work in rehabilitating both Almond & Banana. She did such an amazing job that allowed Almond 1.5 years of freedom and happiness, I'm just sorry that it ended so soon after she came into my care.   So now I'll spend the rest of the night crying on the couch for a beautiful girl who had such a tough beginning to her life. She was a life just like any other life and she deserved to be loved so much and deserves to be missed. They all do, and this is what inspires me.

It's a bummer to start my first real post with something sad, but I think it's valuable to document the steps that I go through, as an amateur, with ill ex-battery hens in the hopes that we can all learn something. If anyone reading has any better ideas & tips I would love to hear from you.   About a month ago I received two chooks - Almond & Banana from a friend. Both are ex-battery hens however due to the tendency that chickens have of attracting rodents, my friend was unable to keep them anymore. My initial observation of Almond when I first picked her up was that she was heavy- very heavy. Upon closer inspection it appeared that her abdomen was large. Her original mum said that Almond had stopped laying months ago. My initial thoughts were (and still are) that she has a giant tumour or an enlarged liver, neither of which can be treated. Anyway, Almond was happy enough the first couple weeks I had her. Quiet, but she was a quiet chicken with her previous owners too. She would do the occasional green poo but then she'd do a few normal ones so I wasn't too concerned. Last week I noticed that every time I came home after work Almond was hiding in the bushes. I became concerned that perhaps the other chooks were picking on her, or that she was having "a sook" because her mate Banana was settling in well with the other girls. To be on the safe side, I started her on an Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) regime in the hopes that it would clear out anything that was making her slightly down. Friday came and there was no improvement, so I sat outside for hours watching her. I noticed she was just standing on the one leg (right) and not moving much at all. Since she came to me I noticed that she walked a bit odd compared to the rest of the girls but on Friday I noticed that she actually had a slight limp. She also wasn't eating as much as I'd like. I syringed her some ACV (3 mL ACV to 7 mL water) twice on Friday & boiled her an egg and rice to get her to eat some more. I of course thoroughly checked her legs for any signs of trauma and checked feet for scaly mite and the pads for bumble foot (any foot lesions under the feet.) All came out clear.

Yesterday (Saturday) and Almond started spending more time sitting down than standing. Again with the ACV, rice and egg and a vet booking for Monday. Today, again, no improvement. I went "all out" and decided to worm her directly (syringed orally 4mL Avitrol Plus per KG weight mixed in with 3mL of water- I find chickens 'drool' if given the worming solution straight.) I then gave her 10mL of water and ACV and let her rest. During this time I noticed her eating some seeds but I still gave her some rice & egg. After a rest I then decided to give her a warm bath and massage her "tummy" in case by chance she was egg bound (highly unlikely but I'm trying to eliminate all possibilities.) When I was drying her inside she did a "starvation" poo, despite eating and having food in her crop - not a good sign.     She has spent the entire day sitting down, walking perhaps only a total of 2m. I've syringed her water and ACV twice today and given her two meals of rice & egg. She is still bright eyed and alert and she is not fluffed up at all. In fact, she seems quite content just sitting there, although clearly she's not well. So tomorrow, it's off to the vet. If they do diagnose her with a tumour/liver problem then unfortunately we will have to say goodbye to our beautiful Almond.   -Paula.