Sadly Isabella (one of our three ex-battery hens) died this week. The vet diagnosed peritonitis and unfortunately she did not respond to treatment (Baytril antibiotic). We can take some solace in the fact that she had enjoyed more than a year of freedom after spending her first year or so in a battery farm cage.

When we checked the nest boxes mid morning we found our first egg. It weighed in at 74g. Very Large / Size 1 according to our Good Housekeeping Cook Book. By the end of the day we had two additional (Large / Size 2) eggs. Impressive work by our three ex-battery hens on their first full day. One perfect egg each, laid in the right place. To a commercial egg producer they might be ‘past it’ but they seem fine to us. Boiled eggs for tea – yummy.

We introduced the three new hens into the run with our original five birds late in the afternoon. Apart from one scuffle, when Snowdrop got a few pecks for being very nosy as we put the first newcomer in, we haven’t seen any problems. They all seemed quite happy walking around and eating / drinking together. We will obviously monitor them in the coming days to make sure that there is no real trouble.  The older battery hens can certainly stick up for themselves, but so far don’t seem as they are going to bully our existing hens too much.

We fitted coloured leg bands to the new hens so we could tell them apart. The new girls have now been named Matilda, Pansy and Isobel.

When it came to dusk our younger hens went to bed early, as normal, leaving the 3 ex-bats alone in the run. Within a quarter of an hour, however, they sussed what they had to do and went up the ladder as well.

When I checked on them this evening the ex-bats were not using the perches, as expected – a year in a cage without a perch will do that ! I am going to lift them onto the perches every night, for a week or so, to see if they can get the hang of it.