We collected our first hens on August 31st, 2009, from the BHWT … as at July 2011, only Bridget remains, but their stories stay on this page as a testimony to battery hens everywhere.
HEN PROFILE – Bridget
Bridget is happy in the middle of the pecking order … content to go her own way, but preferring to sleep alone at the other end of the ark from the others, mostly on the floor and not perching.
She’ll often go off exploring on her own, discovering all sorts of places to explore … usually followed by the others when they realise she may have found an alternative source of food.
Update – Bridget became top hen when we lost Bobby (Roberta), a role she filled well. She died suddenly in April 2012, well over four years old – see Now we are six
HEN PROFILE – Gertrude
Gertrude is top hen … she thinks it’s her right to have first pick of any goodies on offer, and it was several weeks before we knew whether any of the other hens liked ripe fig from the tree because Gertrude always got there first and wouldn’t share! She has the floppiest comb of the four ex-batts … much redder and firmer than when she first arrived, but still over-large. Gertrude has a very distinctive beak, with a short top beak and a split lower beak …
Update – see Gertrude gets a Bath and Goodbye Gertrude
HEN PROFILE – Roberta
Roberta is the darkest of the hens … and had the greatest feather loss when she came to us … looking as if her head and body were attached by a hinged joint rather like a puppet! She’s the tallest hen, too, though it may simply be that she stands more erect than the others. Bobby’s eggs are often pale, but always large. If any of the hens gets into a situation I’m not sure they can handle, it’s usually Bobby … one of her favourite places is underneath the compost heap … right inside, out of sight, only to be found by following the strange rustling noises …
- Update – see Poorly Hen and The Long Goodbye
HEN PROFILE – Yolande
Yoda is bottom of the pecking order, but the sweetest hen, always chattering away in a high pitched voice whenever you go out to keep her company. She’s the palest of the ex-batts. Her eggs are easily identifiable, as one end (the round end) is always speckled, which is useful as I think she’s the one hen who isn’t laying regularly. She’ll still spend time each day in the nest box however, just for appearance sake, or perhaps out of habit!
Update – see Letting Go
Ex-batts | Light Sussex | Rhode Rocks | Welsummers | Online Album
Edited April 2010
The Hen House archive 