Littlest hen. Click here to see pic when she first arrived. She had no chest feathers, and no tail feathers, and was tiny.
This is the middlesized chook. Click here to see a pic soon after she arrived. She’s still a little scruffy, and her chest feathers are taking a while to grow back, but she’s getting there.
And lastly, this is the biggest chook. She was in the best condition of the 3 when we got them, but was a bit pecked and scruffy. Her feathers getting to be almost perfect. Click here to see a before shot.
We currently get 3 large eggs a day, with ultra-yellow yolks and nice stiff shells.
space wildschwein 
You are doing a fantastic job with these three girls. Well done. The improvement is amazing.
Hi mate! or should I say, Hallo Damaris! 😛
Yeah we are both really happy with how the chooks are going; I have to say I was a bit worried about the tail and chest feathers of the little one and wasn’t sure if they’d ever grow back, but they have motored since she’s been here. The middle-sized one still has a bare chest, but thankfully we’re moving into the warmer months now so she should hopefully grow them back well before next winter.
They had a weird pecking order at first, but it has evened out a lot now and they seem to just cruise along in a little group, pecking away. Quite entertaining to watch 😛
Hi Ash,
Some of the best chooks I ever had were originally battery hens. Isn’t it terrible for the ones left behind 😦 did yours have any problems learning to perch?
Wonderful job
Vicki
Yes they are very friendly chooks – we’ve only ever had ex-battery hens and they’ve been great. I’m considering getting another 3 before the end of the year, and selling the extra eggs.
Ours haven’t perched yet, no. They have dug out little nesty patches in the straw and they sit in these at night. I didn’t push the issue while they were still pretty weak and also while it was still cold in winter. But now it’s getting warmer, I think I’ll pop out now and then at night and put them on the perch while they’re sleepy and calm, to get them in the habit.
Ash that’s how we trained ours, went out in the night and popped them on the perch. Ours took some time to come out of the chook house, when they did we looked out to see all these chook laying on their sides flat. Thought they were dead, but they saw sun and warm dirt to dustbath in and collapsed:-)
Haha yeah, they are so funny when they dustbathe. I always see that as a sign that they’re happy chooks 🙂
That’s awesome that you rescued them. They look very happy and healthy now.
How did you find where to get the chooks? I wanted to get a couple of ex-battery hens, but couldn’t find anywhere near me to get them. I’m just south of Sydney, so there must be somewhere nearby.