I collected 10 little hens today from a great rescue who have successfully taken and rehomed over 6000 battery kept hens over 2 weekends. They are in poor condition feather wise and a bit shocked but are eating well and seem happy that they have fresh air. I am feeding them maize, oats and pellets and will add some greens in a few days. If anyone has any tips on caring for these girls I would be grateful.

I'd keep them warm and keep going as you are. They will take time to adjust, it's a huge change for them, but chooks are wonderfully adaptable. Good for you, taking them in. :-)

mainly just provide somewhere warm and dry for them to shelter in, they probably have very few feathers at the moment so will be feeling the cold. The last ex battery hens I took - 6 of them - only had about 7 feathers between the lot! It was wonderful to watch them grow feathers and become the beautiful birds that they are today. If the day was particularly cold I used to cook them some spaghetti and feed it warm, or sometimes a pot of porridge, they loved it, and became tame enough to hand feed very quickly. Great that you have rescued them.

I just fed mine Layers meal and scraps and they thrived in my huge run :)
Just enjoy them, I got 3, 2 years ago, unfortunatly Yoko died last year :( But Tootsie and Bunty are still going strong :)
Be warned, as you may know, they may live 6 day or 6 years due to the upbringing they have had :)
They LOVE Pumpkins, and cabbage :) Oh and love it when you dig over the run, as they love foraging for worms, so much so that I end up nearly scewering the hens regularily when digging :)
Lea :)

We hve had ex batts for a few years now - they are wonderful- we have 5 ex bats and 12 others and the ex batts are the friendliest !
I always keep a pot of soluble tylanfrom the vet in the cupboard in case they get sniffles and worm them around this time each year x

I popped out earlier to make sure they had all gone in to the house and they are all piled in the corner. Not too impressed at me shining the torch in their eyes to say hello!!

Well done for rescuing them. When you are building their accomodation, run etc, remember to bear in mind that it has to be strong and secure enough to keep predators out, not just to keep the hens in.

We dug our run into 3 foot if concrete and also meshed the roof, we also have electric fencing which we put on at night to keep the foxes out / especially this time of year

I got four ex batts just a few months ago, my pure breeds look like dinosaurs next to them !
I don't think I'd go back to pure breeds now, the " wee broonies " as I call them, are much friendlier.
I keep mine free range, and it's been hilarious watching them discover the joys of being free and learning all the good things to eat in the garden.
You can get a specific ex batt food, which helps them recover quicker, regrowing feathers takes a lot of energy, so they do need a bit extra. You'll find they are particularly keen on calcium, I use a calcium powder and coat their evening scattering of corn and their pellets with it rather than using the ex batt food, as not everywhere stocks it.
I coat the feed in veg oil, then a few scoops of calcium and give it a good mix, the oil means the powder sticks to the feed, rather than dropping to the bottom of the feeder.
If you haven't already done it, they will need worming, Flubenvet is the best and the only one recommended by vets.

I agree Celi - my ex batts are by far much friendlier.

We did agree to only get Ex batts - but at a recent country fair my hubby wanted some chickens that lay blue eggs so we bought some leg bars . . .then a couple more Pekins . . .then 2 more blue bells . . .and 2 brown egg layers - but my faces are still the ex batts - will always rehome more :-)

I have 4 ex batts at the moment. Have had about 20 over the last few years and sadly quite a few have died but at least they got to live a free range life before they ended their lives. They are all very tame and spend a lot of their day staring in the french doors wondering why they cant come in. I was worried how the dogs would react at first but they are all petrified of the chickens who are very feisty and have been known to chase them round the garden.

My ex batts got so friendly they would try to eat out of the dog bowls ....while the dogs were eating!
They came indoors, were often on the doorstep waiting. It's a joyous thing watching them blossom....amazing how they love humans after what they've been through.

All going well so far anyway. They prefer to stay in the run when I let the others out in the garden but one or two are beginning to venture out. I bring aone cut grass into them so they are not missing out.