What ex-battery hens arrive carrying
A hen straight out of a commercial laying unit has spent her life producing an egg a day on a tightly calculated ration, in artificial light, without ever scratching real ground. She typically arrives pale-combed, missing most of her feathers, with long overgrown nails, thin breast muscle under her keel bone, and no experience of feeders, weather or other hens' pecking orders as a free bird lives them. Her digestive system expects the diet she has always known, so the kindest feeding plan starts close to that and changes by degrees, not with a banquet on day one.
The first week: little, often, and calm
Set up the rehoming pen with food and water at ground level, close to shelter, and in more than one place — a hen who has never had to compete can be quietly starved by bolder companions at a single feeder. Offer a quality layer feed as the base, presented little and often so you can see who is eating and who is only pretending to. Warm soaked feed or a soft mash goes down well with birds who find dry pellets unfamiliar, and it gets water into them at the same time. Expect intake to look small at first; what matters is the trend over days, and a crop that feels comfortably full at roosting time.
Feeding feather regrowth and rebuilding muscle
Feathers are protein, and a hen regrowing a full coat while rebuilding wasted muscle needs her ration to support construction, not just maintenance. Stay on a sound layer feed and add protein-rich extras in modest amounts — cooked egg, tinned fish rinsed of brine, or a handful of mealworms scattered so every hen gets a share. Keep calcium available as oyster shell in a separate dish; rescue hens' shells, when they do lay, are often fragile at first. Resist rich treats and kitchen scraps during this phase: a recovering gut handles simple, consistent nutrition better than variety, and body condition should climb slowly and steadily rather than swing.
Knowing when slow progress is a vet matter
Most rescue hens turn a visible corner within a few weeks — colour in the comb, feather pins opening, weight under your hand when you lift them. A hen who still is not eating after her first days home, who stands hunched and withdrawn away from the flock, or whose droppings stay watery and off-colour needs a poultry-savvy vet rather than more patience, and a hen who stops eating entirely is a same-day call. Record each bird's arrival photos, weights and any treatment in her KinsLe Pet Passport, so the vet — and anyone else caring for the flock — can see exactly how far she has come and what has already been tried.