How "flockdown" release can affect your hens
Changes in environment has an effect on hens, both mentally and physiologically. The lifting of an Avian Influenza housing order is a time to celebrate, but the new environment has the potential to challenge hens.
Gut health
The microbiome inside a hen's gut adapts both to the food your hen eats, and to the environment they are living in.
It is normal for hens to spend a lot of time pecking and foraging in their surroundings, whether they are inside or ranging out and about. Therefore, they are constantly exposing the microbes inside their gut to the various chemicals, insect, plant and other material in their surroundings.
When birds move from one environment to another, their microbiomes must adapt to everything new they come across. If the environment or diet is very different, birds (particularly those with underlying disease or immunosuppression) can suffer with a severe imbalance of gut flora, which can predispose to enteritis or exacerbate other health problems.
Stress
Adapting to a new environment can be stressful for hens if they are unused to what's around them. If birds have been living in a mesh run, seeing what's about them while they were housed, they will already be familiar with their surroundings. These birds are unlikely to have many worries when they are released. Birds who have been housed in a building and who cannot see outside are more likely to be nervous when they are asked to range. This can cause stress, both mental and physiological.
Hens use a pecking order to establish a hierarchy and decide who gets priority for what within a coop. Therefore, it is worth being prepared for bickering over new premium resources, like a favourite bush for example!!
Predator risk
Housed hens will have been safe from predators. Ensure the range is safe for birds from walking and flying predators before they are released.
Pathogen exposure
Pathogens are bacteria, viruses and protozoa that have the ability to cause disease. Hens respond to pathogens in their environment by mounting an immune response. When they move between environments, they have to adapt to different pathogens. Birds that have been protected from Aviana Influenza will have been protected from other diseases carried by wildlife, so their immune systems will be busy adapting and protecting their bodies from new challenges when they return to ranging.
What can I do to help my birds transition smoothly into their new environment?
Provide poultry probiotics to support their gut bacteria to adapt to the new environment.
Prepare birds by introducing food from their new environment before release e.g. some tied bunches of herbs and shrubs from their new range.
Nervous flocks may benefit from poultry calming supplements.
Ensure the range is fox, and other predator, proof.
Ensure there is suitable thick cover for nervous birds, like shrubs and hedges.
Providing an immune-boosting product to help them adapt to a new range of pathogens.
Further reading
What causes "stress" in hens and what effect does it have on them? — Happy Healthy Hens
What is a hen's gut microbiome? — Happy Healthy Hens
How do hen’s intestines work? — Happy Healthy Hens
Useful links
How to prepare for when your birds can be let outside again | GOV.WALES
