Battery Hen Welfare Trust
Last December, we brought home 4 very anaemic-looking, thin, threadbare ex-battery hens. Today I look out into my garden and see 4 very plump, glossy-feathered ladies pottering about, quietly chatting away amongst themselves whilst undertaking any one of their daily activities - preening, dustbathing and scratching for worms, grubs and the like. My girls have positively blossomed since we’ve had them. They’re very happy hens.
We were lucky enough to find out about the work of the Battery Hen Welfare Trust. They are an organisation that co-operates with farmers to come in and take the alloted hens once they are ’spent’. This basically means that although they may still be laying, they are not considered to be at peak production. Rather than going to slaughter to end up in pet food or pies, they are taken away by the regional co-ordinators of the BHWT and given a good retirement in their new homes. Here they can learn to do everything that they were deprived of - socialise properly, dust bath, scratch in the mud, sunbathe, and of course, lay their eggs.
Despite the reason for their removal from the battery farm, since a couple of weeks after we first got them, we’ve been given 3 or 4 eggs a day from our girls. As there’s only two of us at the moment, we don’t use all of the eggs up, despite baking cakes and making boiled egg sandwiches. So friends and family help out, and apparently the eggs are second to none in taste and size. Apparently you really can tell the difference between an egg produced by a hen in battery conditions and an egg produced from a truly free-ranging hen.
The girls have enriched our lives so much - I never thought 4 chickens could make the difference that they have. And they’re not as stupid as you might think. Common Sense? Oh, minimal. Ability to learn and understanding of their environment? Absolutely. They know me from other people, they come when I call, they know what time of day is ‘pasta time’. They put themselves to bed, politely take turns in the nestbox, and are great weeders and pest control as far as my veg patch is concerned. They cost next to nothing to feed and provide bedding for (straw and newspaper) - the cost only comes from the initial house purchase. Added to that, their 4 distinct and completely endearing personalities, and you have got yourself 4 little treasures.
Want to try and really make a difference? Then adopt a few battery hens! You won’t regret it.
For more information visit the Battery Hen Welfare Trust website: