Ex-battery hens rescued and re-homed
21/07/2010
On Sunday 18th July, Richard and Adam helped out with the first battery hen rescue and re homing carried out by the British Hen Welfare Trust’s, Yorkshire volunteers. It all sounds a little underhand but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
The British Hen Welfare Trust (BHWT) is a charitable organisation whose aim is not only to rescue and re-home hens when a poultry house is depopulated but they are also involved with educating consumers, retailers and food processors alike, of the desirability to use free range eggs. A noticeable success has been Hellman’s decision to source only free range eggs for making it’s mayonnaise
Richard’s wife has recently been appointed as Yorkshire coordinator for the group and last Sunday, their first rescue was carried out. A farm on the Derbyshire-Yorkshire border was having a clear out of some battery hens which had come to the end of their commercially productive life, ready to clean down and disinfect the poultry house, before re stocking. A small team of volunteers met at the poultry farm, with the farmers full permission and collected nearly 200 bewildered hens from the battery cages. They were brought back to Richard’s farm where they were carefully unloaded and placed into a holding pen. For all of the birds, this was to be the first time they could take a few steps, spread their wings and actually walk on a solid, straw bedded floor, rather than feel the cold harsh cage floor they had been used to for the last 18 months.
Throughout the day, people who had previously registered and been successfully vetted by the BHWT, turned up at the farm at their pre-arranged time slots, armed with boxes of all shapes and sizes, to collect the hens and whisk them away to a new free ranging life. At this point, a Paperwise archive box and some paper shredding to put inside, proved a very useful way for many to transport their hens home.
You may think it a drop in the ocean, to save 200 birds from a flock of thousands but it is still 200 birds given a whole new lease of life. The warm hearted people who came to collect the ex-batts, who shed many a tear at the sight of the rescuees, made the whole experience and effort, worthwhile.
If If you’re thinking of joining in with one of the fastest growing hobbies in the Uk and are looking to keep your own hens, don’t dismiss taking on some ex-batts in favour of some ‘posh birds’. To see a poorly feathered, weak legged battery hen develop into a plump, fully clothed bird, confidently strutting her stuff around the garden, can truly be a most rewarding experience.
Ronda is hoping that demand for the Ex-batts will grow and grow as word gets around so it may not be many more rescues before the Paperwise delivery van will be drafted in to help with transporting a greater number of hens back to the farm ready for their new start in life.
2 Responses to “Ex-battery hens rescued and re-homed”
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i have just registered with the british hen welfare and are awaiting a collection date. we are wanting to rehome 3 x attery hens, i just wondered if you have any that you wish to rehome. many thanks
you could ring me or email me back 01757210191
many thanks
Hi,
i am interested in rehoming some ex-battery hens. I have enquired before but the £4 cost plus transport costs has been off putting as the nearest centres were well south of us. I’m pleased to see there is some-one more local. I live in Chesterfield.
Tel: 01246 860193