Sunny Rhyl Sea Fishing Diary

Project Chicken - There Home!!! - 19/05/2007

"Give a Chicken a Chance"

After 6 weks of preparation and a great deal of excitement, the day had finally come.

We set off to Oswestry to collect our 4 ex-battery hens.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to see when we arrived but I must say that I was shocked at the condition of these birds.

200 hens had been found a new home by the wonderful people at The Battery Hen Welfare Trust. Unfortunately, these were the 'lucky' ones. The rest of the spent hens were destined for slaughter having never glimpsed daylight or stood on solid ground in the 18 months that can scarcely be called a life.

The fortunate 200 had be relocated to a barn awaiting collection by their adoptive families. The conditions were cramped but these hens would all be living the life of riley by the end of the day.

We loaded our 4 hens into a couple of cat baskets and headed home.

They were quiet during the journey. No doubt still in a great deal of shock.

On arrival, we lifted the lids on the baskets and left the poor little things to slowly make there way out and set about exploring their new home.

They all appeared very lithargic and slightly confused. With slow movement and little enthusiasm, they hardly moved for an hour or so.

Of the 4 hens, 2 are sporting a rather daring 'oven ready' look! With a very sparse covering of feathers, all 4 look like they have survived a pretty harrowing ordeal.

Hopefully their luck has now changed..

After a few hours, they seemed more active. Having found the food, they all seemed to be eating well.

I locked their door tonight and it was encouraging to see that all 4 are looking ever more active.

Happy Days!!!

For more information about rehoming battery hens, please take a look at www.thehenshouse.co.uk