Thank you for considering adopting one of 20 million battery hens currently producing eggs in this country. The following is a guide of what to expect if you decide to take on some of our hens for their retirement.

Age - Your hens will be approximately one year old. This is the time they would ordinarily go for slaughter. At this age, they will have laid around 300 eggs. They will still readily lay, and as a general rule you will get an egg every other day per chicken, although some lay very regularly each day. You will see that egg quality HUGELY improves over time!

Health - They will look fairly threadbare for the first few weeks / months! However they will have almost complete feather re-growth in time. You will be able to see the resident ’re-feathered’ hens at the centre. Caged hens can very occasionally develop fractures of their wings / toes / legs when they get moved around, and despite every effort to ensure they are fit to be rehomed, your hen MAY require veterinary treatment soon after adoption. We can be dealing with large volumes of birds on rescue days, and sometimes a poorly bird could slip through the process, although this is very rare.

Your New Hens! - Your hens will be slightly shell-shocked (excuse the pun!) for a few days after adoption, they have spent all of their lives in tiny cages and when you take them home it will be the first time they have felt grass beneath their feet, and seen the sky. But DON’T WORRY – it is amazing how quickly their instincts return, and they will be scratching around and sunbathing with their wings stretched out before you know it!

Life Expectancy - There is no guarantee how long an ex-battery hen will live. Some may only live for a few weeks – however, if these weeks are spent in the fresh air being able to stretch their wings we feel they are luckier than a lot of battery hens. On average they will live for a further 2-3 years.

If you decide to proceed with adopting some of our hens, you will be given a ‘Caring for Battery Hens’ leaflet, which givens you more in-depth information. You can also visit the Battery Hen Welfare Trust website at www.bhwt.org.uk.

September 2008

BUFFY THE 'STAR' EX-BATTERY CHICKEN

As seen on HTV News & Weather. Also featured in The Sun, The Mirror, The Daily Express, Daily Sport, The Times and local press!!

Buffy the ex-battery hen came to us in such a bad condition, SHE HAD NO FEATHERS AT ALL!! She had been heavily bullied in her battery cage by the other hens. Buffy was literally 'OVEN READY'! We rescue many chickens from battery units, thankfully chickens as bald as Buffy are rare. Most come looking scraggy with maybe several or just a few feathers missing, which do grow back.

Rita, one of our fantastic volunteers adapted a baby-gro to fit Buffy, to protect her from the bad weather!

Buffy is doing very well and has got some feathers staring to grow back, we hope she will grow enough feathers to keep her warm through the winter, though her new jumpers will keep her nice and cosy!

October 08 - Buffy has now found a new home and has settled in well.

Our first battery hen rescue was 11th March 2008.

We successfully found homes for all of the chickens from this rescue.

It was an eye-opening experience due to the state of them. For those who adopt ex-battery chickens it will be so rewarding to see them flourish into healthy happy hens!

Here are some photos taken on arrival of the chickens at the our centre.

Top Left Photo - The chickens being released into their first taste of freedom. They were very dazed and confused, though it was very interesting to see that one or two quickly started to peck at the grass (curiosity maybe or instinct kicked in!)

Top Right & Lower Right Photo - A cage of the rescued chickens with a resident ex-battery chicken looking in. This very healthy looking chicken lives at the centre with a couple of others. They were rescued last year and were in the exact same condition as these new ones are now. You can see the comparison! It speaks for itself.

Lower Left Photo - This chicken came to us with a broken wing. This can occasionally happen. The chickens have very brittle bones due to not getting any sunlight, which causes their bones to break easily.

She has had the wing amputated and is recovering very well, and has now been rehomed.