Me and one of the rescued hens
On Friday me and my friend Sharron rescued 6 battery hens from our local battery farm. These hens were going to be slaughtered in late July/early August and have spent around 2 years in battery cages. This farm is changing to free range and the farmer is getting rid of 1500 birds from his “small” 11,000 bird farm. He has agreed to let us find homes for as many of the hens as we can and these 6 are the start of that.
Ultimately I am abolitionist, but it will be interesting to see whether by working with this particular farmer we can help to improve the lives of the hens and save some of those who are scheduled to be slaughtered.
Britney (named for her bald head) enjoys her first ever sunshine
It was overwhelming going to see the hens. So many rows of suffering within this archaic system of farming in which no animal is treated with compassion or as an individual. And this was one of the better farms.
We were only going to take 5 to start, but we ended up taking 6 as we didn’t want 1 girl left behind in the cage. They were brought out by their feet and I noticed one hen drooled water out of her mouth.
That was where their suffering ended. We placed them in large packing boxes, 3 in each box. The boxes were padded with soft towels. They settled down in the darkness of the box and off we went to their temporary home (until we find them loving, forever homes).
We had to wait for the handy man to help put up the chicken coop, as the day before I had tried, but quickly realised I needed power tools. Whilst we waited we placed the girls on the balcony in a patch of warm sun and gently opened the boxes.
You should have seen their reaction to the sun! I can only imagine how it must have felt to see the brightness and feel that warmth for the first time. They stretched up their long necks and basked. Looking around, they didn’t seem to believe where they were.
Sharron cuddles Britney the hen
It took quite some time for them to realise that their wings were no longer confined, but when they did they seemed to relish stretching them out and fanning their feathers.
Later on we watched as the girls began to express some natural behavior like scratching the bottom of the box and even taking a dust bath in the food they had spilt on the floor. After 2 years standing on a wire floor in a cage, this was all new to them. We saw that they had all been debeaked (as all battery hens and most free range hens are). Some still had most of their beak, whilst others had a long lower beak and short upper beak. Some had obviously been cut too short. A hen’s beak is full of nerves, so it is very painful when they have their beaks cut.
We named one of the hens Lizzy as she kept flicking out her tongue like a lizard catching bits of dust that showed up in the sun.
There were many moments of the day when me and Sharron looked at each other beaming as we saw how much the hens were enjoying themselves. Even these cardboard boxes were huge compared to where they had come from.
After the handy man had come to put up the coop it was time to introduce the girls to their new home. We gently carried them to the coop and placed them on the ground. At first they stood there on the grass, unsure what to do next. After a while they began to slowly put one foot in front of the other and walk. They kept looking at their feet as if they were thinking, “I didn’t know these things could move like this”
It didn’t take long before they started to explore and peck and scratch at the ground.
The hens explore their new coop
I had to lift each hen up into their roosting area at night, as they didn’t trust the ramp. They loved the cosy straw up there and when I peeped in a few minutes later they were all snuggled in after their busy day.
Today the hens seemed to relax a little, but they are still quite scared. It was a joy to see them flap their wings and even fly.
Tomorrow it’s time to trim their overgrown nails and fence off a larger free range area for the day time.
Something that struck me is how large the hens are to be stuck in cages their whole life. I think I was expecting them to be smaller, but these girls are beautiful big hens.
Last night I couldn’t sleep thinking of all the hens stuck in battery cages around the world, unable to express any natural behavior. Sometimes it is overwhelming.
If you are a compassionate person who lives in NSW, Australia and would like to find out about adopting some ex-battery hens
please contact me.
Want to help us help hens? We are saving up for another coop to take in more hens at one time, as well as food and vets bills. Any donations are hugely appreciated. Please click the donate button at the top of our sidebar to make a contribution.
Here are some lovely pics of the girls first day out of the cage.
 Lovely Britney with a bald head |  We transported them in a big, comfy box |
 Sharron & Dora – named after Dora the Explorer, as despite being blind in one eye she loves exploring |  Poor Dora is blind in one eye and has lost feather on her chest and bottom |
 hen about to go into coop | |
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