Birker2020
Well-Known Member
We picked our supposedly '3' girls up on Saturday from one of the BHWT (Battery Hen Welfare Trust) rescue centres on Saturday, only to ask if we could have a fourth! They were so cute. We went up to the stable with our box to take them home and they picked us four at random and cut their claws before putting them in the box. One poor girl had her claw accidently cut too near the quick and it was bleeding so they put her claw in a bar of soap to stop it. I was really suprised as their condition was very good. The lady there said that there are usually 6 to a cage (each bird has roughly an A4 sheet of paper sized space to itself), but this particular farmer was very kind to them and there were three to a cage. Apart from a few feathers missing from their necks they looked well. They didn't make a sound on the way home and we put them straight in their run. Three were huddled together but almost immediatley the fourth started strutting around like it owned the place, that one ended up bullying the other although 24 hours later all the pecking order had been sorted. Apart from the one's toe bleeding again and us having to put a rather big plaster on it, they have got on brilliantly. We were totally gobsmacked that three of them decided to take themselves off for bed minutes before we planned to put them in their nests ourselves, the fourth had to be helped up. How did they know??? They have had their first taste of grass, strawberries, cabbage leaf and lettuce ever in their lives. I was amazed as in less than 28 hours we have had our first eggs, 3 so far, unbelievable, we thought they would be too stressed. Please, please, please, if you have the land and the time to commit, please look on the website, www.bhwt.org.uk and set some hens free today. These poor birds have never felt grass under their feet, or seen the sky or felt a breeze. They certainly have never tasted strawberries or lettuce before! They have been kept under artificial light for 18 hours a day to produce optimum egg yield and then when they don't produce their desired quota of an egg a day they are sent to slaughter where they are roughly strung upside down on a conveyor belt by their feet and sent towards the people blade that takes their poor little heads off - totally horrific.
Our girls amazement at being free is totally amazing to watch as they transform in front of your eyes. As soon as I woke this morning I rang my OH to see how they are, he says he opened the door and down they came, clucking away contentedly. They have made us smile, given us a lot to think about in terms of all their fellow birds that are waiting to be set free, and given us three wonderful eggs. All in 48 hours.
Our girls amazement at being free is totally amazing to watch as they transform in front of your eyes. As soon as I woke this morning I rang my OH to see how they are, he says he opened the door and down they came, clucking away contentedly. They have made us smile, given us a lot to think about in terms of all their fellow birds that are waiting to be set free, and given us three wonderful eggs. All in 48 hours.
