Beautiful Brooches

I just wanted to share with you that I have just recently bought a couple of brooches made by a young lady who is helping to raise funds for the North London Hen Rescue.

Katt makes a range of henny brooches. I actually placed an order yesterday and paid by paypal and they arrived about half an hour ago. How is that for customer service?

Here is the link to details of Katt's brooches.

http://www.downthelane.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4198

RIP - Little Hen

Little Hen (featured in the One Week since Rescue post) sadly passed away at the weekend. Up until the very end she had been cared for and loved by Phil and Paul. It's very sad to think that this little lady only had two weeks of freedom, but the wonderful thing is the love that was given to this little hen, not only by Phil and Paul but by the many people who waited daily for news of her.

Phil wrote a thread on the Practical Poultry forum, which received in excess of 11,000 'hits' - if you are able please have a look and read the comments. There is also a link to a piece of music that Phil played to Little Hen.

I am not afraid to admit I shed a lot of tears when I read the sad news.

It's commendable that the other 1,700+ hens which were rescued the same weekend as Little Hen are in loving homes as ex-battery hens. It's sad that this has to happen in the first place. Hens should not have to live in cramped cages. Look at the photo below of Naked Dave flapping her wings and expressing what being a chicken is all about.

RIP Little Hen.

Isn't she lovely!

I just wanted to share a lovely photograph, of an ex-battery hen who has fallen on her feet and is loved by her new family. Many thanks to V Tocher for use of this photo - by the way, the hen is aptly titled Naked (because she is sort of) Dave (because owner's partner has always wanted a pet called Dave!).

One week on from Hen Rescue

It's been just over a week since the Norfolk hen rescue took place. Over 1700 hens were rescued by NLHR




It's encouraging to read, on so many forums, stories from novice poultry keepers about how much they are enjoying caring for these ex-battery hens.

Little Hen is getting stronger day by day, she was rescued by Phil (who is doing a fantastic job of nursing Little Hen), she still has a long way to go but slowly does it. She has had her claws trimmed and her beak trimmed and is eating and drinking, she is so weak that she finds it hard to stand un-aided.

I can't help but pray that this little lady makes a full recovery, how can anyone consider buying eggs from caged hens.

The next rescue is due to take place in October and anyone wishing to put their names down to re-home hens should visit the North London Hen Rescue website.

When is a Chicken not a Chicken?

So - when is a chicken not a chicken? When she is a battery hen!

The North London Hen Rescue spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday (26th - 28th) July 2008 between a farm in Norfolk and various points throughout the country in the process of re-homing these lovely little hens. Although some were feathered and appeared a decent weight, many people were shocked at what they saw.


The little hen above has been named Ginny, if you look closely you can see that apart from being quite bald she is in poor condition and you can see her bones sticking out.

On the scales you will see her weight reads 438grms. A hen of her age should be over 3kg. Ginny is currently being cared for by a lovely lady, Linda. It's hoped she will survive and make a good recovery.

This is Little Hen, who is being cared for yet another fantastic person, Phil. As you can see Little Hen is quite small, is not much bigger than a pigeon. Sadly, this little girl is not well at all and we are all hoping for a miracle.

These lovely little hens aren't just one-offs. The majority of hens had very overgrown claws, poor condition and quite bald. Here are just three more. Hopefully over the next few months these girls will blossom into the beauties we know they are.

If ever anyone wanted a reason to stop eating eggs from caged hens this has to be it!

A heart-felt thanks to the NLHR team, everyone who entered the sheds, to everyone who helped co-ordinate the rescue and the hundreds of wonderful people who have opened their hearts and their homes to these little ladies!

Ex-Battery Hen Rescue

One subject very close to my heart in the plight of the battery hen. My introduction to hen keeping was over three years ago, when Chris and I took over our allotment. It was in a bit of a state and I thought the best thing to help clear and fertilise the land would be some hens.

After doing a bit of research I decided I would like to offer a home to some ex-battery hens. Chris made a lovely hen house and run for them and the day arrived for us to go and collect them from Lincolnshire. Chris thought I was mad going to all the expense involved of creating a home for them and spending 4 to 5 hours travelling to and fro collecting them.

He soon changed his mind when he saw them. They were thin, anaemic looking hens - hardly any feathers. I was shocked that I could see their bones. The lady who was re-homing them to us was really glad we were taking them and told us that she had kept the best looking ones for us, with us being new poultry keepers. I was so upset to hear this - goodness knows how awful the others had looked.

Three years down the line - those ladies have all sadly passed away - the time they had with us was time spent living a real hen's life - scratching around in the soil, feeling the warmth of the sun on their backs, dust-bathing and eating themselves silly. Granted they didn't like the rain or snow and simply took themselves off to their house for a little siesta.

Quite recently I felt the urge to take on some ex-battery hens and became involved with North London Hen Rescue.

The hens spend 50 weeks of their short lives cramped into metal battery cages. No room to move, no place to perch, no nesting boxes - no life basically. After that they are classed as 'spent' birds - they have basically been forced into churning out egg after egg for the cheap egg market and then they are sold for a pittance to the people who process their flesh.

The next rescue of ex-battery hens is due to take place in a couple of weeks. I am proud to say I am helping to assist in co-ordinating in the South Yorkshire area.

No hen, regardless of whether it is battery, barn or free-range, is discriminated against.

Hens and Mucky Water!

Where is our Summer? Has it come and decided not to stay?

Today started promising, sun was shining, sky was blue, a few greyish clouds off in the distance. Half an hour ago the heavens opened and we had a bit of a downpour. On a positive note this means I won't have to go and water all of the plants on the allotment, on a negative note it means the hens will be sheltering in their hen houses and looking miserable. Our horse will be stood in his stable, waiting for the sun to come out.

The first thing our hens normally do on a morning is to go and have a drink of water from the drinkers. This morning I noticed that they were drinking from all of the mucky puddles in the hen runs. Just wondering why they prefer this to the clean drinking water available - perhaps it is because it is tap water, perhaps they are lacking something in their diet which makes the puddles more appealing.

Over the winter months I tend to put straw down in the runs to make it a bit better under foot for the hens. May have to start getting some straw sooner rather than later, at this rate!