What a difference one year makes

 

A year ago I went off to the Battery Hen Welfare Trust collecting station in Oswestry to pick up three little ex battery hens and give them a new home.  I was terrified that they wouldn't even survive the journey home as the change could have been so stressful to them. Even seeing daylight was a massive and new experience for them. But they did survive. Hope, pictured above spent the whole journey looking out to her new life while Faith and Charity sat hunched in the darkness of the cardboard box until I got them home.




After a long 2 hour journey we arrived home.  I put them in a temporary pen away from my other girls in case they didn't get on. It was so incredible to see them exploring and experiencing freedom for the first time in their lives. They looked terrible as they had very few feathers on their necks and wings but to me they were beautiful.  Within a week they joined my other girls in the big house and have enjoyed the most incredible year, starting with presents from Father Christmas an easter egg hunt and their own Olympic games. 





One year later they look very different. I only took this picture this morning and as you can see my beautiful little Hope looks like she is on top of the world.   Animals are incredible how they bounce back after such horrible experiences and take pleasure in the simple things in life.

It's been a wonderful year, they have supplied me with fresh free range eggs every day and saved me around £130 due to the fact that I have never had to buy eggs from the supermarket. Considering I gave a donation of £30 when I adopted them, that is an amazing return on my investment and one that continues to thrive inside the chicken coop.

Moving to the big house

After two weeks of getting my little ex battery hens, I am thrilled to report on their progress. I had a few weeks of worry before collecting them as apparently some do not make it due to the dramatic change of life style. Thankfully, Faith, Hope and Charity are enjoying their new life and seem to be thriving in their surroundings.

I introduced them last week to Blodwyn and Bethan and was very happy with how it went. I let them meet through some netting first then took the plunge and put them into the large run all together. Bethan puffed herself out and swamped the poor little things but it wasn't too aggressive and soon they were all free ranging together. Tiny little Charity pictured below is the smallest of the three but was happy to scoff some lunch while the old girls sussed her out. The sweet thing is, she has now latched on to them just like a little sister and follows them around. I think they are showing her the ropes as she was the first to come out and scratch around with them and is already using the proper water container to drink from. Prior to this they were actually paddling in their water container then standing on the edge to tip it over. I was replacing it constantly so this is a great result that they are all following the experts and learning how to live.

It was always my plan to introduce them as soon as possible, as Bethan and Blodwyn have a huge coop with plenty of room and it didn't seem right to keep three young hens in a little coop. The good thing is I can use that now for a nursery pen and it will be great when I get some more as I hope to in the future.

The most touching sight was to see these little hens scratching around and taking their new world in. Pictured above is Hope enjoying her new surroundings, though she is still a bit confused with it all and retreats back into the safety of the coop every so often. They seem to love just being inside the coop too as there is so much room for them and plenty of things to stimulate them. I dragged some large branches in the other day for them to perch on also some old logs that are full of interesting things for them to peck at.

I was thrilled when I finally put them all into the 'Big house' all together, they ate a light supper and took themselves to bed without any problems and next morning there were not too many ruffled feathers, which makes me hope that they are getting on.

It's great to watch their progress and see them learn how to free range, enjoying life inside and out of their new chicken coop.

Last of the Summer Wine - inside another chicken coop

Nora, Ivy, Pearl, Edie and Glenda are very lucky ladies! They have recently moved to a new home. Mike Taylor has recently rescued these five little ex battery hens and now their life is quite different to how they had been living in the past.

Mike prepared their new home well in advance and made a new coop out of a combination of a rabbit hutch, an old wardrobe and a chest of draws. His clever recycling has given these lovely ladies a cosy new home and he has even gathered old logs to make their run more interesting as they love to peck at the small insects that climb all over them.

Mike approached the Battery Hen Welfare Trust ( http://www.bhwt.org.uk/. ) They put him in touch with the local representative for his area and they arranged for delivery. Within a few weeks Nora, Ivy, Pearl, Edie and Glenda were settled in their new home.

"They arrive in a wide range of conditions" Mike said. "Some of them had very few feathers at all, but some were not too bad." But already Mike has seen an improvement as they grow healthy again and he is even getting a few eggs every day from them.

This one had very few feathers, but she seems doesn't seem to bothered as she explores her exciting new run


Mike is very handy with making things and he even rigged up a way of opening their coop in the morning while still enjoying his morning cuppa. He tied a ball of string to the door of the coop then ran the rest of the ball all the way to his house and tied it next to the window. This means on dark winter mornings he just opens the window, pulls the string, and the ladies can be free to roam for the day. Ingenious!

I was curious at how he had come up with their names, Mike is a massive fan of Last of the Summer Wine, so it was the obvious choice. Mike just saw his feisty little hens and immediately named them after the characters from the hit TV series. Nora is even playing up to her namesake by becoming the bossy one of the group. So the pecking order is well and truly established.

It's a wonderful feeling to think there are people like Mike who make the decision to take on these poor bedraggled little creatures. But with a bit of love and care, these ladies are now set to make a full recovery in their happy new home. I can't help wondering now if Compo, Foggy and Clegg may make an appearance at some time!